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THE ultimate shed project is coming together in Dareton.

Looming menacingly large among the old cars, ancient farm machinery and countless bits and pieces that cram the Dareton men’s shed, a 1950s Sabre jet fighter is slowly being restored.

The Royal Australian Air Force operated the fighter aircraft between 1954 and 1971.

Neil McDonald was part of the crew at the shed involved with the tedious but rewarding refurbishment project that was taken on roughly two years ago.

“We only get the chance to work on it about six hours a week.

“It was known as a CAC 27 Avon Sabre,” he said.

“It’s served in a number of squadrons over it’s time … in 1970 it took off and had an engine failure where the fuel tanks under the wings burst into flames.

“It burnt all the centre section but they saved the front third.”

Greg Wood, who Mr McDonald said has probably done the most work on the project, was currently working on the jet’s canopy.

“This canopy was actually used for a while as a rabbit hutch … so it was all scratched and damaged and so forth so we’ve sanded it … polished it like you would headlights and we’ve managed to hide a crack behind one of the arrows,” Mr Wood said.

While slow progress has been made on the aircraft, due to the previous damage done, Mr Wood expected the wings to take a long time to repair.

“We’ve come a long way with everything … now the canopy is nearly ready to go but there’s probably more work in these two (wings) than the rest of it,” he said.

“It’s an interesting project. We’re starting to create a bit of interest now because its starting to look like it should.

“The thing will never fly, but we’re trying to make it look like it would be able to do that.”

Paul Mensch of the Mildura RSL said that the plane had been donated to the organisation a few years ago.

“It was rough and in a lot of bits,” he said.

“I knew about these guys so I approached them. They had a look and (they hesitated) and eventually agreed to do it.”

The jet is destined to go on display at the RAAF Museum at the Mildura airport.

Article written by: Joshua Riseley

Article provided by The Sunraysia Daily
https://www.sunraysiadaily.com.au