Fighter World is an Australian not-for-profit aviation heritage centre at

RAAF Base Williamtown RAAF Base Williamtown is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located north of the coastal city of Newcastle ( by road) in the local government area of Port Stephens, in New South Wales, Australia. The base serves as the ...

, north of

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle ar ...

. It is part of

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Aviation and Heritage and is operated with the purpose of preserving the history of fighter operations of the RAAF. The museum's collection are predominantly fighter aircraft once operated by the RAAF. Included in the collection are historically significant aircraft including

de Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and ...

A79-1 and

Dassault Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizont ...

O A3-3, both of which were the first aircraft of their type built in Australia. Staff include paid employees, RAAF reservists and a team of approximately 50 volunteers, most of whom have previous RAAF experience.

Location and facilities

Fighter World is located on Commonwealth land inside the outer fence of RAAF Base Williamtown, less than from the runway. It initially consisted of a main administration building and large display hangar with observation deck. On 7 September 2000 a second display hangar was opened. A third hangar was constructed for use as a workshop and opened in mid-2021. The museum includes aircraft on display outside the hangars, as well as the RAAF base's old

airfield surveillance radar An airport surveillance radar (ASR) is a radar system used at airports to detect and display the presence and position of aircraft in the ''terminal area'', the airspace around airports. It is the main air traffic control system for the airspace ...

(SURAD) head. A cafe is located on-site.

Volunteers

Maintenance of exhibits and museum grounds is carried out by a team of volunteers, many of whom have retired from various sections of the RAAF and include maintenance personnel as well as former pilots. Volunteers also build new displays as necessary, such as the detailed

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the be ...

replica that is on display in the main hangar, and act as

museum docent Museum docent is a title given in the United States of America to people who serve as guides and educators for the institutions they serve, usually as a volunteer (unpaid) position. The English word itself is derived from the Latin word ''docēns ...

Aviation collection

Australian

* RAAF

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneere ...

A77-875 * RAAF

A79-1 * RAAF

Avon Sabre The CAC Sabre, sometimes known as the Avon Sabre or CA-27, is an Australian variant of the North American Aviation F-86F Sabre fighter aircraft. The F-86F was redesigned and built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC). Equipping five ...

A94-951 * RAAF

A94-959 This aircraft was previously on display in a park in nearby

Raymond Terrace Raymond Terrace is a town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about by road north of Newcastle on the Pacific Highway. Established in 1837 it is situated at the confluence of the Hunter and Williams rivers. The town was named ...

for 31 years but was relocated to Fighter World where it was restored and is now on permanent display at the entrance to the museum after being completely restored. * RAAF

CAC Winjeel The CAC CA-25 Winjeel is an Australian-designed and manufactured three-seat training aircraft. Entering service with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1955 as a basic to advanced trainer, it served in this role until 1975. Later, it was u ...

A85-428 * RAAF

Bristol Bloodhound The Bristol Bloodhound is a British ramjet powered surface-to-air missile developed during the 1950s. It served as the UK's main air defence weapon into the 1990s and was in large-scale service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the forces of f ...

surface-to-air missile * RAAF Aermacchi MB-326H A7-062 * RAAF

O A3-3 * RAAF

D A3-102 * RAAF

General Dynamics F-111C The General Dynamics F-111C (nicknamed "Pig") is a variant of the F-111 Aardvark medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft, developed by General Dynamics to meet Australian requirements. The design was based on the F-111A model bu ...

Aardvark A8-148 *

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

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 ...

target drone N11-750

Replica

Boeing-Stearman Model 75 The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane formerly used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely k ...

(One-third scale replica painted as a

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environ ...

aircraft of the

Empire Air Training Scheme The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Z ...

) *

Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British Multirole combat aircraft, multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter varian ...

cockpit (Replica painted as the nose of A19-50 'Wendy Joy II' of No. 30 Squadron RAAF) * Fokker Dr.I Triplane (Two-thirds replica painted as Josef Jacobs's aircraft of the

Luftstreitkräfte The ''Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte'' (, German Air Force)—known before October 1916 as (Flyer Troops)—was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-language sources it is usually referred to as the Imperial German Air Service, alt ...

) *

replica built by museum volunteers * Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII A58-429 "QY-V" painted as a No. 452 Squadron RAAF aircraft This aircraft includes an original Spitfire canopy, spinner, propeller blades, radio aerial and undercarriage legs. * Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX "FU-Z" painted as a No. 453 Squadron RAAF aircraft) This aircraft includes an original Spitfire canopy.

Model collection

Fighter World has an extensive model collection in addition to its larger items. This includes larger models of a

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

and a

CAC Boomerang The CAC Boomerang is a fighter aircraft designed and manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation between 1942 and 1945. Approved for production shortly following the Empire of Japan's entry into the Second World War, t ...

, as well as earlier era aircraft. An extensive collection of over 100 entirely hand-made and painted models occupies a large area and another display contain models built by one of the museum volunteers.

References

External links

* {{authority control Aerospace museums in Australia Military and war museums in Australia 1989 establishments in Australia Museums established in 1989 Port Stephens Council