As Felix has said, a number of 'various variants' were made from the two Texans that were imported to Australia as a design model. 755 were built between 1939 and mid 1946.
There apparently were a few changes to the plane, not the least of which was the arming of it with 2 x Vickers .30's (whoopy-do, WWI here we come!), a rear guuners flexible .30 cal and bomb racks on the wings.
They were given the disignations CA1,3,5,7,8,10 & 16. CA10 was the Dive bomber variant with extra hard points and divebrakes. The Boomerang was the CA13 and the Kangaroo (of which only one was made) was the CA15, the first 500 mph propellor driven plane. CA 17 became the RAAF version of the F86 (with 4x20 mm cannon), something the Yanks didn't seem to cotton onto!
They all had a 'D' shaped rudder, compared to the straighter Harvard rudder and a different intake under the engine cowling. Other than that they were Texans.
Here is a picture (left) of the particular plane that Felix and I were speaking about in a previous post - It is now in the Australian War Memorial. It has the honor of the only Wirraway to shoot down a Zero (even if it was a Zeke)
as outlined in the account below.
Popondetta, Papua, 1942-12-12. Two RAAF Wirraway aircraft stand on the grass shortly after landing close together at Popondetta airstrip. Before Wirraway A2-103 (left) had come to a complete stop, its pilot, Pilot Officer (PO) J. S. Archer, had leapt from the aircraft and run across to the Control Tent where he had found the Control Officer talking to NX34655 Captain Alan Oliver Watson, Dental Officer with the 2/4th Field Ambulance. Puffing hard, PO Archer exclaimed excitedly, 'Sir, sir, I think I've shot down a Zero!' To this the Control Officer replied, 'Don't be silly, Archer, Wirraways can't shoot down Zeros.' 'Well, sir,' continued Archer, 'I went in to look at the wreck off Gona and I saw this thing in front of me and it had red spots on it, so I gave it a burst and it appeared to fall into the sea.' Within a few minutes, a dozen telephone calls from observers all around the Gona area confirmed Archer's story. While on a tactical reconnaissance mission over the Japanese ship wrecked in the sea off Gona, Archer and his observer, Sergeant J.F. Coulston, had sighted the Zero 1,000 feet below. After diving on the Japanese aircraft, they had fired a long burst into it with the Wirraway's two Vickers .303 machine guns, causing the Zero to crash into the sea. Archer was later awarded the DFC for his exploit. (Donor A. Watson) (Note: Archer's Wirraway is housed in the AWM.
