Forty Years On - - - Canberra to F-111 Queensland Air Museum Major Collections

The book "Thirty Years On--- Queensland Air Museum - Major Collections" (ISBN 0 646 451073) was published in 2005 to celebrate the museums first thirty years from 1974 to 2004. It covered the entire Airframe, Engine and Miscellaneous Collections of the Museum as of January 2005. Since then there has been a continual increase particularly in the Airframe and Engine Collections. As at mid-September 2008, the airframe collection list had increased from 47 to 67 items and the engine list from 35 to 62 and some of the engine listings cover more than one engine of that make/model, such as in multiengine aircrafts and duplicate engines for others. This material was described and presented in a loose leaf format as Thirty Years etc Supplementary Material - January 2005 to Date. (ISBN 978-0-646-50586-2) which was regularly updated as new exhibits came to hand. The present book deals with the overall development of the museum to the end of March 2014. It combines the earlier two volumes with the collections now numbering 101 airframes or part thereof and 77 makes/ models of engines. Several of the engines are now functional and are run for the public periodically. As well there are substantial and increasing collections of miscellaneous items of historical and aeronautical interest and both airfield and aircraft equipment which are listed and briefly described. A collection of large scale model aircraft is also listed and briefly described.Formed in 1974 with a single G.A.F. Canberra it lead a nomadic existence. With the collection growing very slowly and having to move from its third site the Landsborough Shire Council erected a hanger on Caloundra Aerodrome and offered it to the museum. This was occupied in the early months of 1986 with a collection of only four aircraft. Here, with stability assured, the museum has assembled the rest of its present collection. Forty Years On describes and celebrates this growth. The museum is now preparing for the next stage of its development with, hopefully, a substantial expansion of the land and facilities under its control.