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By: - 2nd October 2017 at 16:18 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
So you have FF364 and RF612 with RF606 written on it.
FF is for forward fuselage and RF is for rear fuselage. Older rear fuselages tend to be "two out", i.e. RF143 belongs to A9-141. However more were taken out of the production line as time went on, so when you get into the 600's it is not so clear. It is just possible that they could be six out around this time, which might be why someone has written RF606 on it i.e. A9-606. Pure speculation though. A9-606 crashed on take off at Tadji in 1944, and many components were recovered from Tadji in the 1970s, so that *could* be another indication. Many surviving Beaufort components come from Tadji. Traces of codes can sometimes be found on rear fuselages, but the serial is painted on the stern fuselage (SF) which is often separate.
I'm not sure if the "two out" rule applies to FF's, it could be from A9-364, which was another Tadji wreck.
http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a9.htm contains individual histories and is a great resource.
Hope that might be some help. Any more photos?
Andrew
By: - 3rd October 2017 at 00:55 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Hi Andrew
Thank you - that is fantastic information and a big help. Can you provide a bit more detail on why the later RF numbers are out (ie why were the 'correct' ##'s taken out of production)?
To provide a bit of context, both the wrecks I listed were visited up at Tadji (so your research is spot on there!) and are among several partial Beaufort airframes that are still located there. I've researched which aircraft were written off at Tadji through the adf-serials website and which ones have been subsequently salvaged, and am now trying to line up which ones 'should' still be there with the aircraft on site- so far I have likely ID's on four of the hulks I visited - your information lines up with two of the aircraft that should remain on site. Much of the paintwork was either weathered away or obscured by organic material (mosses, etc) so ID's from painted serials/SQN codes was difficult in the time I had on site (almost impossible to be honest) so being able to find the inspection plates on a couple of the wrecks was a big help. There were some stern fuselages located there but all had been separated from the RF components that remained; likewise, identification of any painted serials was difficult on these components.
I have quite a few photos you are likely to find interesting and will post some more later today or tomorrow when I have a chance.
Thanks again, this information is really appreciated
By: - 3rd October 2017 at 05:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I had a similar situation when attempting to identify my nose section. The reason they'd be 'two out' was that IDed sections were complete, but were removed from the production line for issue rectification, thus meaning they were not ready to be assembled with the rest of the components with that number. In other words, if forward section 55 had a problem, then it was pulled and forward section 56 was fitted to centre section 55 and rear section 55, and the aeroplane became A9-55. Very simplistic explanation, as I'm away from home and my source material, but that's the basic gist of it. I'll get a decent explanation in a bit.
By: - 4th October 2017 at 05:04 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
https://www.pacificwrecks.com/airfields/png/tadji/wrecks.html
By: - 4th October 2017 at 11:54 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Charles Darby's book Pacific Aircraft Wrecks has several photos taken in 1974 of Tadji airframes. A9-689, A9-559 and A9-637 sat closely together at the time. Four elsewhere sat near each other: A9-390, A9-335, A9-210 and A9-557. These were all partial airframes and some were recovered at that time or since. For now, I have only had a quick look through Charles' book. Another good source of identifying what was retrieved from Tadji (and elsewhere) is Geoff Goodall's Warbirds directory. Recoveries were not always of all of the parts located there from the one aircraft; I mean that while a centre-section of a particular aircraft may have been recovered, the nose from the same aircraft was left behind. I expect that there may have been some rebuilds of crashed aircraft during the war using salvaged sections. A look at RSU records may provide some insight.
By: - 5th October 2017 at 04:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Thanks to all for the assistance, most helpful - thus far I've been able to positively identify (as far as I can tell!) four of the wrecks I visited up there, with another six still to be ID'ed (if possible). Still have a bit of working backwards from the information I have on what aircraft should be there with some of the other official sources of primary information out there.
One of the main problems I've identified is that only some parts of some wrecks were recovered, and my research has not been able to definitively identify which pieces were recovered and which weren't (yet). For instance, A9-535 is listed as having been salvaged in 1974 on the Goodall website and I assumed that meant it had been completely recovered, however when I got out there I found the forward fuselage section of that aircraft (picture below) looking pretty much as it did on page 64 of Pacific Aircraft Wrecks - very useful in helping to ID the wreck!!
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By: Maticash - 2nd October 2017 at 05:55 - Edited 2nd October 2019 at 11:40
Hi all
I was fortunate enough to visit several RAAF Beaufort wrecks recently, and am looking to (if possible) identify the aircraft that I saw; for the most part this is quite difficult due to the passage of time, effects of nature, salvage works etc., however on two of the aircraft I managed to locate a couple of plates with serial numbers, which I assume to be related to manufacturers inspections. Obviously Type 152 relates to the Bristol Beaufort, but I cannot find what the serial number on each relates to.
Can anybody confirm if it is the case that this serial relates to DAP manufacture, and if so, is there anyway to research the history of the aircraft from this as these numbers are separate from the RAAF identifiers?
Thanks, any assistance would be greatly appreciated
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