A Douglas DC-4 that took part in the Berlin airlift has been restored and is on display at the HARS Aviation Museum in New South Wales.
It is one of several features at the museum's Tarmac Days 2022, from Friday, December 9-Sunday December 11, 2022.
The aeroplane, technically a C-54E-15, flew with US Air Force units in Germany during Operation Vittles, the Berlin air lift in 1948-9.
Now painted in 1950s Qantas colours, efforts are being taken to get it flying again.
The DC-4 first flew in 1942 and during the 1950s was a popular airliner in Australia used by TAA, Ansett-ANA and Qantas to carry up to 60 passengers.
The museum's aircraft was built by Douglas Aircraft Company Inc at Santa Monica and delivered to the US Army Air force in 1945, seeing war service as serial 44-9126 and used for troop and cargo transport until 1971.
After four years of storage in an Arizona desert, it was sold to a string of owners - once even impounded in the Bahamas for alleged smuggling - then ended up in Queensland carrying freight to Pacific islands before being flown under a special permit into Shellharbour Airport and donated to HARS Aviation Museum in 2009.
In a long-term project she is being restored to full airworthiness by volunteers with the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) into a passenger configuration as the only flying DC-4 in Australia.
Another World War II-era restoration on display has had its jet engine reinstalled. The A79-637 was one of around 80 Vampires built by de Havilland's Bankstown factory in the 1950s and was formerly owned by the Royal Australian Air Force.
Visitors can also view a model aircraft made with Lego bricks. Lego enthusiasts used more than 30,000 bricks to build just one of the largest Dambuster models - a commemoration of Australia's contribution to Operation Chastise. The Lego team is offering a raffle chance to win a custom mini Catalina PBY kit made by Lego bricks as a tribute to the "Black Cat" Catalina, which is one of more than 50 aircraft on show at the museum.
HARS Aviation Museum is at Shellharbour Airport, just off the Princes Motorway at Albion Park Rail and a short walk from the railway station. It's open daily (except Christmas Day) from 9.30am-3.30pm. Click here for more information.
