VH-SFF ("A59-67") Wiff-Oh
History:
|
17JUL43 | Brought on charge by Royal Canadian Air Force as 2221. Served with No 115 (BR) Sqn until late 1944. |
11AUG50 | Struck off charge by RCAF. |
53 | Disposed ex RCAF Vulcan ALTA. |
01DEC53 | To Universal Trading Corp, New York, NY as N1590V. |
04DEC53 | To Spartan Aircraft Co, Tulsa, OK for conversion to executive configuration. |
10AUG55 | First flight after executive conversion. |
09MAR54 | To Trade-Ayer Inc, Linden, NJ. |
01JUL58 | To Spartan Aircraft Co, Tulsa, OK. |
NOV61 | Re-registered N159V to Spartan Aircraft Co. |
24AUG64 | Re-registered N159U to Spartan Aircraft Co. |
25FEB69 | To Clark's Aerial Service, Brownfield, TX who modified the aircraft for aerial seeding. |
07OCT77 | To Brownfield Aerial Inc, Brownfield, TX. |
15DEC77 | To Aristera Co, Lubbock, TX. |
02OCT78 | To Juan D. Perez, Tampa, FL. |
04OCT79
|
Photographed at Fort Lauderdale. |
26SEP83 | To Hill Air Co Inc, Fort Lauderdale, FL. |
02JUL85 | To Jim Ricketts of Aero Nostalgia Inc, Stockton, CA. Aircraft had been stored in the open at Fort Lauderdale from 1979 to 1986. |
26SEP86 | Ferried from Fort Lauderdale to Stockton by John Crocker and Bob Love for restoration to military configuration for RAAF Museum in exchange for Canberra A84-229. |
11NOV87 | First post-restoration test flight crewed by Rob Poynton, Blaine Gardner and Peter Anderson. |
11JUN88 | Departed Oakland CA for Hawaii on delivery to Australia. Crewed by Rob Poynton, Jim Czerwinski and Peter Anderson. Turned back with navaid and fuel transfer problems. It was also found that the dorsal turret was causing buffeting so it was removed for shipping to Australia. |
28JUN88 | Departed Oakland for Hawaii crewed by Rob Poynton, Dave Spinelli and Peter Anderson. |
02JUL88 | Departed Honolulu for Majuro crewed by Rob Poynton, Graham Syphers and Peter Anderson. |
05JUL88 | Departed for Tarawa but returned to Majuro after cockpit escape hatch separated in flight. |
10JUL88 | Departed Majuro for Tarawa. After refuelling, the aircraft departed for Honiara. |
11JUL88 | Departed Honiara for Brisbane. |
12JUL88 | Departed Brisbane for Point Cook. |
13JUL88 | Registered VH-SFF to RAAF Museum, Point Cook, VIC. Operates in 13 Sqn markings with assumed serial A59-67, coded SF-F and named Wiff-Oh in tribute to the original Wiff-Oh A59-81 SF-D. |
19NOV96 | Belly landed in a field after double engine failure during an air show at RAAF Richmond, NSW. The aeroplane was subsequently trucked back to Point Cook for static restoration. |
18JUN02 | Struck off register as withdrawn from use. |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThe
presence of this aeroplane in Australia is due almost entirely
to the dedication and personal commitment of Peter Anderson.
This commitment involved personal sacrifice and expense, the
latter extending even to the purchase of fuel for test flights.
Much of this history is drawn from Peter's in-depth coverage of the project which was first published in Warbirds Worldwide (Issues 3 & 9). |
Issue | Date | Remarks |
---|---|---|
10 | 28DEC23 |
Added
an image thanks to Maurice Austin.
|
9 | 02DEC20 | |
8 | 09FEB17 |
Added
an image of the aircraft before restoration
to military configuration. Thanks to Geoff Goodall.
|
7 | 16AUG16 |
Added
an air-to-air image thanks to Bob
Livingstone.
|
6 | 12JUL16 | |
5 | 31MAR16 |
Added
an image of the aircraft after its
forced landing. Thanks to Eric Favelle. Refreshed page layout
with no change to data.
|
4 | 01FEB05 |
Added
two images from AUG88 thanks to Graham Mison.
|
3 | 28AUG02 |
Aircraft
deleted from Australian Register
|