Australia — New Caribous Land In Albion Park Rail

Min­is­ter for Defence Materiel Jason Clare today joined local Mem­ber for Thros­by Stephen Jones to wel­come two ex-RAAF Cari­bou air­craft to their new home at the His­tor­i­cal Air­craft Restora­tion Soci­ety (HARS) in Albion Park Rail.

“I con­grat­u­late the Soci­ety for their suc­cess­ful ten­der, these air­craft will be a fan­tas­tic addi­tion to the col­lec­tion,” Mr Clare said. 

“The planes will be used for Anzac Day events, Viet­nam Vet­er­ans’ events and oth­er her­itage activ­i­ties like Wings over the Illawarra. 

“The Soci­ety will main­tain these air­craft in fly­ing con­di­tion so Aus­tralians will be able to con­tin­ue to see these planes on the ground and in the air.” 

Mr Jones said the His­tor­i­cal Air­craft Restora­tion Soci­ety is a not-for-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion formed in 1979 by a group of avi­a­tion enthu­si­asts inter­est­ed in the preser­va­tion of Aus­tralian avi­a­tion history. 

“It is a great local organ­i­sa­tion that works tire­less­ly to improve their col­lec­tion and give the pub­lic the oppor­tu­ni­ty to see and under­stand our avi­a­tion her­itage,” Mr Jones said. 

The Cari­bou air­craft has a unique place in Aus­tralian mil­i­tary avi­a­tion history. 

They were first brought into ser­vice in Viet­nam, served with the Unit­ed Nations Mil­i­tary Observ­er Group between 1975 and 1978 and were also used for human­i­tar­i­an pur­pos­es in Papua New Guinea, East Tim­or and the Solomon Islands. 

The Cari­bou was famous for its abil­i­ty to take off and land on these short, crude dirt runways. 

Cari­bous will also be pre­served at RAAF Base Townsville, RAAF Base Amber­ley, the RAAF Muse­um at Point Cook and at the Aus­tralian War Memorial. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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