CQ Plane Spotting Historic Spot: Federation Airshows in the Outback - Clermont Aerodrome - Thursday 19 July 2001

I've made contact with Keith James, who lives in Clermont, and worked at Clermont Aerodrome for many years before retiring a couple of years ago.  Keith has many images that he took while working as the Aerodrome caretaker - refuelling aircraft and the like - and recently he passed on to me a small selection of images from his vast collection.

Amongst his images are a number of scans of photos he took on Thursday 19 July 2001, when "Federation Airshows in the Outback" came to Clermont.

A series of airshows were held throughout regional Queensland during July 2001, to celebrate the Centenary of the Federation of Australia.  The tour programme was jam packed, with airshows and displays stretching the length and breadth of Queensland, and specifically in Central Queensland, they were held at Charters Towers, Clermont, Capella, Emerald, and Roma.

The participants in the airshows were varied, from small single engined cessnas, to high performance racing aircraft, to old classic aircraft and warbirds.  The Clermont community was treated to a visit by "Connie", the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) Lockheed C-121C (L-1049F) Super Constellation VH-EAG.

"Connie" is shown below firing up on the Clermont Aerodrome apron, and then departing off Runway 15, bound for Emerald (as Keith recalls).  In the foreground of the picture is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) De Havilland DHC-4 Caribou which was also a participant.

Another classic aircraft to visit Clermont was Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) - Hawdon Operations - Douglas DC-3(C) VH-AES.  VH-AES was one of two DC-3s that participated in the tour, mostly alongside the Ansett Airways Douglas DC-3 VH-ABR.

Another HARS aircraft that was photographed at Clermont was De Havilland Australia DHA-3 Mk-2 Drover VH-DHM.

Of course, the airshow wasn't complete without an air display, and as Keith recalls, this was put on by a team of North American Harvard aircraft known as the "Southern Knights" aerobatic display team.  The North American AT-6C Harvard IIA shown below - VH-XNZ - was part of the team.

My big thanks to Keith James for his contribution to the CQ Plane Spotting Blog - we hope to bring more historical images from Central Queensland in the months to come!