Australia is fortunate to have at least two restored Beaufighters. One resides at the Moorabbin Air Museum in Melbourne, Victoria and another at Camden Museum of Aviation located near Narellan on the south-western outskirts of Sydney, New South Wales. Camden also holds a Beaufighter nose section that was never attached to a complete aircraft. All of these items are quite complete and in good condition, although the engines on the Camden machine are not Beaufighter powerplants.

I am particularly grateful to the staff of Moorabbin Air Museum for their assistance and comprehensive access to their beautifully restored Beaufighter. The collection at Moorabbin includes a wide range of rare and interesting aircraft and is well worth a detour if you are visiting Melbourne.

The Museum is located at the corner of First Street and Second Avenue, Moorabbin Airport, Mentone, and is open seven days a week. More information may be obtained from their website at http://www.netspace.net.au/~gridleys/mam/default.html

The collection at Camden is less well organised but is also packed full of treasures. A large shed houses a Vultee Vengeance, a Meteor F.8, Avro Anson, Firefly, Gannet, Tiger Moth and many other aircraft and artifacts in various states of repair.

 

Click on the Thumbnails to enlarge images.
All photos and captions Copyright © 1999 Brett Green.

 

1. Cockpit (13 Images)

	The view of the pilot's cockpit standing at the top of the crew boarding ladder
	The control column and instrument panel
	Starboard pilot's console
	Port pilot's console
	Throttle quadrant. The orange device is a locking mechanism for the control column
	Radio at rear of fuselage
	View of cabin ceiling looking forward from crew boarding ladder
	Ceiling looking straight up from boarding hatch
	Detail view of starboard sidewall
	Stowage bin for radio operator behind boarding ladder
	Port sidewall looking forward
	Sidewall detail

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2. Fuselage (5 Images)

	Serial A8-186 at Camden Museum of Aviation
	Nose details of A8-186. This is a restored aircraft that probably did not carry these markings in service
	Some wing and engine nacelle fairings are missing
	Another nose, this time a "presentation assembly" for a retiring foreman at Chullora Workshops. Note the detail of the big Sperry autopilot bulge and intake scoop
	Rear fuselage

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3. Main Undercarriage Bay  (5 Images)

	Main gear leg of the Moorabbin Beaufighter
	Main gear leg of the Camden Beaufighter. Note the different tyre tread pattern
	Pressed metal structural detail inside main gear door (Camden)
	Wide view of main gear bay detail (Moorabbin)
	Long view of main gear bay detail (Moorabbin)

 

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4. Empennage and Tailwheel (3 Images)

	Tailwheel detail (Moorabbin)
	Underside of the big elevators. Note the actuator, trim tab and missing lower fuselage fairing
	Rudder hinge and actuator detail

 

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5. Wings (5 Images)

	Air intake and two gun ports on starboard wing
	landing lights, rocket mounting stubs and machine gun ports on port wing
	Landing light detail
	Forward rocket stub detail
	Details of rear rocket mounting stubs

 

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6. Engines and Nacelles (8 Images)

	Engine nacelle (Moorabbin)
	Crankcase and cylinder detail
	Cooling flap detail with actuator and interior detail visible
	Small intakes in the front of forward exhaust cover
	Starboard hedgehog exhaust including detail of rear mount. Note cap on end of exhaust
	Starboard hedgehog exhaust - wider view
	Port side hedgehog exhaust. Note alternate cap arrangement
	Engine nacelle to wing join. Note gap at leading edge and small scoop

 

Additional Beaufighter Resource

 

Pete Myring's "Beaufighter Strike Squadrons" website has a large volume of resource that will be interesting to any Beaufighter fans out there. The website includes original wartime photos, museum pictures, history and links.

You can view "Beaufighter Strike Squadrons" by following this link.

 

Beaufighter Models on HyperScale

        Chris Wauchop's Beaufighter VI Gallery
        Chris Wauchop's Beaufighter X Gallery
        Brett Green's Beaufighter 21 Feature Article

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Images and Text Copyright © 1999 by Brett Green
Page Created 26 September, 1999
Last Updated 09 May, 2002

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