NOT NEW: 1950 Wirraway crash

[daveymac82c]

Hi everyone,

in an attempt to figure out James' most recent mystery airplane I came across this image (link below).

http://www.primemover.com.au/Gyro%20pic ... way-CU.jpg

The caption says that it is a Wirraway (which I believe) and it had ditched in Corangamite, Victoria in 1950.

My question is... is it still there? If not, where is it? If it is still there how come nobody's gone to get her?

Cheers,

David

[Keith Gaff]

Hello David

I've sent this picture to several authorities on the history of Australian aviation. It certainly is a Wirraway. In 1950 it would have only been recovered to clean up the area. I doubt that it is still there. If it is very little would remain. I'll let you know what I find out.

Regards,

Keith Gaff

[Mark_Pilkington]

David,

The photo you have posted is very recent and is how the aircraft survives today, following further receeding of the Lake Corangamite waters due to ongoing drought.

The existance of this aircraft is very well known to the authorities and indeed most people in aircraft museum and heritage preservation circles in Victoria and Australia as well as the local public. It has been covered numerous times in the local and Melbourne newspapers as well as ABC TV, including the rural farmers newspaper the Weekly Times.



It has previously been reported here on WIX in 2006, but without photos.

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=99557&sid=b9b7f2beec18d51cf8a85ebec605af4f

It is understood to be serial A20-714 ditched which in October 1950 whilst on a low level navigation exercise flown by Vance Drummond, who was on a course at FTS (Point Cook). (It has previously been reported as A20-405 that ditched in 1943.)

The aircraft was re-discovered in June 2005 by Gordon Wilson and Norm Tann who were piloting cropdusters working on an adjoining property. It became visible as the lake waters receeded due to the ongoing drought in Victoria, the original discoverers kept it quiet initially seeking a museum to undertake a recovery.

However ongoing drought has caused the Lake to become dry, exposing the aircraft and leaving it accessible from the shore.







I understand representatives of the RAAF Museum have inspected it, and assessed its viability for recovery, however it seems it is considered beyond restoration or display as it is sitting in a salt lake, and it is unlikely to survive being recovered from the site. (JDK may well be able to provide more information on that assessment by the RAAF Museum)

"Static" restoration as a complete aircraft would require replacement of most of the structure. It could only be recovered and displayed "as is"? but few museums would have the resources to undertake its conservation even for that outcome?

Lake Corangamite is the largest of a number of volcanic plains lakes in western Victoria, a shallow lake with little more than 2M normal depth.
Despite being inland from the coast by @150km or @100 miles, and being fed by fresh water rivers, it is a salt lake due to the ground content and evaporation, resulting in a salt level 3 times that of sea water.

Since its discovery it has been subject to scavanging and souvenir hunters, it is now easily accessible being 400m from the dry lake edge, however it is now protected by local and State Heritage laws.

War plane set to stay in lake grave

Yasmin Paton

10Jul08

LAKE Corangamite looks likely to be the eternal graveyard for a war plane which crashed almost 60 years ago.

Colac agricultural pilot Gordon Wilson discovered the relic in 2005 and hoped to remove and preserve the plane.

However, Heritage Victoria executive director Ray Tonkin said the wreck was too fragile to move without causing significant and permanent damage.

Royal Australian Air Force pilot Vance Drummond was completing a training flight in October 1950 when his Wirraway aeroplane dove into Lake Corangamite.

He survived, but died in a separate plane crash in 1967.

Mr Wilson said he first heard of the plane's existence in the 1960s but could not locate the site.

While flying over Lake Corangamite three years ago, he spotted the tip of the aeroplane's wing.

"I always wanted to find it and finally did," Mr Wilson said.

Mr Tonkin said a plan detailing the plane's long-term care was required before Heritage Victoria would consider removing the plane.

"Unless significant funding was available to conserve the wreck, its condition would quickly deteriorate if moved from the lake," Mr Tonkin said.

"Reburying the wreck would be the best way to protect it from environmental risks such as corrosion, as well as illegal fossicking."

