Radschool Association Magazine - Vol 35

Page 19

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Your Say!

Graham Crawford says, “I'm just following up the email I sent via the RAM, to answer a request by Alec Robertson's sister. Attached is a photo of the “Avanties” making music. It must have been during one of Melbourne’s summer days, when we could get out and practice in the sun. (Click the pic for a bigger view)  The blokes are:

Lovely skin tones, aren't they!  Below are some photos of the WRAAF girls who enjoyed coming to our dances (in 1963/64) I don’t know or remember the girls' names, perhaps someone can help.

(Remember those fan heaters??)

Keith Dudman wrote, he says:  First of all, many thanks for the beefy issue of Vol 34. I was pleased to read that others knew Cpl John Jarman at Ballarat and they knew of the "PISSAPHONE" in his Austin A30. Secondly, I would have dearly loved to attend the reunion in Ballarat but I have a disabled wife, for which I am her full time carer. It would have been a thrill to catch up with some guys I knew over 50 years ago. My apologies for not attending and I hope everything turns out well.

Some time ago I mentioned I had some snaps of RAAF Ballarat. Thinking about the past I realised what happened to them. When I was discharged from the RAAF in March 1960, I packed all my air force uniforms, discharge certificate,slides, negatives and otherRAAF mementos intoa RAAF issue green colouredaluminium trunk. This I stored under my father’s house on the Gold Coast before I went overseas. Sometime in the late sixties a cyclone came through and flooded the area. After the water had receded, he had no alternative but to throw out everything stored under the house.I didn't find this out until I returned to Australia, what a bloody loss.

Ken Hunt wrote, Thanks for a very informative revue. Your efforts keep me (and others) interested in what now seems to be just AIR FORCE. What happened to RAAF?

(You’re right Ken, I’ve noticed that too, these days it’s all “Air Force” – the ‘Royal” bit seem to be on the way out – tb)

Peter Gilvarry says, “I was 18 APPY, became a RADTECHA, had 12 months at 3AD, then if was off to California to be trained on the P3 when it first entered service in early 68, then down to Edinburgh with 11SQN until 1974 when I became the first RADTECHA to become a Flight Engineer. I left the RAAF in January 80 to go to Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong for 13 years and onto Japan Air Lines for 15 years before retiring in Buffalo, New York, a stone’s throw from Niagara Falls. Now the wheel has turned a full circle, I am repairing computers 4 days/week to keep my brain functioning.  Thanks for the magazine.

Graham Brammer, a SAS patrol commander, would like to make contact with any 9 Sqn aircrew who were engaged in the hot winch extraction of two SAS patrols on the afternoon of the 27th May 1971. If you can help, get in touch with us and we’ll pass on the info.

Kevin Kirk says, “Congratulations to all who put the magazine together. The picture of the Vampires and the Deperdussin (Volume 34 Page 8) is not at Richmond. It was taken at ARDU at Laverton in about 1964. The Deperdussin was sent over from Point Cook for us to replace all of the fabric. It was an interesting exercise in fabric and dope and gave me a chance to build on what I had learnt at Wagga as an apprentice (1957-59). I was an Airframe Fitter at ARDU at the time. The Deperdussin is currently on display at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook.

Thanks Kevin – tb

Gary Broughton wrote, “It's sad to hear of the demise of the blokes who were influences in our lives. I read with some sadness of the passing of Tony Pitt, while at the same time being absolutely bloody delighted that Ron Oddy is still alive and well. While at Laverton I recall that Tony had a problem with a car purchase he made from a local dealer. At the time I was a trainee at Radschool. I knew Tony for a lot of years and really got to know him later. Tony had ordered a particular car but, when delivered, he maintained that it was completely different to the order. If I recall correctly, he maintained that the vehicle was the wrong body type (panel van instead of whatever he really wanted), wrong colour and wrong capacity. For some time after that Tony ran a campaign to warn everybody on base against making a purchase with this particular car yard.

He even supplied copies of the contract and it was highly informative. The contract appeared to have small panels cut out of the carbon so that what was written on the front sheet didn't make it through to the underlying copies. So what Tony thought he was getting was not what was on the copy he received. So the yard delivered whatever they wanted him to have. I never did find out how that campaign ended. Years later, when I was at 1AD and he was a WOFF at Radschool, he was entirely disgruntled with the choices we had available to us at the polls.

The Australian Democrats just started kicking off at the time and Tony was a passionate supporter. He was instrumental in setting up the Laverton Branch and invited his friends along. I went to one meeting but was completely put off by a very large, ignorant (socially and educationally) young woman who proudly pronounced from the lard filling the chair that she had never voted. Unfortunately, you can't filter out the rubbish from political involvement. I figured that the Australian Democrats were attracting the fringe dwellers, of which I am not one, so I never went back. I also firmly believe that including any allusion to democracy in the name of a political party invariably proves to be an oxymoron.

Last I heard, Tony retired to QLD and was last seen at the following elections on an ABC news report handing out how to vote cards at some polling booth or other.

(We believe Tony died early in 2006 – tb)

We asked Laurie Lindsay if he knew Tony – he said,  “I remember Tony’s brush with that particular caryard. He wrote to every Member of Parliament, every newspaper editor and every bureaucrat that could have remotely been involved. He even paraded outside the car-yard with a sign and we all remembered, with great amusement, when we heard that the caryard owner came out with a bunch of flowers for him. The moral of the story - never pick on Tony Pitt. I saw him on television a couple of elections ago, campaigning for One Nation.”

Peter “Dit” Eaton (right) says he was directed to the following site  http://www.sparclaser.com.au/dhc4_info.html by a cove who is in the process of planning to build a Caribou flying model. "I have not had any contact with them as yet', he said, "but it seems to be a decent model. As I have always wanted to do this, now may be the time to start".

Duncan Slaven saw the photo below in Volume: 34. He says he knows a couple of the names we didn’t have. The names are now:

Daryl Gibbs was recently down at Wagga and was pleasantly surprised to find that, at last, someone has authorised the spending of some money to spruce up the old Mirage that sits pride of place at the front gate.

The first photo shows Graeme Oxley along the side the aircraft while down at Wagga for the 40^th reunion back in 2005. The other two are what the aircraft looks like today.

Ernie Gimm found an interesting article in a British Defence Forces’ newspaper that should be compulsory reading for our Politians.  Have a look at THIS

Daryl Gibbs was recently down at Wagga and was pleasantly surprised to find that, at last, someone has authorized the spending of some money to spruce up the old Mirage that sits pride of place at the front gate.

The first photo shows Graeme Oxley along the side the aircraft while down at Wagga for the 40^th reunion back in 2005. The other two are what the aircraft looks like today.

The local friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened a flower shop in the town. A rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went  back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist  hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store,  saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that Hugh,  and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars.

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