Here I'm looking toward the tail of the Lancaster B.VII 4 engined heavy bomber, which was described in image 30322. I'm in roughly the same position as in image 30328, just looking the other way. Note the riveting and the metal sheets that don't sit flush with each other.

None of that would be acceptable even in a light plane today, but this was 80 years ago and in war time. There was not the time, nor the resources, nor the technology to refine the fuselages to the nth degree. The engines? They may be a different matter. But with the loss rates that Bomber Command was suffering there was a desperate need to get 'em built, and get 'em flying. And thus, as long as the air frame holds together, it will have to do.

And indeed... it did do.

It's important to be aware that those panels we're looking at were 0.7mm thick. It would not stop a bullet of any calibre. The only armour plating was behind the pilot.

The aircraft that we can see to the rear of the Lancaster is a Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) Wirraway CA-16. I discussed the CAC in the description of image 30307. In short it was an Australian aircraft corporation created in the 1930s to allow Australia a level of self sufficiency in military aircraft production in case we lost our connection to Mother England... which is pretty much what happened in the early 1940s. The Wirraway was based in part on the North American NA 16 training aircraft.

A two seater single engined aircraft with a tail wheel, it was principally a trainer but could also pinch hit as a light bomber. (The CA16 could carry 2*500lb and 2*250lb bombs.) It was armed with 2 * .303 machine guns firing through the propeller plus a .303 mounted in the rear cockpit, though the CA16 may have had the guns in the outer wing panels instead of firing through the propeller.

If you compare this to the Wackett in image 30307, you can see the same design DNA seeping through.

One annoying thing about CAC was their naming method; they gave a new model number to every order, not to every specification change. (Although even then it would have made more sense to use the "Mark 1, Mark 2 etc system.) Thus the Wirraway, which had 10 orders, could be CA-1 (also known as Mk I), CA-3 (Mk II), CA-5, CA-7, CA-8, CA-9, CA-10 (none built), CA-10A (dive brakes fitted to existing models), CA-16 (also known as the Mk III) or CA-20 (cancelled dive bomber version).

Anyway... this one is a CA-16. It went into service as A20-688, though someone at the museum had registration dyslexia and it was painted as A20-668. Like the Wackett that was seen earlier, the left side has been covered with a transparency to allow people to see the inner workings, which is a very good idea. It's unfortunate that this is the only shot I have of it, but I was distracted by a slowly dying lens.

The last Wirraway produced was CA-16 A20-757, the 755th Wirraway, in July 1946.

Addendum: My personal opinion is that Facebook is a sociopathic organisation that steals other peoples' intellectual property (including the images in this gallery) despite being explicitly denied permission to do so.