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CAC CA-25 Winjeel A85-418
Walkaround Gallery

This Winjeel A85-418 walkaround was taken at Moorabbin Air Museum in late 2008. They had just pulled their Winjeel out of storage for a freshen up. Hopefully the wings, engine and tailplane will be re-attached also. I'll keep an eye on this and post some pics if it is re-assembled. In the mean time, these pics give an unusual insight into the structure of the Winjeel.

Of particular interest to modellers will be the intact stencilling, and a hint of an earlier colour on the fin. She appears to be in the original service paint and hasn't been re-done.

The Winjeel, an Australian designed and built aircraft, served the RAAF as a trainer between 1955 and 1975. It replaced both the Tiger Moth ab-initio trainer and the CAC Wacket advanced trainer. Winjeels served further as FAC (Forward Air Control) trainers until 1990! Quite a few Winjeels served in this way. Only four were used at any one time, but the retired trainer airframes were rotated out of storage for the purpose.


Port side nose showing relative position of fuel filler. The badge is No 1 Flying Training School.	Port side front general view.	The Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior as used on all prototype and production Winjeels. It was to have the locally designed Cicada 7-cylinder radial, but development was dropped early in the program.


Detail of the gearbox at the front of the engine.	Hamilton Standard two blade variable pitch propeller.	Hamilton Standard two blade variable pitch propeller.


View of the front of the Pratt & Whitney engine.	View of the port side of the engine. Note the slight cant of the engine to the left. This gave a thrust line on a slight decline from the fuselage centreline.	Fuel filler and earthing point detail at the port wing root.


Port side of the canopy showing sliding window.	Port rear of the canopy frame showing sealing strip.	Port side of front windscreen. Missing hatch is for rudder tube access.


Travel rail for sliding canopy.	Aerial on rear deck of fuselage. It is offset slightly to port.	Static vent on rear port fuselage. The leading edge of the tailplane would be almost directly above this.


Under-tailplane access panels.	Lockable, castoring tailwheel.	Starboard under tailplane.


Starboard tail.	Rear fuselage deck showing offset of aerial and centred canopy rail.	Starboard rear fuselage showing large wing fillet.


Fire-axe hatch under rear of canopy on starboard side.	Fire-axe hatch detail.	Starboard wing root showing walkway pattern.


Stencilling behind canopy on starboard side.	Starboard side of winscreen.	Starboard wing root.


Firewall.	Windscreen.	Underside of wing centre section from the front.


Inside of port landing gear. Note depressurised oleo strut.	Top inside of port undercarriage strut.	Outboard side of starboard main wheel. Note creep marks on rim.


Starboard main strut showing brake hydraulic tube and pipe.	Formation light set slightly to starboard under wing trailing edge fairings	Port side of tail.


The single exhaust outlet. This emerged on the lower starboard side of the engine cowlings.	Looking forward under the tail showing the two wing root fairings. Note that their trailing edges drop below the level of the fuselage underside.	Emergency canopy release behind the canopy on the port side.


Instrument panel from the port side.	Centre console with engine controls. The specification called for engine controls on the left of both pilots. Consequently, a similar binacle appears on the port wall of the cockpit. You can just see the edge of the main throttle handle on the left of the pic.	The Winjeel had a third seat directly behind the starboard pilot. The concept was that you could teach two people at once this way. Apparently it didn't work.


Port side of the cockpit. Note that the starboard pilot's seat is not installed.	Windscreen wiper arrangement.	Centre binacle from the starboard side.


Instrument panel.	Looking toward the rear from the starboard side. Note the difference between the interior green colour used in the cockpit area and the yellow/green anti-corrosion coating inside the tail area.