RAYMOND Terrace's most identified plane - the Sabre jet - could be back on public display as early as Christmas thanks to hard-working volunteers at Fighter World Williamtown.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 1957 Sabre A94-959 was relocated to the aviation museum for restoration in March last year, after sitting in a run-down state in Bettles Park for more than 20 years.
"I would say we are past halfway now with the work to fix it," Terry Wells from Fighter World said.
"We are almost at the stage where we are ready to paint it."
The restoration has been a big job for the volunteers who spend one to two days per week on the project.
The first step was to remove all of the birds' nests, egg shells and skeletons from the aircraft which filled a whopping two box trailers once extracted from the Sabre.
Next volunteers replaced corroded panels which had been worn away by acid rain.
In the process of fixing the corrosion volunteers discovered the Sabre's mountings were too badly damaged to fix.
This means when the restoration project is finished the Sabre will have to be displayed on the ground, rather than mounted on a pole outside the Williamtown museum.
The Sabre's surface is now being prepared for painting, while volunteers source a windscreen and ejection seats.
The hope is to have the Sabre on display at Fighter World by Christmas.