For the last 45 years, Nelson Wilson has been running a tree nursery at Yering, near Yarra Glen in Victoria. Neighbouring his property is an airport, and that’s no coincidence. He is passionate about planes. In his spare time 70-year-old Nelson not only collects and restores antique aircraft, he also regularly rolls one of his planes out of the hanger, crosses the bridge onto the Coldstream airport and takes off! He doesn’t think of his old aeroplanes as a means of travelling from A to B. Instead, on a fine day there’s nothing he loves more than floating and soaring above the valley like an eagle.
The restoration
Nelson copies the old plane parts using pictures, manuals and diagrams. He is able to make exact reproductions because the original aircraft patterns are easy to follow. He has already restored a Curtis Kitty Hawke which is now in the Canberra War Museum, and at the moment he is rebuilding a very rare 1931 BA Swallow.
The planes
Nelson has a 1941 de Havilland Tiger Moth, and a rare 1943 de Havilland Moth Minor, which he has flown for the last 30 years. Said to be the world’s most exceptional biplane, Tiger Moths evolved from a line of successful civilian aircraft and went on to become the primary basic trainer for England and the Commonwealth during World War II. Nelson also owns a de Havilland F1 100 Vampire jet fighter, and a recently restored 1930s Desoutter monoplane, one of only two or three flyable examples in the world. In wet weather he does most of his flying in a Cessna 150.
Further information
Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia, PO Box 136, South Melbourne, Vic 3205.