The Boomerang Story
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- Опубліковано 24 кві 2021
- The CAC Boomerang was a WW2 fighter aircraft designed and manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation between 1942 and 1945. Approved for production shortly following the Empire of Japan's entry into the Second World War, the Boomerang was rapidly designed as to meet the urgent demands for fighter aircraft to equip the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It was the first combat aircraft designed and constructed in Australia.
The Boomerang was a small single-engine monoplane fighter aircraft, designed with an emphasis on high manoeuvrability. It had a stubby appearance, which had resulted from the structure being derived from the smaller Wirraway being paired with a considerably larger engine in the form of a 1,200 horsepower (890 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engine, which drove a three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller, license-built by de Havilland.
[Information from Wikipedia] - Наука та технологія
![A Domestic Failure That Became An International Success | Curtiss P-36 Hawk [Aircraft Overview #33]](/img/n.gif)
I fell in love with this aircraft 50 odd years ago when I read about it in a book at school in England. So much so that when I got my 2 shillings and sixpence pocket money that week I rushed off to Woolworths and bought a 1/72 scale Airfix kit, like most lads in those days I had loads of these models hanging for the bedroom ceiling. There is something about it, I guess all I can say is it was a beaute, as you Aussies would say. Shame there's only one left.
It was abouit 45 years ago for me. I also had models hanging from the ceiling. I'd never heard of this aircraft before I saw one of the Airfix 1/72nd kits as well. The one in a plastic bag hanging from a cardboard lable. I think I'll try and find another kit and make it again.
@@petercollingwood522 Hi Pete that's the one! Happy days of innocent fun before the invention of more technologically advanced ways of entertainment.
Indeed.
I built that one too. It's such a cute little plane 😁👍
Im a bit younger and played a video game where you get to fly them. Amazing machines made, supported, and flown by heros.
My grandfather came out to Australia in 1939 from England to work as an aviation engineer with the CAC. It established us in Melbourne where we still are today. The Wirraway and Boomarang were the aircraft he worked on.
Your grandfather is a hero.
Always impressed by the thought anyone could go to war in that era of aircraft
These are the real life stories that need to be preserved before time and TikTok make them forgotten memories. This was real reality, not that garbage they have on TV now.
Thanks for sharing, brought back fond memories of when I was a young airframe apprentice at CAC in the early 80's. Actually worked on the restoration of that Boomerang A46-30 that's on display at Laverton aircraft museum it was a very interesting time.
I worked at CAC in the 1970's and you apprentices couldn't have had a better training ground than to be restoring that aircraft. CAC and GAF are a great loss to Australia the skill sets lost will never be seen in this country ever again
Bought the VHS video from a Salvos charity shop in Deer Park, in Melb's west, yesterday and it went straight into my aviation industry museum cupboard.
Thx for the upload.
Such a beautiful aircraft!!!
Boomerangs are super cool and a pure blast to fly I'm sure. No matter where they were in the world, a huge huge thank you for fighting for freedom. Outstanding documentary.
WOW!! Just found this video and brought back some memories. I used to work in Toowoomba, just across the road from the airport, and saw Guido or his crew flying many of his collection, That Sea Fury was sooooo wonderful to hear take off LOL, One of our fabricators was part of the band of volunteers that helped Guido with restorations, and I was lucky enough to see this Boomer when it was mid restoration, and now I can see it flying..whoot whoot.
Thank you for your kind words.
Great story, you Aussies ROCK! Glad that we fought on the same side,,,
Pure Aussie grit relating to the story of the pilot undergoing a forced landing due to a broken fuel selector lever. He was able to get help from a passing biker with a toolkit in order to make the necessary fuel valve change to a full tank and fly back to base. It seems every Australian is a handyman and technical genius due to the isolated nature of the country.
A tough look aircraft. Brilliant desing.
Terrific video! The Boomerang looks like a cross between a P-36 Mohawk and an F4F Wildcat. The designers took the best attributes of what was available in 1941 and came up with the plane. Great use of available talent and resources. Glad to see that people respect that and are rebuilding flyable planes from junk.
That was often said about the Boomerang
Funny, the British called the P-36 the Mohawk, while the Americans called it the Warhawk. I always liked the way the 'Hawk' series looked, but they suffered from poor engine performance and couldn't operate well at high altitudes. At mid to low-level flights, they were excellent, and they had a rep of being able to dive fast and take the G forces well. Very strongly designed, too. Like the F4F and the Jug, they could take a lot of punishment and keep on flying.
Greg Board, the test pilot interviewed in this video, was also the leader of a group that repaired to flying condition, then flew three B-17 bombers from the US to England for the film "The War Lovers", in about 1960 or '61. Author Martin Caiden flew as copilot of the lead bomber and wrote about their journey and escapades in the book "Everything But The Flak".
Any aviation enthusiast should try to find and read this book. It is a fascinating true story!
The one true story Martin Cadin wrote.
I read a ton of Martin Cadin books growing up and was saddened to find in adulthood that he never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
@@kellybreen5526 I read cyborg back in the 60s, great yarn for a 12 year old kid!
