Wingless and Flying — Clein Transport Solutions’ Caribou move

A custom Australian load delivered by a stunning custom Australian truck: Clein Transport Solutions moves a retired Caribou aircraft.

Words by Warren Aitken. Photography by Warren Aitken.

It really does take a lot to drag my butt out of bed and to drag it out at midnight is damn near impossible.

However when you hear that there’s a spectacular custom truck, moving a spectacular custom load, well that’s just too good to miss.

Clein Transport Solutions from Toowoomba have been in the transport game since 2009, beginning with a truck and dog doing minor earthworks. In the space of seven years they’ve grown to one of the Darling Downs more reputable heavy haulage outfits. So when Australian Aviation Heritage Centre (QLD Inc.) were announced as one of the five successful ballotters for a retired Australian Air Force Caribou, CTS was their first port of call for such a challenging move.

A4-228 is the official name of the 1964 DHC4 Caribou aircraft, a team of up to thirteen volunteers from the AAHC (QLD Inc.) led by Noel Spalding spent almost ten days removing as much as possible from the plane in order to make the shift manageable without compromising the structure of the aircraft.

The end result was a nine metre wide, eighteen metre long and four metre high fuselage towed behind Cleins 700hp FH16 Globetrotter with the wings stacked vertically behind Cleins MP10 powered Mack Superliner.

Admittedly the Clein horsepower wasn’t exactly tested by the weight of the load, however the power to weight issue isn’t the impressive part of a shift like this.

Speaking with founder of Clein Transport Solutions, Justin Clein, I learned about the months of preparation work involved in a shift of this size. Meetings with everyone from the office staff through to pilots and drivers, planning routes, backup routes, plans and back up plans, showed the professionalism and attention to detail involved in these kind of shifts.

Picking the Caribou up from its resting ground at Oakey Air Base in Queensland the Clein crew made their way across to Warwick before coming down the notorious Cunningham’s gap. The team rested at Aratula until 11pm.

I joined the team just after midnight as they came in through the Ipswich motorway. Catching the trucks as they exited the Ipswich motorway onto the logan. The multiple lanes of the gateway motorway ensured great time was made, the only slow ups were negotiating the seemingly endless Nudgee roadworks. Watching a crew like Cleins negotiate their way up the highways and into the airfield at Caboolture is impressive, with nine metres on the back there’s very little room for error, even more so when there is absolutely no allowance for damage. EBay doesn’t stock parts for a 1964 Canadian aircraft.

There were many happy faces at 4am when the Clein convoy pulled in. The new owners were beaming the most, their new and very rare Caribou was home safe and sound. A credit to all those involved.

A custom Australian Load delivered by a stunning custom Australian truck.

Rear Vision: where are they now?

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