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Sick Parade.

If you know someone who is a bit crook, 
let us know so we can give them a shout out..

DCA Dave.

During the 1970’s, anyone who flew in PNG, especially in the Lae or Madang FIAs, would have known Dave McDonell – known to all as DCA Dave.

A few weeks ago, Dave went for his regular diabetes blood test and unfortunately received some terrible news – he had been diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer. What followed was a hectic 6 weeks of chemo which he has now given up in order to enjoy a better quality of life. The chemo killed his appetite and he says everything now tastes the same and he has lost the urge to eat. He quickly lost 20 kg and it has left him with no energy and he must wear stockings due to a blood clot in his lower leg.

Dave was a flight Service Officer and after working at the Sydney Ops Centre was posted to Lae in PNG and then up to Madang. Jim and I worked with Dave at the Flight Service Unit at the (then) tropical paradise of Madang where everyone both worked and then played very hard. It was not uncommon to have 30 or more (full reporting, full traffic) active aircraft on the board at any one time, all on HF, so it was no surprise that after shift-change we enjoyed many R&R hours on the water, either fishing or skiing and often more hours than we should have in the Madang Club.

The RAAF’s Caribous and Hercs were regular visitors to Madang and Dave being the sociable and gregarious bloke that he is, quickly got to know most of the crews and more often than not had them out on the water in his half cabin cruiser, either snorkelling the abundant coral reefs, or barbecuing at Siar Island or exploring the war time crashed aircraft left in the nearby jungle. A lot of those crews have remained his mates to this day.

A few of us went to see Dave last week where we re-lived some of those wonderful days and although his prospects are not as good as they could be, Dave’s spirits are still high and he declares it hasn’t beaten him yet and he’s not giving in.

We all wish you well mate – and we know you won’t give in, you never have, so don’t start now.

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