Today we went out with friends of ours to Birubi Beach as they had never been there and also to have a look at whales at Boat Harbour. We then had lunch out in Anna Bay.
It has been a beautiful day today, blue skies and quite warm for the middle of winter.
We showed John and Elizabeth this wreck which we also spotted last October when my sister was here on holiday. I thought it may be suitable for the rust theme.
After a bit of research we have discovered that it is the underside wing of a P51 Mustang. This area of the beach was used as a bombing range during the 1950s by the RAAF Base at Williamtown.
@hermann It is made of aluminium so it corrodes but won't rust like other metals. You can see bits of corroded metal in the area around the wing.
@chimfa@creampuff@ibt@flyrobin This plane was probably used as a target practice plane during the 1950s at Birubi Beach as this area of the sand dunes uded to be a bombing range for the RAAF Base at Williamtown a few miles away.
A lot of the aircraft and live ammunition has been removed but because the sand shifts on the dunes on a regular basis due to winds etc some of the wreckage has got buried under the sand. It is only in recent storms that this wing has surfaced again.
@gigiflower Most of the wreckage etc has been moved but this has probably only just surfaced again from under the shifting sands. I first spotted it last October. As there is no live ammunition around it will probably be just left here.
What an interesting story the sand has unearthed........it does look in great shape for its age. Lovely sand, I wonder if you took your shoes off...too cold perhaps!
Such an interesting story! I'm surprised it isn't rustier tho! .... Okay, just read the comments above and found out about the corrosion, rather than rust. But still very interesting.
@pcoulson Thanks so much Peter, we did have some disputes while trying to identify it. Both David and John are ex Air Force and John thought it may be a Meteor, but when we googled it at home we discovered it was a P51 Mustang. John emailed me a photo of one later that night as he had photographed one at an airshow.
@terryliv@onlyme111@darthkitty@karlow75@lafish@lilminimonka Thanks. Most of the wreckage of planes and live ammunition have been removed from this area of the sand dunes as this was used as a bombing range years ago. This was unearthed after recent storms though and shifting sands.
@happypat Thanks Pat. No I didn't take my shoes off this day. The weather has been quite warm the last few days, even reached 19 degrees yesterday, but still too cold for a walk barefoot on the beach and a paddle though.
@eyesmile@888rachel@bizziebeeme@macromover@debilz Thanks so much. I am sure your son would love the Fighter World Museum at RAAF Williamtown then. I am sure if ever you are down this way the wreckage will still be here on the beach.
@paulaw Thanks Paula. Yes he was. We first spotted it last November when my sister was here on holiday and as John is ex RAF too we wandered over the dunes to see if it was still there. Luckily it is still above the sand.
@chimfa @creampuff @ibt @flyrobin This plane was probably used as a target practice plane during the 1950s at Birubi Beach as this area of the sand dunes uded to be a bombing range for the RAAF Base at Williamtown a few miles away.
A lot of the aircraft and live ammunition has been removed but because the sand shifts on the dunes on a regular basis due to winds etc some of the wreckage has got buried under the sand. It is only in recent storms that this wing has surfaced again.
@gigiflower Most of the wreckage etc has been moved but this has probably only just surfaced again from under the shifting sands. I first spotted it last October. As there is no live ammunition around it will probably be just left here.
@gosia Thanks Gosia.