sixtiesrelic

Without twenty three year old David's confidence to have a go, there'd be no photos or Classic Wings. He's an example to young guys who have a dream, to go with it Do the groundwork, listen to what the old guys say when they're behind you, but say things you don't agree with .... they've been there before! Don't listen to the knockers who have no specific reasons for their negativity and you'll show everybody IT CAN BE DONE! A jublilant David Gray after relaxing for the first time in seven months of frustration. Looking out of the bubble window to where we're going. Lookin' back to where we've come from Deni passengers boarding for the sunset joflight. Forrest where the sunlight is becoming interesting. Chop and sixties getting in good possies for photos. Chopy coming in from the wing tip. Brenden getting the setting sunlit reflection of the aircraft, on the wing. Last photos in the dying sun. Brenden getting the reflection of the aircraft inn Chop Chop's glasses at Kalgoorlie. If someone doesn't always make comments you agree with DON'T be a "rooster" and hurl abuse from the safety of your computer. Some of us take note! These two met each other in the flesh and found out they got on because of their many interests in aviation and photography. Older blokes recognised their keenness and invited them along on what will be one of the highlights of their lives. "Roosters" are destined to stay over the other side of the high fence, taking their images from atop of a high ladded, through a wacking great telephoto lens. These two and their kind get to use their macro for some shots.

Haven't read the report because I'm hurtin' bad with a "slipped disk". Not sure if it's from baggage handling or jumping off the steps onto the tarmac. Captain Bill and I reckon this trip was by far the best in our careers. Meeting the two guys,.. chop chop and Brenden and experiencig their exuberance and sharing the fun of berserk photo taking was magic. Every one of the seven of us who took part found their niche and worked at it with gusto. Chop got short changed at Adelaide when we couldn't land at Parafield and lost the two joyflights(all dressed up and nowhere to go), but that was made up for the photo shoot at Forrest where we took hundreds of photos in the last hour of daylight, running around trying to get THE shot of the day. Chop got one of the real jems when he was after the big puff of smoke at engine start and hit the shutter just as she backfired and a flame shot forward out of the carby intake. We have close to 3000 photos and five plus hours of video. Gotta lie down to stop the gremlin behind me bnging on the four inch nail in me bum bone. Sixties

Chainy, Chop's going to be stuffed, he'll go to sleep up on ya ladder and fall off and break his new camera. He's going to be spendin' sleepless nights from now till Sunday when he'll be getting biffed about from Mt Gambier to Adelaide to Ceduna to Forrest... snappin' pictures all the way. Next day he'll be marvelling at the miriad of colours of the salt pans across the western Nullabour and snappin' the spotters snappin' him as we "do Perth over" before landing, Then he'll wait till midnight to come and see you. The Sydney chicks'll be safe.

Now! that's something you won't forget in a lifetime

Hi Gaerwn This was the likely example used back then. Letter till 1 March 1956 post 1 March 1956 A Able Alpha B Baker Bravo C Charlie Charlie D Dog Delta E Easy Echo F Fox Foxtrot G George Golf H How Hotel I Item India J Jig Juliett K King Kilo ('keelo') L Love Lima ('leema') M Mike Mike N Nan November O Oboe Oscar P Peter Papa Q Queen Quebec ('kweebeck') R Roger Romeo S Sugar Sierra T Tare Tango U Uncle Uniform V Victor Victor W William Whiskey X X-ray X-ray Y Yoke Yankee Z Zebra Zulu Which country is the flight in? Is it just a sound of video CD? Was it an airliner? Are they close to the ground... imminent crash, or high... structural failure. This would have a bearing on how harsh they'd be with the controls and the degree of urgency in their voices. A few quick thoughts; The aircraft in that time frame would be something like a Ford Trimotor. The racket of the engines would be ear splitting so passengers and crew wouldn't hear the other. Crew would shout to be heard by the other crew. The Captain was a fairly autocratic fellow and the First officer knew his place in many cockpits and would have been careful in what he said. Of course many captains were teachers and not total bastards. Have you read "Fate is the Hunter" by Ernest Gann. He covers a "good" captain in the chapter about striking matches, to get a feel of a cockpit in those days. More likely Morse code was used. Radios in the latter 1940s would be commoner. The airlines in Australia were using Morse in the fifties for long range transmissions over the majority of the country and the aeradio operators answered in Morse. I'll have a talk to a couple of OLD pilots and ask their opinion when I have a better understanding of the situation you're setting up. Sixties

