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We’ve made some changes to the menu system, now you can find a topic, click it and it will open the info for which you’re looking. Hopefully, this will make it a lot easier to read. After you’ve finished one topic and you want to return here, just click the "close tab" button (X) on the tab at the top of your page.

You can still read the whole Magazine the old way, see at the bottom of the page.

Contents.

Scootaville.

Unfortunately the scourge intervened once again and knocked our plans for a big six and the way it looks, we don't think things are going to improve in the immediate future. The Delta thing is unbelievably contagious, let's all hope it doesn't spawn an Echo variant or worse still, a Fox-trot variety otherwise we might as well all shut up shop and go home.

When this thing broke a week or so back, everything seemed rosy, we were ready to head north for a final check of things but when the virus hit the fan, people from the southern States rightly got nervous and a few wanted out or wanted the event delayed UFN. So, we hit the pause button and in hindsight it looks like it was a good thing we did. Seems the virus took a ride on a Qantaslink Bombardier and could now pop up in FNQ.

So, with two delays under out belt, we definitely don't want a third. To fix this it has been decided to postpone until 2022 and it was suggested to reschedule so we can participate in an ANZAC Day ceremony somewhere up the line and that would be great. Longreach was the hot favourite but that brought with it some problems:

• Easter's Good Friday next year falls on the 15th April with Easter Monday on the 18th.

• First term school holidays in Queensland for 2022 will run from the 9th April until the 19th April.

If we were to make Longreach on the 25th April we would need to leave Amberley on Sunday the 17th April, smack bang in the middle of Easter. School holidays probably wouldn't be a problem as most of our Scootaites are a bit past the "having young kids at school" age and so wouldn't be away with the kids somewhere, but Easter is a different thing. Although most of us wouldn't have kids at school, we'd most probably have grandkids who we love to spoil with a hundred or so eggs.

So what do we do?

ANZAC Day 2022 falls on a Monday, so an alternative is to wait until after ANZAC Day and leave Amberley on Wednesday the 27th. We've been in touch with the RTFV-35Sqn Association and they have agreed to allow us to march with them through the main streets of Brisbane and to join them at the Jade Buddha for a post march de-briefing (see HERE). If we go any earlier we get mixed up with the school holidays and any earlier than that and it is too hot and there's a better than even chance that we'd get rained out. If we wait for too long after ANZAC Day it will start to get a bit cold and as we're all a bit long in the tooth and love our creature comforts, bunking down in unlined, unheated pavilions, is probably not everyone's cuppa tea.

Leaving Amberley on the 27th will get us into Townsville on Tuesday the 10th May.

So! - please let us know what your thoughts are (and if you have any suggestions) by filling in the little form below:

Access to the RAAF's library of course photos.

For some years now, actually since 2014, we've been asking Air Force for access to the course photos held by the RAAF at the Museum at Point Cook. We been promised access many times but always at the last minute we've been knocked back. There's been quite a number of excuses trotted out, privacy was one that was argued for a long time, funny, that doesn't seem to apply to the RAAF's own Image Link pages,  before that there wasn't sufficient available staff staff to help then the available staff were too busy.

We might remind Air Force that to date there have been more than a quarter of a million people look at our Course Photos pages, it is something that is definitely wanted.

A little while back we made another official application for access to the photos and once again we were knocked back, (you can see that letter HERE),  this time due to the fact the material is too fragile for me to handle. I have reminded Air Force that they did train me as a Radtech Air and that I have worked on some very minute and very delicate equipment and that I didn't think using a photo copier was beyond my capabilities. They did also say that studies were underway to determine the best way to determine a method of digitising the 6.5million photos held by Air Force. They haven't started yet - they are still trying to determine how they are going to do it.

Don't hold your breath. 

Use of the initials RAAF in our registered name.

Late in 2020 while working on Scootaville, we applied for funding which is made available by the Qld Government Community benefit programs. To access these funds, an association has to be incorporated, so in November 2020 we applied to the Qld Dept of Justice for incorporation. They came back and asked if we had approval to use the initials RAAF in our name as the Defence Act prohibits their use without approval (see HERE). That was news to us and as we hadn't obtained approval, in November of 2020 we requested it.

