Narromine Aviation Museum in Narromine, New South Wales | Landmark & historical place
Narromine Aviation Museum
Locality: Narromine, New South Wales
Phone: +61 2 6889 7131
Address: Narromine Airport, Mitchell Hwy 2821 Narromine, NSW, Australia
Website: http://www.narromineaviationmuseum.org.au
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25.01.2022 Today is a significant day, as we celebrate the centenary of the first aircraft landing at Narromine. To mark this milestone, we turn the clock back to 1919 and the event which brought aviation to our town: the first government ‘peace loan’ tour. On 22 September 1919 Narromine’s first known aerial visitor landed on the polo ground (where Rockwall Tourist Park is now, on the other side of town). It is not recorded in the logbook of the aerodrome, which wasn’t created for anoth...er decade. The aeroplane was a two-seat Avro 504K from the Australian Flying Corps base at Point Cook near Melbourne, flown by Captain Gordon ‘Skipper’ Wilson, MC AFC DCM. A former wartime fighter pilot over France, Wilson was flying his passenger, Corporal Percy McNamara of Forbes, to towns in western NSW to promote the sale of government bonds for the First Peace Loan scheme. This was an extension of the war loan schemes which had funded Australia’s fighting role in the Great War. Over Narromine, Wilson performed somersaults (loops) and other aerobatics in the Avro, entertaining a large crowd of onlookers including school children. Some 13,000 was subscribed to the scheme locally before the Avro took off for Peak Hill. Nowadays, with aircraft seen daily over town, it is difficult to appreciate the excitement this generated in those pioneering days. For most townsfolk the spectacle was a complete novelty. The Avro was one of the first aeroplanes west of the Blue Mountains since 1912, when American pilot ‘Wizard’ Stone had demonstrated his Bleriot monoplane at Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo and Forbes. Over Melbourne on Boxing Day 1919, Skipper Wilson performed Australia’s first publicly-witnessed parachute descent from an aeroplane. His pilot for that feat was former WWI fighter ace Captain E. Roy King DSO DFC, a future WWII commander of RAAF Station Narromine. A decade later, Wilson was engaged to be married when he died in a car crash near Bogan Gate, 100 km south of Narromine. One of the pallbearers at his funeral in Newcastle was the famous aviator Charles Ulm, who placed a laurel wreath in the shape on an aircraft on his coffin, and later made a flypast over the cemetery after the service. Wilson’s Avro 504K was a type which became the ‘workhorse’ of 1920s flying in both military and civilian hands. Some notable pilots flew Avros to Narromine, including Charles Kingsford Smith (1921) and Arthur Butler (1928); another example was the first Qantas aircraft in 1920. A replica Avro is high on the museum’s ‘wish list’ of future acquisitions.
17.01.2022 On the occasion of the centenary of Armistice Day in 1918, I thought it would be appropriate to begin a series of war service notes on the founding committee men of Narromine Aero Club (founded in 1929) who had fought during 1914-18. These are summarised from my book "Too damned far out west: Narromine's flying century" (phone orders to Peter Kierath on (02) 68894444). H. Bowden Fletcher (club founder and secretary) A former Narromine stock & station agent living at the time ...Continue reading
16.01.2022 1914-18 Post No.5 "In the war we were considered lucky if we lasted for more than a hundred hours of flying" Thus remarked Narromine Aero Club's vice-president G. Bruce Irvine (1897-1974) in March 1937. Until that time, Irvine was the club's only pilot. Born in Wagga Wagga, NSW, he grew up in Melbourne and was already in military service when the First World War broke out. In February 1914, aged just 17, he had sailed for Europe with Captain Rushall’s Australian Mounted Cadet...Continue reading
16.01.2022 1914-18 Post No.4 Harry Thrall Narromine Aero Club committee member and Shell Oil agent Harry Thrall enlisted in the AIF at Cootamundra in March 1916, and sailed for overseas service in September. From the following February he served in France with 'A' Company, 3rd Battalion. ... In May 1917 he was hospitalised to England suffering from septic legs. On his release he transferred to the Australian Flying Corps as an aircraft mechanic. After training he was posted to 67 Squadron (later 1 Squadron) AFC in the Sinai-Palestine war theatre in January 1918. Aircrew in this squadron included club founder Bowden Fletcher and such famous names as Ross Smith and Qantas founders Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness. After the war, Harry Thrall was Mentioned in Despaches (MID) by General Allenby. Returning to Australia aboard the transport ship Port Sydney in August 1919, he moved to Narromine and ran an automotive garage and engineering business.