@@kellybreen5526 Well, I met Martin Cadin before they went on that flight, (I was 6 years old) and I read the book later in life. It was true to life. I should know..... When the 3 B-17's landed in UK, Martin Cadin, Greg and John Crewdson (who flew the high speed low pass in the movie) went up the road and bought themselves each a Brietlling AOPA 24 hour Navitimer. I have Gregs in my drawer.
@@markboard3258 That is an awesome memory to have.
Thank you for reference to one Caidin book still unread-- "Everything but the Flak". Caidin's writing was always good, but after his untimely death at 70, his books have become collector's items. For example, the current price of "Everything but the Flak", in paperback, is $50.00 (US).
The days when Australia had a manufacturing industry.
Very interesting aircraft! When I was a kid (late fifties to seventies) I was a warplane model builder fiend,. I don’t remember this one though. I would love to have a chance to build the model. I do remember the big clunky Buffalo and built that one. Over here in America , our Hero’s flew P-51s, P-40s, F-4Us, P-38s and my fathers ride in the War was as Nose Gunner and 2nd Radioman in a B-24.. he brought back several souvenirs from his duty in the Pacific theatre. Thanks for this video history lesson.
My first aeroplane model was the Boomerang.
Thanks for this.
At 12:43, Greg Board makes clear the Boomerang lacked speed and maneuverability of the Zero, comparing it to the Brewster Buffalo, in which he fought off Zeros in the battle for Singapore.
As a "six-month wonder", the Boomerang is an amazingly practical design. Especially enjoyed the bonus at 13:37, showing steps of the restoration.
Cinematography is excellent, and the dreamy opening sequence for a Boomerang flight is surprisingly effective.
The US sent fighters to Australia, but was preoccupied with holding back the Japanese in the Solomons, so Australia never would be forced to use them in large numbers. The Curtis P40 was no match for the Zero, either, and that made the very early war largely a carrier and bomber campaign.
Reading up on the CAC Boomerang; after the airframe became obsolete, it still remained in service to as a FAC, dropping smoke bombs and guiding in the strike forces. -So a plane that was designed early in the war, when the situation looked very grim just kept on going and kept having a function.
I remember Airacobra pilot, Edwards Park, recounted how his squadron would fly cover for Boomerangs engaging in ground attack sorties. On the way home from missions, he recounted how the Aussies would engage in mock dogfights with their American counterparts, whereby the highly maneuverable Boomerangs persistently flew circles around the P-39's and trounced them with ease.
Considering the aicraft's performance and level of involvement in the combat zone, it seems amazing that not once, was the CA Boomerang ever credited with so much as one confirmed aerial kill.
It was.
@@MichaelKingsfordGray It was?
Excellent video of a plane that I never heard of. Glad to see that it found its own niche roll as a ground attacker and bombing marker. Will be now trying to find a kit on the tinterwobble and make it up to send to my Brother in Australia. Cheers.
Can you imagine a Boomer-rang with a Merlin or a PW R2800. Small, manuverable, and "Awesome" performance with good fuel economy.
One of my all time favourite aircraft !.
Great video. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for the Video. I wonder how many Boomerangs are in flying condition. The Boomerang reminds me of the I-16 Polikarpov.
Definitely a cool plane.
Quite a beautiful aircraft.
I've always had a soft spot for the Boomerang.
Interesting to hear the gentleman speak about blood chits and how they go back that far in aviation history.
I'm glad someone had the foresight to save this plane, since it was slated for scrap
Aussie refused these bad ass demons of the sky to MacArthur even as he begged. P38s be wholly inadequate and all.
must be eye watering to be working in the fog produced by the fogging machine in the beginning ;P good video and aircraft overall!
What caused the ‘whistle’? I just attended the ‘Wings over Illawarra’ and watched / listened to this remarkable aircraft doing its stuff!
Either the air over the gunports or the intake. The jury is out and there are a lot of pub arguments over it. With the P-51 it's certainly the gunports but with the radial set up for the Boomerang it could be the engine intake.
Kermit Weeks is restoring one of these
Mathew Bolton is doing for him at Caboolture airport
In 1941 we could design & build aircraft, even if they weren't the best.
In 2021 we can write IOU's.
Overseas, the NA-16 had already become the basis of the North American NA-50 fighter (also known as the P-64), which had been used by the Peruvian Air Force in the 1941 Ecuadorian-Peruvian War. Crucially, CAC's licence to manufacture the Wirraway already contained a clause allowing the design to be modified.[4] Accordingly, Wackett decided to use the airframe of the Wirraway as a starting point for the design of the new domestic fighter; this choice had the advantage of requiring little additional tooling; it also had the effect of reducing the timescales that would be involved in the design phase and to establish the manufacturing of the new aircraft.[5]
Great documentary... but the music is from a 1970s cinema advert.
Nah you just need a disco ball and lights to get in the spirit.
Pudgy & pugnacious like the Digger spirit !
