Glad you could fill in some of the gaps there for me lobbie! Thanks. However, although the Zuccoli CA-19 originally was restored with modified T6 wings, these were replaced by the first set of the four sets made as part of Matt Dennings project. Apparently this made a marked improvement to the handling. I also suspect this was what provided the motivation for its repaint into its present colour scheme, though this is just supposition.
I was surprised to hear -25 is owned by Dick Hourigan, though I have seen a photo of him in which the caption states he is a Boomerang owner. According to the Australian National Aviation Museum at Moorabin on their website, this was recovered by "Hawker de Havilland Victoria" in 1986, and donated by them to the museum in 1994. Obviously there's a gaping hole somewhere in my understanding of the situation with that one.
A46-30 is certainly not listed on the Point Cook website so I suspected that it may have been in storage. They did however manage to wheel it out for the recent Point Cook airshow to stand beside "Suzi Q". It's a shame that its original restoration was not as good as it looks.
Whilst looking for a site I had seen before with a full history of -30 however, I came upon the following on http://www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/boomer.html:
Although A46-30 was for many years the sole example of the type, the Boomerang has made a comeback in the past 20 years. A number of restoration projects has seen the number of almost complete examples expand rapidly in the past few years, with many more as long term projects. Currently the only airworthy example is A46-206 VH-BOM (more on this below), but three more examples are progressing toward airworthiness in Australia: A46-117 registered as VH-ZOC by Alan Arthur of Mathoura, NSW in February 2001, A46-122 registered as VH-MHR by Matt Denning of McDowell, QLD in November 2001, and A46-54 which Greg Batts of Brisbane has in hand (registration VH-MHB reserved). Another example, A46-165 is under restoration to airworthiness by Kermit Weeks in Florida. Other museum exhibits, projects, and partial survivors include A46-3 (South Australia Aviation Museum), A46-25 (Moorabbin Air Museum), A46-47 (Darwin Aviation Museum), A46-55 (R. Lee), A46-67 (C. Jamesson), A46-77 (G. Batts), A46-92 (R. Provan), A46-101 (D. Baxter), A46-124 (Darwin Aviation Museum), A46-142 (D. Brown), A46-144 (L. Long), A46-166 (D.Brown), A46-174 (K. Weeks), A46-249 (R. Hourigan).
I guess the Boomerang isn't doing so badly for a plane of which only 250 were ever made!
As for the Lancer pic, any chance I could beg a copy? The only pic I have is the one in "RAAF Camoflage and Markings 1939-45", which just shows the underneath of one wing! Fat lot of use that is!! If anyone else reading this has any info on the RAAF P43 Lancers, it would be greatly appreciated!
In the queue: 1/48 Beech Staggerwing (RAAF), P38 (RAAF), Vultee Vengeance (RAAF), Spitfire Vb (Malta), Spitfire VIII x2 (RAAF), P39 x2 (RAAF), Martin Baltimore (Malta?), Martin Maryland (Malta), Typhoon NF1b, Hellcat x2 (FAA)
Chris 