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RAAF Fairey Battles and Avro Ansons at the Werribee wreckers yard around 1947. (Bob Piper)
Aviation Graveyards
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At the cessation of hostilities in late 1945 the three Armed Services began discharging men in line with a general winding down. Large amounts of equipment were thus literally dumped in the sea or in some cases burnt.
1946 saw large numbers of RAAF bombers and fighters being declared surplus. Sales of these surplus aircraft were handled by the Commonwealth Disposals Commission and the Department of Supply. Principal centres where large numbers of aircraft were put up for sale were Oakey and Amberley in Queensland, Evans Head, Richmond, Wagga and Tocumwal in New South Wales; Laverton, Werribee and Lake Boga in Victoria; Port Pirie, Mount Gambier, Mullala in South Australia and Boulder and Geraldton in Western Australia.
At Oakey, 240 Kittyhawks, 225 Spitfires, 38 Boomerangs and 40 old Mustangs were wrecked. The whole lot were bought by Mr Herb Boyd for £10,000. After the removal of their 8 day clocks, the aircraft were taxied out into long lines to await their fate at the wrecker’s hand. A large number of wooden propellers from Spitfires were just heaped up and burnt while boxes and boxes of spares were taken and dumped down old mineshafts, as there was nothing else that could be done with them at the time. Mr Les Arthur of Toowoomba recalls being offered the choice of any aircraft for a mere £30 each, however average wages in those days were only £3 per week and £30 for an aircraft that the DCA would not allow you to fly, was a lot of money!
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