Warbird Information Exchange

Hi

Just so everyone knows which Boomerang we are talking about. This is a recent shot of the Zuccoli aircraft and one taken quite a few years back in the original color scheme just after it had been finished and arrived in Australia with the adapted harvard wings.

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Regards
John P

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Air Vice Marshall
Sunshine State Air Farce

Dan, Jon, Nick and anybody else I forgot to mention,
Thanks again for the information. Appreciate it much.

Boomerang aside, what are the differences between the Wirraway and the T6? Assuming you have one good restorable T6 airframe, what is different between a T6 and Wirraway? That said, what are the approximate materials costs for converting a restored T6 to a Wirraway?
Thanks much!

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I think all the aircraft are either government, experimental exhibition, or for flight test. Not much call to put them on certified aircraft!

The Wirraway has a fabric covered fuselage for one. No aluminum tailcone like the T-6! The tubular extends back to the rudder.

For those who have worked on them, is the fuselage straightforward? Is it all tubular or are there any weird castings/forgings that have to be made?

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Hi John (Forgotten Field),

Just returned home from a weekend away and found this thread still going. I'm reckon I might just be qualified to answer your latest question mate. The forward fuselage frame of the Wirraway is very similar in concept to that of the T-6, however they are quite different. The rear fuselage frame isn't all that complicated and I suppose you could make a new one if you wanted to spend excessive amounts of money. Rear frames aren't as common as forward frames however there are still a few getting around.

There are indeed many weird castings that would have to be made to attach parts to the rear fuselage frame. Then you'd need to make the fabric panel frames for the fuselage (front and rear) sides, the monocoque structure which attaches at the bottom of the rear fuselage, the rounded rudder, etc.

Answering another question of yours, a short list of the major differences between the T-6 and Wirraway:
- Three blade prop
- Geared engine
- Different cowlings and engine system arrangement
- Different wing sweepback (T-6 has the greater sweepback)
- Vastly different internal systems (T-6 is more user friendly!)
- Fabric covered fuselage on the Wirraway
- Tubular frame rear fuselage structure on the Wirraway
- Different rudder

In summary, to convert a T-6 to a Wirraway would be very difficult and expensive. I doubt that the end result would be all that valuable either because of it being a cross-breed between the two. Hope this info is of some interest mate.

Cheers,
Matt

Appreciate the response. Do you have any good photos of a stripped, or un-restored bare fuselage for a Wirraway? I'm not surprised about the extent of modifications to the existing plans- I found a photo of a restored Wirraway and the exterior gives me some idea of hwo it was done. I'm guessing there were formers with stringers layed over top on the fuselage, then fabric? And you mention a rear underside monocoque?
I've got to look at more photos!

I'm surprised that they changed the wing due to the engineering changes that would have to be made. I'm also curious about the systems- did they really change that much?

We are looking at follow-on projects to the Ki27 replica that my friends are building right now, and I suggested a Wirraway for various reasons. Really appreciate the guidance.

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I wonder if the Wirraway and T-6 flew had any differences in performance?

Chris,
Not a huge amount of difference between the T-6 and Wirraway in terms of performance. The Wirraway's a little bit faster in the cruise I believe. The Wirraway shakes around a lot more than the T-6, I assume due to having a more 'flexible' structure than the T-6 with its aluminium tail cone. Although the T-6 certainly doesn't have the best stall characteristics, the Wirraway is even worse. This last bit leads into my answer to John's questions...

John,
The above comment about stall characteristics might represent an answer as to why the T-6 wings are more sweptback than the early aircraft in the NA-16 family. I know that stalling characteristics were a factor when CAC decided to put washout in the wings - a result of fairly ordinary characteristics of the NA-16 prototype. This is something that I've never had confirmed but I believe they possibly made the sweepback change in an attempt to sedate the stall characteristics.

Another difference between the T-6 and Wirraway wing is the strength. Interestingly enough, a mate said to me over the weekend that the T-6 wing structure is like that of a light Cessna wing compared to the Wirraway.

Wirraway systems are vastly different to those of the T-6. It must be remembered that the Wirraway was derived from an early stage of the NA-16 family with the T-6 being the result of continual development. If Steve Patterson still looks at the WIX, see if he can advise his thoughts of the comparison of systems between the two. I know which aircraft he prefers in that sense!

Have shown below a poor shot of the rear fuselage frame and a couple showing the kind of structure that makes up the fuselage side panels. These were just on my computer anyway so will do the job for now.







Cheers,
Matt

Hello again,

Just to keep the thread going..... Does anyone have any original (or new) Boomerang photo's they would like to show?
Also, does anyone here know much about the co operation between Boomerangs and the RNZAF Corsairs? There is a photo in "Wirraway Boomerang & CA-15", of a 5 squadron Boomerang leading eight Corsairs. I believe the Boomerang would fly in low and mark the target with a smoke bomb, after which the Corsairs would either bomb or strafe the enemy position.
Nick

Hi Matt:

Thanks for the explanation!

Boomerang:

One of the other Australians sent this link earlier:

http://www.adf-serials.com/gallery/Boomerang

Very good photo site with some of John Parker's aka Setter's photos.