LAKE WIRRAWAY RESCUE

LAKE WIRRAWAY RESCUE 2021 Story by Rodney Knights and Phil Buckley. Photos by Jonn Stewart

Earlier in 2021, Phil Buckley interviewed CAC Wirraway rescuer Rodney Knights on his long term recovery of a 1950s RAAF Wirraway from a lake in Victoria.

October 1950 – Western Victoria, Australia – an iconic WW2 era Royal Australian Air Force trainer CAC Wirraway was being flown by trainee pilot Vance Drummond from No. 1 Flying Training School in Point Cook, Victoria. It ditched into Lake Corangamite and sank to the bottom of the lake. Vance clambered to the tail which protruded from the lake while he waited to be rescued….
Fast forward to 2021.

After 12 years of delays from red tape, weather and the march of time, this Wirraway is now to begin the next chapter of its life as it is recovered from the lake.

PILOT HISTORY

The Wirraway crash pilot Vance Drummond, was born on 22 February 1927 in Hamilton, New Zealand. He enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in May 1944 and trained as a navigator, graduating in September 1945. He was discharged with the rank of Sergeant in October 1945. Sadly his brother Frederick Drummond died on active service with the RAAF during World War II. Vance then joined the New Zealand Military Forces in March 1946 and in July he served with New Zealand’s contribution to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, “J Force”. In October 1948 he returned home to New Zealand, hoping to obtain a transfer to the RNZAF so he could become a trainee pilot. At the age of 21 he was considered too old!. Despite this rejection, he successfully applied to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and enlisted in August 1949 as a trainee pilot.

LAKE DITCHING

As part of his flight training, Drummond progressed through the RAAF flight training scheme and by 1950 was flying the Wirraway trainer. In October 1950 Lake Corangamite was being frequently used as a training area for RAAF Wirraway pilots.

On 20 October 1950, 23year old Vance departed RAAF base Point Cook on the fateful training flight at 9.48 am in CAC Wirraway A20-714. This CAC Wirraway A20-714 was one of 755 built at CAC factory in Fishermans Bend, Melbourne. It was constructed in 1945 and then taken on charge by the RAAF. Soon after it was moved and placed into storage with 1 AD and then 7AD. In 1946 it received an upgrade and then placed back into service. It was issued to 1FTS Tocumwal in May 1948. In November 1948 the aircraft made a precautionary landing at Echuca due to the engine cutting out in flight. Both crew members were uninjured. Repaired soon after, it returned to service in its training role.

At 1030am Vance was conducting a low level solo flying exercise at an altitude of 50 to 200 feet over Lake Corangamite. Over the lake, Drummond moved to adjust the compass but accidentally knocked his control column forward, causing the Wirraway to dip forward and strike the water. Drummond took action to recover from this prop strike and attempted to climb away but at 50-100 feet the Wirraway’s Pratt and Whitney R-1340 Wasp engine started to vibrate and his aircraft ceased climbing. This left Vance with no option but to conduct a forced ditching of the aircraft and he quickly prepared by opening the canopy to allow safe escape and controlled the aircraft in a tail down attitude onto the lake’s surface. The aircraft splashed into the lake and Drummond was injured slightly after striking his head and nose in the cockpit.

A witness, Harry Hynes who had seen the aircraft flying over the lake stated “A sheet of water leapt 40 feet into the air, and there was a terrific crash”. The aircraft rapidly slowed down and sank quickly. A20-714 settled into the murky water and sank into 2-3 feet of mud and 8 feet of water. Drummond struggled for two minutes underwater to escape from his seat safety belt and parachute harness. He is reported to have said that, at the time, “My lungs were almost bursting when I freed myself.” Once he was able to escape from the cockpit he then faced survival in a lake and started by climbing onto the tail. He was around 800 feet from the shoreline. Meanwhile, Pat Hynes, Harry’s brother, rushed out on a horse to rescue Vance but wasn’t successful as the horse struggled in the water. He then rang the local Police to get a rescue boat. While waiting for rescue Drummond stripped down to his underclothing ready to swim ashore if the plane completely sank. He remained clinging to the tail structure for 2hours until rescued by Police, who brought a boat from Camperdown. A post-crash RAAF investigation determined that although Drummond was technically at fault, it was found that the “glassy” surface of the lake’s water and the position of the compass in the Wirraway contributed towards the crash taking place. The Wirraway was approved for conversion to parts on 22/01/51 and this resulted in the tail section recovery on 06/02/51. The fuselage and wings were left to decay and essentially forgotten about…until 2005.

