ENew home for veteran Cadet

RAAF Museum Director David Gardner surveys the latest acquisition with CO Combat Support Unit at RAAF Base Williams Wing Commander Steve Edwards.

By Teena Cardillo

A PIECE of the Air Force’s aviation history has taken its place at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook with the arrival of Avro Cadet A6-34.

Acquired from a private collector, the aircraft’s arrival on June 20 was timed according to the weather. As it turned out, the aircraft arrived without a hitch, the Melbourne weather closing in some 20 minutes later. Pilot Scott Taberner, who delivered the aircraft from Tyabb on the Mornington Peninsula, said he was pleased with the flight, despite the colder than usual conditions.

The only surviving airworthy example of its type in Australia, A6-34 is a wood and fabric construction built in 1935. It is one of 34 aircraft operated between the wars by the Air Force, primarily as an intermediate trainer. It served at Point Cook’s No. 1 Flight Training School for several months, and later at Camden, NSW, then the home of Central Flying School.

Museum Curator David Crotty said that the Cadet gave the Air Force the extra training capacity it needed for the expansion of the service just before World War II.

“It also provided an important public face for the Air Force with formation aerobatic performances at air pageants such as the April 1938 display at Flemington Racecourse where three Cadets performed a routine while tied together with light cable,” he said.

“The RAAF Museum is always keen to fill the gaps in our collection from the 1930s. Cadet A6-34 is an important acquisition because it is a genuine pre-World War II aircraft that served into the war years and trained instructors.”

Museum technical staff have removed the aircraft’s civilian registration markings for it to go on public display.

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