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Contents.

Queenie under the bridge.

On the 22nd October 1943 - Lancaster 'Q' for Queenie, with the RAAF tail number A66-1, was illegally flown under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The media claimed “He did it for the Łiberty Loan!”

The aircraft made an unauthorised flight under the Sydney Harbour Bridge while on the 4th Liberty Loan tour. Originally sent to Australia as a prototype for local production (which did not eventuate), the aircraft was used after its arrival in June 1943 to promote sales of war savings bonds around Australia. “Queenie” arrived at Richmond on the 20^th October in preparation for carrying out a series of exhibition flights over Sydney.

During one of these sorties, the crew, captained by Flight Lieutenant Peter Isaacson, decided to ‘buzz’ the building housing the headquarters of RAAF Eastern Area at Edgecliff, on Double Bay, before taking A66-1 beneath the Harbour Bridge in defiance of a 1931 regulation banning such flights. The Lancaster was not the first aircraft (nor even the last) to break this prohibition, but it was the largest. Isaacson later recalled that 'I was threatened with a court martial. Two authorities wanted to court martial me: Eastern Area in which the crime was committed and Southern Command to which I was attached at the time. I was told later there was a great fight among the bureaucrats of each of these commands as to which would court martial me. Apparently they could not agree on which should be the prosecutor and the idea either lapsed, or maybe is still being pursued by the successors to each of these commands!'

Peter Isaacson was also awarded the Air Force Cross, gazetted on the 27^th August 1943. The citation for this award reads:

"Flight Lieutenant Isaacson was captain of the Lancaster aircraft which recently flew from England to Australia via the Pacific and subsequently carried out direct flights between Melbourne and New Zealand (both ways). This is the first occasion on which an aircraft has flown to Australia by this route and the direct flights between Melbourne and New Zealand are the first of their kind."

Post-War he ran the news publishing companies including the "Southern Cross" and the "Sunday Observer" newspapers in Melbourne and the Asian Business Press Group. He was also an honorary aide-de-camp to The Queen from 1963 to 1965. In 1991 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the print media and the community. His biography, "Pathfinder", was written by Denis Warner. Peter Isaacson died in Melbourne on the 7^th April 2017.

Blackhawks a Go Go!

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed that the ADF will ditch its fleet of troubled Taipan helicopters a decade earlier than scheduled and replace them with new Sikorsky Black Hawks from the US. Mr Dutton said it was a necessary move to replace the Australian Army's fleet of European produced Airbus MRH-90 Taipans and that the US produced Black Hawk helicopters would be an "incredible platform" for the Australian military.

There are about 1000 Black Hawks in operation around the world and obviously the Americans use it very heavily. For the interoperability with the US and Australia which is increasingly important given the instability in our region, the Black Hawk makes perfect sense. The decision will reportedly cost Australian taxpayers $7 billion.

Mr Dutton said the ADF's 41 Taipan helicopters have been very unreliable and had not lived up to expectations.

The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, agreed saying the Taipans "weren't doing their job. If something isn't working, we will go out and find something that does," he said. But Deputy Labor Leader Richard Marles said the decision raised big questions over the Federal Government's major defence programmes. He said defence procurement was in a "shocking state. We are seeing a whole lot of defence programs being scrapped, when we see defence programs being turned over like this, it is billions of dollars wasted."

But, Labor front bencher Bill Shorten said hard decisions "had to be taken" by the Federal Government over the decision to scrap an entire fleet of helicopters. "Maybe you do get points for making the hard decision to go back to something that is more reliable”.

But wait – there’s more!

Australia puts Black Hawk helicopter fleet up for sale

DEFENCE BRIEF

 April 6, 2021

The Australian defence ministry is planning to offer up to 27 Black Hawk helicopters for sale as it prepares to retire the helicopter type by December 2022. According to a tender notice from last month (March 2021), the potential sale is still subject to various US government and Australian defence ministry approvals. In particular, the helicopters may be subject to the United States International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).

The government said it would prefer to sell all of the aircraft and the related equipment inventory to a single purchaser or as few purchasers as practicable.

Australia is replacing the Black Hawks with the MRH90 helicopters. The country is also in the process of acquiring up to 16 four-ton class helicopters under Project LAND 2097 that will replace the Black Hawk in the special operations support role.

Australia is selling the Black Hawks 33 years after receiving its first helicopter from Sikorsky’s facility in Connecticut in 1988. The MRH90 aircraft were built under license by Aerospace in Brisbane.

The helicopters are expected to be available for sale from July 2021 at the earliest. The last aircraft in the fleet is scheduled to be withdrawn from service in December 2022.

We hope that’s cleared that up for you!!  -  tb

24 RMT (Ground) – 1969

John Swift sent us this pic but he’s unsure of all the names, can anyone help.

Standing L-R:  Russell Cox,  don’t know,  don’t know,  don’t know,  don’t know,  don’t know.

Front Row L-R:  Don’t know,  don’t know,  don’t know,  John Swift,  don’t know.

49 Telephone Operators Course.

Alison Johnson, (Nee Leyer) sent us this pic of her TPhone Op Course which ran from Feb 1978 to March 1978.

On completion, she received a certificate from the Air Force which said she had successfully demonstrated the following:

Standing L-R:   E Yow,  Jo Matheson,  Alison Leyer,  Lesley Stewart,

Seated L-R:   Robyn Serle,  Penny Wells,  Merle McNulty.

Her Rookies' Course Banner.

Christmas in the UK.

