Australia — New homes for Caribou aircraft

Min­is­ter for Defence Materiel Jason Clare today announced that two organ­i­sa­tions will pre­serve and dis­play nine Cari­bou air­craft and asso­ci­at­ed equip­ment.

The two organ­i­sa­tions are: 

·      Amrock Avi­a­tion Pty Ltd based in Bris­bane, which will use the air­craft for human­i­tar­i­an work in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands; and 

·      The His­tor­i­cal Air­craft Restora­tion Soci­ety in the Illawar­ra, which will pre­serve and dis­play two air­craft, one pro­peller, 15 engines and two spares packages. 

Oth­er organ­i­sa­tions will receive propellers: 

·      Upwey RSL (Vic­to­ria);

·      Clarence City Coun­cil (Tas­ma­nia);

·      Cabool­ture Warflight and Her­itage Muse­um (Queens­land);

·      Nar­romine Avi­a­tion Muse­um (NSW);

·      Dor­ri­go RSL (NSW);

·      Northamp­ton RSL (WA); and 

·      Red­lands RAAFA (Queens­land).

“For more than 40 years, Cari­bou air­craft were the work­horse of the Aus­tralian Defence Force, pri­mar­i­ly sup­port­ing the Army” Mr Clare said. 

“They were used exten­sive­ly in Viet­nam, as well as in East Tim­or, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands sup­port­ing human­i­tar­i­an and relief work. 

“They were a ver­sa­tile air­craft, capa­ble of short take offs and land­ings on unpre­pared runways. 

“The Cari­bou served Aus­tralia with dis­tinc­tion and these organ­i­sa­tions will help us pre­serve the air­craft for future generations.” 

Media con­tact : Kore­na Flana­gan 02 6277 7620

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

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