14.01.2022 Photo: Wrigley and Murphy's BE.2e after arrival at Darwin on 12 December 1919. It had landed at Narromine on 18 November. At left is Sir Ross Smith's Vickers Vimy which arrived from England two days earlier. (Image courtesy of State Library of South Australia).
13.01.2022 1914-18 Post No.6 W/Cdr Tom Baillieu DFC Although Tom Baillieu's connection with Narromine didn't come until 1941 when he began a two-year posting as commanding officer of the RAAF station, he, like Bowden Fletcher, had the distinction of having served as an airman during both world wars.... In March 1918 he joined 3 Squadron which was the Australian Flying Corps’ reconnaissance unit in the Somme district of France. He piloted RE.8 biplanes on a variety of operations including bombing and strafing, contact patrols, and artillery-ranging patrols (ie, observing and reporting on the accuracy of Allied artillery fire). On 6 June his RE.8 was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed just inside Australian lines. Suffering from concussion, he was hospitalised in England. Another crash on 11 September again put him in hospital and ended his wartime flying. Like many Australian servicemen he brought home some souvenirs, and thanks to his son Tim these now form a rare display in the Narromine Aviation Museum. The items include not only the aircraft identification cut from the tail fabric of his crashed RE.8 (serial C2270), but even its large, four-bladed wooden propeller, complete with a bullet hole, which was cut into four and crated for transport. Baillieu was also the proud owner of a small piece of fabric from the Fokker Triplane of Manfred von Richthofen (germany's 'Red Baron'), which he cut from it after the baron had been shot down and killed on 21 April 1918. It joins Baillieu's uniform, Sidcot fur-lined flying suit and war medals on display in the museum. Two other notable airmen flew in Baillieu's squadron. Henry Wrigley flew the second aircraft ever to land at Narromine, in 1919, and was later influencial in the development of airpower strategy for the RAAF. Nigel Love was the co-founder, that same year, of Sydney's Mascot Airport. Love arranged for Sir Ross Smith's famous Vickers Vimy to divert to Sydney in February 1920 after it had landed at Narromine, following its success in the Great England to Australia Air Race. Postscript: During the Second World War Baillieu, after commanding RAAF Station Narromine, was seconded to the United States Army Air Force for three months in 1943. He commanded a B-25 medium bomber squadron of the 38th Bombardment Group, stationed at Garbutt Airfield in Townsville. Images below: 1. Lt Baillieu posing (centre) with squadron personnel. They are standing behind the remains of the Red Baron's aircraft after it had been stripped for souvenirs, 21 April 1918. 2. An RE.8 reconnaissance aircraft (serial C2242) of 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, after crash-landing in France. The photograph caption states that this is believed to be the RE.8 crash-landed by Tom Baillieu on 6 June 1918; his usual RE.8 had the tail serial C2270. 3. An entry from the 3 Squadron operational diary describing one of his combat flights 4. The citation for his award of the Distinguished Flying Cross in August 1918
12.01.2022 HISTORIC RE-ENACTMENT LANDINGS AND PRESENTATIONS This coming Saturday 14 March, three (possibly four) 'centenary re-enactment' aircraft, en route from Darwin to Adelaide, will land at Narromine Aerodrome. ETA is 5pm (weather permitting), but could be as early as 4:30. They will stay two nights and leave early Monday morning. This re-enactment for light, ultralight and historic aircraft will finish in Adelaide on 23 March, a hundred years to the day since Ross and Keith Smith ...landed their Vickers Vimy at their home town after making the first flight from England to Australia. The headline aircraft are two ultra-modern machines: a Chaika amphibian flown by Michael Smith (Australian Geographic Magazine Adventurer of the year for 2014) and the Pipistrel of Michael Coates of Brisbane. Michael piloted the winning aircraft in the 2007 and 2008 Google/NASA Centennial Challenge for