‘Centaur’ finds new roost at Australian War Memorial

A Chinook helicopter named Centaur came home to a new roost at the Australian War Memorial yesterday.

CAPTION: CH-47D Chinooks A15-202 ‘Centaur’ (left) is escorted home to roost at Mitchell, ACT. Photo by Brian Hartigan

The CH-47D Chinook A15-202, which saw service in Afghanistan was formally handed over to the Australian War Memorial after landing at Exhibition Park in Canberra, escorted by one of its F-model replacements.

AWM Director Brendan Nelson said the Chinook, nick-named Centaur, would be preserved as a is rather than be restored.

“It is important that we tell the story of the men and women who have flown aboard the Chinooks during what remains Australia’s longest ever war,” Dr Nelson said.

“We are about preservation not restoration and the story of Afghanistan and it is important to us and very important to the men and women who were there that the story of this aircraft’s role in that conflict is told as it was, not how we might imagine it to be.

A15-202 Centaur is one of three D-model Chinooks bening transferred to Australian museums. The other two went to the Australian Army Flying Museum at Oakey, Queensland, and the RAAF Museum at Point Cook, Victoria.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Dan Tehan said the helicopter donated to the Australian War Memorial gave excellent service, including numerous humanitarian missions, and was one of the first Australian aircraft deployed to Afghanistan, serving on four rotations totalling 513 days.

Australia’s D-model Chinooks are now retired from service, replaced by a fleet of seven CH-47F Chinooks – one of which escorted the Centaur on her final flight over Canberra yesterday.

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