The South Australian Aviation Museum, located in

Port Adelaide, South Australia Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the c ...

, is an aviation museum which displays aircraft, aircraft engines, and rockets of relevance to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, and the history of aviation and the aerospace industry in Australia.

History

The museum's origins can be traced to 1984 when it was started by a group of enthusiasts interested in aviation history and aircraft restoration. In 1990 it became the official aviation museum for

when it was awarded Provisional Accreditation by the

History Trust of South Australia The History Trust of South Australia, sometimes referred to as History SA, was created as a statutory corporation by the ''History Trust of South Australia Act 1981'', to safeguard South Australia’s heritage and to encourage research and public ...

. The following year it became responsible for the State's historical aviation collection. In 1996 the museum became the home of the heritage rocket collection associated with the

Woomera Test Range The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a d ...

in the period 1950–1980. The heritage rocket collection is the property of the

Defence Science and Technology Organisation The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) is part of the Australian Department of Defence dedicated to providing science and technology support to safeguard Australia and its national interests. The agency's name was changed from Defenc ...

. Following several moves, the museum was set up at its present site in 2006. A second hangar was added in 2017 to accommodate the museum's growing collection of aircraft, engines and associated displays.

Collection

Aircraft on display

De-Havilland Sea Venom WZ-931 right front

Aero Commander 680 The Aero Commander 500 family is a series of light-twin piston-engined and turboprop aircraft originally built by the Aero Design and Engineering Company in the late 1940s, renamed the Aero Commander company in 1950, and a division of Rockwell ...

''VH-PSG'' * BAe 146-300 ''VH-NJL'' * Bell OH-58A Kiowa ''A17-010'' * CAC CA-30 ''A7-026'' * Cessna CC-1 – replica * GAF Mirage IIID ''A3-115'' * de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou ''A4-225'' * de Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth ''1074'' * de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB.31 ''A79-202'' * de Havilland DH.112 Sea Venom FAW.53 ''WZ931'' * Douglas C-47B Dakota ''A65-114'' * English Electric Canberra B.2 ''WK165'' * English Electric Canberra T.4 ''WD954'' * Fokker F-27-109 Friendship ''VH-CAT'' *

GAF Jindivik The GAF Jindivik is a radio-controlled target drone produced by the Australian Government Aircraft Factories (GAF). The name is from an Aboriginal Australian word meaning "the hunted one". Two manually-controlled prototypes, were built as the GAF ...

''N11-752'' – target drone * General Dynamics F-111C '' A8-132'' * Gloster Meteor F.8 ''A77-851'' – cockpit * Hall Cherokee II ''VH-GPR'' * Lockheed AP-3C Orion ''A9-756'' * Piper PA-24-250 Comanche ''VH-DOL'' * Shepard CS2 * Supermarine Spitfire Vc ''A58-146'' * Van's RV-4 ''VH-NOJ'' * Westland Wessex HAS.31B ''N7-224''

Engines on display

* Allison T56A-11A * Allison T56A-14 * Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX * Armstrong Siddeley Lynx V * Blackburn Cirrus I *

Blackburne Tomtit The Blackburne Tomtit was a 670 cc V-twin aero engine for light aircraft that was designed and produced by Burney and Blackburne Limited. Burney and Blackburne was based at Bookham, Surrey, England and was a former motorcycle manufacture ...

* de Havilland Gipsy Queen *

Gnome Monosoupape The ''Monosoupape'' (French for single-valve), was a rotary engine design first introduced in 1913 by Gnome Engine Company (renamed Gnome et Rhône in 1915). It used a clever arrangement of internal transfer ports and a single pushrod-operated e ...

* Hispano-Suiza 8 * Lycoming LF507-1H *

Lycoming O-540 The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming O- ...

* Packard Liberty L-12 *

Packard V-1650 The Packard V-1650 Merlin is a version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine, produced under license in the United States by the Packard Motor Car Company.Gunston 1995, p. 144. The engine was licensed to expand production of the Rolls-Ro ...

* Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3 * Pratt & Whitney R-985 * Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN2 Wasp * Pratt & Whitney R-2000 *

Rolls-Royce Avon The Rolls-Royce Avon was the first axial flow jet engine designed and produced by Rolls-Royce. Introduced in 1950, the engine went on to become one of their most successful post-World War II engine designs. It was used in a wide variety of ...

Rolls-Royce Derwent The Rolls-Royce RB.37 Derwent is a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine, the second Rolls-Royce jet engine to enter production. It was an improved version of the Rolls-Royce Welland, which itself was a renamed version of Fran ...

Rolls-Royce Kestrel The Kestrel or type F is a 21 litre (1,300 in³) 700 horsepower (520 kW) class V-12 aircraft engine from Rolls-Royce, their first cast-block engine and the pattern for most of their future piston-engine designs. Used during the interwar ...

* Rolls-Royce Merlin III *

Rolls-Royce Nene The Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene is a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. The Nene was a complete redesign, rather than a scaled-up Rolls-Royce Derwent"Rolls-Royce Aero Engines" Bill Gunston, Patrick Stephens Limited 1989, , p.111 w ...

* Walter Minor 6-111 *

Westinghouse J34 The Westinghouse J34, company designation Westinghouse 24C, was a turbojet engine developed by Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division in the late 1940s. Essentially an enlarged version of the earlier Westinghouse J30, the J34 produced 3,000 ...

* Wittber engine

Aircraft under restoration

* Aero 145 ''20-002'' * Avro Anson I ''EF954/AW965'' *

Fairey Battle The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and ...

''N2188'' * SOCATA TB-10 Tobago ''1407''

References

External links

South Australian Aviation Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Australian Aviation Museum Aerospace museums in Australia Museums in Adelaide Tourist attractions in South Australia