South Australian Aviation Museum in Port Adelaide, South Australia | History Museum

South Australian Aviation Museum

Locality: Port Adelaide, South Australia

Phone: +61 8 8240 1230

Address: 66 Lipson Street 5015 Port Adelaide, SA, Australia

Website: http://www.saam.org.au

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• Non-profit organisation
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• History Museum
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25.01.2022 Thanks to Air Force Association - SA Division for this further post about the loss of FLGOFF Michael Herbert and PLTOFF Bob Carver in Canberra Magpie 91 on 3rd November 50 years ago. Lest we forget.

23.01.2022 Thanks to Lainie Anderson of EFC for this post on Frank Brigg's epic Melbourne-Perth flight 100 years ago. Our much-missed History Group member and author Chas Schaedel wrote a profile of Frank, whom he called 'the forgotten flyer', in July 2018, just 7 months before he died. You can download it here: http://www.saam.org.au/download/frank-briggs/ The profile is full of interesting information about Frank's RFC/RAF days, his return to Australia, his flying in the first Adelaide aerial derby in Sep 1920 in which Harry Butler just beat him, his role as the first or one of the first 'corporate pilots', when he took up the role of pilot for Sunraysia dried fruit mogul C.J. de Garis - and more. In fact de Garis accompanied him with mechanic O.J. Howard in the DH4 on the epic Melbourne-Perth flight...

22.01.2022 Chris Doudy has struck a snag with his Aero 145 VH-WWC restoration - he has 2 starboard ailerons! The aileron rebuild we posted about previously is actually a conversion of one of them from starboard to port - which involves turning over all the ribs and brackets, re-riveting, plus re-shaping the trailing edge... not an easy job. He has also been mulling over the easiest way of re-attaching the wings for static display with the attachment points very hard to access. He decided instead of 4 attachment bolts each side, he would use one top and bottom, each long enough to thread through both brackets. That's Peter Harris holding the bolts he has made up for one side...

22.01.2022 Great to see HARS's progress on the Southern Cross replica restoration. The late Paul Daw landed it with minimal damage after losing a mainwheel at Parafield back in May 2002, and Arts SA subsequently negotiated an agreement with HARS to restore and fly it. I think the agreement included provision to exhibit it periodically in SA... Thanks AHSA/HARS for the post.

21.01.2022 Here's an update from the Epic Flight Centenary page on the commitment of the SA Government to G-EAOU'S relocation at Adelaide Airport.

20.01.2022 Treasure among Andrew Clough's donation of RACSA memorabilia includes this brass plaque commemorating Jimmy Melrose's 1934 UK-Australia MacRobertson Air Race! Jimmy was a Burnside boy, born in 1913 into a family of prominent SA graziers. He learned to fly at RACSA (actually before it became 'Royal') and achieved his A Licence in 1933. SAAM has parts of DH60M Moth VH-ULO, in which he flew. In Sep 1934 he flew his Puss Moth VH-UQO to England to enter the race - having just ach...ieved a round-Australia record in it that August. He was the youngest of 42 contestants, the only solo contestant and had held his licence only 16 months and had only 200 hours in his log book. He came third on handicap - a remarkable achievement. He went on to establish several more records before his untimely death aged only 23 in the crash of his Heston Phoenix, purchased to establish an air taxi business. You can read Mike Milln's profile of his life on our website here: http://www.saam.org.au/download/jimmy-melrose/ The photos are of the plaque, Jimmy in his Puss Moth, his Heston Phoenix and his huge funeral in Melbourne. See more

19.01.2022 Sheryn Foord has just generously donated this Qantas B747 bar trolley (fully stocked!) to us. Sheryn is a great friend of SAAM and the Women Pilots' Association member Thelma Pye - so many thanks Sheryn and thanks too to Thelma for making the connection. Qantas offered the trolleys for sale to Qantas Club members after the disposal of the B747s. John Roberts picked up the trolley with a taxi truck - perhaps slightly overestimating the size of truck needed!

18.01.2022 Here's a profile from the prodigious output of the Air Force Association - SA Division of the tragic 1953 crash of the Bristol freighter at Mallala. Lest we forget. You can also access Peter Ingman's No6SFTS Mallala wartime history on our website here: http://www.saam.org.au/download/no-6-sfts-mallala/ And if you'd like to learn more about the Bristol Freighter, we also published a very interesting article by ex-TAA Captain Ron Austin in our May newsletter about the aircraft in service in New Guinea. You can download it here: http://www.saam.org.au/wp-conte/uploads/2020//PM-May20.pdf

18.01.2022 Here's a flashback photo of the Epic Flight Centenary Committee from last year, and great news about the Foundation. (That's our president, David Byrne, 7th from the left. You may not recognise him in a suit and tie...!)

17.01.2022 Thanks to Maurice Kissane/AHSA for this post. Wilfred had a younger brother, Edgar, who served under him in 4SQN and they both went on to stellar RAF careers, ending up as AVMs. They were South Australian born and SAAM History Group member, the late Chas Schaedel, wrote a profile of them in his "Brothers in Arms" series, which is on our website here: http://www.saam.org.au/download/mccloughry-brothers/ A curious thing about them both was that they changed their names in later life, Wilfred to "McClaughry" and Edgar to "Kingston-McCloughry". Does anybody know why??