fuel-efficient aircraft. PLEASE COME TO THE AERODROME TO GREET THEM! A BBQ for the participants and visitors will be held that night and Sunday night at the Gliding Club. On Sunday from 10am the museum's curator, Mike Nelmes, will give a tour of the museum (focussing on the Smith brothers display), plus an illustrated talk in the Gliding Club about the Great Air Race; and a visit to the Smith crew memorial cairn on the golf course. (The talk was to have been on Saturday night, but the organiser has suggested Sunday is preferable.) Here's the route of the re-enactment aircraft, roughly following the Smith Brothers' 1919/20 route: Darwin, Daly Waters, the AACo stations of Anthony Lagoon, Brunette Downs and Avon Downs, Cloncurry, Longreach, Charleville, Caboolture, Bourke, NARROMINE, Richmond or Luskintyre, Shellharbour (HARS, Albion Park), Temora, Cootamundra, Benalla, Lilydale or Little River airfields, Point Cook, Nhill, Gawler (Adelaide) and Aldinga (Adelaide). For more details, see http://ahsansw.com/. Please phone Mike Nelmes (0458 501446) with queries. Photo: Michael Smith with his Chaika Sea Bear amphibian (courtesy Tom Lockley)
12.01.2022 CENTENARY OF SIR ROSS SMITH'S LANDING AT NARROMINE Locals and visitors might like to pay a visit on Thursday 13 February to the small rock cairn on Narromine's golf links. It was laid 50 years ago to mark the 50th anniversary of Narromine's seminal aviation event: the arrival of the Vickers Vimy aircraft after it had won the Great Air Race from England to Australia. Here's how "Narromine News" reported our town’s entry onto the world stage on Friday, 13 February 1920:...Continue reading
10.01.2022 CENTENARY OF SIR ROSS SMITH'S LANDING AT NARROMINE (CONTINUED) The Great Air Race put Narromine on the London to Melbourne air route, and sparked an interest in aviation among the townsfolk which has been kept alive for a century. It led to the formation of the aero club in 1929, the establishment of a major RAAF training base in World War II, and the aerodrome’s designation as the alternative to Sydney International Airport after the war. On 17 November 1994, a replica Vimy... visited Narromine Aerodrome after making a 75th anniversary re-enactment flight from England. That replica is now at the museum at Brooklands, UK, where the original Vimy was built and where Ross Smith died in an air crash in 1922. Today the legacy of the Vimy’s remarkable flight, in which Narromine played a part, is all around us. The globe is crossed daily by passenger jets that would have amazed that gallant crew a century ago. In recognition, two centenary re-enactment flights have been made. Last November / December Mike Smith in a Sea Bear amphibian aircraft flew the route from England, and Stefan Drury in a Cirrus S22 light aircraft re-enacted Wrigley & Murphy’s Melbourne-to-Darwin survey flight, stopping at Narromine on 5 December. On 14 March Smith’s Sea Bear, along with other aircraft, are scheduled to stop at Narromine as they re-enact the Vimy’s Darwin -Melbourne - Adelaide flight. The museum includes displays about the Great Air Race, and sells these recently-printed centenary books: Flight to Fame by Peter Monteath (a reprint of Sir Ross Smith’s 1922 account of the Great Air Race) Long Flight Home by Lainie Anderson (a semi-fictional account of the flight) Anzac & Aviator by Michael Molkentin (the story of Ross Smith and the air race) Too Damned Far Out West: Narromine’s Flying Century by Michael Nelmes
08.01.2022 Here's the Narromine News article about the centenary fly-in on the 14/15th March, with 5 photos: https://www.narrominenewsonline.com.au//centenary-flight/ and also this from last month:... https://www.narrominenewsonline.com.au//centenary-of-flig/
