By BRIDGET COOK
A MEMORIAL now flies high at the Cranbourne RSL in honour of forgotten defence force personnel – those killed in training.
After more than seven years in the making, a restored Macchi MB326H jet trainer aircraft was mounted to a tall pylon outside the RSL last month.
Dandenong Cranbourne RSL sub-branch president John Wells said they decided to put together the memorial following the great success of the Vietnam War Memorial of Victoria and the Huey helicopter at the Dandenong RSL.
Mr Wells said this relevant memorial to Australian Defence Force personnel killed in training was missing from the national collection.
“They die in the uniform and in the service of their nation, and they should be remembered,” he said.
“Training to fight can be as dangerous as actual warfare.
“The numbers of those so killed are high.”
The plane has been painted in Royal Australian Navy colours in which it flew until the Fleet Air Arm was disbanded in 1983.
There were 97 of the Macchi planes in the Australia Defence Forces, of which 25 of them crashed.
The planes, which were capable of reaching speeds over 800km/h, were bought for pilot training and first came into service in 1967 and the last were retired about 2000.
The RSL has been working on the project for more than seven years, where a dedicated group of volunteers, particularly Kevin Dean and Robin Hiern, put together the aircraft from a number of different shells.
Mr Wells said the RSL has spent more than $150,000 on the project so far, as it did not receive any government support.
“We were aware of the forgotten casualties of peacetime and we were determined to recognise them, drawing on our experience in creating the Vietnam War Memorial of Victoria at Dandenong RSL,” he said.
