Community & Business
16 December, 2022
Search is on for old aircraft parts
A local aircraft restorer is encouraging locals to look in their sheds for old parts that could be important missing piece in restoration projects.
Bill Martin remembers, as a six-year-old, finding bits and pieces off the wrecks of old planes at Oakey Airforce Base after WWII.
And he hopes he isn’t the only one to have saved some of the items he unearthed.
These days Bill is part of a network of enthusiasts who restore vintage aircraft in Australia.
He is on a mission to find parts that can be used in a variety of projects designed to preserve some of the history of these planes.
In particular, one friend is hoping to find a fuel gauge for a Spitfire like the one pictured.
He called into The Sentinel office this week with a question for readers: “Does anybody have anything remotely like that?”
“Someone might have one in a shed somewhere, you never know,” Bill said.
“Unfortunately people thrown them out not knowing what they are.”
He said large numbers of aircraft were destroyed to recover the metals, aluminium mainly, and brass, after the war.
“The steely bits they just threw away, in fact a lot were thrown down mine shafts and into creeks and quarries to get rid of them...
“As a six-year-old, with my cousins, we were wandering around and this guy was smashing these instrument panels up with a brick hammer and I must have had a horrified look and he said, “oh, you can take it.”
Bill picked up a few pieces that day so began a life-long passion.
Today, at age 82, he’s amassed quite a collection through the years and is restoring a Kitty Hawk to fly as well as a number of instrument panels.
“There were 232 Spitfires at Oakey at the end of WWII, to be scrapped, and
a number of Kitty Hawks and 49 Mustangs... an Airspeed Oxford and a Beaufighter that was brand new and flown to Oakey to be broken up.
“This is an era that’s long gone.
“We’ve got to round these parts up before they’re lost forever.”
Anyone with parts they believe could be from old aircraft can contact The Sentinel via email editorial@pittsworthsentinel.com.au or call 4693 2911 so we can pass details on to Bill.