07.01.2022 1914-18 Post No.2 Frederick Ballhausen Narromine Aero Club committee Fred Ballhausen (1888-1969) arrived in Narromine from Dubbo as a bank worker at the age of 14. He served in the militia with the NSW Mounted Rifles before becoming among the first locals to enlist in the AIF (and a very early enlistee country-wide, as his number 472 attests). He signed up while visiting Goulburn on 27 August 1914, and soon farewelled his parents in Dubbo.... He was made a provisional corporal in just a couple of weeks, and joined C Squadron of the 1st Light Horse Regiment which embarked from Sydney on 20 October. In Egypt he was promoted to staff sergeant and transferred to Base Depot Headquarters as a records clerk, and then as a warrant officer transferred to AIF Headquarters. By June 1916, when the 14th Infantry Brigade sailed from Egypt for service in France on the Western Front, he was serving in its canteen section and was mentioned in despatches for his skills in administration. He spent nearly a year in France until, in April 1917, he was promoted to quartermaster and honorary lieutenant and transferred to the administrative headquarters of the AIF in London. Just a week before the war ended, he sailed for home. A non-standard issue uniform worn by him during his initial training in the AIF in Australia in 1914, left behind with his family when he sailed for Egypt, is in the collection of the Australian War Memorial. On his return to Narromine, Ballhausen partnered with Ken Smith to form Ballhausen & Smith stock & station agents. Later he partnered with fellow aero club founder Bruce Irvine to form Ballhausen & Irvine. His many civic offices included alderman in the municipal council, secretary of the Narromine branch of the NSW Graziers’ Association and of the polo club, and president of the bowling club and of the Far West District Bowling Association.
06.01.2022 1914-18 Post No.3 H.W. (Bert) Kierath Narromine Aero Club vice-president and Vacuum Oil Company rep. Narromine-born Bert Kierath (1898-1967) enlisted in the AIF in January 1918, and embarked on the troopship HMAT Orontes from Sydney in June. He served in France with the 35th Field Artillery, 1st FA Brigade, during the last month of the war. He had to wait until August 1919 before sailing for home aboard the troopship Seuvic.... During the Second World War, too old for front-line service, he served with Narromine's Volunteer Defence Corps. His younger siblings Lawrence (Tyson), Monica, Ray, Greg and Reg all saw service during that war. Ray (born 1908) served in the army as a captain in New Guinea, while Greg (born 1912), also a captain, commanded the 20th Anti-tank Company in North Africa. He was killed at Tobruk in the Easter battle of April 1941, receiving a posthumous Mention in Despatches (MID). Reg became a pilot with the RAAF, flying Kittyhawks in North Africa with 450 Squadron. He was shot down and imprisoned by the Germans at Stalag Luft III, and was shot to death shortly after the Great Escape in 1944.
05.01.2022 AUSFLY back in Narromine 8-10 October 2020
05.01.2022 The museum's annual newsletter for members, mailed out last September, is now available here by clicking on Menu at left.
04.01.2022 The Narromine Aviation Museum is pleased to announce we will be re-opening this long weekend on Saturday 6th of June. Usual trading hours of 10am to 4pm. Social distancing and a limit of numbers in the museum at a time will apply. We look forward to seeing you all again.
03.01.2022 Around midday today, Stefan Drury is due to land at Narromine en route from Point Cook (VIC) to Darwin. Stefan is flying a Cirrus SR22 G3 to re-create a pioneering flight: Captain Henry Wrigley and Sergeant Arthur Murphy's journey in a BE.2e biplane in 1919, the first trans-Australia flight. Wrigley and Murphy were heading to Darwin to greet Sir Ross Smith's crew after their historic flight from England, and to survey the route Smith would take to Melbourne. The original land...ing at Narromine took place on what is now the golf course on 18 November 1919, but Stefan's arrival is a couple of weeks past the 100 year mark so that he arrives in Darwin to mark the centenary of the landing there on 12 December. To track his flight, go to http://www.stef747.com/wrigley-murphy-flight-melbourne-dar/. As I write this, he is just south of Seymour VIC; tonight he will stay at Bourke. For background to this journey see http://www.stef747.com//recreating-the-wrigley-murphy-fli/. See more
02.01.2022 IMPORTANT NOTICE Following health advice regarding Coronavirus, unfortunately the museum has had to be closed until further notice.
