Last updated 22 August 2022

AUSTRALIAN AVRO 643 CADETS

Compiled by Geoff Goodall

                     Cadets A6-7, A6-8 & A6-10 in standard RAAF pre-war silver finish, rear cockpits fitted with folding covers for blind-flying training.

         Restored Avro Cadet Mk. II VH-AGH (ex RAAF A6-17) at Melton Vic on 20 March 2010.                                Photo by Phil Vabre

  In May 1935 the Avro 643 Cadet II was selected for RAAF training and an initial order for 12 machines placed with A.V.Roe & Company Ltd.  Local production of the chosen training aircraft was being considered and the Cadet was considered favourable to the DH.82 Tiger Moth because its performance was better with the the air cooled radial engine. In addition deHavilland had specified a slower delivery rate at higher cost, and stipulated that 36 DH.82s must be built in England before Australian production would be allowed.

  The first six Cadets arrived at Melbourne on board SS Nestor on 29 December 1935. Two months later an agreement was approved between the Australian Government and A.V.Roe & Co Ltd for manufacturing rights for Australian built Cadets. A further order for 10 British built Cadets was approved on 18 August 1936, followed by another 12 Cadets placed on 18 August 1936.  

  Delays in establishing the Australian production necessitated another order for 12 more British Cadets approved on 18 November 1937. In a complex story of RAAF policy changes and Australian politics of the volatile years leading up to the outbreak of World War Two, the planned Australian production line was never established. There is evidence that British factory jigs and forgings were brought to Melbourne in the preparations.

  While Australian production was still being debated, on 20 August 1938 the RAAF placed an order for a further 12 Cadets with A.V.Roe. However wartime production in Great Britain overtook export orders resulting in that final order not being delivered.

  The British civil training company Air Service Training Ltd at Hamble offered its fleet of second-hand same model Avro Cadet Mk.IIs to the Australian Government, but the offer was declined.

  Total deliveries to RAAF were 34 Cadets, all the Avro 643 Mark II model, powered by the 150hp Armstrong Siddeley Genet Major 1A radial engine, operated without cowlings.  The RAAF named them Avro Trainers and they were referred to by that name during their RAAF careers.

  In June 1938 a RAAF specification was issued to replace biplane trainers with low wing monoplanes for primary training to be powered by the DH Gipsy Major engine. In general terms this resulted in orders for 200 Australian built CAC CA-6 Wackett Trainers, and 50 Australian assembled DH.94 Moth Minors.  Then in 1940 DH.82 Tiger Moths were made available to Australia by the British Government to become the standard basic trainer for the Empire Air Training Scheme and the DH.82 went into large scale production at Mascot by deHavilland Aircraft Pty Ltd for the EATS in Australia, Rhodesia and South Africa.

  The RAAF's Avro Cadets continued in advanced training roles during WW2, mainly with Central Flying School at Camden NSW which specialised in training flying instructors. During the war the RAAF obtained Genet Major engines from the Canadian Government where they had been replaced in Canadian built Fleet Finches with Kinner radials. In addition RAAF reverse-engineered Genet engine spares which were manufactured locally, including pistons, piston rings, valves, valve guides and seats. Such an effort indicates that the remaining Cadets were considered essential to the wartime training effort.  Crash repairs and scheduled maintenance  was contracted to civil operators such as Newcastle Aero Club and Marshall Airways at Mascot. However the majority of RAAF Avro Cadet repair and overhaul work was carried out by Clyde Engineering Co Ltd at their Lidcombe factory in Sydney. A local transport  company moved the completed Avros between the factory and RAAF Bankstown where assembled for test flights, using a truck loaded with the wings, towing a specially-built trailer for the fuselage. 

  As the War drew to a close, the surviving Avro Trainers, along with other types regarded as obsolete, were withdrawn from service and stored pending disposal.  Cadets formed part of a large group of surplus aircraft which were disposed of during early 1945 before the end of the war.  On 20 September 1944, the newly formed Commonwealth Disposals Commission wrote to the Department of Air asking which types and quantities of aircraft likely to be released in the post-war period.  This enquiry elicited a reply on 28 October 1944, in which details of the first aircraft and engines to be released were given.  17 Avro Trainers with 25 spare Genet Mk.IA engines were listed for disposal , and appeared on the first tender issued by the C.D.C., which closed on 20 February 1945. All Avro Trainers had been retired during 1944 and flown to RAAF Narromine for storage, before being ferried to RAAF Narrandera NSW. Over several days at the end of December 1944/January 1945 large numbers of RAAF CAC Wackett Trainers were also ferried from Narromine to Narrandera at that time. This mass movement of retired training aircraft was probably to clear parking areas at Narromine for RAF and Royal Navy aircraft being assembled at Bankstown and Schofields for the planned British force to advance on the Japanese homeland.