DRUMMOND’S CAREER AFTER THE CRASH

Vance continued flight training and graduated, first in his class, as a sergeant pilot in February 1951. He was posted to RAAF base Williamtown, New South Wales and joined No. 78 (Fighter) Wing which was operating the iconic North American P-51 Mustangs and the first generation jet fighter of the RAAF – De Havilland Vampires. With the Korean war underway from June 1950, RAAF pilots operated over Korea in Mustangs. In August 19151 Drummond was sent to fly with 77 SQN based at Kimpo, South Korea. By the time he joined the squadron it had recently converted from worn out Mustangs to Gloster Meteor F.8 jet fighters. Korea was a very contested country and the war saw the introduction of the new jets on both sides. North Korea’s two allies – China and Russia – were deeply involved in the war. Russia’s newest jet, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was a first generation swept-wing jet. It had outclassed all other aircraft in the war zone until the arrival of the USAF North American F-86 Sabre jet. The Russians sent their own pilots to the Korean war for operational experience.

The RAAF 77 SQN operated over North Korea up to the Yalu River in conjunction with the USAF Sabres. The missions were a mix of combat air patrols and bomber escort missions with the iconic WW2 B-29s still serving in Korea. On 1 December 1951 Vance Drummond was in a large formation of twelve RAAF Meteors attacked by a bigger force of Soviet piloted MiG-15s. The result was the loss of 3 RAAF Meteors ….one of which was Drummond’s plane. Drummond ejected and floated to the ground where he was captured by North Korean troops and placed in a POW camp. In April 1952 he joined 4 other POWs and escaped the camp. They were recaptured after 2 days. This recapture saw Vance beaten, placed on trial and spent on a month in solitary confinement. The Korean war ended with an armistice announced on 27 July 1953. POWs were exchanged over the next few weeks with Drummond released on 1 September 1953, arriving back home in Australia soon afterwards.

After returning to Australia Drummond joined the 8 Advanced Navigation Course. In April 1954 he was one of six navigators in Avro Lincoln bombers who made a graduation flight from East Sale in Victoria to New Zealand. He was then posted to No. 2 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Williamtown for flying duties and undertook No. 3 Fighter Combat Instructors Course. In November 1954 the Sabre Trials Flight was established as part of No. 2 OTU and Drummond was a founding member. The CAC Sabre jet was the 1950s RAAF ultimate status symbol according to official history notes. On 30 May 1955, Drummond was promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant. In 1959 Drummond was assigned to Glenbrook, New South Wales where he joined Headquarters Operational Command. In 1961 he undertook RAAF Staff College in Canberra and then in 1962, he was posted to 75 Squadron as a flight commander and soon after promoted to Squadron Leader. The squadron flew the CAC Sabres and were the operators of the Black Diamonds aerobatic display team. This team appeared at events across Australia showcasing the Sabre and the RAAF to the public. By October 1962 Drummond was the team leader. In December 1964 he was posted to Canberra and joined the staff at the Department of Air. In December 1965 he was promoted to acting Wing Commander and soon after sent to South Vietnam joining the USAF Second Air Division based in Saigon. His role there was to observe US methods of air transport, reconnaissance, ground attack, and air defence. By July 1966 he requested to join the USAF 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron as a forward air controller (FAC), flying the Cessna O-1 Bird dog. The role of the O-1 two seat light observation aircraft was to fly low over enemy territory, searching for ground targets like troops and structures, guiding in strike aircraft, following up on missions and checking the outcomes. The nature of the FAC work meant that Drummond had the distinction of being the first a number of RAAF personnel to become FACs attached to the USAF during the war. By October 1966 he finished the FAC role with a tally of 381 sorties and awards.

