Australia's last B-24 Liberator bomber and its hangar are to be awarded Heritage Markers by Engineers Australia next Sunday.
The aircraft has been under restoration at the old wartime airstrip at Werribee since the late 1980s.
“Both the Liberator and the Werribee Satellite Aerodrome hangars are last of their kind in Australia and hold historical significance for Australians," said Engineering Heritage Victoria Chair, Owen Peake.
"The Liberator aircraft was pivotal in defending Australia against Japanese forces assembled to our north in World War II, and the American-designed hangars represented a solidification of the relationship between newly allied Australian and American forces,”
“The first aircraft to be recognised under the Engineers Australia Heritage Recognition Program, the B-24 Liberator features the Davis Wing, a breakthrough in aeronautical engineering design at the time. The Davis Wing allowed the B-24 Liberator to carry greater bomb loads, and to fly higher, longer and faster than other bombers of the time.
“This aircraft is the last remaining B-24 aircraft that served in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II and has been lovingly restored to its former glory by a team of volunteers from B-24 Liberator Memorial Restoration Australia Inc."
The B-24 restoration was started when a group of former RAAF Liberator crew noted that Australia had static displays of Lancaster bombers, yet none flew in the defence of Australia. That duty fell to the B-24, of which Australia had no static aircraft on display.
Members of the restoration team will be on hand next Sunday when the heritage markers are presented at a ceremony on-site.