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Bill Morris


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Does anyone know if he is still training just that since he taught me to fly some 20yrs ago he left town and i never heard of him again.

 

He was instructing in Thrusters here in Charters Towers, around the mid to late 80's.

 

Just wondering thats all :confused:

 

 

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Ok then it seems i really need to find out some more info before i put up posts from now on, hmmmmm, well that is news to me, really jail time?? He taught myself and 2 brothers to fly for nothing when we brought his old machine, which was still in pretty good shape i guess for the deal we got, i cant really say he did us wrong but then i guess he had to watch his step abit cause his strip was on our land.

 

Maybe we should let this thread die a natural death then sorry if i stubbled on to a bad topic. :kboom::dousing:

 

 

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Ok then it seems i really need to find out some more info before i put up posts from now on, hmmmmm, well that is news to me, really jail time?? He taught myself and 2 brothers to fly for nothing when we brought his old machine, which was still in pretty good shape i guess for the deal we got, i cant really say he did us wrong but then i guess he had to watch his step abit cause his strip was on our land.Maybe we should let this thread die a natural death then sorry if i stubbled on to a bad topic. :kboom::dousing:

What a great thread! Come on you blokes, let's hear your Bill Morris stories.....we know you want to......

My experience was that he was a fine and charming host.............

 

Bill is certainly a 'goer'. Did anyone ever actually buy a 'TOW-MOW'?

 

Does anyone know why he was piloting an aircraft across the Timor Sea with a gun to his head?

 

What about the tourist vessel twenty kliks out to sea off Queensland? A Thruster approached. Then the engine spluttered and quit......

 

Confession. I once bought a plane off Bill..........and.........truthfully........was happy enough with what I got.

 

 

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Guest Maj Millard

Never met the man myself.

 

I was fixing a Thruster once at Bill Starkes' Woodstock field, and Bill Starke was helping, as he always did. I kept needing a part, or a tube, or whatever, and Bill kept dissapearing and coming back with the right part every time !!. I finally had to ask him where the hell he was getting them from ?.

 

He took me over the back, and there was the remains of a Thruster, or maybe it was two Thrusters. Said Bill Morris had trained there for six months once !...

 

And I was down in Air Whitsundays' hangar once having a beer with old Reg, at Shute Harbour. I noticed what certainly appeared like a shotgun hit, in the tin, half way up the inside of the rear wall. Knowing there had to be a story in it, I had to ask 'what the......' !!? He said Bill Morris was trying to shoot a possum once, and missed.

 

Don't know if this is the full story or not about his jail time, but it is what I heard. Somebody else might want to add to this, it was during Middos' time as head of the AUF. Apparently Bill Morris for some reason buzzed his estranged wifes' house late one afternoon, in a Thruster, several times. She got the shxxs and called the cops. He gets fined $5000 for reckless and dangerous operation of an aircraft, by CASA. At this time apparently he was for some reason 'personna non gratus' with the AUF, so Middo didn't want to have a thing to do with it. Bill refused to pay the fine, decided to take it to court instead to fight it, lost, and got 2 years jail for his troubles....:baldy:...........can anybody add to this ??.

 

 

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Never met the man myself.

. Apparently Bill Morris for some reason buzzed his estranged wifes' house late one afternoon, in a Thruster, several times. She got the shxxs and called the cops. He gets fined $5000 for reckless and dangerous operation of an aircraft, by CASA. At this time apparently he was for some reason 'personna non gratus' with the AUF, so Middo didn't want to have a thing to do with it. Bill refused to pay the fine, decided to take it to court instead to fight it, lost, and got 2 years jail for his troubles....:baldy:...........can anybody add to this ??.

Mr Morris tried to perger himself in court through a third party. The other person pulled out when the seriousness of the situation was explained to him so he was thrown in the slammer. Doesn't pay to tell fibs to magistrates.

 

It wasn't just his wife that complained to police about low flying, but also several people in the same street as they thought the aircraft was going to crash.

 

There are numerous stories about this bloke both good and bad but a lot of them are fine examples of poor airmanship and did a lot of harm to the then AUF. I personally won't miss him in the air - but that is only my view

 

 

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I met Bill at Proserpine Airport and went for a fly with him. it was the first time i flew a Thruster since leaving the factory in '85. Got to know him and his then wife Liz when i worked at Whitsunday Airport a couple of year later. Liz ran the managemnt side of the airport and i handled the hands on part. She was a great person to work with. Saw Bill get a little out fo control a few times. Never flew with him again after i did a preflight on one of his Thrusters as i found a few things that scared the hell out of me and he refused to fix them. He and Liz split and he was asked to move his operation elsewhere. Good thing i thought.

 

Ozzie

 

 

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