The Historical Aircraft Restoration Society, often referred to by its acronym, HARS, is an Australian based aircraft restoration group. The group has two museums, at Shellharbour Airport in New South Wales, Australia, and Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. [1] HARS was formed in 1979 by a group of aviation enthusiasts interested in the preservation of Australian Aviation History. Its mission is "To recover and where possible restore to flying condition, aircraft or types of aircraft that have played a significant part in Australian Aviation History both in the Civil and Military arenas". [2]
The group possesses a collection which includes several large and significant aircraft such as a Boeing 707 and a Boeing 747-400. Many of its aircraft are kept at an airworthy standard, including a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation which is the last remaining flying example in the world. [3] Other examples are kept at a taxiable standard where restoration of airframes to an airworthy standard is not feasible. [4] The group operates a Navy Heritage Flight, which operates a range of ex Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm aircraft in support of the Navy. [4]
The group's Boeing 707 was formerly owned by actor John Travolta, who donated the aircraft to the group in 2017. [5] As of May 2022, however, the aircraft is still in the United States, with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the process to relocate the aircraft to Australia significantly. [6]
The arrival of the 747 required significant preparation to allow the aircraft to land at the small regional Shellharbour Airport without damaging the runway. [7]
Aircraft at the Shellharbour museum include:
Aircraft at the Parkes museum include:
A aircraft kept in airworthy condition.
RA aircraft under restoration to airworthy condition.
The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") is a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner built by Lockheed Corporation starting in 1943. The Constellation series was the first pressurized-cabin civil airliner series to go into widespread use. Its pressurized cabin enabled commercial passengers to fly well above most bad weather for the first time, thus significantly improving the general safety and ease of air travel.
The de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou is a Canadian specialized cargo aircraft with short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability. The Caribou was first flown in 1958 and although mainly retired from military operations, is still in use in small numbers as a rugged "bush" aircraft.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1960:
Quebecair was a Canadian airline that operated from 1947 until 1986. Quebecair was headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, now a part of Montreal.
The Qantas Founders Outback Museum is a museum located in Longreach, Queensland, Australia. The museum was opened on 9 June 1996 in the heritage-listed Qantas Hangar, built by Qantas in 1922. Stage 2 of the Qantas Founders Museum was part of a 1999 A$110 million Queensland and federal government project, the heritage trails network. The Qantas Founders Museum is located 177 kilometres (110 mi) from Winton, Queensland, the original home of Qantas.
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The naming of Qantas aircraft has followed various themes since 1926.
Shellharbour Airport, formerly Illawarra Regional Airport, also referred as Albion Park Aerodrome or Wollongong Airport, is an airport located in Albion Park Rail, Shellharbour City, New South Wales, Australia. The Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) is located at the airport. The airline Link Airways offers daily services from the airport to Melbourne–Essendon and Brisbane.
RAAF Museum is the official museum of the Royal Australian Air Force, the second oldest air force in the world, located at RAAF Williams Point Cook, Victoria, Australia which is the oldest continuously operating Military Air Base in the world. The museum displays aircraft of significance to the RAAF from its inception as the Australian Flying Corps to the present. At the direction of Air Marshal Sir George Jones, the RAAF Museum was formed in 1952 and fell under the administration of Headquarters Point Cook until 1988 when it became a separate unit of the RAAF. It is currently overseen by the force's Air Training Wing.
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The South Australian Aviation Museum, located in Port Adelaide, South Australia, is an aviation museum which displays aircraft, aircraft engines, and rockets of relevance to South Australia, and the history of aviation and the aerospace industry in Australia.
The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation is an American aircraft, a member of the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line. The L-1049 was Lockheed's response to the successful Douglas DC-6 airliner, first flying in 1950. The aircraft was also produced for both the United States Navy as the WV / R7V and U.S. Air Force as the C-121 for transport, electronics, and airborne early warning and control aircraft.
The Queensland Air Museum is a not-for-profit community-owned aviation museum located at Caloundra Airport in Queensland, Australia. Its mission is to collect and preserve all aspects of aviation heritage with an emphasis on Australia and Queensland. The museum has the largest collection of historical aircraft in Queensland and it also has a large collection of aircraft engines, equipment, artefacts, photographs and books.
The City of Canberra is a Boeing 747-438 delivered to Qantas in 1989. During its delivery from the Boeing Everett Factory in the United States, it made a non-stop flight from London Heathrow to Sydney. As of February 2015, this remains the longest non-stop un-refuelled delivery flight by an airliner.
Qantas operates a fleet of Airbus A330, Airbus A380, Boeing 737 and Boeing 787 making a total of 124 aircraft. This list excludes subsidiaries Jetstar, Qantaslink and Qantas Freight.