Memories came flooding back for Professor Michael Hough yesterday as he sat inside the gutted interior of a Douglas DC-4 - the latest acquisition to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society's (HARS) fleet at Albion Park airport.

"It was a Qantas DC-4 which took my wife Wendy and I to Norfolk Island for our honeymoon 39 years ago," the HARS chairman said.

"This is a really beautiful aircraft and is almost as big as our flagship aircraft, Connie," he said.

Qantas operated the last DC-4 passenger services between Sydney and Norfolk Island until 1977, when the island's airport was upgraded for jets.

HARS volunteers are working feverishly to ready their latest acquisition for the annual Wings Over the Illawarra air show at the airport on February 28.

This particular aircraft began service with the US Air Force on May 14, 1945, as a cargo and troop transport.

It was seized by authorities in the Bahamas in 1981 for alleged smuggling activities.

In June 1995, the aircraft was sold to an Australian company and on January 31, the following year, she entered the Australian Aircraft register as VH-PAF.

Under a number of owners and operators, VH-PAF undertook a number of charter cargo operations as a freighter within Australia and the Pacific region, including a flight from Darwin to Dili in East Timor for the United Nations.

"The last owners discovered the DC-4 was just too expensive to operate and it was donated to HARS under the cultural gift tax program," Prof Hough said.

Restored to airworthiness at Brisbane's Archerfield Airport, VH-PAF landed at Albion Park airport on December 21.