In January 1967 Drummond was promoted to Wing Commander and in February he took command of No. 3 Squadron. The squadron had recently returned to RAAF base Williamtown from overseas duty at RAAF base Butterworth, Malaysia and was to convert to the new Mirage III-O jet. In April 1967 Drummond undertook No. 9 Mirage Course with No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). During May he was flying at high altitude around 90km off the coast north east of Williamtown with 3 other Mirages on a training exercise. His aircraft was seen to dive into the ocean. No alert was given by Drummond and no remains, apart from an oil slick, were ever found. Vance Drummond died at age 41 after a distinguished career. Vance was awarded posthumously a DFC by the RAAF.

RECOVERY IDEA OF DRUMMOND’S WIRRAWAY 2005
As mentioned, after the crash the RAAF took some components off the Wirraway but left it sitting in the lake. Over the next few decades it would become forgotten to most people, but not all the locals. It wasn’t until 2005 when a Colac based crop dusting pilot, Gordon Wilson, discovered the remains in the lake that the idea of saving it again emerged.

Rodney Knights was a local who had grown up with an interest in aviation and warbirds. In 2005 he was told of the remains of the plane by an archaeologist. Rod’s background included work in the 1980s as a volunteer at Mildura Airport on the Pierce Dunn Warbird collection. Rod’s background also includes working as a commercial salvage diver and he had developed a working relationship with Heritage Victoria from doing assorted tasks with them.

In 2005 Rodney developed an idea to recover the Wirraway from the lake and started to do some initial research. He knew that around 70% of the crashed aircraft remains were below the mud and about 30% were above the mud and had badly deteriorated due to the salt and water. He found that locals wanted to remove it from the lake but their efforts had not progressed far. Rodney then decided to wait for a few years to see if anyone else was interested in recovering the aircraft. He used this time to keep working on a plan on how he would perform a recovery.

RECOVERY IS PLANNED

After no one else locally, or from across Victoria, unfortunately, took any interest in the Wirraway in the lake, Rodney decided to start his own recovery effort. When Rod started he was in his 40s and saw this could be a long term restoration. Nevertheless, he was focused on sticking it out until completed. In starting the process he approached a set of stakeholders which eventually grew into a group of 12 eventually. The problems that Rodney had to overcome were that he was dealing with 12 different agencies/departments and some would not liaise easily with each other. The Wirraways crash site meant it sits in an environmentally delicate heritage area and this would impact on recovery.

Some of the liaisons he had to undertake to successfully recover the Wirraway included the RAAF, Worksafe Vic, local Corangamite Shire, Corangamite Catchment Management, Aboriginal affairs, Victoria Heritage and the EPA. Rod was requested to undertake numerous studies on the local bird life and do a statement regarding bird life at the lake for the past 50 years. This went back and forth between he and the agency. Part of the permit conditions was a very comprehensive study of the bird life in the lake, which found that his team could only go there in wintertime with a window from March and August each year. This would mean his team of people involved would not disturb any bird activity across the summer months. However, this wintertime work would lead to a wet boggy ground travel route to and from the lake. Another study was required on the flora and fauna around the lake edges and on the land.

Another study was on the local farming land used in the recovery strategy. He had to also get a shipwreck archaeology specialist to do a study of the overall lake. The Victoria Heritage permit approval process seemed to drag on and on. Another survey was required for testing the water, another complex test requiring underwater aircraft frame testing checking the steel frame and a series of mud and water analysis in and around the aircraft. Over the 12 years Rodney made progress and the first big breakthrough came in 2011 when the RAAF granted ownership to Rod and approved the recovery of the Wirraway. He also had approvals from all 3 Aboriginal groups which supported him rescuing the aircraft. In the end it took 12 years to obtain all these assorted local and national Government permits.

