VH-DAT CAC CA-28 Ceres
(c/n 14)
This was the former VH-CEP, re-registered VH-DAT when sold to
Doggett Aviation of Perth in 1962.
It is seen above at Jandakot in March 1967 in this Marv Prime photo
(via the Geoff Goodall collection).
On 16 February 1968 during an engine start at an ag strip near Kojonup
WA, the dry grass under the
aircraft was set alight.
The pilot was initially unaware of the fire and continued
running the engine while
ingesting the flames, and the fuselage undersurfaces were badly
burnt. It was trucked back to Jandakot
Airport
where the P&W engine was found to be a write-off and rebuilding the
airframe determined to be
uneconomic. After several years in storage, the Ceres was
sold to Perth TV Station TVW7 which was
setting up a
small aircraft museum at its Studios in the Perth suburb of Tuart Hill
and cosmetically restored
it back to a CAC
Wirraway. Geoff Goodall's photo below shows it at the
studios, just before a change
of management at that concern closed the aircraft museum
down. The "Wirraway" was then sold to a
Sydney warbird
enthusiast who planned to use the mainplanes for an airwaorthy Wirraway
restoration
project.
