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Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) CA-6 Wackett Trainer
As production of CAC Wirraway aircraft began in 1938-39, Lawrence Wackett, Manager and Designer at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Port Melbourne produced a new design for a primary trainer known as the CA-2 following a 1938 Air Board request. This small machine was designed to provide basic monoplane instruction to service pilots before they flew the more advanced CAC Wirraway. The De Havilland Moth Minor design was also considered for this role. The CA-2 cockpit instrument layout was very similar to the Wirraway and even had an undercarriage retraction control although the undercarriage was fixed. The CA-2 featured a metal tube fuselage like the Wirraway but had an all-wood wing and tail. The engine was intended to be a 130 horsepower Gipsy Major, later changed to a 200 horsepower six-cylinder De Havilland Gipsy Six.
Two prototypes were flown in 1939-40 using Gipsy Six engines removed from Tugan Gannet aircraft held by CAC. Now designated the CA-6 Wackett Trainer the aircraft was ordered into production in 1940 but supply of the Gipsy Six engine could not be secured from Britain. The American Warner Super-Scarab radial engine of just 165 horsepower was substituted. Delays with development and priority given to Wirraway production meant Wackett Trainer production did not begin until early 1941 and concluded in 1942 after 200 were made. Wings and tail assemblies were built by General Motors-Holden at Fishermens Bend.
The Wackett was mostly used by the RAAF at the Wireless Air Gunner Schools (WAGS) at Ballarat, Victoria and Maryborough, Queensland. Some service pilots disliked them intensely due to their lack of power. RAAF pilot and author Geoffrey Dutton referred to the Wackett as "a horrid little aircraft" in his autobiography Out in the Open. The surviving Wackett Trainers were quickly retired by the RAAF after the end of the war in 1945 with many being acquired by J.T. Brown & Co. About 45 were sold to the Netherlands East Indies postwar. Most aircraft were flown by private owners and some were converted to KS.2 crop dusters by Kingsford Smith Aviation Service Pty Ltd. A highly modified crop spraying version with metal wings and a 250 horsepower Continental engine was put into limited production as the Yeoman YA-1 Cropmaster between 1964 and 1966. Six Cropmasters were exported to New Zealand.
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 1 - 10) 12 items
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Aeroplane Model - CAC CA-6 Wackett Trainer
This 1:30 scale model was donated to the Museum by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in 1954. It was one of a group of models donated by CAC representing the aircraft built by the c ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 17 -
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Aeroplane Model - CAC Boomerang, Flying Model
Aircraft History The Boomerang is a remarkable example of Australian adaption and innovation in response to a crisis. In December 1941, the outbreak war with Japan exposed an almost to ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
Aeroplane Model - CAC CA-15
Aircraft History Having designed and built the stop-gap Boomerang fighter in 1942, the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) at Port Melbourne responded to RAAF Specification 2/42 fo ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 13 -
Recipe Book - CAC. Pressure Cooker, Instructions & Recipes, circa 1947
Book of instructions and recipes for the CAC Pressure Cooker manufactured by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, Lorimer Street, Fishermans Bend, Melbourne. CAC was formed in 1936 as ...
Images: 3 -
Aeroplane Model - CAC Wirraway
Aircraft History Australia's defence capability was a matter of serious concern by the mid-1930s as Japanese military aggression in China signalled confrontation with the western power ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 14 -
Aeroplane Model - CAC Mustang
Aicraft History The Mustang was built as a private venture by the US manufacturer North American Aviation. Company designers Raymond Rice and Edgar Schmued produced the design concept ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 16 -
Aero Engine - CAC Avon Mk. 26, CAC Sabre, 1955
The Rolls-Royce Avon was one of the first commercially and technically successful axial flow jet engines to be developed in Britain. Most British jet engine development had been focused ...
From: Port Melbourne, Australia Images: 1 -
Aeroplane Model - CAC Winjeel
A 1:30 scale model donated to the Museum in 1954 by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation along with several other models of CAC aircraft types displayed at the 1953 Jubilee of Flight e ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 13 -
Aero Engine - Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, R-1340 Wasp, circa 1940
The Museum's engine is a geared R-1340-S1H1-G buily by CAC with the manufacturer's serial number 8003, sectioned for display. It was donated to the Museum in 1947 by the Royal Australia ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 1 -
Motor Van - Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) 'Deliverette', 1948
This prototype for a small delivery vehicle was constructed in 1947 at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) factory at Fishermans Bend, Victoria. It was powered by a modified 597 ...
Images: 2
