HARS Australia Day Fly By | Reddell Reserve Lake Illawarra

Event Details

CLASSIC AIRCRAFT ADD AN HISTORIC FLY PAST FOR FAMILIES ON AUSTRALIA DAY (over Shellharbour City Council’s family morning at Reddell Reserve beside Lake Illawarra)

Six aircraft of significance to Australian history will stage a fly by above Shellharbour City Council’s Australia Day family festivities at Reddell Reserve beside Lake Illawarra on Monday 26 January.
Volunteers at the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) plan to fly their Orion, Neptune, Tracker, Dakota, Southern Cross Replica and Huey helicopter to support the celebrations.
The aircraft will take off from HARS Aviation Museum, located at Shellharbour Airport, at intervals from 9 am.

The four turbo-prop engine AP-3C Orion served with the RAAF from 1978 until it was gifted to HARS following retirement in 2016 to become the only one of its type now flying for a museum on the civil register.
A predecessor of the Orion, Lockheed Neptune 273 with both piston and jet engines, also served with the RAAF and is now the only one of its type still flying in Australia.
Grumman Tracker 844 which served with the Royal Australian Navy, flying from HMAS Albatross at Nowra and the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne, has been restored for flying.
Four C-47/ Dakota transports, derived from the legendary DC-3 which first flew in 1935, are maintained by the team at HARS Aviation Museum.
The distinctive Fokker FVIIB tri-motor is a full-size replica of the famous Southern Cross which Sir Kingsford Smith’s crew used to defy all odds in making the first air crossing of the Pacific Ocean in 1928.
Iroquois 703 was previously operated by both the RAAF and Australian Army and is now one of three Huey helicopters kept at Nowra under the care of HARS volunteers.

On return to Shellharbour airport after the fly by the aircraft will join the display of some 60 heritage aircraft on display for visitors to HARS Aviation Museum.