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After significant restorations, the aircraft has now been ferried by the Royal Australian Navy’s ADV Reliant ship from Queensland to Port Moresby, where it will feature in the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery.
Warrant Officer Russell Grigg (navigator) and Warrant Officer Clement Wiggins (pilot), who died when their aircraft Beaufort A9-186 went down off the coast of Papua New Guinea in September 1943, were interred last month at Bomana War Cemetery.
Bland Shire Council received more than $167,670 from the NSW government to repair and upgrade the plane including site works at Lions Park, concreting, paint stripping and re-painting.
Announced on 2 April, 1975, the first two RAAF C-130 Hercules flights left Saigon on 4 April, bringing 194 children to Bangkok, where they were put on a specially-chartered Qantas Boeing 747 to Australia. Two more flights followed on 17 April.
Baltimore FW282, which had been operated by the RAAF’s 454 Squadron and crewed by officers from Australia, New Zealand and the UK, was found last year in 61 metres of water by Greek technical diving group AegeanTec. The RAAF has now publicly confirmed the plane’s identity.
The History and Heritage – Air Force Restoration Support Section (HH-AF RSS) brought back the aircraft, A79-440, for the RAAF’s No. 23 (City of Brisbane) Squadron, which has not flown for 65 years. The plane had been mounted as a gate guardian at Amberley before being taken down and sold.
