THE
WAGGA WAGGA MACCHI MACCHI
by
Cameron Elmes
The latest
addition to the collection, Macchi MB 326H A7-072, arrived at
the museum from Wagga on 5 October. The Macchi has been on our
must have list since March 2001 when we made a formal request
to the Minister for Defence (then Peter Reith). Since then there
have been several setbacks and disappointments. Our tenders had
been unsuccessful while in one instance four aircraft were sold
to the one purchaser who intended to mount the aircraft in a Roulettes
formation. That has yet to see the light of day. Our patience
was rewarded earlier this year when the RAAF offered us a Macchi
as a gift. In the end it literally came down to a choice of colour,
camouflage or training colours! We chose the Fanta Can.
Thanks to the generosity of the Director General of History and
Heritage Royal Australian Airforce QAM received the offer of CAC
Macchi A7-072 located at the RAAF School of Technical Training
at Wagga Wagga NSW.
In late May 2018, QAM President Cameron Elmes and QAM Registrar
Nick Sayer conducted a site visit to ascertain the suitability
of this particular aircraft. They came away happy with this aircraft
to become an addition to QAM's collection.
Having received approval at a QAM General meeting to accept this
offer, the planning commenced for the recovery. The QAM recovery
team comprised the following members: Cameron Elmes, Bob Meredith,
David Geck and Nick Sayer.
We are most grateful for the assistance of serving RAAF personnel
Warrant Officer Stan Lawler and AC Jack Fazel.
In the lead up to the recovery, QAM member Bob Meredith began
putting together a list of equipment to transport to Wagga on
QAM's truck and car trailer. Fortunately we received an offer
of the loan of wings stands and jacks from RAAF Heritage which
saved much space on the truck. The recovery was planned to take
2-3 days on site plus travel time for various members as follows:
On the weekend of 29/30 September and Monday 1st October, Bob
Meredith drove the QAM truck and trailer to HARS at Albion Park
NSW returning the loaned Orion towbar and thence to Wagga.
On Monday 1st October, Cameron Elmes, Nick Sayer and David Geck
met in Sydney and travelled via road down to Wagga Wagga to meet
up with Bob Meredith at the hotel.
Day 1 - Tuesday 2nd October: As we were conducting a recovery
on an active RAAF base we had to provide details for security
purposes prior to and when checking in at RAAF Base Wagga. The
RAAF Heritage personnel were our on-site escorts for the entire
time. Once at the Hangar we conducted unloading and set up to
commence the project. QAM members Cameron Elmes, David Geck and
the RAAF Heritage team of Stan Lawler and Jack Fazel began the
following steps: " disassembly/removal of horizontal tail to reduce
load width. " wing tip fuel tanks removed to allow ease of loading
wings onto QAM's truck. " removed underbelly aerials to ensure
clear underbelly for fuselage transport jig. " removed wing fillets
and cracked nuts on wing bolts in preparation for wing removal.
" also disconnected aileron and flap controls. " Bob Meredith
commenced modifying/adapting fuselage jigs (from Mirage recovery)
to suit Macchi fuselage. " At the end of the day the last step
was to set up jacks and wing jigs and raising of the fuselage.
That night we hosted the RAAF Heritage personnel to a dinner at
the Wagga RSL Club, as a thank you for their help.
Day 2 - Wednesday 3rd October: Back on site and with truck
and Franna crane booked for arrival around midday the next steps
were: " raised all undercarriage units and secured into wheel
wells. This is where we hit the only delay in the recovery, as
we had a slight drama with one particular nut on the port undercarriage
assembly. Fortunately this only held us up for a short period.
" removed wing nuts and bolts and detached wings from fuselage
using wing stands. " Wagga Mobile Cranes arrived and with the
assistance of Bob Meredith loaded wings onto QAM truck. " Russell
Transport truck arrived on time, and with the assistance of the
crane commenced loading fuselage on transport jigs onto truck
which then departed. This process went very smoothly without any
hitches. " All the fillets, wing tip tanks and other items were
loaded onto QAM's car trailer. By approximately 3.30pm on this
day we had started the pack up of all our equipment and tools
and thanked all the RAAF personnel for their help and made our
way off base.
Day 3 - Thursday 4th October: We then began our journey
home with various personnel heading in different direction and
modes of transport. Cameron Elmes and Dave Geck commenced driving
to South Australia to attend the Aviation Museums National Network
forum which was hosted by the South Australian Aviation Museum.
Nick Sayer flew home to Brisbane, from Wagga via Sydney. Bob Meredith
commenced driving back to QAM arriving in Caloundra on Friday
5th October.
The QAM team was very appreciative of the help from the RAAF Heritage
team - Stan and Jack. I have already sent official thanks through
to RAAF Heritage regarding their assistance. They are a credit
to the RAAF, in particular Jack Fazel who is just beginning his
service career.
In conclusion, the project went very smoothly with minimal hiccups
and was a very pleasing exercise, as this particular aircraft
type has been missing from QAM's collection list for a very long
time.
I would like to extend my thanks to the rest of the team for an
outstanding effort: Bob Meredith, David Geck and Nick Sayer
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