RAAF
Via Ray Mudway
2002 via BRG
Wartime History
Flt/Lt John Lempke
was awarded a DFC flying A9-141 over New Guinea in 1943. A9-141 crashed
at Tocumwal and
was recovered from there. Other parts came from Goodenough and
other locations in Papua New Guinea.
Restoration
Under restoration by the Beaufort
Restoration Group. The
nose and cockpit are 90% restored. Currently
the most advanced Beaufort restoration in the southern hemisphere
and (when completed) will be the only complete and the only flying
example anywhere.
February 2002 Update
The nose and tail sections are complete (apart from
fabric covering) and the wing center-section well on the way. We're
half way thru building the jig for the rear-fuselage using Beaufort
A9-501
(as it's not bent just corroded). Before 141 is put in it
for a total rebuild to flying status, we will do some repair work on the
Australian War Memorials fuselage Beaufort A9-557. We are also restoring
the undercarriage units for AWM and to keep funds coming in we will
continually
need
to take on other projects.
141's wing centre-section is well on the way to being completed (sheet- metal wise) & we're starting on the control tubes for the throttles in the leading-edges etc. Have just recieved a complete Beaufort fin (from Robert Greinert, from Beaufort A9-622) so we can now rebuild the top of 141's fin & rudder to an accurate profile.
Beaufort