Mate! these were mainly ones I took when I whipped the Nikon out of my pocket and snapped off some shots. I was concentrating on getting the videos. Had to keep an eye out as I was pretty close to the taxiway and there was a lot of noise of engines. Didn't want to get chopped up. Get the new computer this week, so I can start downloading all the videos into it and edit them. The Mustang went up and gave us some high speed thrills. Doesn't sound much taxiing but oh that purr when she's under power. The four Chippies and three twins did a number of fly pasts also, as two groups. Lots of video! Great day where a mob of mates get together, drink beer, tell a lot of lies and remember things that didn't happen. That camaraderie in the airlines died in 1989 Student. We worked together a month at a time, flying all day jammed into small cockpits and going out for tea together, often with other crews on overnights, about seven nights a month, so that the captains slowly imparted the knowledge older pilots had taught them on to the First officers. We TRUSTED each other! I don't wish to be part of today's airline scene... although some know what I'm up to soon. Should be an announcement shortly!

A bunch of ex airline guys get together a few times a year. Sunday it was at Caboolture and they brought their toys along. The beauty of Caboolture is, you can roam about the fleet taking your photos from what ever angle and as close as you like. Sure beats taking photos from off a ladder over a fence.

AND you won't wonder why you bother when you run into the bloody mindedness of that mob ....too mad to use the C word!!! No wonder so many people are going to the RAA and getting out of "regular" aviation. I think ultra light teaching to fly concentrates more on fun than "regular" which is pointing the student to commercial aviation... All seriousness and pretending you're in a big jumbo rather than a LIGHT aircraft.

From what I can see, there are a lot of good guys in CASA, but the few total drop kicks make so many enemies that the whole concern gets a bad name. There definitely seems to be the head office/outstation bun fight. Neither liking each other. I'd say there are a number of "unhappy with their life" blokes who didn't QUITE make it or didn't make it at all to where they were hoping to get to in their career and have decided to be REALLLLLLLY concientious and pedantic.

Yes aren't those little critters TWITCHY. I had a go of a Skyfox once and had to kick my shoes off and tweek the rudder pedals with my toes. It eas the same day I'd done a heap of 737 simulator where we had to give it a bootfull on the engine failures. I certainly took some time converting to the micro movements required. GO flyin! it's fun

People in aviation are like birds. A small number float effortlessly upon the air, like the albatross. Many THINK they soar like the eagle. A lot lurch through the air flappin' their wings like buggery and making lots of noise about it, like the pidgeon. There's lots of other birds you can see in pilots. THEN there's the roosters. Can't fly at all They puff 'emselves up, flap their wings, strut importantly round thinkin' they're impressing the hens and herocaly hurl abuse at the far off roosters from the security of the enclosed chookyard. The roosters take over forums, piss the real people off and The Aussie Aviator lands up getting the good guys who want to be able to enjoy talkin' to like minded enthusiasts and can get answers to their queries. DEATH to the roosters... don't let 'em stay if they appear here Glenn!

My cousin tells me it's quite common to use soft toys as pitot covers. THers's an engineer in Perth who does it on a number of his aircraft.

The Vintage mob had a bit of a get together this morning at Redcliffe. Most had left by the time i got off work and arrived. Stinson Reliant and Gipsy Moth Ryan STM Piper Pacer and Luton Minor.

Glenn... I hear neither of those DC-3s are serviceable at the moment and nothing's being done. Still got three weeks to rectify what ever is wrong I guess.

Gawd Chainy... I'd have to go through three logbooks. Oldest type... Gipsy Moth. Oldest Airliner... Dragon, both in the last month. Smallest is a Skycraft Scout... most scared , no! second most scared Ive been in while aloft. I had a fly of a home built ultra light with a proper wing that didn't feel right in a turn. It shot along at 70 knots and I did a very wide circuit with about 5 degrees of bank and landed it and reckoned I was too young to die. The owner had scared himself in a Piper and wasn't game to fly any aircraft but wanted to see his baby fly. Looking forward to Oldest Cessna ... 195 and a DH Dove soon.

