Aeroplane crash recognition - assistance required - PICs

[1feral1]

Well, after over 2 weeks w/o a computer I am back. I have been meaning to load these pics.

The story....

Until 2005, this wreck was unknown.  Army searched for remains, but none were found, and no one in the township remembers a crash.

It is located near Tin Can Bay in Queensland, on Army property at wide bay, known as the Wide Bay Training Area, which was bought in 1950.

I had ran into this wreck while driving LAVs in 2006, and since then I have asked many who don't know WTF I am talking about.

A couple of weeks back, I was in the area in support of a Battalion 'Milcon', and I asked this old civvy caretaker, who showed me on a map where it was.

What happened? Well it appears the plane clipped the canopy of the rain forrest, and then hit the ground. Wreckage is scattered all over the place.

When?

I would say 1940's or earlier as the vintage of the areoplane speaks for itself, and there is some rather large trees about, one tree growning near the fuselage.

I am seeking the type of aeroplane this is, but there is not much to go off of.

enjoy the pics, and any assistance would be appreciated.

 

[1feral1]

This site is slow slow and really acting up , so bear with me....

Here is some pics....

1. Tthe way in, very rough terrain for our 6x6 Land Rovers..

2, and 3, general pics of the cockpit portion....

The area has been recently burnt out with some rather wicked bushfires teh shire was experiencing, so lots of wreckage can yet again be seen.

 

[1feral1]

More pics...

 

[1feral1]

More pics yet again.....

 

[1feral1]

This site is loading so slow.......

Anyways, more pics

 

[1feral1]

Summing up for now...

It is a civilian aircraft, but who knows what type. I would venture to guess that it is either English or Australian in make, as there was not a great deal of US infulence then.

Here's to hoping for some assistance.

OWDU

 

[Jammer]

By the look of what's left of the cockpit I might hazard a guess that it may be an Aviacar Airtruk (Australian built), crop duster.

 

[Jammer]

oops...Transavia Airtruk..maybe.

 

[Strike]

oops...Transavia Airtruk..maybe.

The angle of the struts on the cockpit seems off.  Plus, the Airtruk came out in the '60s.  I suspect it may be from the same family though.

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/9/9/8/1557899.jpg

Maybe this?

http://www.aviastar.org/air/australia/common_ca-28.php

 

[Jammer]

WOW! The CA-28 looks like a single seat Harvard. Good call...

 

[1feral1]

Wrong pics I beleive, the instrument panel can be seen in this pic, and I beleive the beast is high winged, like a Cessna, and a tail dragger.here is a pic of the instrument panel, which can be seen. A nasty 'paper wasp' nest was in this area, and they did not appreciate our company, or I would have good closer.

Regards,

OWDU

 

[OpieRWestmrR]

Could it be a biplane? That distinctive v-shape of the riveted strips on the canopy looks like that of a WACO Standard Cabin biplane or Custom Cabin sesquiplane. Both have radial engines and several variants were made. I couldn’t see an engine in the pics but the firewall/mounting plate is round. WACO models built in the 1930s have tubular welded structure in the fuselage covered by doped fabric. The landing gear has a single, curved main strut at about the right position for your wreck, with wheel spats. Earlier WACO models have the correct squared fuselage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_Custom_Cabin_Series

The RAAF co-opted at least one from a civilian owner. On the main WACO Aircraft Company page on Wikipedia, in the Custom Cabin list is “YQC-6 225hp Jacobs L-4 engine. 13 built. 1 ex-RAAF example re-engined with 200hp DeHavilland Gypsy 6 inline engine”. However, your wreck might be a bit small for a WACO and American aircraft were rare in Australia before 1939-45.

Another suspect is de Havilland Puss Moth/Leopard Moth, high-wing monoplanes, but the landing gear doesn’t look right and the Moth canopy isn’t quite the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Puss_Moth

Or it might be a Taylorcraft Auster, US Piper, or an early postwar Cessna before the fuselage became metal-skinned and rounded. All had the tubular weld construction of your wreck and are about the right size, but the landing gear looks too flimsy, the engine isn’t radial and the canopy is wrong – these aircraft mostly have one-piece wraparound windscreens angled more vertically. There are more instruments in the late 1940s American aircraft; there’s a cockpit shot on the Cessna 120 page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-17_Vagabond

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_140#Cessna_120

Bellanca made enclosed-cabin aircraft but none seemed close enough to mention.

I’m not an air crash investigator’s whatnot, but the research was fun. Thanks for setting the task.

 

[Strike]

It seems very likely that it was a de Havilland Puss Moth.

Compare the strut construction and how it is attached to the windscreen.  Almost identical.

The aircraft was also part of the Qantas fleet in the 1930s.

http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/assets/images/aircraft/pussmoth2.gif
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/0/9/2/0656290.jpg
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/7/5/7/1047757.jpg