Phil Godwin, who lives in Romsey in the UK, sent us this great pic of the Christmas tree and lights which are set up in his town’s market place, thanks Phil. (Click it for a bigger view)

We thought we’d send him one of what it’s like in Queensland this time of year.

Air and Ground Radio School (A&GRS) Ballarat.

Jim Treadwell sent us this, he says;.

"I joined the RAAF in October 1951. At the beginning of 1952, with 12 other blokes, I went off to the RAAF Air and Ground Radio School (A&GRS) at Ballarat as a member of No 5 Signallers Course."

Standing L-R:   Jim O'Brien,  Frank Howie,  “Smokie” Langlands,  “Tubby” Cameron,  Don Triptney.

Seated L-R:   Ted Zinnecker,  Keith Coglin,  "Bulldog" Drummond,  Jim Treadwell.

"At the time RAAF Ballarat was commanded by a bloke called Wing Commander Reynolds. The WOD was a rather stern individual called “Shagger Marr”. Every Tuesday, after we were assembled on the parade ground for the weekly Officer Commanding (OCs) parade, “Shagger” would bellow out:  “Fall out the Roman Catholics, Jews, unbelievers and Pakistanis” (at the time there were a number of Pakistani Air Force people doing radio courses at Ballarat). If you were unfortunate enough to fall into one of these categories, you were lined up at the back of the parade and marched off to the Barracks Yard, there to chop the hardest, toughest, mallee roots in the Southern Hemisphere. The mallee roots were used to fuel the stoves used to heat the Messes and Barrack blocks. Ballarat is a cold hole.

The blokes that were left on the Parade Ground were marched off to attend a “Church Parade” and did not have to face the mallee roots. A number of miraculous religious conversions materialized from within the ranks every Tuesday morning. Interesting days long gone."

Firies at East sale – 1982

Could there be a calendar in the wings??

14 Wagga Appies. 1962

Framies.

Back Row, L-R:   HG. Van Der Woude,  MJ Finn,  PJ Burford,.. ER Erhardt,  RV Cottrell,  JW Inch,  AP De Latorre,  

Centre Row, L_R:   NF Bown,  FJ Bonner,  CS Bonnyman,  LS Carpenter,  LF Stanley,  JS Fitzpatrick,  MJ Sweetman,  IH Cairns.

Front Row, L-R:   LA Russell,  RG Gee,  JE Feutrill,  DR Moffat,  RJ Benton,  GJ Young,  TJ Whitmore,  RJ Taylor, 

Absent:  AJ Kelly

14 Wagga Appies. 1962

Instruments

Back Row L-R:   AR Mitchell,  JT Williams,  DL Rees,  AR Russell,  RG Lewis,  LS Rogers,  DC Clarke.

Centre Row L-R:   IT Johnson,  CJ Jenkinson,  BS Neilson,  JS Rae,  AS Page,  AB Adamson,  ED Blagg, .

Front Row L-R:   RD Hocking,  P Mcbain,  JJ Mustard,  RJ Leo,  ML Holland,  GA Roberts,  RC Grierson,  TJ Mayer.

14 Wagga Appies. 1962

Motor Transport.

Back Row L-R:   FJ Rankin,  ME Kelly,  RL Mattiazzi,  NJ McCann,  A Hayes,  R Johnston,  FM Killalea,  PG Nolan,

Front Row L-R:   JT Eivers,  HJ Skinner,  RJ Stehr,  JR Graham,  SD West,  M Magner,  MN Tubman,  R Duncan,  AJ Fuller.

478 Mntce Sqn, Matra fixers, 1981.

Back Row L-R:   Dafyd “Daffy” Roberts,  Peter “Pedro” Schols,  Peter Grey,  Russell Fisher,  Peter “Blue” Moore,  Phil Miller,  Neil McNamara,  Brian “Bumi” Pracey.

Front L-R:   Barry “Baz” Wright,  Paul McGuiness,  Bill Holker,  John May-Wilkie,  Peter McCairney.

The Sabre and the Mirage.

A painting by Paul Renwick- Farley.

In this most atmospheric of images, artist Paul Renwick-Farley pays homage to the classic Sabre and Mirage jets which provided sterling service to the Free World in the decades following the Second World War. The North American F-86 Sabre, modified as the CA-27 for AustraIian service was the best Sabre day-fighter variant in the world. Such modifications included the more powerful Rolls-Royce Avon engine and updated armament of two 30mm Aden cannons replacing six 0.5in machine guns. The first Australian Sabre flew on 3rd August 1953. Though famed and highly esteemed for its American service in the Korean War, RAAF Sabres saw overseas service operating from Butterworth in Malaysia and Ubon in Thailand. The Sabre portrayed A94-983 is the superbly restored RAAF Historic Flight aircraft.

From 1965, the Dassault Mirage began to replace the Sabre in Australian service. and as the Mirage matured into a globally renowned, capable and dramatically beautiful flying machine, it became known as all the world’s fighter. The Mirage was the first supersonic aircraft to serve with the RAAF. Aircraft A3-3. depicted in the painting, was the first Australian assembled Mirage. It is now on display at Fighter World Display Centre at Williamtown.

The Artist.

Paul is a renowned Australian artist whose works have appeared on national television and feature in both public and private collections around the world. He has been lauded for his mastery with light, of his ability to impact an ethereal quality to his skies and seas and the glow in the faces of his oil portraits. As his teenage years were spent in the environs of the Base at Williamtown he has, since he can remember, a passion for painting and drawing aircraft.

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