  DCA approved the Avro Cadets for civil use and 17 received civil certification, initially flown by aero clubs and private owners. Later Cadets found a new role in aerial agriculture, when a number were fitted for dusting and spraying and two were re-engined with the more powerful American 220hp Jacobs R-755 radial.  A modification installed on most drop dusting Cadets was an air scoop on the top of the rear fuselage, to expel superphosphate and other granular fertiliser dust, which otherwise covered the fuselage internal structure.

  The way it was. Newcastle Aero Club Avro Cadets at Broadmeadow airfield Newcastle.                                                  Photo: NAC

A happy Newcastle Aero Club group pose with one of the Avro Cadets at Broadmeadow circa 1950.          Civil Aviation Historical Society

 
   Newspaper picture of a Yarram Aero Club visit to the Newcastle Aero Club in March 1947. The Avro Cadet on the left has the NAC
   wings insignia on the rudder, while the other Cadet has the Yarram Aero Club wings. Despite the caption, the Yarram Club instructor
   wasin fact Mr. Cliff Wynn, who founded the club.                                                                                      Courtesy John Willis

   Hardy Brothers Avro Cadet loading superphosphate between dusting runs.                                             Photo: Peter Hardy collection

     A proposal was submitted to DCA in a letter from Proctors Rural Services, Alexandra Victoria in June 1958 to re-engine agricultural Cadets with a 165hp Continental 0-470-K horizontally opposed six cylinder engine driving a McCauley constant speed propeller. The significant increase in power and changed engine installation weight would involve a changed Centre of Gravity datum and revised fuel system.  The plan progressed to the trial installation of a flat six engine in a Cadet (probably VH-BJB but unconfirmed) while dismantled for overhaul in the Brookes Aviation hangar at Moorabbin during 1960. However when the overhaul was completed the Cadet retained the original Genet engine.

  The final phase of the Australian Avro Cadet story is the re-emergence of long retired Cadets folowing lengthy restorations as immaculate flying examples, some in RAAF colour schemes. Several more are yet to reappear.  

The following listing of all Australian Cadets is presented in order of RAAF serial numbers:

A6-1                                 c/n 850        

A6-2                                  c/n 851                                                                                                                                                                                      VH-APV  

A6-3                                c/n 852        

A6-4                                c/n 853        

A6-5                                  c/n 854                                                                                                                                                                                              VH-AEG  

       A6-5 with No.1 Flying Training School, RAAF Point Cook Victoria prewar.                           State Library of Queensland

  VH-AEG on the Newcastle Aero Club flight line at Broadmeadow airfield.                         John Hopton Collection

  Newcastle Aero Club's VH-AEG, through the flying wires of another Cadet.                                                Photo NAC

A6-6                                  c/n 855        

A6-7                                  c/n 856        

  Mr. Richard Casey, later Lord Casey of Berwick, flying solo in A6-7 at Point Cook.                            John Hopton Collection

A6-8                                 c/n 857                                                                                                                                                                                              VH-AEJ  

          VH-AEJ at Hindmarsh Island SA in October 2009.                                                                              Photo by Nigel Daw

A6-9                                c/n 858        

                 RAAF Point Cook 9 December 1936, A6-9 with wreck of Moth A7-31 behind.                               John Hopton Collection

A6-10                                c/n 859                                                                                                                                                                                             VH-AMM  

  A6-10 in prewar RAAF service.                                                                                        John Hopton Collection

  VH-AMM at Essendon 1947 with pilots Bob Miles and "Smoky" Parker.                               John Hopton Collection

 A6-11                               c/n 860                                                                                                                                                                                              VH-AFW  

     Four Yarram based Cadets all in same paint scheme, Morwell Vic in 1946.                              Photo: Elizabeth Leckie collection

   Gippsland Victoria in the late 1940s now all silver.                                                                     Photo:  Elizabeth Leckie collection

          VH-AFW at Bankstown circa 1951.                                                                                          Ed Coates Collection

A6-12                               c/n 861                                                                                                                                                                                VH-AFX  

        VH-AFX with spraybars "in the field" in 1950s, still with Genet engine.                                       Geoff Goodall collection

        VH-AFX at Chewing Gum Field Air Museum with Vampire, Bristol Boxkite replica and BA Eagle.               Photo by Geoff Goodall

         
           Dave Eyre sent these two photographs from a visit to David Morris' Iandra Castle country house near Young NSW in January 1991.