Mr Wilson said he did not have the resources to fund a removal plan and would be disappointed if the plane remained in its current location.

"We were hoping we may have been able to get it out and put it on display," he said.

"I felt it would have been nice to have a reminder of our past history."

Mr Tonkin said Heritage Victoria would continue discussions with the Department of Sustainability and Environment and Parks Victoria.

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2008/07/10/15906_news_pf.html

Vandals warned: hands off historic relics
Kelly Ryan From: Herald Sun October 14, 2006 12:00AM

VANDALS face massive fines and jail if they tamper with historic relics and sites uncovered by drought.

Heritage Victoria has warned of $60,000 penalties and up to a year behind bars for souvenir scalpers who disturb long-lost relics turning up as water levels drop and the bush thins out.

A WW2 plane that ditched near Colac about 55 years ago, and forging equipment believed to have been used to make the Kelly Gang armour, are among historic items that have recently turned up.

But gold mining machinery, and even the remains of early settlements built around Lake Eildon, have also come to light as drought continues to take a devastating toll across the state.

Heritage Victoria senior archaeologist Jeremy Smith said any site or relic of more than 50 years was included under a Heritage Victoria blanket protection order.

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"Substantial penalties apply to people caught disturbing these heritage items," Mr Smith said.

The warning follows the discovery last year of a WW2 Wirraway ditched in Lake Corangamite.

Souvenir scalpers have already cut a piece from the small plane and fears are high they will return to snip more metal from the aircraft.

Colac pilots Gordon Wilson and Norm Tann have been keeping a watchful eye on the resurfaced craft from the air as they regularly fly over the area.

But Mr Smith said Heritage Victoria staff would police the Heritage Act 1995 and people caught tampering with protected items would be prosecuted.

Mr Smith said early settlements established during the gold rush days, and mining relics including machinery had surfaced around Beechworth.

Piers and jetties used during the first days of the early colony have also been revealed as major waterways dry up and disappear.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/vandals-warned-hands-off-historic-relics/story-e6frf7kx-1111112358116

Lake plane left to rot : Historic wreck proves too unstableBY JARED LYNCH
27/06/2008 4:00:00 AM
A HISTORIC plane will be left to rot in the mud of Lake Corangamite where it crash-landed almost 60 years ago.

Colac-based agricultural pilot Gordon Wilson hoped to remove the aircraft from its watery grave, restore it and put it on public display. But yesterday he confirmed tough Heritage Victoria guidelines had forced him to ditch the plan.

The state's peak heritage body told Mr Wilson he could remove the RAAF Wirraway aircraft so long as it remained intact during extraction - something he said he could not guarantee.

"Three years ago you could have moved it,'' he told The Standard......
"But it has now deteriorated to a point that if you moved it you would damage it"...... "There are also other costs involved so we have decided to leave it where it is.''

The plane crash-landed in the lake in 1950 while on a low-level training exercise from Point Cook airbase near Melbourne. The pilot escaped unharmed.

The salt-encrusted wreck, which is protected under the Victorian Marine Heritage Act, became visible when water levels began to recede three years ago.

While declining water levels have revealed more of the postwar relic, the salty air has sped up its deterioration.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment said yesterday it was in talks with Heritage Victoria and Parks Victoria to determine how best to manage the aircraft.``At this stage it is really too early to release a lot of details,'' a spokeswoman said. ``But our discussions are continuing about what is the best way to preserve the wreck.''

Wirraways were the first mass-produced Australian aircraft. They even predate the country's first mass-produced car - the 1948 FX Holden. Although the planes were built as a general-purpose trainer, they saw action in Malaya and Papua New Guinea in World War II.

Mr Wilson has researched the pilot responsible for the Lake Corangamite wreck, Vance Drummond. When Mr Drummond crash-landed in the lake, he was only a trainee in the Royal Australian Air Force. But he quickly rose through the ranks and become a decorated pilot.

