The RAAF C-45.
For a brief moment in history in an almost unknown and forgotten incident the
RAAF (82 Sqn) was unofficially the owner of a Beech C-45.
In late 1947 the squadron operated from Kisarazu
USAF base in Japan as part of BCAIR (itself part of BCOF British Commonwealth
Occupation Forces). A US Navy unit FASRON 11 equipped with F4U Corsairs shared
this facility with the USAF. The model subject was a notorious hangar queen
nicknamed The Seagull (because seemingly one had to throw stones at it to make
it fly) that had lost favour with its operating squadron and had been returned
to the FASRON for repair or preferably disposal. The Commanding Officer of the
FASRON fancied the aircraft as a personal mount and had charged the maintenance
chief to get it airworthy.
Alas for the poor chief, the Seagull refused to fly, 3 times it had made it to
the run up bay for checks, once it even lined up ready for takeoff when the tyre
blew. It comes as no surprise then that in a two up game with some RAAF
groundcrew the frustrated chief wagered the seagull against a number of dollars,
several cases of Fosters, a Nambu pistol, a mint Kamakaze issue bandana (used
ones were much rarer) and a Samarai sword. At the last flip of the kip, the
pennies saw the C-45 pass into 82 Sqn service (albeit unconventionally and
unofficially).
The next day, the groundcrew claimed their prize
and with feverish and indecent haste redecorated the seagull. The most
interesting thing about the RAAF C-45 was the application of a roo roundel on
the fuselage sides and may have been inspired by the kangaroos on the two up
pennies.
For a week the RAAF ground crew, hidden in a
hangar, polished and worked on their prize until, not unexpectedly, the FASRON
CO discovered the Seagull had gone AWOL and a demand was made to the completely
unaware 82 Sqn CO for its return.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Under instructions from the boss, the
Seagull was returned to the FASRON (but not without a trade of a Deuce
full of Bourbon and other booty). The Seagull was rapidly re-USNed and
test run. Amazingly, much to the USNs chagrin, she was serviceable and
successfully test flown by the FASRON CO. 82 Squadron disbanded not long
after. What happened to the Seagull? After its first successful test
flight, it was renamed Prodigal Son of a Beech but on its second flight,
the oil cut off lever was pulled instead of the tail wheel lock, after a
wobbly takeoff the port engine seized, with the pilot unable to feather
the prop, the aircraft was ditched in the Obitsu river and finally written
off charge.
Reminiscing on the modelling of my
youth I thought I'd "throw together" a model with the same bull at
gate mentality as I did then.
I bought this kitech kit on ebay for
99 cents as the subject of this endeavour (after all I didn't want to waste a
good kit on this) I think I spent more time researching the "history"
and making the decals than I did building this!
Wally Civitico
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