CAC Wackett
CAC Wackett Trainer (CA-2, CA-6) | |
---|---|
Role | Military trainer aircraft
|
Manufacturer | Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation |
Designer | Lawrence Wackett |
First flight | 19 September 1939[1] |
Introduction | March 1941 |
Status | Retired |
Primary user | Royal Australian Air Force |
Number built | 202 |
Variants | Kingsford Smith Cropmaster Yeoman Cropmaster |
The CAC Wackett Trainer was the first aircraft type designed in-house by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation of Australia. The name was derived from its designer Lawrence Wackett. "In acknowledgement of the CAC Manager's enormous contribution, the RAAF were to call the aircraft the Wackett Trainer" (although often referred to as simply the Wackett) [2]
Development
The type was designed to meet
Several months passed before the RAAF committed to the type, partly because for a time it appeared that the organisation's training needs could be met with other types already being procured. However, RAAF Specification 1/40 for the "Supply of [the] CAC Wackett..."[4] was eventually issued in August 1940 and the Wackett Trainer entered production. The first CA-6 production Wackett Trainer recorded its first flight on 6 February 1941 and entered service in March that year. Supplies of Hamilton Standard 2B20 propellers, which were being manufactured locally by
In the 1950s several aircraft were converted by Kingsford Smith Aviation Services Pty. Ltd. as agricultural aircraft, being renamed the KS-2 or KS-3 Cropmaster. The KS-2 had a hopper installed in the front cockpit; the single conversion was not a success so it was re-modified as the KS-3 with the hopper located in the rear cockpit. Four more Wacketts were converted to KS-3s and the type was further developed as the Yeoman Cropmaster.
Operational history
Initially designed pre-war as an intended basic trainer to lead into the more advanced Wirraway trainer, the Wackett saw early service for evaluation in that role with the Royal Victorian Aero Club at Essendon, resulting in the brief formation of 3 Elementary Flying Training School (3 EFTS) before its relocation and reformation as 11 EFTS at Benalla, but the local production and standardisation of basic training under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) on the simpler and cheaper de Havilland DH82A Tigermoth saw the Wackett largely superseded in that flying training role. The Wackett Trainer went on to serve in an important but largely forgotten role as wireless operator trainers with No. 1 Wireless Air Gunnery School (WAGS) at
On 14 January 1962 James Knight commenced a flight from
Several other Wackett Trainers and a KS-3 Cropmaster are in other museums and in private hands in Australia.[6]
Variants
- CA-2 Wackett Trainer : Prototypes. Two aircraft were built.
- CA-6 Wackett Trainer : Two-seat basic trainer aircraft for the RAAF. 200 aircraft were built.
Operators
- Netherlands East Indies
- Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force (30 ex-RAAF aircraft)
Surviving aircraft
- A3-22 / (former VH-ALV) – CA-6 under restoration for static display at the Australian National Aviation Museum in Melbourne. This airframe is the 22nd production and oldest surviving Wackett Trainer.[8]
- A3-31 / (former VH-AIY) – CA-6 (formerly owned by Horrie Miller) on static display at the Aviation Heritage Museum in Bull Creek, Western Australia.[9]
- A3-49 / (former VH-AJH) – CA-6 modified to KS-3 Cropmaster (Kingsford Smith Air Services) static display at the Queensland Air Museum in Caloundra, Queensland.[10]
- A3-56 / (no civil use) - – CA-6 stored for future static fuselage restoration at Lara, Victoria.[11]
- A3-85 / (former VH-BLV) Currently registered as VH-LYW – CA-6 under longterm airworthy restoration at Lara, Victoria.[11]
- A3-87 / (former VH-AJY) – CA-6 under restoration at the Maryborough Military Aviation Museum of Maryborough, Queensland.[12]
- A3-129 / (former VH-AKJ, VH-AMA, VH-DGR) Currently registered as VH-WKT – CA-6 under longterm airworthy restoration with John Gallagher at Wedderburn, New South Wales.[13]
- A3-137 / (no civil use) – CA-6 stored for future static cockpit restoration at Lara, Victoria.[14]
- A3-139 / (former VH-BEC) - CA-6 on display "as found in the desert", at the Alice Springs, Northern Territory.[15]
- A3-167 / (former VH-AGP) – Currently registered as VH-LNW – CA-6 under longterm airworthy restoration at Lara, Victoria.[14]
Specifications
Data from Holmes, 2005. p. 135
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Length: 7.92 m (26 ft 0 in)
- Wingspan: 11.28 m (37 ft 0 in)
- Height: 3.0 m (9 ft 10 in)
- Empty weight: 866 kg (1,910 lb)
- Gross weight: 1,175 kg (2,590 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × Warner Scarab , 130 kW (175 hp)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 185 km/h (115 mph, 100 kn)
- Range: 684 km (425 mi, 369 nmi)
See also
- List of aircraft of the RAAF
References
- Notes
- ^ a b c Holmes, 2005. p. 135.
- ^ Wirraway to Hornet - a history of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Pty Ltd Brian Hill.
- ISBN 1875671080.
- ^ Tiger Moth, CT-4, Wackett & Winjeel in Australian Service Stewart Wilson.
- ^ NEI Research Page Archived 23 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "ADF Serials – RAAF A3 CAC CA-6 Wackett Trainer". Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
- ^ a b c Dickenson, Fred. "They're Putting Australia's Secrets on the Map". www.xnatmap.org. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
- ^ "CAC CA-6 Wackett Trainer A3-22". Australian National Aviation Museum. Australian Aircraft Restoration Group. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ "Aircraft Collection". Aviation Heritage Museum. Aviation Heritage Museum. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ "KS.3 Wackett Cropmaster A3-49 / VH-AJH C/N 283". Queensland Air Museum. Queensland Air Museum Inc. Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Geoff Goodall's Aviation History Site - Wackett Trainer part 1". Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ "[Homepage]". Facebook page for Maryborough Military Aviation Museum. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ "Aircraft Register [VH-WKT]". Australian Government Civil Aviation Safety Authority. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Geoff Goodall's Aviation History Site - Wackett Trainer part 2". Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ "Central Australian Aviation Museum - Exhibits". Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- Bibliography
- Wirraway to Hornet - a history of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Pty Ltd Brian Hill. Southern Cross Publications.[ISBN missing]
- Tiger Moth, CT-4, Wackett & Winjeel in Australian Service Stewart Wilson. Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd. ISBN 1875671161
- Holmes, Tony (2005). Jane's Vintage Aircraft Recognition Guide. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 0007192924.
- Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation M. J. H. Taylor ed. Studio Editions Ltd. ISBN 1851703241