Broken Wings

This blog has moved

2010-04-30T22:04:00.001+10:00

This blog is now located at http://oakeyspits.blogspot.com/.
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Interview With Judy Pay

2009-10-05T10:27:00.001+11:00

We've just completed an interview with Warbird pilot and restorer Judy Pay from the Old Aeroplane Company. Further details are on our 'What's New' page.

Broken Wings is now on Twitter

2009-05-21T15:17:00.002+10:00

Broken Wings now has it's own Twitter feed on the website. If you want to stay in touch with what we're up to and you have a Twitter account, follow us!

New Video Gallery Online

2008-04-16T12:34:00.001+10:00

We've just uploaded a new video gallery on our 'interviews' page. As it doesn't load all the video content at once when the page opens, you'll find loading this page is much faster than before. Enjoy.

James & Karl

Interviews now online

2008-04-07T22:15:00.002+10:00

We decided to upload selected edits from the interviews we've conducted to give you a taste of things to come. As you'll see, we've interviewed a huge range of wonderful people who share the same passion we do to find the elusive Spitfires. So click on the "Interviews" button at the top of this page and enjoy some of what we have filmed so far.

Not just aircraft disposed of at Oakey

2008-04-03T20:50:00.011+11:00

Aircraft weren’t the only things disposed of at Oakey at the end of the war. An unbelievable number of aircraft parts including whole engines were either destroyed or dumped not far from the base. A classic example of this was the six different models of V-12 Allison aircraft engines fitted to the P-40 Kittyhawks. An examination of Air Force disposal records shows that some 252 Allison’s were disposed of at Oakey, on top of a similar number of V-12 Merlin engines that were fitted to the Spitfire’s and Mustangs. The breakdown looks like this:

V1710/39 - 16 engines
V1710/51 - 4 engines
V1710/55 - 4 engines
V1710/81 - 106 engines
V1710/99 - 75 engines
V1710/115 - 47 engines

F-82 twin-boom Mustangs at Oakey

2008-04-02T15:40:00.000+11:00

The F-82 was essentially North American’s version of the P-38 Lightning. While it was of a twin-boom design similar to that of the P-38, that’s where the similarity ended. The F-82 was essentially two modified P-51H fuselages bolted together in a typical twin-boom configuration, with a pilot in each fuselage. Why a two pilot configuration? Primarily to combat fatigue, due to the large distances between the Pacific Islands where the aircraft was to operate. The F-82 arrived too late for World War II, making its maiden flight in July 1945 but did go on to have a successful combat career during the Korean War. So what does this have to do with Oakey? While official records show that there were Spitfires, Mustangs, Kittyhawks and Boomerangs at Oakey at war’s end, research has turned up a number of unaccounted for aircraft there as well. Approximately a dozen of those were F-82 twin-boom Mustangs. No one seems to know why they were there, how they got there, or what happened to them.

The Broken Wings Blog is now up

2008-03-31T23:29:00.000+11:00

Now that the blog is up and running, we need you to help get it started. So if there's anything you want to discuss, blog away.

James & Karl