CAC Wirraway A20-103 Postcard By The Australian War Memorial
 
RAAF CAC CA-5 Wirraway Mk.II advanced trainer/utility aircraft A20-103 located at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra ACT may be out of plain sight in an out of the way corner and displayed in a partially dismantled state but she belies her status as the most successful operational example of the type.
 
The Wirraway was utilized by the RAAF in multiple operational roles in WW11, especially at the commencement of hostilities when there was a chronic shortage of Fighter aircraft. This particular Wirraway was attached to No4 Squadron from the 7th of October 1940 and served with them initially at RAAF Canberra then Camden, New South Wales (NSW), Kingaroy, Queensland (Qld), and finally at Berry (Bomana), New Guinea.
 
Wirraway A20-103 found itself in real action on 26th December 1942 at Buna PNG whilst flying on a reconnaissance and artillery spotting mission flown by Pilot Officer (PO) J S Archer and Sergeant Coulston as observer/ rear gunner when it was able to position itself into a suitable front quarter attack position on a Japanese aircraft (at first reported as a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero but later confirmed to be a Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa ‘Oscar’ of the 11th Sentai). Given that the Wirraway was in the right place and at the right time Archer fired a relatively long 5 second burst from the aircrafts two forward firing 0.303 in. Vickers Mk V machine guns  which proved sufficient to shoot down the Japanese fighter which crashed into the sea in flames – the “kill” confirmed by Sergeant Coulston.
 
In Fair to Good Condition