Is the WasteGate still there?In 1970 it was full on with transitting workers heading for the big Bougainville mine project (har har) a few vietnam victims so it was pretty wild at times. Sharpie and others held court in the lower bar.I recall a beer bar on the roof was there a pool?
There was a night club closer to town everyone hung out in cant for the life of me remember the name but pretty sure was an upstairs joint. One had to be very wary of the dreaded beer goggles there.
Malarial tours pilots were always friendly and provided the odd crash pad in their "mess"
Had a fair bit of time on 185's them days nearly got hired by Stol but was whisked away by Daphne Johnson to Mt Hagen and placed under the watchful eye of Von Helly.(I know ziss vether ! )
First flight I did was looking for a Baron at Nomad River. Square search for 3 hours then a square search for Nomad River! Sadly the Baron was a CFIT with the loss of 6 pob I think, hit a hill wasnt marked (remember the "unreliable data" on the WAC charts?) .
Quite few more of those flights were to come.