Geday Crash, Good choice of the branch of aviation to learn in, both from the price and the fun factor. Good forum where you don't get bagged for asking questions.

Have to agree with the second bloke. Taking the chance of offending people... This industry is a bit arse-about.. them with bugger all experience teaching them with none. This has encouraged flying right in the middle of the safety envelope and many instructors contrary to their puffed up opinion of themselves don't know LOTS about flying and teach a heap of ceremonial junk. There are a few really experienced blokes who instruct... most won't come at it ... pay's lousy and the big umbrella won't let them officially teach what they know. They have to toe the official line. When in doubt ...ask many people who probably know. It's a bit like your initial sex education ... the kids at school... most was sort of right, and some ?????

Mooched down to Redcliffe to give a bloke a hand with bagging his Auster''s wings today. Noted this beauty about to start and go off on the test flight for it's brand new engine. Naturally I concentrated more on the video camera, but snapped these off for you. He was a bit tense about doing the test flight and kept close to the aerodrome for a while to make sure everything was running sweet before heading off. The way they run engines in, these days is to run them hard for about an hour rather than nursing them.

Have written one about my old boarding school just for fun. I'm keeping these stories and will bung them together one day. Funny thing happened in old Herbie's Auster some years after I had that quick fly. He landed on a very shallow low ridge out in that flat channel country when it was in flood. It was a bit like an aircraft carrier. A narrow strip of land surrounded by inundated flood water. The walk to where he wanted to go would be knee deep. Had a slight hitch when, on landing the oyster took over on the landing roll and slid off the ridge and slewed sideways before coming to rest against a tree. Old Herby was in a bit of a fix. Plane leaned against the tree which was between the wing and tailplane. Herby couldn't budge the tail to pull it around so he could bypass the tree as there was a bit of a drop off into deeper water. If he could chop the tree down he'd be ok. He could taxi straight ahead and turn back onto the strip. NO AXE! and couldn't walk to one. Had a 303 and lots of shells, so he sat there patiently, blasting bits off the tree till it was thin enough to break. Couldn't put a slug through it... too hard. Took quite a few packets of bullets as it was a hard old warrior and wasn't giving in easily.

