Reach for the Sky

Picture: Commonwealth Air Corporation CA-25 Winjeel

For many in Air Force, the CAC (Commonwealth Air Corporation) CA-25 Winjeel will bring memories and stories flooding back.  The plane featured in this article was spotted online for under $130,000.

The history of the Winjeel is well recorded by the RAAF Museum at Point Cook, which proudly displays the plane in its collection. 

In 1948 Air Force needed a new training aircraft to replace both the Tiger Moth and Wirraway. The brief was simple: The new trainer was to seat three; be of ‘simple but robust construction’; and be economical to operate and easy to maintain. Above all, it was to have safe handling characteristics. The CAC responded with the CA-22 and named it Winjeel (meaning "young eagle" in an Indigenous language).

Two CA-22 prototypes were built with 450 hp Pratt and Whitney Wasp Junior engines. CAC had intended a 450 hp Cicada engine for production aircraft but the Winjeels were powered by Wasp Juniors. Test flights of the prototypes showed the requirements for a safe aircraft had been “over stepped’. The plane was so stable it was difficult to get into a spin, which would be fine for most aircraft but not for a military trainer. The designers quickly fitted a dorsal fairing and a larger rudder to the rear-positioned fin. In subsequent evolutions, a taller fin, without the dorsal fairing, and with the rudder moved forward, was added. A revised engine cowling was also designed and these later features were incorporated in the production Winjeels. The first production CA-25 Winjeel trainer flew on 23 February 1955.

These sturdy trainers operated with No 1 Basic Flying Training School (later renamed No 1 Flying Training School) at RAAF Uranquinty until the unit was transferred to RAAF Point Cook in December 1958. In January of that year, Air Force took delivery of its last Winjeel. The plane was also used by Central Flying School (CFS) at East Sale to train RAAF flying instructors and by many other as a communications and liaison aircraft.

Although the plane was replaced as a basic trainer by the CT-4 Airtrainer in 1975, the Winjeel continued to serve as a forward air control aircraft supporting RAAF and Army operations until 1995.

For budding pilots who want something with a little more get up and go, and have a spare $60,000 (AUD), there is always the option of an ex-service jet, like a classic single-engine 1954 De Havilland DH-112 Venom (developed from the Vampire) with 290 hrs remaining on her single De Havilland Ghost 48 MK.1 engine before TBO. For most of us, the idea will remain a dream. But the sky’s the limit when dreaming.