Grant Coles, an employee of the Toyota company, is a real aviation enthusiast who has often visited the RAAF  museum at Point Cook in Victoria where an impressive array of aircraft are on display.

However, one plane missing is the Beaufighter and the museum is looking to restore one of the fighter aircraft from components they have been collecting over the years.

Aware of this, Grant placed an advertisement in The Land newspaper in the hope of locating parts of the aircraft - possibly from district properties - for the restoration process.

History shows that the Parkes airfield was a significant RAAF Base during and after WW11.  

It was home to thousands of service men and women along with hundreds of aircraft, ranging from the Tigermoth through to fighter aircraft including the Kittyhawk and Beaufighter.  

While, the airfield remains as a modern regional hub, sadly the World War 11aircraft that used to fly from there and many other airports are rare and far between.

At the end of the war, most of the aircraft were sold off and ended their days being melted down for scrap.  

Those that survived the scrap heap were often cut up for spare parts some of which ended up on farms for use in any manner of ways.

Grant received three responses to his advertisement.

One of the people who responded to the ad  was Goonumbla farmer Edwin Nash.

It proved to to be the only fruitful response.

Edwin remembered having some old aircraft fuel tanks that his father had previously utilised as water tanks over the years.  

The tanks had sat at the back of the shed for many years having outlived their usefulness.  

After showing them to Grant it was quickly realised they were from a Beaufighter aeroplane.

The fuel tanks found on Nash’s farm will be donated to the RAAF Museum so that they can be incorporated in the restoration process.

If any readers know of any other aircraft parts (from any type of aeroplane) and would like to donate them, we encourage you to call Grant Coles on 0417 954 393.