I used to be in the QVAS? Qld Vintage Aircraft Section (of the Sports Aircraft Association) in the seventies? how?s that for a mouthful? The members were people who owned or liked elderly aeroplanes got together and had the odd fly in or evening of lies and slides. Generally those who had an aeroplane that could fly would try and take for a bit of a ride, the close to, or recently divorced, gaunt, malnourished rebuilders who were goin' without food so they could purchase some more sticks or a bit of rag for their long term rebuild. Strange sort of coves who got in raptures over gussets, semi-complete, turtledecks and neat rib-stitching. It soon became evident that there were two hotly separated factions in this mob. ( It was a friendly war). There were the Tiger Moth advocates and the Auster enthusiasts and they never could agree with each other?s opinion on ?that other heap of junk?. I sort of hovered in between? could see the pros and cons of each type? I didn?t own one which helped with my impartiality. I got to fly one Auster on a number of occasions. An evil bugger of a thing that got a REPUTATION amongst all who knew IT. I flew the new owner to Warwick in a Tripacer so he could pick it up and fly it back to the old Caboolture strip in company with me. On first examination VH-CDS seemed like a nice enough aeroplane. I had a burn in it at Caboolture after we landed and put some fuel in and it behaved it?s self. Can?t remember if it was silver or Ivan resprayed IT the unsightly, drab, brown and yellow soon after owning it. I?d only done one circuit in an Auster in the mid sixties out at Windorah with its owner Herby Rabic. I held her off and held her off and the tailwheel touched down before the mains. I was a bit embarrassed about that till old Herby drawled that it was a good landing? I?d REALLY stalled her on. Herby had a Tiger Moth out on his station at Cuddapan as well. That was the sort of plane you?d see in a comedy western? a poor dilapidated example of the marque. One tyre was pretty flat so she exhibited a beaut angle of bank as she sat forlornly with her nose poking out of a dusty shed on the edge of the strip. The most striking thing about her however, was the oil stains in the cracked fabric all the way back to behind the rear cockpit. Many who viewed her decided they wouldn?t take up any offers of a ride in her? bit sus as to her strength with all that oil soaking into the timber and fabric and GLUE! Funnily, Spensley the assistant senior regional captain of TAA was an adventurous cove and took her up threw her around and did a loop, much to the distress of a hand wringing, Herby who also must have had his doubts too, as he witnessed this brush with death. How was he gona explain the loss of a Twin Otter pilot to TAA. Stewie was on a channel country run and had lobbed in to Cuddapan on his way back to Windorah. Heard later of a couple of blokes who drove out to Cuddapan and bought her and proudly transported her back to the coast for a rebuild. Anyway! Back to CDS Ivan was off aviating in IT one day soon after becoming the proud owner, when there was a funny noise. Sort of extra wind noise, soon followed by increase in volume and a ripping sound. He looked around and got a bit startled as he saw the fabric slowly tearing from it?s anchor point at the rear of the overhead Perspex roof. A rectangular hole was growing steadily bigger. Ivan quickly close the throttle and pulled the stick back to reduce the speed to a bit above the stall before deciding on the next action. He couldn?t reach around to the fabric to yank it back inside and stop the steady ripping. It had travelled well out of arm?s reach and was jerkily travelling aft in occasional bursts while flapping madly He had visions of the fabric wrapping it?s self around the rudder and makin? life more difficult. He managed to get to the ground before things got uncontrollable. Forget where he landed and how they fixed it. This was the first of many naughty things this aeroplane did to occupants, so she soon became known as Charlie Dead Shit to all who knew her. IT was a cantankerous old cow on the ground. Many of us unlovingly, referred to her as ?IT?. Like most Austers IT had heel brakes? some nasty plot the designers foisted onto pilots? probably jealous and decided to punish them. Those heel brakes were right buggers. They hid under the rudder pedals and required a bloke with legs like a weight lifter to operate. They were cable connections from pedal to drum. Pilot, on noticing judicious use of brakes might be needed, slid down in the seat and suffered back spasms as he did a stretch you probably find personal trainers favour or a movement people who get cramps in their calves do. He?d pull his toes up, as far as he could, and locate the tiny nobs with his heels and then, PUUUUSSSH. All that happened was, he couldn?t see what he wanted to avoid and the cables took up the slack. Aeroplane carried on smoothly or accelerated. The brakes DID work the first application after the cables had been tensioned? then they stretched. Best to taxi slowly and steer to avoid the problem. Old Charlie Dead Shit had her favourites, who she?d purr along in an exemplary manner giving not a moment?s concern, BUT there were those who must have offended her and she punished THEM often? severely! Many an airman was noted to do a snappy, three sixty while taxiing along, which got the interest of spectators who felt a bit of a turn the opposite way would have been better. Those who knew old Charlie Dead Shit knew she was up to her old tricks. On reflection, I believe she was the reincarnation of an elderly, jaded, stripper, with a huge chip on her shoulder who had come to a nasty and sudden demise. She was a regular one for taking it into her head to suddenly hoot off into the scrub while taxiing for no apparent reason, other than a bit of lateral slope. Picture a ?lady? passing the window of a shoe shop or one who was passing an alley and didn?t want to confront a fan who sat boozily ogling at her, as she performed her ?act? in a smoky establishment most nights, that she?d spotted coming along a footpath towards her in the bright light of day. It was discovered by a pilot/engineer, after bending the undercarriage on a beach landing, that he?d added to the already present bit of a distortion someone forgot to report. She behaved admirably on the ground when another leg was fitted. As for the stripper part, make your own mind up. Ivan was chugging along happily when there was a mighty bang and lots of wind. The old girl had cast off the Perspex canopy which looked very pretty with the sun flashing off it as it slowly, spun earthward. Ivan got a real start ? didn?t do his heart any good at all, as he recalled the previous fabric peeling back. No problem! They?d attached the new fabric to the airframe ambitiously and it held. Another emergency descent at an alarmingly slow airspeed. She shed Perspex sliding windows from out of the doors with abandon. Poor old Ivan was always worrying he was going to get a call from DCA concerning unauthorised dropping of articles from an aircraft or a please explain as to why he?d landed in an irate landowners paddock with out permission. Many years have passed now. Sadly Ivan died? heart problem. Recently, easily recognisable brown and yellow bits of aeroplane stacked on the back of a trailer heading south were spotted by a bloke going in the opposite direction. The spotter, ?An old lover? chased the rig and pulled the driver over and had a chat. After years of storage, Charlie Dead Shit was off to Adelaide for a rebuild. Hopefully that jaded stripper will escape and she?ll become a lady? Hope to hell the new bloke doesn?t paint her that drab brown and yellow. I think she?ll hold a grudge if he does.

