Beaufort’s comeback

Sergeant Diana Hunt is shown the restored Beaufort by ex-Flying Officer Stan Polkinghorne. Photo by LACW Simone Liebelt

By LACW Simone Liebelt

TO commemorate the restoration of A9-557 – the only complete Beaufort bomber aircraft in existence – more than 250 ex-Beaufort squadron members reunited at the Australian War Memorial on March 28.

On display in Anzac Hall until April 27, A9-557 serves as an important symbol of the more than 700 Beauforts that served in the Pacific theatre in World War II. Crash-landing in Taji, New Guinea, on January 20, 1945, it lay abandoned in the jungle for 29 years before being recovered by a private collector. The War Memorial acquired the aircraft in 1992.

John White, Senior Curator of Military Technology, Australian War Memorial, said A9-557 was chosen over other Beaufort restoration projects based on its significant history.

“This particular machine has done over 100 operations in New Guinea and has a distinguished war record, flown by 19 different crews, so it was ideal as a historical artefact to work on,” Mr White said.

After recovering parts from across the country and overseas, taking many years, restoration began on the wing centre section of the aircraft in 1997. A team of conservation and curatorial staff, along with contractors and volunteers, contributed to the fully restored Beaufort now on display.

“The last 18 months has been a tremendous amount of work to pull all those loose ends together to make an aeroplane,” Mr White said. “But the end result is a machine standing on its gear. It preserves examples of the original paintwork, it’s fitted with guns and a bomb site, and you can sit inside each of the major crew positions and imagine yourself back half a century.”

Serving as a tribute to all the Beaufort squadron members involved in serving and maintaining the aircraft in WWII, the commemorative event included a wreath-laying by Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Angus Houston and Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Danna Vale, representing the Prime Minister. Principal Air Chaplain Air Commodore Royce Thompson dedicated the A9-557.

Ex-Flying Officer Stan Polkinghorne and his crew, who flew 29 missions in the aircraft, were present at the event, along with their children and grandchildren. “As a crew we flew 114 strikes in Beauforts,” he reminisced.
“It’s been 59 years since we flew 557 … I think the restoration is absolutely fabulous.”

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