Central Australian Aviation Museum - Alice Springs

Central Australian Aviation Museum. Alice Springs.

Perry Morey, museums historian and Victor Coote, Gold Coast War Museum.

Douglas D.C-3, Connellan Airways.

Display of aircraft radios and instruments.

Wackett CA-6 Trainer, forced landing in Great Victoria Desert of South Australia Jan 13th 1962.
Was not found for 3 years, despite one of the greatest searches ever mounted in Australian
aviation history. The remains of the pilot, James Knight, were never recovered. The aircraft
was recovered by Bill Kinsman in 1977 and restored 1981-82.

The Wackett before its recovery from the desert.

Royal Flying Doctor Service Aircraft.

Grave of “Flynn of the Inland” founder of The Flying Doctor Service.

Kookaburra display.

In 1929 Charles Kingsford Smith accompanied by three others set out from Sydney
for London in the Southern Cross. A severe storm forced a landing at Coffee
Royal, a mud flat in N.W. Australia. The radio had failed, searchers took 12 days to find them.
Keith Anderson & Bob Hitchiock set off to search in G-AUKA KOOKABURRA but crash landed
in the Northern Territory, both men died of thirst. In 1978 the remains of the Kookaburra was
recovered and is now on display at the Central Australian Aviation Museum.
A check on the 80HP CIRRUS engine revealed that a faulty valve tappet caused engine failure.