DJ that makes you a relic from the sixties too, but there's only ONE sixties relic! Another, a mate of mine who flew for TAA is one of those people we'd ALL like to be. He and his older brother bought a Popular Mechanics magazine in the fifties and built a plane featured in it from bamboo and covered it in brown paper. It was WAAAAAY out on a farm. They happened to have a motorbike engine and bolted it on the front and flew the thing.... often. The older brother bought a Tiger Moth for a song and got it delivered to the farm. Drove off to Rockhampton and did flying lessons with the aero club and on getting home, wheeled the Tiger out of the shed, strapped little brother in and took him off to teach him what older brother'd just learned. Before he got his Private... the old syllabus ... (40 hours) older brother got sick of the long drive so flew down to Rocky to do next lesson. Couldn't understand all the fuss the instructors went on with and got a bit shitty when CFI flew him home and made him drive him back to Rocky. Didn't take any notice of the finger wagging and continued taking little brother off for flyin' lessons when he returned from his own. Neither are dead. Big brother owns a plane or two. Little brother finished up a TAA 737 Captain and a pretty good pilot.

Now! This is REAL flyin'. Wilbur and Orville stuff... no instruments, just the sound of the wind whistling past your ears and a rapid dredging up of lost memories of the principles of flight. Never been as scared in an aeroplane as I was in this thing. This was about the maximum height I flew it... 2 foot wasn't too far to fall down. It was the first "minimum aircraft" allowed to fly in Oz. Bugger all the glass instruments and the 130 knots. Get back to real flyin'

New planes have good stuff. I went over to a private ALA yesterday in a Dragon and one of the ultra lights had an amazing array of glass instruments. Complicated stuff that takes all the uncertainty out of flying from place to place .... till the electrical failure. I think the name of the aircraft is on the side. I have to re run the video and see. Looked like a pregnant raindrop... gets along at 130 K. a Colt was in one of the hangars too... milk stool style

The aeroplane no dual done here. Three blokes we need to be nice to when it comes to going flying. I mostly took videos. I'll see what my cousin took when he gets back from his four day flight he's on at the moment.

We went for a fly in a Dragon today... Great old aeroplane that oozed along at about eighty knots. We flew out of Caboolture and landed for a cuppa at a private strip at Cooinya, where there were a number of aircraft hangared. C180, PA22 (Colt),Pitts Special and a swag of "ultralights". One looked like a stretched bubble that gets along at 130 knots and has more glass in the dash than most 737s. Photos tomorrow. I only took a few photos as I was doing my Cecil B. De Mille with the video camera. There were five of us and the owner pilot. Three of us were "old blokes"who couldn't wipe the smile off our faces. Curley,because it was the first plane he went in a s a kid and it hooked him into aviation at the age of four. He still flies regularly in hes late sixties. Me,because it was the first plane I got to pole around the sky. Sat on my old mans lap when I was eight and learned the fun of low flying, as we chased a dingo across a plain waaaaay out west towards Birdsville. Of course I've never low flown ... it's illegal! ...except in Flt Sim. My cousin, because he loves old aeroplanes and is getting in the mood for them now he's in his last week flying 737's and doesn't have to ever get in a bloody simulator again. My son and his girlfriend were pretty wrapt too. We're all going again sometime.