      

            Dawn at a Narromine NSW fly-in, October 2005.                                                                               Photo by Phil Vabre

Morwell Vic in April 2010, rolled-out after a major overhaul and repaint in the scheme of Hardy Bros Spraying Co in Queensland. 
It retains the Jacobs R-755 engine which Hardy Bros installed.                                                          Photo by Howard Jones

A6-13                               c/n 986        

         A6-13 on the flight line at RAAF Point Cook Victoria circa 1939.                                                  John Hopton Collection

A6-14                                c/n 987        

A6-15                              c/n 988        

   A6-15 at RAAF Point Cook in pre-war silver finish with polished metal nose.                                                 John Hopton Collection

  A wartime photo of A6-15, with Central Flying School at RAAF Camden NSW.                                     John Hopton Collection

A6-16                              c/n 989        

A6-17                                c/n 990                                                                                                                                                                          VH-AGH  

          VH-AGH at Bankstown circa 1960, silver with red trim.                                                               John Hopton Collection

         VH-AGH stored in Sid Marshall's hangar at Bankstown, July 1967, hung from the roof with a Messerschmitt 109G and Nakajima Oscar    
         to save space on the crowded hangar floor. Marshall Airways' Lockheed 10B VH-ASM is below.                       Photo by Geoff Goodall

VH-AGH attended an airshow at Temora NSW on 25 April 2008, the day after its first flight following a 15 year restoration project.

Photo by Phil Vabre

A6-18                               c/n 991                                                                                                                                                                         VH-AEH, VH-PRV  

         VH-AEH in a line of Newcastle Aero Club Avro Cadets at Broadmeadow in the late 1940s.                                  Photo: NAC

  A formation of Newcastle Aero Club Avro Cadets.                                                                   John Hopton Collection

VH-AEH in 1956 after modification to a single seat crop sprayer with Proctor’s Rural Services, Alexandra, Victoria.  
Apostrophe pedants will note the painter’s misuse in the company’s name.                   John Hopton Collection

    Moorabbin 1958 as a single seat duster with Proctors Rural Services.                                                    Photo by Eddie Coates

    Now re-registered VH-PRV, at Moorabbin December 1959 with Aerial Missions.                                 John Hopton Collection

   Moorabbin 1961, fresh from an overhaul with new fabric.                                                    John Hopton Collection

Moorabbin 1961, now operated by Victorian Aerial Farming Aids.  Note the rear fuselage air scoop designed to extract fertiliser dust

from the interior of the fuselage.                                                                                                         Photo by Neil Follett

A6-19                                c/n 992        

A6-20               c/n 993        

A6-21                               c/n 994                                                                                                                                                               VH-AFZ, VH-RAC  

        A6-21 with No.1 Flying Training School, RAAF Point Cook.                                                      John Hopton Collection

A6-22                               c/n 995        

        A6-22 in wartime camouflage, with Sgt William Orr.                                                                   Photo via Matthew Dorhauer

A6-23                               c/n 1058                                                                                                                                                                                      VH-AHH  

   Civilianised as VH-AHH, at Parafield SA c1949 prior to conversion for agricultural use by Robbys Aircraft.   Photo R. Brennan via Nigel Daw

A6-24                              c/n 1059        

A6-25                               c/n 1060                                                                                                                                                         VH-AEI, VH-PRU, N643AV  

  Broadmeadow airfield, Newcastle, circa 1947.                                                                            John Hopton Collection

           
Newcastle Aero Club Avro Cadet VH-AEI and Tiger Moth VH-AOD at Casino NSW 1948 while on loan to the Casino Aero Club.
VH-AEI has been fitted with the upper right wing from VH-AEL.                                                       Photo by Milty Sheppard

                VH-PRU returned to two open cockpits at Ballarat Vic in January 1964.                                                  Photo by Geoff Goodall

        A fine study of VH-PRU at Albury NSW in March 1966, taken by John Hopton.                                       

         Badly damaged in forced landing on Albury airfield 26 March 1967.                                                       Photo by Kevin Murphy

        Murwillumbah NSW August 1993, nearing completion of the rebuild.                                                       Photo by Dave Eyre

     Mittagong NSW in 1996 after restoration, pilot Ben Dannecker.                                                      Photo: Ben Dannecker collection          

       Maintained airworthy at Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight attraction, Polk City, Florida.                             Photo: Ben Dannecker collection

A6-26                              c/n 1061        

A6-27                               c/n 1062                                                                                                                                                                                   VH-AHW  

  VH-AHW while with the Yarram Aero Club circa 1949.                                                                     John Hopton Collection

A6-28                                c/n 1063                                                                                                                                                                                  VH-APW  

