Australian Tail Piece?
Treble Three served at RAAF Edinburgh, Southern Australia when attached to No. 2 Air Trials Unit RAAF where other Canberras were used along with other aircraft.
In the course of last year we were contacted by Waynne Lee, a Committee Member and Volunteer with the South Australian Air Museum in Port Adelaide. Here they have preserved Canberra B.2 WK165 which is painted white as she would have been when performing trials over Woomera. They also have the fuselage of Canberra T.4 WD954 which had come from the now defunct Warbirds Aviation Museum, Mildura which is kept off site in open storage. The T4 nose of WD954 is currently under restoration.
Waynne continues the tale:
“We have the fuselage of WD954 in open storage just in case it may be of use to ourselves or other Canberra owners. Late last year (2009) I had driven up to this location to put some stuff away in my storage shed. I decided to have a ferret around to see what could be donated to WK165.
I had removed a few items from the fuselage and then poked my head up into the rear fuselage. I found a few items of interest and as I was climbing out I noticed a Control Lock poking out from under a pile of odds and ends. I thought “this will look good fitted to 165” and placed it in the boot of my car.
It wasn’t until I went to close the boot lid that I noticed it had an aircraft serial number on it.”
Waynne Lee’s photo of the Elevator Control Lock recovered from the fuselage of Canberra WD954.
“I must admit I was surprised as I had only recently been given a heap of info on WT333 by John Sheehan. Not sure how it ended up in there.
‘954 was acquired from another Museum but prior to that it was languishing at the back of RAAF Base Edinburgh until disposal in the early 80’s. One of our museum members, then in the RAAF, was involved with the cutting off of the wings as directed by the then new owner. It’s a good chance that during the time both of these aircraft operated together, the locks were mixed up. “
Waynne very kindly decided that the Control Lock should be reunited with Treble Three and so it was duly despatched to the Northern Hemisphere and just before the August Open Day, and after a gap of some 41 years, the two were together once more.