Funds sought for replica

Press, 31 March 1989, Page 18

Funds sought for replica

By

DAVE WILSON

New Zealanders who flew or worked on the Royal Air Force’s Stirling bombers during World War II are being asked to support a fund in England to build a full-sized replica of the aircraft. Mr Frank Clear, of Devon, founder of the Stirling Association, wants to build a replica as a tribute to the Allied airmen who flew the first of the R.A.F.’s wartime heavy bombers.

New Zealanders had a strong link with the Stirling which equipped No. 75 (New Zealand) Bomber Squadron before it converted to the Lancaster bomber.

Although 2221 Short Stirlings were built during the war, none survived. Mr Clear’s proposal is to build a full-size replica of the Stirling and make it the centre of a visitor attraction, evoking the work of wartime R.A.F. Bomber Command.

He has written to the Royal NewZealand Air Force Museum at Wigram as part of his global efforts to awaken interest in the project. He had pursued reports of several possible Stirling crash sites without success.

“I even went to Russia to check one rumour.”

Mr Clear, a former Stirling pilot

and winner of the Distinguishea Flying Cross, said he had started the Stirling fund with his own money and had already gained support from distinguished quarters. The Short company, which made the bomber, had indicated its support, as had Sir Anthony Harris, son of the wartime commander-in-chief of Bomber Command, Air ViceMarshall Sir Arthur Harris. Several notable R.A.F. veterans had also endorsed the concept. Mr Clear is acting as manager and treasurer of the Stirling Aircraft Fund. His address, for people interested in the project, is: 9 Cadover Close, Crownhill, Plymouth, Devon, England PL6 SNE.