We didn't hear anything for quite some time so we made a few follow up phone calls and received emails saying approval was recommended and the holdup was just waiting for it to be signed off.

On the 16 June, 6 months after we applied, were were refused the right. (See HERE).

Our Association was formed in May of 1999, 22 years ago. (See HERE). Since then we've grown from a small association of half a dozen people to one today with more than 1,300 members, we produce a magazine which now has more than 2,500 registered recipients (it's picked up by a lot more), many of whom are current serving RAAF personnel of all ranks, the Air Force even issued a vendor number to the RAAF Radschool Association plus we've received other awards and all that time no one queried us.

We feel we have been let down badly by Air Force, we have done nothing to denigrate the good name of the Air Force in our 22 years, in fact I would suggest we have done the complete opposite. We are not content to accept both the non-access to course photos nor the use of the initials RAAF in our name. We have written to the Hon Peter Dutton MP, Minister for Defence, asking for approval and were told, after a phone call to his office on Friday 22 July, that the matter has been handed to the Dept of Defence.

We'll keep you informed.

Costco Offer.

Costco was founded in an old hangar in San Diego in the USA in 1976. It started life as the "Price Club"  and offered items to small businesses at a reduced price. It soon found by including non-business customers, its clientele increased greatly which meant it could buy more and buying more meant buying for less which meant it could sell for less which made it more attractive to buyers who bought more which meant buying more etc etc.

Its operating philosophy has been simple. Keep costs down and pass the savings on to its members. Since becoming Costco in 1997, the company has grown worldwide with total sales in recent fiscal years exceeding $64 billion.

Its warehouses carry about 4,000 SKUs (stock keeping units) compared to the 30,000 found at most supermarkets. By carefully choosing products based on quality, price, brand and features, the company can offer the best value to members.

Costco opened its first Australian store in Melbourne in 2009 and now has 12 stores through all states of Australia, except for Tasmania and the NT.

Costco is very conscious of the hardship and dedication of the Australian service men and women and recently put a deal together for the benefit of members of the Radschool Association.

Go HERE for the deal.

State of the nation.

RAM thought for the day.

Pride is often the downfall of those who feel its intoxicating power.

Buying a new car?

If you’re contemplating buying a new car, we could save you thousands. The Radschool Association has done a deal with Australia’s biggest car brokers whereby you can purchase a car (your choice of make, colour, specs etc) at fleet discount prices.

One of our blokes made use of this facility recently and bought a Toyota Rav4 and saved thousands. You can too!

To see further details, go to the Radschool Assoc home page (HERE) then click on “New Car Purchase”.

Discounts.

Current financial members can now receive a 12% discount on the base rate of the day when hiring a car from Thrifty. If you’re thinking of hiring a car or an SUV or a people mover, this could save you heaps. If you’re a member, send us an email HERE and we’ll send you the promo code.

Membership.

We hope to sign off on paid membership by the 30 June 2021 so you can now join for free, Free membership is available.  If you wish you can still make a donation when joining, though it is voluntary.

To join, fill in the form below.

BSB: 124-021       Account number: 1048 7401      Title:  RAAF Radschool Association.

Bank:  Bank of Queensland.

and include your name in the "Remarks" window on the deposit.

AND!!  If you work for or know of a firm that would be kind and generous enough to sponsor the Radschool Association, please get in touch.

Errors

Our aim is to have this site error free – but that’s probably impossible. But with your help I reckon we can get pretty close. If you see any errors, be they punctuation, spelling, links that don’t work, facts wrong etc, (no matter how small) please let us know so we can fix them.

Thankfully, Ken Morris, who lives over in the West, proof reads our print before it goes public and points out our many errors, not a lot escapes him I can tell you!   

Thanks Ken.

You can download the full magazine in PDF format HERE.

It is a very large file, contains 312 pages and will take a while to download.

The margins have been set so you can print on both sides of the page.

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