WARBIRDS: The RAAF Amberley Aviation Heritage Centre

John Freedman gets the inside word on the RAAF Amberley Aviation Heritage Centre, which was officially opened on June 5, 2011.

At the official opening of the Amberley Aviation Heritage Centre, dignitaries, former and current servicemen gathered to see the unveiling of the first stage of the museum. The Heritage Centre is designed to tell the story of the RAAF, particularly the Air Force at Amberley, Queensland, from 1940 to the present.

The Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Mark Binskin AO, has commenced a program to celebrate the relationship between the RAAF and their communities by establishing heritage centres to be run through a partnership between Air Force and local organisations. 

CAPTION: RF-111C A8-126 Delivered to the RAAF on 1 June 1973, it was the first modified to Reconnaissance RF-111C by General Dynamics in 1979. 126 also has the honour of performing the last ever handling display, dump and burn.

“We hoped that the regional Heritage Centres would bring Air Force and the community closer together by displaying and celebrating the links between a base and the local community over many years," Binskin said. “This has certainly been the case in both Wagga and Ipswich, where we have been able to draw on much local enthusiasm and support.”

Australia’s first Canberra bomber, A84-201, has been repainted and now sits outside RAAF Amberley under a custom-made roof. On the day of the Heritage Centre opening there was a well-attended service for the fallen of Bomber Command, all centred around the Canberra.

Currently, as well as the aircraft listed here, the Heritage Centre also has RF-111C A8-134 on display. This airframe is slated to become a gate guard at Amberley.

Volunteers at Amberley have a long history of historic aircraft work, having restored the Douglas Boston A28-8 ‘Jessica’ (sister aircraft to the A-20G) and reconfigured and restored the fuselage of Consolidated Catalina ‘A24-104’ for the RAAF Museum. These were completed while it was an annex of Point Cook, but now they will work on aircraft that will get to stay on the base.

CAPTION: GAF Mirage IIIO A3-55 was delivered to the RAAF on 4 August 1967. It was withdrawn from service and has been used at RAAF Amberley as a training aid since April 1987.

The museum is currently based in two F-111 maintenance hangars; next year they will get two additional hangars, while a portion of the administration building will have some displays and a shop.

"Long-term, I think that everybody on the base here and the Air Force generally would like to see this being able to be accessed by the public on a six day a week basis," Squadron Leader Dennis Deering said.
 
"There are some things in the wind, such as a Winjeel, Macchi, Meteor, [and] Vampire. We should have at least a couple of those very soon because they are all waiting to come now for restoration. We also have a five-year program for restoration of the Avro Anson; that will fit neatly with our Australian hospital ship Centaur display.”

CAPTION: A-20G Boston 42-86786 'The Hell 'N Pelican II' of Lieutenant Charles Davidson, USAAC, crash-landed in PNG on 16 April 1944. It was one of the Bostons recovered by the RAAF in September 1984 using a Chinook, and it was restored at RAAF Amberley.

With the loss of the locally popular F-111 and DHC Caribous from Queensland’s skies, the Heritage Centre goes a great distance in continuing to show the diversity and history of the RAAF within Queensland.