There is something fitting about a fighter designed and built in Australia arriving on the same day as World Update 21. The CAC Boomerang, now available as Local Legend 24 for $14.99, holds a genuinely unique place in aviation history: it is the only combat aircraft ever to have been completely designed and manufactured by an Australian company.
A fighter built in 16 weeks
The story behind the Boomerang is worth knowing before you start the engine. When World War II broke out, Australia found itself urgently short of combat-capable aircraft. The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, which had been producing the Wirraway trainer since the late 1930s, was tasked with building something that could actually fight. Using the Wirraway as a structural starting point, they delivered the first operational Boomerang just over 16 weeks after formal government approval. By any measure, that is a remarkable turnaround for a combat aircraft design.
The Boomerang made its first flight on May 29, 1942, and first saw combat in May 1943, when two of the fighters intercepted three Japanese bombers and forced them to break off their mission. A total of 250 were built during a production run that ran from 1942 to 1945.
What you are flying
The aircraft is powered by a 14-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engine producing 1,200 horsepower, driving a Hamilton Standard three-blade constant-speed propeller. It has a maximum speed of 305 mph, a service ceiling of 29,000 feet, and a climb rate of 2,940 feet per minute. The armament fit included two autocannons and four machine guns, plus provision for bombs and smoke markers for target designation work. That close air support and target marking role was where the Boomerang made its real mark operationally, even if its performance numbers placed it below the frontline fighters of the era.
The airframe itself features an aluminum and wood construction, a sliding canopy with ballistic reinforcement, and a retractable undercarriage. It is a compact machine: just over 25 feet long, with a 36-foot wingspan.
Where to get it
Local Legend 24: CAC Boomerang is available now in the Microsoft Flight Simulator in-game Marketplace for $14.99 USD. iniBuilds is the developer behind this creation. A handful of the real aircraft remain in airworthy condition, which makes it a less obscure subject than some Local Legends, and there is no shortage of Australian scenery to put it over now that World Update 21 is live!
