June 2023
Aviation enthusiasts will soon have “unprecedented access” to an amazing collection of aircraft with an exciting $20m project set to take flight at Moorabbin Airport.
One of the southern hemisphere’s biggest warbird collections has set its sights on a $20m revamp, providing unprecedented access to more than 150 years of Australian war history.
The masterplan for Moorabbin Air Museum’s biggest upgrade in 60 years is expected to drop within the next fortnight, which will include plans for a new civilian aircraft gallery and a three-storey archive centre. The existing hangar at Moorabbin Airport will also be extended, bringing all aircraft on display undercover for the first time.
Moorabbin has more than 30 aircraft on display – with many more being repaired, in storage or loaned elsewhere – including Australia’s first police helicopter and the oldest set of wings from a surviving British Empire aircraft. All aircraft in the collection were built in Australia, with many built at Fishermans Bend.
The museum’s general manager Ewan McArthur said the upgrades would give greater access to priceless pieces of Australian history:
We’re really excited about this, it’s the biggest step forward in our 60-year history and will set us up for future generations to be able to access the entire collection and have the facilities that we’ve never been able to have.
It’s the most important (collection) in the southern hemisphere in terms of its focus on Australian made aircraft, so you could say it’s the most complete collection of Australian made aircraft in the world
The revamp is also planned to include a $1.5m research centre which will store more than 1400 boxes of Australian war history, including thousands of documents, 60,000 film slides and half a million aperture slides. Mr McArthur said the archives, once digitised, will be a gamechanger for researchers.
“The new archive centre will be a massive boost,” he said.
“Everything will be fully catalogued, and people will be able to access any documents … you could do anything from aircraft research to personnel research”.
A team of about 12 volunteers have spent the last few years cataloguing the 1400 boxes of archives at the museum, while another group volunteered their time restoring aircraft. Paul Phillips, one of the volunteers who has helped archive at the museum, said the upgrade will share untold stories of aircraft manufacturing in Australia.
This is a big part of Melbourne. That Fishermans Bend area is a massive part of the manufacturing and commercial history. We’ve got records of people who worked there, designed and flew those planes
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