HARS Aviation Museum

Because of ANZAC Day we had another long weekend ahead of us, and since Kieran was off we decided to go for a bit of a drive. We started by stopping in at the HARS (Historical Aircraft Restoration Society) Aviation Museum in Albion, south of Sydney.

This is aviation museum formed in 1979, and it is run by an all volunteer group of aviation professionals and enthusiast. They had a huge collection of both airworthy and static aircraft.
We weren't aware, but you couldn't walk around by yourself, there was guided tours every so often and we happened to arrive just at the start of one.

The tour was 1,5h long, maybe a tad bit long, but actually a lot of fun. It is contagious when people are truly passionate and dedicated, and Brett showing us around certainly had both passion and dedication.

The collection center around a parade of airliners, from a "Southern Cross Replica" (Fokker FVIIB), three DC-3 aircraft, a Super Constellation, two Caribou, Tiger Moth, a Mirage IIIO, a Catalina and a Boeing 747-438, to mention a few.

Here's Nikki in the aircraft that was used by the late Queen Elizabeth II & Duke of Edinburgh for the 1954 Royal Tour of Australia:

And here's me, in the seat the Queen sat in!

Nathan had a great time of course, and the rest of us as well, even though both Kieran and Nikki admitted afterwards that they initially wondered how we were going to spend 1,5h in this museum.

I walked past this weapon and said to Nathan, "Bofors? That sounds like something Swedish!" - and guess what?! When I read the poster I saw that it INDEED was Swedish! This 40mm gun is of a 1930s design, the prime function being an anti-aircraft gun.

We loved the aviation dog who patrolled the museum together with his master, decked out in hi-viz and all.

Here we are under the Boeing 787-438, an aircraft that meant a lot to many of the members who had previously worked and operated it during its life in Qantas, and now its here.

Funny display in the bathroom of the 747, that has been used for commercials and movie recordings and much else.