{"id":236140,"date":"2019-05-22T22:38:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T12:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=236140"},"modified":"2020-07-20T11:27:38","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T01:27:38","slug":"aussie-star-among-the-reds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/05\/22\/aussie-star-among-the-reds\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie Star Among The Reds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Former RAAF pilot Ross Parker, from Caboolture, with his historic Wirraway trainer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

May 22, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you noticed all the warbirds flying in and out of Kingaroy Airport this week?<\/p>\n

The 16 or so aircraft which have been coming and going are from the “Red Radials”, a group of keen pilots keeping military aviation alive in Australia.<\/p>\n

They’re known as “Radials” because all their planes have piston-powered radial engines; and “Red” because most of the aircraft come from either Communist or former Communist countries.<\/p>\n

Many of the planes are either “Yaks” (Yakovlevs), from the former Soviet Union or its satellite countries, or Nanchang trainers from China.<\/p>\n

But among all these “reds”, there is one very proud Aussie.<\/p>\n

The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation-manufactured Wirraway trainer left its Fishermans Bend factory in Victoria in 1945.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the proud possession of former RAAF pilot Ross Parker, from Caboolture, and is one of only three Wirraways still flying in Australia.<\/p>\n

Ross has been flying it for 22 years after it was completely rebuilt in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n

Wirraways would have been a very common sight at Kingaroy Airport during World War II, which was a busy training base.<\/p>\n

All up 755 were manufactured and while most were used as trainers, some did see frontline service.<\/p>\n

Ross said every World War II pilot who learned to fly in Australia would have trained at some stage on a Wirraway, which makes the planes a very important part of Australia’s military history.<\/p>\n

The Red Radials hold two fly-in events every year but this is the first time they’ve come as a group to Kingaroy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Troy Smith, who flew in with an American Beechcraft T-34 military trainer, said the group had decided to split their fly-in this time between Kingaroy and Toogoolawah airstrips.<\/p>\n

He said the Kingaroy community had been making the pilots feel very welcome.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been really happy to see the community coming out to the airport to look at the planes,” he said.<\/p>\n

The visit also provided a nice, little economic boost for Kingaroy, with all the pilots and their friends staying in hotels and motels in town.<\/p>\n

The planes began arriving on Tuesday and will be flying out – in a mass formation – after lunch on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Troy said residents should keep an eye (and ear) out for the departure, which should prove to be quite a sight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ross Parker’s fully restored Wirraway sports its original livery … it was one of the oldest planes at the fly-in<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The visiting pilots relaxed at the Kingaroy Soaring Club between flights … Gil Vardi, from the Gold Coast, flew in a Yak-52TW, while Troy Smith, from Caboolture, flew a 1954 T34<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Andrew Horsburgh, from Samford, with his Nanchang CJ-6A trainer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Andrew’s Nanchang taxies back to the parking area alongside the Kingaroy strip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Another Nanchang prepares for take-off … its Chinese manufacturers would not recognise its flash new paint job<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you noticed all the warbirds flying in and out of Kingaroy Airport this week?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":236153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAussie Star Among The Reds - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you noticed all the warbirds flying in and out of Kingaroy Airport this week?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/05\/22\/aussie-star-among-the-reds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aussie Star Among The Reds - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you noticed all the warbirds flying in and out of Kingaroy Airport this week?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/05\/22\/aussie-star-among-the-reds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-22T12:38:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-20T01:27:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190521radials1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/05\/22\/aussie-star-among-the-reds\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/05\/22\/aussie-star-among-the-reds\/\",\"name\":\"Aussie Star Among The Reds - 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