Visit the outstanding collection of historic aircraft housed at Parkes Airport in Western New South Wales
It is currently housed in a former RAAF Bellman hanger when the airport was a World War Two Air Force base. Parkes has a long history in aviation, the first aircraft to land at Parkes was a Sopwith Camel piloted by aviation pioneer Sydney Pickles in 1919. During World War Two, Parkes airport became ‘RAAF Base Parkes’, accommodating an Air Navigation School, Wireless Air Gunners School, Operational Training Unit (Spitfires) and after the war had a squadron of Mosquitos.
Former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam graduated from Parkes as a Flying Officer navigator! Parkes has been used as a storage facility for the ‘HARS’ Historical Aircraft Restoration Society since 1975 and is now an aviation museum in its own right with a team of local and HARS volunteers.