A6-29                                c/n 1064        

A6-30                               c/n 1065        

A6-31                              c/n 1066                                                                                                                                                                                            VH-AFY  

    VH-AFY at Essendon Vic circa 1947.                                                                                                         Photo by Bob Fripp

  Hardy Brothers cropdusting Cadet line-up at Archerfield Queensland: VH-AFY, AFX, AEJ, AHW.                       Peter Hardy collection

  Archerfield 1964, showing the built-up hopper area ahead of the cockpit.                            Photo: The Collection p6525-0819

  VH-AFY at Archerfield in January 1964, with Jacobs engine.                                                                        Photo by Dick Hourigan

  VH-AFY at Archerfield with spraybars, fitted with a 4 bladed propeller.                                 John Hopton Collection

  VH-AFY's ag career ended in the Dunbible River near Murwillumbah NSW in February 1971.                          Classic Wings magazine

A6-32                                                  c/n 1067                                                                                                                                                   VH-AGC, VH-BPS, VH-PRT  

    VH-AGC on the Tullamarine airstrip in 1946 with owner Jack Gillies.                                  Photo: Jack Gillies via Maurice Austin

   At Mascot circa 1949 all over silver finish, Newcastle Aero Club wings on rudder.                                   Ed Coates Collection

    1959 while a cropduster with Aerial Missions, with rear fuselage air scoop.                                                Neil Follett collection

  This rare colour view shows VH-PRT at Wagga NSW in November 1960, with Aerial Missions.                 Photo by Kurt Finger                        

  Moorabbin October 1960, fitted with a Lycoming 6 cylinder engine during an overhaul. It did not fly with the Lycoming, and was
   completed with a standard Genet radial.                                                                                               Photo by Neil Follett

   VH-PRT arriving at Moorabbin on 22 March 1961 for repair.                                                        John Hopton Collection

   Cambridge Airport, Tasmania in October 1961, with Southern Aerial Super Service in yellow scheme.            Photo by Norm Weeding

   Albury NSW April 1969, painted all over cream, restored as a two seater.                                         Photo by Geoff Goodall          

A6-33                               c/n 1068                                                                                                                                                                                          VH-AEL  

  VH-AEL with Newcastle Aero Club in the late 1940s.                                                                            Photo: NAC    

A6-34                                c/n 1069                                                                                                                                  (VH-AHI), VH-BJB, (VH-AVR), VH-RUO.  "A6-34"

            Moorabbin 1954, the only Australian Cadet to fly with a cockpit canopy. The extended pipe from the engine was installed for owner

        Fred Hoinville to provide oil smoke for sky writing.                                                                                 John Hopton Collection

          Moorabbin in 1950s, showing the unique canopy.                                                                             John Hopton Collection

           Moorabbin 1960 as a crop-srayer with Aerial Missions.                                                               John Hopton Collection

            VH-BJB at Moorabbin in 1961 now operated by Victorian Aerial Farming Aids.                                    Photo: Bob Neate collection

                           Crash scene at Launching Place Vic, 4 February 1961. Victorian Aerial Farming Aids name on the fuselage.

Photo: Neil Follett collection

  Displayed as A6-34 at RAAF Museum, Point Cook.                                                              John Hopton Collection

Unidentified civil Avro Cadet accidents:

RAAF units which operated Avro Cadets

References:

- Australian Civil Aircraft Register, Department of Civil Aviation and its successors

- DCA aircraft files, National Archives of Australia, Melbourne

- RAAF Status Cards, Department of Defence Air Historical Section, Canberra

- RAAF accident reports, National Archives of Australia

- Disposal of Surplus Aircraft and Accessories, Commonwealth Disposals Commission files, NAA

- Flypast A Record of Aviation in Australia, Neville Parnell & Trevor Boughton, CAA 1988

- Airmen I have Met, Derrick Rolland, self published, Bright Victoria 1999

- Aerial Agriculture in Australia, Derrick Rolland, AAAA, 1996

- Aircraft in Australia series, Avro Cadet: compiled by John Hopton, early draft 1999

- U.K. CofA Applications series, Air Britain Archives journal, 1981

- An engine log book for VH-APW in 1950, held by David Prossor

- Australian Air Log, monthly journal 1965-1968

- British Civil Aircraft Since 1919, A. J. Jackson, Putnam, London 1973

- Avro Aircraft Since 1908, A.J.Jackson, Putnam, London 1965

- Beech 17 Production, Air Britain Archive, quarterly journal, 1994 onwards

- Classic Wings Downunder magazine, renamed Classic Wings: editor Graham Orphan: numerous references

- Flight Path magazine, editor Rob Fox, numerous references

- Rag & Tube, monthly journal of Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia, 1977 onwards