VH-SFF ("A59-67") "Wiff-Oh"
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Type: L-237 Ventura PV-1
Msn: 5378
Previous Identities:
| 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. |
| 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 1980 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. |
| 28JUN88 | Departed Oakland for Hawaii crewed by Rob Poynton, Dave Spinelli and Peter Anderson. Mid upper turret had been removed since first attempt. |
| 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". It is believed that the original "Wiff-Oh" was actually 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. |
| Issue | Date | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 01FEB05 |
Added
two images from AUG88 thanks to Graham Mison.
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| 3 | 28AUG02 |
Aircraft
deleted from Australian Register
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Much of
this history is drawn from Peter Anderson's excellent in-depth report in "Warbirds
Worldwide" Numbers 3 and 9.
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