VH-KAL

Auster J5B cn-2914 Gipsy Major

Temora 2003

Owner: Kerry  & Kim Skyring

 

History of VH-KAL provided by Kerry Skyring

J5B Autocar VH-KAL c/n 2914 was registered to Kingsford Smith Aviation Services on 11.12.50 and soon after began earning a living in Western NSW - first with Dickson Air Services at Bourke and then a year later (28.11.51) was registered to Allen James Carmichael of Wilcannia NSW.

In 1954 KAL moved to Western Australia where she was to remain until around 1980. Her first registration was to Westralian Oil Ltd of Perth and then to D.T.F. Preston of Nedlands in July 1955. A few months later she went to the Royal Aero Club of WA and served there for 4 years before being sold to A.L. & R.E. Fox of Applecross WA. In 1963 KAL was struck off the register following some damage. The entries in the log books would indicate a ground loop. One wing-tip, cowl, prop and undercarriage. Interestingly, 20 years later when restoring KAL, I found damage that could probably be traced to this accident and which was not found when she was repaired and returned to the register in 1966.
This time her owner was J.B. Beckett of Bundering WA and he named her Ivory B. Then came two more owners, K.L. Ramm of Doubleyoung WA and S.F. Melville of Cowramup. In 1970 she was bought by C.S. Smith of Cowramup and there she stayed until being advertised for sale as "deceased estate" in the Rag & Tube magazine of April 1979.

L.B. (Lyle?) Shelton of Deniliquin bought her and flew her across the Nullabor and put her in a hangar on a farm strip just outside Deniliquin.

I purchased KAL from Lyle in 1982 and flew her to Evans Head aerodrome in Northern New South Wales. Over the next two years, with the help of LAME Don Angus and Engineer Peter Brooke, I restored her. It was a complete strip back to bare tubing, with new dacron fabric and randolph dope, repairs of earlier damage and top overhaul of the Gipsy Mk1.

From 1984 to 1994 KAL and I flew regularly, with a couple of visits to Auster Rallies and AAAA Fly-ins. In 1994 I moved overseas and KAL was hangared at Watts Bridge and inactive until June 2002. After a couple of days work I flew her across to Pat Harrington's Vintage Aircraft services at Redcliffe where she was given a thorough going over and all faults rectified. From September 2002 KAL is based at Hervey Bay where my daughter Kim, a commercial pilot, flies her occasionally.