There's an old saying in aviation circles that aeroplanes turn good fuel into noise!! Well, if you ever need proof positive - check out the Antanov AN2 hangared at Watts Bridge. The AN2 is the world's largest single engined biplane, manufactured in Poland under license to the Russian Antanov company.   VH-CCE is owned and operated by three brothers, Seppo, Pauli and Vesa, all of whom are commercial pilots along with their dad Erkki who hails from Finland.

Now it takes a lot of fuel to make all that beautiful noise, which can only be good for the airfield bottom line now that AVGAS is available on the field !


For some great AN2 video check out the AN2 on You Tube,
where you can see VH-CCE being started.
Search from there for more.


Seppo continues.....

The aircraft was flown to Australia by Barry Hempel in the early 90's from Poland. It operated here on the Polish register for about a year. It was manufactured in 1989 in Mielec, Poland under license from Antonov. Until recently it had the record for the longest production run of any aircraft.

It has a 1000hp radial engine with a fuel capacity of 1200lts and oil capacity of 120lt. Max takeoff weight is 5500kg, empty is about 3500kg. TAS is between 80 - 130 kts, depending on how much fuel you give it.

We all learnt to fly at Hempels aviation and worked for Barry at various stages. In recognition of what Barry had done for us, we thought it would be good to keep the AN2 running. Pauli, Vesa and I bought the aircraft in April with plans to get it flying again in November 2009.

We are all flying for a living at the moment, Pauli for National Jet on 717's, Vesa at VirginBlue on the 737 and myself at Toll Aviation (Jetcraft) on Metro's.

The Antonov is a different kind of flying, closer to what flying is really about. There are currently 2 AN2's in the Family, Dad flies one in Finland and we have one here. Dad has a club in Finland called www.lennuklubi.org which operates an AN2. He is coming here in the end of November to warm up a little in Australia.

Seppo

New Superior Slasher

The never ending task of mowing the airfield's runways, taxiways and amenities areas just got a whole lot easier with the commissioning of a new Superior Slasher. On each pass, the new slasher cuts a wider area than the previous equipment. The rear wheel assemblies make mowing the rougher areas of the airfield significantly easier and helps to avoid wear and tear on the machinery.

This equipment was proudly funded by the Queensland Government's Gambling Community Benefits Fund. Superior Equipment Australia is a Queensland Company so the funding not only helped the airfield, but also contributed to the local economy keeping local manufacturing and employment opportunities viable.

© 2003 - 2024 Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield Inc.
PO Box 98, Toogoolawah, Queensland, 4313, Australia

Phone: 0427 699 239 
Email: info@wattsbridge.com.au

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