The CAC Wirraway was a training and general purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) during 1939 – 1946 and based on the design of the North American Aviation NA-16 trainer. Over 750 were built and the name is derived from an aboriginal word for ‘Challenge’. During World War II it was operated by the RAAF as an advanced training aircraft but also saw front line service in New Guinea as a fighter-bomber during 1942-43. The Wirraway was powered by a single 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R1340 was radial engine which drove a three bladed variable pitch propeller. Fuel was stored within two 45 gallon tanks. The two-man crew sat within a tandem cockpit, complete with a fully enclosed sliding canopy and both positions were fitted with flying controls. In addition, the rear cockpit featured a rotatable folding seat for the gunner/bomb-aimer, as well as a prone bombing position in the floor of the aircraft. The Wirraway could carry a single 500 lb bomb or two 250 lb bombs under the wings. Lighter weight bombs or flares could also be carried on the underneath centre-line section of the aircraft. Additionally the Wirraway was armed with two forward-firing Vickers Mk V machine guns and a single swivel-mounted machine gun positioned at the rear of the cockpit. The fuselage was comprised of a welded chrome and steel framework which was constructed from four separately produced sections bolted together during final assembly. The sides of the fuselage featured fabric covering supported by aluminium alloy frames, while the underside and decking had metal coverings instead. The single spar wings, which were built in five individual sections, were composed of spaced ribs and a stressed skin. The control surfaces were metal-framed with fabric covering. An all-metal stressed skin construction was used for the tailplane and fin. Seven Wirraways were acquired by the RAN as training and general fleet support aircraft during 1948 – 1951 and then an additional ten in 1952-53 which were operated by 723 and 724 Squadrons at the Naval Air Station at Nowra until they were disposed of in 1957. Only one Wirraway was lost during naval service, on 18 June 1953, in a crash at Nowra and the remaining 16 were sold to Lund Aviation Inc. of New York. The De Havilland Vampire subsequently became the new advanced trainer for RAN aircrew. A20-695 is now owned by Warplanes P/L Jindalee QLD. – https://www.navy.gov.au/aircraft/cac-ca-16-wirraway – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_Wirraway
The CAC Boomerang was a World War II fighter aircraft designed and manufactured in Australia between 1942 and 1945. The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation produced Boomerangs under the production contract numbers CA-12, CA-13, CA-14 and CA-19, with aircraft supplied under each subsequent contract incorporating modifications and improvements. The Boomerang is significant as the first combat aircraft designed and built in Australia. The Pacific War began on 7 December 1941 with surprise attacks by the Empire of Japan on Pearl Harbour, Thailand, Malaya and the Philippines. Within a few months, Japanese forces had conquered vast areas of the Pacific and South East Asia. During these campaigns, the ill-prepared Allied air forces in the Pacific suffered devastating losses. Because of political and cultural ties between the United Kingdom and Australia, British manufacturers were the main source of RAAF aircraft. However, the British aircraft industry had long been hard-pressed to meet the needs of the RAF. Although United States companies had enormous aircraft manufacturing capacity, their output was destined for US air units. When new aircraft built overseas did become available, they would be shipped long distances in wartime conditions, with consequent delays and losses. While United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters – such as the Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk and Bell P-39 Airacobra – damaged during service in Australia could be rebuilt by Australian workshops and loaned to RAAF units, they were not available in sufficient numbers either. CAC examined the possibility of designing and building fighters. The main challenge was the fact that fighter aircraft had never been built in Australia. Only two military aircraft were in production at the time: the Bristol Beaufort twin-engined bomber and the CAC Wirraway, a single-engine armed trainer/ground attack aircraft, based on the North American NA-16. While the Beaufort was not a suitable basis for a single-engine fighter, its 1,200 horsepower (890 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines were made under license at the CAC plant in Lidcombe, Sydney and also powered the Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters used by the United States Navy. Consequently, the Twin Wasp was a logical choice for a stop-gap fighter design. The NA-16 had already become the basis of the North American NA-50 fighter which had been used by the Peruvian Air Force in the 1941 Ecuadorian–Peruvian War. The Wirraway likewise provided a starting point for the Boomerang's design. Like the latest fighters at the time, planning for the Boomerang included automatic cannons. As no such weapons were manufactured locally, a British-made Hispano-Suiza 20 mm which an Australian airman had collected as a souvenir in the Middle East was reverse engineered. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_Boomerang
The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter. The Hudson was the first significant aircraft construction contract for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation—the initial RAF order for 200 Hudsons far surpassed any previous order the company had received. The Hudson served throughout the war, mainly with Coastal Command but also in transport and training roles as well as delivering agents into occupied France. They were also used extensively with the Royal Canadian Air Force's anti-submarine squadrons and by the Royal Australian Air Force. A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Hudson was involved in the Canberra air disaster of 1940, in which three ministers of the Australian government were killed. Following Japanese attacks on Malaya, Hudsons from No. 1 Squadron RAAF became the first aircraft to make an attack in the Pacific War, sinking a Japanese transport ship, the Awazisan Maru, off Kota Bharu at 0118h local time, an hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Skilled and experienced pilots found that the Hudson had an exceptional manoeuvrability for a twin-engined aircraft, especially a tight turning circle if either engine was briefly feathered. Saburō Sakai, who would become the highest-scoring Japanese ace of the war, praised the fighting abilities of a lone, outnumbered Hudson Mk IIIA crew from No. 32 Squadron RAAF on 22 July 1942. Hudson A16–201 (bu. no. 41-36979) was intercepted over Buna, New Guinea by nine Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes of the Tainan Kaigun Kōkūtai led by Sakai, who reported that their opponent made many sharp and unexpected turns, engaging the Zero pilots in a turning dogfight for at least 10 minutes. It was only after Sakai himself scored hits on the (rear/upper) gun position that he was able to down the Hudson; its crew was killed. The Japanese pilots were so impressed by their enemy that, after the war's end, Sakai asked Australian researchers to identify the pilot and in 1997 wrote to the Australian government, recommending that Pilot Officer Warren Cowan be "posthumously awarded your country's highest military decoration". Hudsons were also operated by RAF Special Duties squadrons for clandestine operations; No. 161 Squadron in Europe and No. 357 Squadron in Burma. Postwar, numbers of Hudsons were sold by the military for civil operation as airliners and survey aircraft. In Australia, East-West Airlines of Tamworth, New South Wales (NSW), operated four Hudsons on scheduled services from Tamworth to many towns in NSW and Queensland between 1950 and 1955. Adastra Aerial Surveys based at Sydney's Mascot Airport operated seven L-414s between 1950 and 1972 on air taxi, survey and photographic flights. A total of 2,941 Hudsons were built. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Hudson
