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 April 1965 in this nice color shot by
Neil Follett. Marv Prime's B&W
(below) was taken at the same
location in March 1967 (both images via Geoff Goodall).
On 16 Feb
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 # 3 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.
