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HARS now hopes to have its latest acquisition at its Albion Park Rail base in the early hours of Friday morning after a convoy bringing the Mirage from Essendon was delayed again. HARS member Mike De La Hunty said the latest addition was originallly expected to arrive at the Illawarra Regional Airport at 4am on Wednesday. A problem with permits then delayed the expected arrival to early Thursday morning. Spokesman Mike De La Hunty said the Roads and Maritime Services had told the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society they had not complied with all the condition on the permits after arriving at the Pheasants Nest interchange ‘‘20 minutes late’’. ‘‘We have all the permits in place but we were told we had to phone before we travel,’’ Mr De La Hunty said. ‘‘We did speak with one of the areas of RMS so it seems like we have complied. ‘‘The RMS was concerned with reports we would be closing roads, but any closures were to be minor ones as the truck goes by." In a statement an RMS spokeswoman said ‘‘a low loader transporting a mirage fighter plane was stopped at Pheasants Nest yesterday for permit breaches including driving outside time limitations and failing to produce appropriate documents’’. ‘‘The load will be permitted to continue once it is safe to do so,’’ the spokeswoman said. On Monday night a handful of other members were at Essendon Airport in Victoria about to join the convoy bringing a former Royal Australian Air Force Mirage to the HARS base at Albion Park Rail. The 8.2-metre wide, eight tonne aircraft was an unusual sight on the Hume Highway on Tuesday. ‘‘We were allowed to travel the Hume Highway in daylight, but need to travel Picton Road and the urban areas at night,’’ Mr De La Hunty said. Although the Mirage hadn’t flown since the early ’80s it was in ‘‘extremely good condition’’, he said. ‘‘It would take a lot of sponsorship to get it in the air, but we hope to get it ground running soon.’’ French designed, but built in Australia, Mr De La Hunty said the Mirage was an important aircraft in Australia’s aviation history and would complement the F-111 obtained by HARS 18 months ago. The Mirage will live inside the HARS hangar to be preserved mechanically and structurally. Mr De La Hunty said the next series of HARS open days start on Friday. NEW ADDITION Source: HARS

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