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During my work-trip to Sydney, I took the opportunity to use the rental car for a fantastic coastal drive down to Albion Park, home of the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society -HARS.
The museum at Albion Park is really nice. You can't wander through the museum by yourself, you need to join the tour as you'll be visiting hangars where aircraft are not actually on display but being worked on.
My tourgroup wasn't that big and they allowed me to stay behind or wander off a bit to take some pictures while there weren't that many people near the aircraft.
HARS has a collection of both civil and military aircraft and for me it's one of the nicer museums I visited.
Anyway, enough talking, on with the pictures:
1. In the main lobby building where the ticket desk is, as well as a cafeteria and small shop, you can find this AH-1 76-22598 of the US Army:
AH1-USAR-7622598-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr2. Then it was on to the Boeing outside but to get there we walked through the first hangar, enabling a shot of this F-111 A8-109 of the RAAF. No better shot could be obtained due to the aircraft being quite boxed in:
F111-RAAF-A8109-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr3. By far the biggest aircraft present is this Qantas B747-400 VH-OJA. During the tour, you will also get a walk-through of the Jumbo:
B744-QFA-VHOJA-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr4. Back to the hangar where we walked past this good looking Sea Venom WZ895 of the Royal Australian Navy:
SeaVenom-RANY-WZ895-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr5. Next stop was this Fokker F27 VH-EWH with HARS-titles and is in flyable condition:
F27-HRS-VHEWH-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr6. Being worked on for a return to the skies is this RAAF Vampire A79-665:
Vampire-RAAF-A79665-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr7. Boxed-in in the same hangar was this Mirage III A3-42 of the RAAF:
Mirage3-RAAF-A342-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr8. This is the world's only privately owned P-3. Registered VH-ORI, this is former RAAF A9-753. We got a nice tour of the inside of the aircraft and it took quite a while before the Orion was allowed for public access and demonstrations due to the sensitive equipment that needed to be removed from the aircraft, under close eye from representatives of the USA:
P3C-RNY-A9753-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr9. The reason for planning a visit to Albion Park was that this magnificent Connie VH-EAG was supposed to fly on this Sunday. Strong winds, however, prevented that, so I needed to be content with a walk-through of this classic beauty. The next day she did two touch-and-go's at Albion Park...
C121-HRS-VHEAG-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr10. Next to the Connie was this great looking DC-4 VH-EAY in Qantas-livery. According to the tourguide she's almost good to go flying again!
DC4-QFA-VHEAY-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr11. HARS has two former RAAF DHC-4 Caribous. One of them is this VH-VBB, which still wears A4-234 and its military jacket and had flown the day before:
DHC4-RAAF-A4234-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr12. Back inside for a quick stop at this Convair 440 VH-TAA of Trans Australia Airlines. This classic propliner has quite a sad story as the aircraft is actually flyable but lacking qualified pilots to do so. Their pilot was one of the pilots flying the Aviodrome Convair 340 that crashed in South Africa in 2018. He sustained quite some injuries and has been recovered but doesn't want to fly anymore, which hinders HARS to train new pilots to fly the aircraft:
CV440-TAA-VHTAA-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr13. On to another hangar where HARS keeps their Neptunes, like this former RAAF P-2 A89-281. It was supposed to be registered in the Australian civil register but never done so and is now a static aircraft:
P2-RANY-A89281-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr14. This P-2 is former RAAF A89-273 and registered VH-IOY. It's one of two flyable Neptunes but looks a bit sad and hasn't flown for a while. According to the tourguide they have a bit of a bird problem in this hangar, resulting in a lot of bird droppings on the aircraft as well as sometimes bird nests in the aircraft as well...
P2-RANY-A89273-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr15. According to the guide, this is the world's only flying Twin Pioneer, the all white VH-SYS:
TwinPioneer-HRS-VHSYS-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr16. Pretty cool livery on this RAAF Sabre A94-901:
Sabre-RAAF-A94901-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr17. This former French Navy P-2 566 is registered VH-LRR and had just finished a few taxi-runs and engine tests when we arrived at the hangar...
P2-FNY-566-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr18. F-27 VH-TQN was in the process of receiving the Trans Australia Airlines-livery:
F27-HRS-VHTQN-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr19. The Wessex is quite an impressive helicopter and this former Royal Australian Navy N7-222:
Wessex-RANY-N7222-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr20. One of the four Dakota's present at Albion is this former RAAF A65-94, which is registered VH-EAF:
C47-RAAF-A6594-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr21. Behind it stood this camouflaged VH-EAE, which is former A65-95 of the RAAF. Was a bit challenging to photograph these aircraft being half in the hangar and half outside of it.
C47-RAAF-A6595-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr22. The third one was this great looking silver bird; DC-3 VH-AES wearing the Trans Australia-livery:
DC3-TAA-VHAES-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr23. Tucked away in the corner of the hangar was this black former RAAF PBY-6 A24-362, which is officially registered VH-PBZ. It's an operational aircraft but the guide told us that they won't do any water landings with the aircraft anymore due to some small leakages in the fuselage:
PBY6-RAAF-A24362-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr24. At Albion Park are three former Royal Australian Navy S-2 Trackers. The first two are inside and it was impossible to photograph them as they were very boxed-in. One of the three is actually flyable but that isn't the third one which is parked outside. This N12-153600 was supposed to fly as well but has an issue with the wing-folding mechanism, apparently preventing the wings to remain properly locked in place. Quite an important thing if you want to fly it...
S2-RANY-N12153600-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr25. Next to it stood this, a bit sad looking, former Royal Australian Navy C-47 N2-90. It has always been in a flyable condition and is officially registered VH-NVZ. It has a partial VIP-interior and the Aussies were quite proud that this Dakota was used to fly Queen Elizabeth and Prince Andrew during one of their visits to Australia:
C47-RANY-N290-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr26. This Metro N224HR is quite a strange addition to the collection and is officially not owned by HARS. This aircraft was impounded by the police at Albion Park a few years ago when the aircraft showed up unannounced during the night. The police suspected drug trafficking but nothing was found but also no paperwork for the aircraft was found. Without it, the aircraft maintenance status could not be confirmed, meaning it was grounded until further notice and the owner would come claim it. This never happened and it's apparently going up for auction in the future.
SA226-PVT-N224HR-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr27. Back inside on our way to the entrance after the tour, I snapped a picture of the other DHC-4 of HARS, this former RAAF A4-210, which is registered VH-VBA. It is currently not flyable as it needs repairs to the rear cargo door, which got damaged when the aircraft was blown against the fence while parked outside during strong winds:
DHC4-RAAF-A4210-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on Flickr28. And I'm ending this set and impression of the HARS Museum of this Commonwealth Australia CA-30, a licensed Australian built version of the AerMacchi MB-326. A7-030 is prominently displayed at the entrance of the museum:
CA30-RAAF-A7030-ALB18sep22 by Anton Homma, on FlickrHope you liked this post and I can only recommend to visit the museum when you're in the area. Great aircraft and very friendly people!
Cheers!
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