Maybe you can use the old parts as patterns to remanufacture them
The Boomerang was a great plane, it had its own sound when it flew. But the engine was just too weak. around 1500-1800 hp. that would have been just right. she is very, very agile and with a more powerful engine she would certainly have been a strong fighter in the air. I love this plane. It shows that Australia can also build very good planes 😉. Thank you for the great video 👍👍👍.
Some effort was spent trying to improve peformance like installing a turbo-supercharger from a B17 into a prototype designated the CA-14 but sadly interest waned when license production of the P-51 Mustang became available.
I have to correct the mistaken assumption that they were ZEROS, they weren't, Zeros, (Mitsubishi A6M) was only a Naval aircraft, the Japanese planes which strafed Darwin were A4Ms or A5Ms which were land based army aircraft
Sokka would love this
I was at albion park that day...i think the nepture got bogged.
However, Australian-made Beauforts used 1,200 horsepower (890 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines, which were made under licence at the CAC plant in Lidcombe, Sydney.[5]
The special effects in this video are not very special😂 . But very interesting and thank you for posting this
A great bit of Australian aviation and WWII history. I got to see and hear the Boomerang at Tyab.
Sadly from memory it crashed at a later date killing the pilot.
Guido died in an T-6 trying to return to the airport after an engine failure, the boomerang is still flying today.
@@briansanders5365
Thanks for that mate
Thank you for sharing...and seeing as it was made in Melbourne, i'm assuming that most of its test flights would've been made there. So at @12:01..could that be the YOU YANGS in the background?
the plane that always comes back to bite you.
Look up Col Pay from Scone Australia. Warbird collection. Marvellous viewing.
The Americans were in the war at the time the Repulse and POW were sunk on 10 Dec 1941, 2 days after Pearl Harbor.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story! ;-)
Will Australia have the capacity to produce useful aircraft during the next large conflict?
Probably not, to be honest, or it would be a hell of a struggle, since we rely on manufacturing overseas. But, if push comes to shove, probably surprise ourselves.
@@peteanderson2533 The Boomerang was developed in very similar circumstancee re technical and manufacturing capacity. However, the technical challenges would mean a development cycle measured in decades, not months. I suspect any war would have to be fought with what is to hand or can be sent from Europe or the US. Hopefully, it won't happen but si vis pacem, parabellum.
No we've learnt nothing .
HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk on 10 December 1941, not in mid November as Alan Bolton recalls (2 minutes in). America was well and truly in the war by that time, because it was three days after Pearl Harbor.
Yep, when glaring mistakes like that are made straight up, it pretty well kills the credibility of anything else that comes after!
Don't know much about the Boomerang, did they do any good in the ground attack role?
Also explains the name Millingimbi ghost!
At 6:12 this video makes the claim that the Milingimbil Ghost is the only example of an airworthy Boomerang flying. Was the video made before the A46-122 "Suzy Q"-- CA-13 was restored to flying condition, or has something happened to "Suzy Q" that I haven't heard about?
Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed your post, and have given it a thumbs up/like!
Sounds like this video is early '90s.
I saw Suzy Q and another Boomerang at Temora in March 2021. See link above.
This video was made in 1994.
Death trap facing the zeros etc?
Worked better then holding your arms out and flapping them. That was the alternative being faced when it was conceived.
The Brewster Buffalo was actually a better plane than the Zero.... You just had the fly it right and not get into a turning fight with a Zero or Oscar. The Buffalo could transfer altitude for speed a lot better than the Zero and was a lot more controllable at high speed than the Zero. Thus it was more attuned to fighting in the vertical plane using Zoom and Boom tactics and maintaining a high energy state. The Finnish pilots obliterated the Russian airforce in the Brewster Buffalos that they bought from the Americans in the First Winter War against the Soviet Union in 1939. Secondly. No Australian's fought Zeros with the Brewster. Zero's were Navy aircraft, the Australians fought against Japanese Army aircraft in Malaya and Singapore, mostly the Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" and not the Navy's Mitsubishi A6M "Zero".
The Finn's had the advantage of a climate suitable for an aircraft notorious for overheating.
Isn't the Boomerang the 'fighter' version of the Wirraway? And isn't the Wirraway a license built version of the AT-6 texan?
Not really a "version". More using available parts.
And, yes, the Wirraway is a development of the Texan. Sturdier as it was used as a dive and torpedo bomber. Longer range too. May also have had a more powerful engine.
@@paspax No, the Wirraway and it’s Boomerang derivative are versions of the NA36 licenced to CAC by NAA , and built by CAC. The AT6 and it’s Canadian built Harvard cousin are also derived from the NA36.
Would love to see it dogfighting against a soviet RATA :-)
God, if you insist on wearing a jet-jockey helmet like that at least make it a black or dark brown one! ):
Baby
A quaint little aeroplane worth slightly more than a piece of goat shit. History is harsh.
Swaggerlot is available for parties.
Not a good fighter….some use as ground attack.
As a fighter - it was useless ...
Probably one of the worst fighters ever made.
As would circumstance dictate as an air to ground attack fighter it was remarkable