In 1967 he became the commanding officer of Australia's frontline fighter squadron. But it was then, after he had fought in the Korean and Vietnam wars, that he tragically died in a training exercise in New South Wales when he crashed his plane at sea. Neither he or the aircraft were seen again.


Those caught disrupting the Wirraway plane face fines of up to $132,000.
Anyone with information about interference with the site is asked to contact Heritage Victoria on 9637 9475 or Camperdown police on 5593 1000.

http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/lake-plane-left-to-rot-historic-wreck-proves-too-unstable/798700.aspx





Regards

Mark Pilkington

Last edited by Mark_Pilkington on Sat Sep 12, 2009 8:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Mark_Pilkington]

(removed double post!)

[daveymac82c]

Hey Mark,

Thank you for such an in depth explanation of the airplane. I can definitely see how it might fall apart if recovered. It's a shame that it's been vandalized, but something so easy to get to is practically begging for people to take a closer look, and oh... maybe grab a little trinket to take home.

Too bad for the little Wirraway.

Thanks again,

David

[Mark_Pilkington]

David,

"Rrecover or retain insitu?" can be a difficult issue to resolve, I strongly support heritage sites and preservation of historical artifacts where the history occured.

But its clear aircraft wrecks will not survive indefinately "insitu", and when they are essentually complete or viable restorations such as the Atka B-24 or Swamp Ghost B-17, or of a near extinct type in any condition, it seems obvious that they should be recovered and restored for at least static display in a museum.

In this case, this Wirraway would not survive "restoration" and would donate little to a "restoration" other than its identity and steel parts such as canopy frames etc.

It could be recovered and displayed "as found", following copious washing with fresh water and treatment with inhibitor, and that may result in it surviving largely "intact" for many more generations than being left where it is.

However that is a big project for any museum to undertake, and the 3 major aviation collections in the state of Victoria already each have a complete Wirraway, so an "as found" example on display would be interesting, but not add any true heritage value.

The recovered instruments shown in my post above, still have their panel mounting screws in place, suggesting the instrument panel had already corroded away before their recovery?

Its questionable if heritage is better served with them rotting in the mud underneath the wreck as against being recovered and displayed as shown.

Having said that, the "recovery" of other parts for their individual protection and display (or use in another rebuild) will only hasten the wrecks disintegration and eventual loss.

It could be recovered and displayed "as is" in the local area, but the local community would have less resources to do that than the 3 museums mentioned earlier, hence its current state.

However exposure to the air, and easy access by sight-seers will see more people climbing into the cockpit, or standing on the tailplane, or picking up a piece to take home.

Unfortunately when the loose pieces are all taken, the souvenir hunters will strip the airframe quickly.


regards

Mark Pilkington

[aseanaero]

It could be recovered and displayed "as is" in the local area, but the local community would have less resources to do that than the 3 museums mentioned earlier, hence its current state.

Build a glass fronted display shelter and make it a feature attraction for a lakeside BBQ area.

[daveymac82c]

Hey Mark,

yeah, I totally understand that it doesn't make sense to wage a fairly involved recovery for an airplane that is not a rare bird.

It's not really an injustice, but it's just too bad the airplane has to sit there and rot away.

It's current situation makes the most sense when you consider all factors.

Thanks again for the insight.

Cheers,

David

[Keith Gaff]

Hello David,

That's a new one on me. I am amazed that the aircraft survives in as intact condition as it has in salt water. Mark is correct: in salt water the airframe would have become very fragile. It's not the only Wirraway remaining in a lake in Victoria. Below is an image of Wirraway A20-404 which crashed into Lake Glenmaggie on March 16th 1942. The pilot Sgt Noel Giddings was killed in the accident and his body was removed from the wreck at the time. In times of drought when the lake empties the wreck is uncovered. During the late 1970's while I was with the Moorabbin Air Museum we had several local divers inspect the wreck with the view to raising it. From reports the aircraft was reasonably intact at the time but nothing came of the salvage idea. Recent photos show just how badly the airframe has deteriorated.