CAC Wirraway The Wirraway ( an Aboriginal word meaning " challenge " ) was a training and general purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation ( CAC ) between 1939 and 1946 . The aircraft was an Australian development of the North American NA - 16 training aircraft . During World War II , the Wirraway saw action , in a makeshift light bomber / ground attack capacity , against Japanese forces . It was also the starting point for the design of an " emergency fighter " , the CAC Boomerang . Development . Three Royal Australian Air Force officers , led by Wing Commander Lawrence Wackett , were sent on an overseas evaluation mission in 1936 to select an aircraft type for local production in Australia . The aircraft selected was the North American Aviation ( NAA ) NA - 16 . Production licences were obtained in 1937 and two NA - 16s were purchased from North American Aviation to act as prototypes . The first of these two aircraft was the fixed undercarriage NA - 16 - 1A ( similar in design to the BT - 9 ) ; the second was the retractable undercarriage NA - 16 - 2K ( similar to the BC - 1 ) . These two aircraft were also known by their NAA project accounting codes ( NA - 32 for the NA - 16 - 1A and NA - 33 for the NA - 16 - 2K ) sometimes leading to confusion . These accounting codes ( or " charge " codes ) were used internally by NAA to track their projects and were not the actual aircraft model numbers . The NA - 16 - 1A arrived in Australia in August 1937 and following assembly flew for the first time at Laverton on 3 September of that year , exactly two years before war was declared on Nazi Germany by the United Kingdom and France . The NA - 16 - 2K arrived in Australia in September 1937 and likewise flew shortly afterwards . These aircraft were given the RAAF serials A20 - 1 and A20 - 2 within that organisation ' s numbering system . The NA - 16 - 2K was the type selected for production . With several detail and structural changes , such as provision for two forward - firing guns instead of the NA - 16 ' s one , and strengthened structure to allow dive - bombing operations , the first CA - 1 Wirraway , RAAF serial A20 - 3 , made its maiden flight on 27 March 1939 . This aircraft was kept by CAC for testing for several months and the first two Wirraways delivered to the RAAF were A20 - 4 and A20 - 5 , on 10 July 1939 . By the outbreak of World War II the RAAF had received a total of six Wirraways . Forty CA - 1 Wirraways were built before the CA - 3 entered production . Although there were detail changes to the design , the change in designation had more to do with the next batch of Wirraways being built to a different government contract than any real difference between the two sub - types . In February 1942 the Australian War Cabinet also approved the production of 105 Wirrway interceptors " on the basis of reinsurance against inability to obtain fighter aircraft from overseas " . It was also decided then to reject an " order for 245 Wirraways received from Great Britain " . These however were never built . The CA - 5 , CA - 7 , CA - 8 and CA - 9 were all broadly similar to the CA - 3 and it was only the CA - 16 that had substantial design changes . These included wing modifications to allow a heavier bomb load and dive brakes for dive - bombing . Sets of ' dive bomber ' wings ( as fitted to the CA - 16 ) were built under the designation of CA - 10A ( the CA - 10 being a dive - bomber variant that was not built ) and retrofitted to CA - 3s , −5s , −7s and −9s ; 113 Wirraways were converted . Seventeen Wirraways were modified post - war and delivered to the Royal Australian Navy ( RAN ) , the modifications were incorporated under the CAC designation CA - 20 . The 17 included a CA - 1 , a CA - 5 and numbers of all subsequent variants and operated under their RAAF serials . Production continued until after the end of World War II ; CA - 16 A20 - 757 ; the last of 755 Wirraways built , was delivered to the RAAF in July 1946 . Operational history . World War Two service . As its American " cousin " ( both types having been derived from the NA - 16 ) the T - 6 did for many Allied Air Forces during WWII , the Wirraway served as one of the RAAF ' s main trainer types from 1939 . The type made its last operational flight in 1959 after being gradually replaced by the new Winjeel trainer . Beside serving as a trainer aircraft they were also operated in combat roles , including as an emergency fighter . At the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941 Wirraways equipped seven RAAF squadrons : Nos 4 , 5 , 12 , 22 , 23 , 24 and 25 . A group of five Wirraways based at Kluang in Malaya for training purposes was pressed into combat against Japanese ground invasion forces ; these were generally flown by New Zealander s with Australian observers , and had some successes . On 6 January 1942 , Wirraways of No . 24 Squadron attempted to intercept Japanese seaplanes flying over New Britain ; only one managed to engage an enemy aircraft , marking the first air - to - air combat between RAAF and Japanese forces . Two weeks later , eight 24 Squadron Wirraways defended the city of Rabaul from over 100 Japanese attacking bombers and fighters , resulting in the destruction or severe damage of all but two of the Australian aircraft . On 12 December that year , Pilot Officer J . S . Archer shot down a Japanese A6M Zero aircraft after he spotted it 1000 feet ( about 300 metres ) below him and dived on it , opening fire and sending the Zero hurtling into the sea . This was the only occasion that a Wirraway shot down another aircraft ( and is one more than the total of aircraft shot down by its fighter offspring , the Boomerang ) . Fighter versions of the Wirraway operated over New Guinea for some time on ground attack and other Army co - operation tasks until other RAAF aircraft such as the Boomerang and American Curtiss P - 40 s were delivered to replace them . Many front - line squadrons of the RAAF had at least one Wirraway attached to serve as a squadron ' hack ' , that is , an aircraft employed on errands such as visits to headquarters or other bases . At least one aircraft ( formerly A20 - 527 ) flew as part of Headquarters Flight 5th Air Force in full United States Army Air Forces markings . Post - war and civil service . Post - war the Wirraway continued in RAAF service as a trainer at Uranquinty and Point Cook and was taken on strength by the newly - formed RAN Fleet Air Arm in 1948 . Wirraways also served with the squadrons of the Citizen Air Force ( a flying reserve force of the RAAF established in 1948 ) alongside CAC Mustang s , partially equipping No . 22 ( City of Sydney ) , No . 23 ( City of Brisbane ) , No . 24 ( City of Adelaide ) and No . 25 ( City of Perth ) Squadrons . Duties were not limited to training flights : a Wirraway patrolling for sharks crashed on a beach at Maroochydore on 30 December 1950 , killing three children and injuring 14 other people . The RAN retired its Wirraways in 1957 , replacing them with de Havilland Vampire s . After CAC Winjeel s started to enter service , the RAAF commenced phasing out its Wirraways on 4 December 1958 with a farewell flypast held at Point Cook to mark its retirement from that base . The last military flight was on 27 April 1959 when CA - 16 A20 - 686 was flown to Tocumwal for disposal . In 1954 , Super Spread Aviation , based at Moorabbin Airport , bought two CA - 16 Wirraways and modified them to perform aerial application operations . Both were almost brand - new , one having flown 9 hours and the other 12 hours ; the modifications included the fitment of a hopper and spraying equipment . In a reflection of much of what was asked of the type during wartime , the two aircraft proved to be inadequate for the task and both were de - registered on 10 April 1956 and later scrapped . Despite the scrapping of these two aircraft and hundreds of others , a healthy number of Wirraways survive today , in aviation museums in Australia , Papua New Guinea and in the United States ; and with 10 on the Australian civil aircraft register in 2011 ; either flying or under restoration to fly as warbird s . A Wirraway being operated as a warbird crashed during an airshow at Nowra in 1999 , killing the two occupants .