Vintage show

A museum is usually a place that confines itself to static displays, but that’s certainly not the case with the Temora Aviation Museum, as Ben Caddaye reports

The eye-catching MkVIII Spitfire, with David Lowy in the cockpit, takes to the skies over Temora. Photo by SGT William Guthrie

Temora Aviation Museum pilots Phil Shaw, Peter Anderson and Stewart Ross in front of the museum’s Canberra Bomber. Photo by CPL Mark Eaton

The Roulettes put on a spectacular demonstration at a show last year. Photo by SGT William Guthrie

About the museum

Temora Aviation Museum is located just outside Temora in central-west New South Wales. The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am-4pm. Flying weekends are held once a month. Admission is $8 for adults, $4 for children and $5 for seniors. For details visit the museum’s web site at aviationmuseum.com.au or phone (02) 6977 1088.

Flying schedule

March 22-23; April 19-20; May 17-18; June 7-8 (Queen’s Birthday long weekend); July 5-6; August 16-17.

ON a scorching January day, hundreds of spectators gather at an airfield near the New South Wales central-west town of Temora with their eyes and camera lenses aimed skyward.

High above them, an historic Canberra Bomber piloted by former Canadian Air Force pilot Darren Crabb pitches and heads for a low flypast over the runway.

Cameras click in unison as the Canberra – the only civilian Canberra in the world still flying – roars over the crowd, all of whom are clearly enjoying the spectacle.

It’s the Australia Day long weekend and the Temora Aviation Museum is holding one of its regular flying weekends.

Held roughly once a month, the flying weekends offer aviation enthusiasts and interested members of the public the opportunity to see the museum’s aircraft collection take to the skies.

On this particular weekend, a C-47, Wirraway, 01 Dog Bird, Spitfire, Meteor and two Cessna A-37 Dragonflies join the Canberra on the flying schedule.

“The purpose behind the museum is to maintain in flying condition aircraft used by the Australian Defence Force and its allies,” museum founder and president David Lowy says.

“A lot of people say to me ‘do you want to risk flying them?’ and I say ‘yes, aircraft are meant to be flown’.”

When Lowy, a businessman and former champion aerobatic pilot, expressed interest in establishing an aviation museum dedicated to aircraft and pilots who had defended Australia, Temora Aerodrome had all the attributes.

Temora was rich in aviation history, had a welcoming population, a cooperative local council, good weather, flat terrain and uncontrolled airspace below 20,000 feet.

The museum opened in mid-2000 and proved so popular that an exhibition building, theatre, gift shop, playground and picnic area were added a year later.

In 2002, the museum’s aircraft collection was moved into a new hangar. The original one is in the process of being turned into a restoration and maintenance facility.

Temora’s flying weekends attract people from near and far. Visitors come from as close as Temora and the surrounding district and as far away as the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Japan.

Crowds average around the 800 mark, but a couple of flying days held late last year featuring the Air Force Roulettes attracted more than 2600 people.

Steve Gardner, of Goulburn, and his sons Sean, 9, and Ryan, 8, are among the first-time visitors to the museum on the Australia Day weekend. They get stiff necks from watching the constant procession of aircraft above them.

Steve discovered the museum on the Internet and decided to bring his sons, both young aircraft enthusiasts, to see some of the collection in action.

“I want to be a fighter pilot when I grow up,” Sean says, adding that his favourite aircraft are A4s, Spitfires and Mustangs.

Wagga resident John Grigg is also making his first visit to the museum, along with his sons, Nicholas, 10, and Alex, 14, and family friend James, 13.

“The kids have a couple of model aircraft at home and it’s an interest I’m trying to foster,” he says as a Wirraway buzzes overhead.

Inside the museum’s exhibition hangar, away from the 40 degree-plus heat, Rodney Forbutt, of Young, is showing his son Isaac, 4, and nephew Chris, 11, a Tiger Moth, which is on static display. It’s also his first visit and he says his family is enjoying it immensely.

Later in the afternoon, when the flying is finished, Rodney, Isaac and Chris venture out on to the flightline with the rest of the crowd to view the aircraft up close and chat to the pilots.

Lowy, who has just come back down to earth after thrilling onlookers in the eye-catching MkVIII Spitfire, sheds some light on the history of the aircraft.

“It’s not only about the machinery, it’s about the people behind them. So each of the aircraft are painted to represent a particular person, or a squadron.”

The Spitfire’s markings, he says, are painted to represent Australian World War II ace Wing Commander Bobby Gibbs. “I actually painted it without telling him, brought him and a few old Spitfire pilots down here, opened the hangar and they all had tears in their eyes,” Lowy says.

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