15.01.2022 Here's SAAM member and sparky Tony Harvey working on the Singapore Airlines B747-312 9V-SKP model on Saturday. SQ state manager Hugh Chevrant-Breton generously gave us the model a few years ago and it's been on display under the F-27 in Hangar 1. SQ operated the 300 series between 1983 and 2001 as 'Big Tops'. The model has the port side cut away so you can see the incredibly detailed interior. It was lit with flouros, which were causing heat damage, so Tony is rewiring it f...or LEDs with Stuart Bruce helping. It may be the only 300 series undergoing maintenance in the world right now! There are only 5 still flying - or at least there were pre-COVID - and they are in Belarus, Nigeria and Iran. The series didn't sell well and were soon superseded by the -400 series. We'll do another post when Tony's finished and it's back on display. It is well worth a close look - the interior detail is amazing - right down to wine bottles on the bar and magazines on some of the seats! See more

14.01.2022 New-ish member John Fazakerley repaired and inflated our Orion life raft yesterday. It's a great addition to the Orion display in Hangar 2 - you can see it under the aircraft. Well done John!

13.01.2022 Another sad profile of a South Australian airman and his crew, with thanks to the Air Force Association - SA Division. Lest we forget.

13.01.2022 Please join us in a minute's silence in remembrance at 11am. Lest we forget.

11.01.2022 SAAM's proud that we were able to donate the video to Adelaide Airport Ltd, which was edited for the Vimy Memorial display. It's great to see kids on the trail enjoying the history.

11.01.2022 What a good idea - thanks NRM!!

09.01.2022 Jean was excited to see two men on their hands and knees scrubbing a floor today! They are Robin De Vore and Derek Dominish preparing the newly completed engine workshop floor for painting. And that's Peter Page - as handy with a roller as he is with a spray gun - finishing the painting. Nice job.

06.01.2022 Cameron Simister and his partner Danielle visited yesterday. Cameron is a FLTLT navigator on the P8 but previously clocked up hours on our AP-3C A9-756. We just had to get a photo of him and Danielle in the navigator's station!

06.01.2022 It is 101 years ago today that Capt Henry Wrigley and Sgt Arthur 'Spud' Murphy landed their BE2e at Fannie Bay in Darwin after a flight from Pt Cook. It was the first north/south (actually south-north of course) flight across the continent. They had departed Pt Cook on 16 November and travelled 4,500km in 47 flight hours while assessing landing sites for the Vimy's forthcoming flight down from Darwin. They had planned to be in Darwin for the Vimy's arrival, but missed it by 2... days. Ross Smith and the boys were still in Darwin. however, and Wrigley was able to brief them on their findings. Both Wrigley and Murphy had won DFCs during the War, Wrigley with 3Sqn in France and Murphy with 1Sqn in Palestine. They both got AFCs for the Darwin flight and both went on to distinguished RAAF careers. Wrigley was one of the original 21 officers forming the RAAF on its establishment in March 1921, and he retired as an Air Vice-Marshal in 1946. Murphy was actually an aircraft engineer but had been selected for pilot training in Palestine and awarded a temporary commission as a 2nd Lt. He reverted to Sgt on return to Australia, but rose to Air Commodore by his retirement in 1946. A remarkable pair! Photos from the SLSA's fantastic online collection. See more

05.01.2022 Tommy White wasn't South Australian - he was a Victorian - but he was co-founder with Henry Petre of the Victorian Aero Club in 1914. That led to the post-war national aero club movement that included the Australian Aero Club - South Australian Section, which was formed in 1926 at Albert Park. It became the Royal Aero Club of South Australia that was the centre of civil aviation development in SA for so many years. Thanks AFA SA for your post.

05.01.2022 What a great story. Congratulation Thelma and thanks to the Air Force Association - SA Division for the post.

04.01.2022 Visitors and members please note our Lipson Street entrance is closed until Saturday 26th December while the roadway over the railtracks is relaid. Don't worry though, the museum remains open throughout (except Christmas Day). Just continue down to St Vincent St, hang a right, then hang another right on Baker St then Barlow Tce round to the back entrance. The pictured map is hung on the Lipson St gates...

03.01.2022 Thank you Air Force Association - SA Division. SAAM's History Group chairman, Peter Ingman, has written a history of 2BAGS Pt Pirie as one of a series of profiles of SA WWII EATS bases. You can read it on our website here: http://www.saam.org.au/download/raaf-at-port-pirie-history/ Lest we forget.

01.01.2022 SAAM IS OPEN AT 10:30am THIS MORNING! We are back to COVID normal so c'mon down and visit! COVID-Safe plan is in place with scads of sanitiser and frequent cleaning - all you have to do is maintain your 1.5m social distancing!!

01.01.2022 Andrew Clough, son of the late Graham Clough - the last president of the Royal Aero Club of SA - has donated a treasure-trove of club documents and artefacts his father had stored after the club folded. It's going to be a huge job to go through and accession the material to our already large collection of club memorabilia - but what a rewarding job it will be! Our very grateful thanks to Andrew for the donation. Here's small sample - a 1970 postcard from Jean Batten to the club thanking them for a presentation tray. Jean was an English-born NZ aviatrix who beat Amy Johnson's UK-Australia record in 1934, established a UK-Brazil record in 1935 and became the first person to fly UK-NZ in 1936. She joined a very long list of aviation celebrities to visit the club!

01.01.2022 Planning to visit us before Christmas?? If so, don't forget the Lipson Street gate is closed for roadworks until Boxing Day. Here's a pic of the back entrance off Bedord St just between Bower Cr and Perkins Drive. There's a map posted on the Lipson St gate and we've signed the temporary entrance...so you won't have trouble finding it. We've added a few pics of the works in progress...