From careful pre-planning Rodney knew that it would pose a challenge to get heavy machinery down to the lake and out to the aircraft. The plane was approximately 800 metres offshore and the level of the lake can vary up and down…… especially with drought periods. He had to plan the recovery methodology to ensure all potential situations were accounted for. Rodney was looking for the most efficient way to rescue the Wirraway and did some engineering work to build some special equipment for use in the recovery. Due to the wetness of the farming terrain over winter it meant all his tools and equipment had to be manually taken to the lake and then moved to the crash site in small boats. While waiting for all the permits to be approved, he started on the building of the recovery equipment over a few years. This meant the frame to lift the aircraft out of the water needed to be built and bolted to a barge to move the frame and the aircraft. His plan was to construct a platform around the aircraft and use a gantry system to carefully extract it before placing the fuselage and wings into clean water pools. In midst of all this work assorted permits expired and he had to reapply for them again. The impact of COVID in early 2020 began to slow down the plan for recovery and lengthened out the time frame.

2021 RECOVERY

The Lake Corangamite is located in the western district of Victoria around 25km from Colac. The lake is currently the biggest lake in Victoria and is around 2metres deep. The variable water level can see the lake rise higher and in hot summer time dry out completely. What makes this aircraft rescue from a lake interesting is that there are more than 20 submerged aircraft wrecks in Victoria but none has ever been salvaged. This was a first and it had sat in an alternating wet and dry environment for over 60years. It had also suffered salt from the lake, acidic water and mud and corrosion effects. When it first emerged in 2005 the airframe was in relatively reasonable condition. From 2005 to 2021 corrosion accelerated damage to the airframe. This resulted from sitting in an uncontrolled salty water environment with bacterial growth alongside a lack of oxygen in the water. Fortunately, sitting on the bottom of the lake produced a red bacterial crust, like a concretia, which has provided a form of limited cover to the aircraft, slowing down further damage.

Finally in August 2021, with all permits valid, a window opened to Rod and his team for recovery to go ahead. Early in the month, the first small scale recovery was undertaken. This resulted in some test parts like the elevators being recovered which gave some understanding of how complex the rest of the recovery process would be. Rod believed that the airframe is generally intact and salvageable. Once this recovery process was confirmed as being safe, the next step was to start raising the propeller and the engine to the surface, which was successful. Rod and his volunteers then began the next recovery goal of lifting the fuselage using the steel gantry system. This was successfully done in the last 2 weeks of August 2021. The recovery ran into some windy days which delayed the winching up of the fuselage as did the need to remove a few bolts holding the fuselage to the centre section. Once the fuselage was raised it was placed onto the barge and then towed to shore.

At this time of writing, the condition of the wings cannot be determined easily under the water. They could be damaged but Rod does not know yet. The Wirraway’s wings and centre section are set to remain in the lake, for now, to be retrieved at a later date. There is no rudder found on the airframe. Due to permit restriction access to the lake ending at the end of August 2021, this means a further recovery mission will take place around March 2022 when the permits allow access again. So far, Rod has moved the recovered engine and fuselage into a controlled environment – a set of clean fresh water above ground pools with a slightly alkaline status to desalinate and slow down the corrosion. This will be a long term process and Rod is being advised by a top corrosion expert on the best practices to use in the initial first stage process.

RESTORATION PLANS

Rod and his team have moved the recovered Wirraway airframe to Leftbridge Airport in south east Victoria. From this location, they will begin the long term process of undergoing the restoration to flight. Plans will involve washing out the aircraft underwater in the pools and then cleaning it up with an underwater dredge to remove the dirt, sediment etc. They will also do the occasional lift out for a deeper clean.

Once out of the fresh water pools the first step is to begin the dismantlement of the airframe into components. This will enable Rod and his team to visually inspect and if needs be X-ray, treat and restore each component and section. Rodney is also preparing the groundwork for the step by step process to flight status – an ambitious long term goal to take place. He states that no original photos of the aircraft exist and from the research of the airframe, it seems that at the time of the crash it was in an overall yellow paint scheme. Restoration may see an overall silver scheme adopted. The aircraft is to be given the name of “Corangamite Siren”.

DUAN thanks Rodney and Jonn for their assistance with this story.