Historic Fokkers at HARS
The Historic Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) Aviation Museum based at Shellharbour Airport, Albion Park (NSW), Australia announced that two classic Fokkers are in the spotlight during the August Tarmac Days, coming weekend 12 and 13 August. The Fokker F-27 Friendship and an amazing replica of Kingsford Smith’s historic Fokker FVIIb/3m ‘Southern Cross’ will take center stage in the main display hangar at Shellharbour Airport.
HARS currently owns two Fokker Friendships under restoration to be maintained in flying condition for a new career as a tribute to airlines of yesteryear.
More than 80 Fokker Friendships once served with airlines across Australia from 1959, replacing the legendary DC-3 (also on show at HARS) to provide vital links to the major cites for people in regional, rural and often remote areas. The Fokker Friendship brought a significant leap in airline standards for people otherwise faced with long overland journeys to connect with the world, flying ten thousands of passengers around the nation over a 30-year period.
Recognizing that there were none of the once popular passenger Friendships left in Australia, after some 25 years of flights delivering mail, New Zealand Post arranged to donate their last two F-27 aircraft to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS). The first F-27 to arrive was VH-EWH (c/n 10596) which was registered in Australia on 18 January 2018. It had made its last flight as ZK-PAX in September 2016 and was stored since then, losing its New Zealand registration on 16 January 2018. VH-EWH is still in an all-white livery with small HARS titles. The second F-27 VH-TQN, former New Zealand ZK- POH (c/n 10680) was seen while being prepared for painting in Trans Australia Airlines colours.
Another Fokker which is bound to return to the skies very soon is Fokker FVIIb/3m replica VH-USU ‘Southern Cross’. The original Fokker aircraft (also VH-USU) was flown by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harry Lyon and James Warner from the United States to Australia in a famous 11,670-kilometre record breaking journey.
The new ‘Southern Cross’ was built in South Australia in the 1980s as a tribute to Smith. The aircraft is a faithful replica built to modern standards using the traditional aircraft construction of steel tubing and timber with doped Irish Linen for the fuselage and an all wooden (spruce and plywood) wing.
Unfortunately, after more than 550 flying hours, the ‘second’ VH-USU was severely damaged at Parafield in South Australia on 25 May 2002. After the plane lost a main wheel on take-off, the pilot immediately returned and landing on the one good wheel and the tail, he kept the damaged wheel off the ground by keeping its wing high in the air. When the aircraft slowed the high wing came down and snapped three meters of outer wing.
After eight years of storing the wreckage, HARS acquired the aircraft from the SA Government in 2010. The journey to airworthy restoration, under direction from project engineer Jim Thurstan, has been a challenging one. Not in the least because the Fokker had lost some 3 meters of the wing in the accident, which was the largest one-piece wing ever made in Australia. But now ‘Southern Cross’is almost finished and ready for its (second) maiden flight.
Photos: Howard Mitchell and Anton Homma