Vale Captain Frank Ball AFC

[Captain Sherm]

There hasn't been much press coverage of this but Frank passed away last week. There was a memorial/celebration service last Thursday.

At the TAA Pilots' picnic tomorrow it would be great for Frank to be remembered. An absolutely true gentleman, pilot, leader and airline builder. His like is rarely seen now and we would all do well to remember that such men gave us our careers and......it is no small dream to wish that leaders of Frank's calibre were still running things. Imagine: no more outsourced core airline activity, single seniority list, innovation, service, teamwork....and the pay differential between a junior F/O and the General Manager (no...Frank never had the grandiose aspiration to be a CEO) was maybe a factor of 5. he was not paid a lot more than a senior 727 Check Captain.

Frank gave a very young Sherm his final interview at TAA and mentored the growing Sherm through the years. In the last 20 years especially all around the world I have survived and prospered because of my 20 years in the airline Frank helped build.

Farwell Captain Ball. Thank you. Safe Flying on this last journey

[tail wheel]

Frank was one of the last real airline CEOs.

A simple man of honour one could do a deal with on the shake of a hand.

[James4th]

Yes I agree with all you say Sherm, if only we had men of his calibre running our airlines today. I still remember sitting in his office at Franklin St being told I had just joined TAA.

He rode on my DC9 jumpseat 20 years later ....... with a great smile on his face all the way home ......

God Bless you Sir!

Jimmy

[ratpoison]

Yes, a true gentleman with integrity, charming character and solid backbone.:D
No doubt all three attributes are totally lacking in todays airline management.
Anyone got a link to some of the ol TAA ads with Frank in them ??

[Animalclub]

A good man who had time to listen to his staff.

[spirax]

Yes, a great man. It is sad we don't have leaders like that any more.

Fly high!!



Dear Moderators, this is yet another post that should have stayed in Reporting points.

[salza80]

Hello, This is Frank's daughter (Susan) and granddaughter (Sally). We were just googling papa (Frank), and we came accross this forum. We were please to know that people still remember Frank 25 years after his retirement in such an honorable way. He also carried the same principles in his private life. Flying and TAA was his passion. We miss him dearly.

A real high-flyer, even in the tough times (http://www.theage.com.au/national/a-real-highflyer-even-in-the-tough-times-20090903-f9zn.html)

[judyhill]

Just sitting here with Mum (Rae Ball) reading your kind words about Dad. He was a great man and wonderful father and will be missed. Mum was pleased to read all the kind words said about him, the world is worse off without that generation of men. Judy

[jim eames]

Hi Judy,
I'm a little new to this block business but bear with me. I was sad to hear he had passed away and those sentiments by other on the site really sum up the type of person we have lost and who would be hard to find in the industry today. I've retired from the aviation industry and knew your father in the old days when I was with DCA and later Qantas. (Ministerial Press Secretary and QF Director of Public Affairs.) I have written a few books (hit my name on the web to confirm if you like) and am doing some research into possibly another one related to Z Force during WW2 and came across the Frank Ball name as operating with RAAF 200 Sqn which worked closely with Z Force. I just wanted to confirm whether that was in fact your dad, in the hope that we might have a chat sometime about his experiences during that time and any records which might still exist. I am currently seeking the Squadrons history but it's a little sparse at this point in my research.
Best wishes,
Jim

[Volumex]

I remember when I was a little takka Frank saying that the only reason the Liberator took off was the curvature of the earth!
He was a top bloke. My grandfather lived beside him in North Balwyn from the late 40's until my grandfather passed away around 2002. Couldn't ask for a better neighbour.
Best of luck with your research Jim. Report back when the book is published, I'd love to read it.
(Might be worth sending a PM to Judy, she hasn't been on here since 2009 so may not read your post any time soon.)

[Al E. Vator]

I never even met Frank Ball, I've only heard anecdotes, but everybody seemed to like him very much!

It's very rare for an opinionated group of often self-centered people such as pilots to be unanimous in their opinions, especially when it comes to managers. However it seems nobody has a bad word to say about Mr Ball.

Being a manager is not an easy task because it involves some unpleasant duties and actions affecting lives very directly. For Frank Ball to have been a manager and still be remembered so fondly is a very rare occurrence indeed and clearly well deserved.

Why is it that almost all current-day airline managers seem devoid of such skills?

I wish there were more people in this industry like Mr Frank Ball.

[sixtiesrelic]

Judy, check your private messages.

[Old but not bold]

I agree completly with all of the above comments. The selection process to appoint Frank as General Manager of TAA shows just how forward thinking the Senior Managment at TAA really was at the time.
The process was to take three Senior Captains out of their 727's and DC9's and send them off to Managment School for 12 months and at the end select one to become General Manager. The canditates were, Captain Frank Ball, Captain Len Murphy and one other whose name now escapes me.
Although Len was a close friend and mentor to me and I hoped he would get the role, it soon became obvious that this selection process got the right man, oh for the good old days when an Airline was run by men who new what they were doing.
Sit back now Frank whilst I fly the next leg ;)

[sixtiesrelic]

If you look at TAA's history, they began operations with ex RAAF and ex Guinea Airways pilots in the operations department.
Alan McSweyn who became Qld Manager was one of the pilots, he also was part of the Woodwen Horse escape team from one of the prison camps.
With those people leading you, you'll do anything. later?... Lookit'em.
Few mummy's boys there.

In the fifties a group of Brisbane's TAA management types... ground and flying, used to go fishing on the reef in the Ingham TAA agent's forty footer for a week or more.
They didn't shave, drank rum, sang their war ditties, after all it was less than ten years since they'd been in it, and thrashed out any little problems that were emerging.
Some of them went to the 'Breaky Creek' (pub) and drank beer with the ATC blokes and worked out the problems that were emerging between controlling and flying too.
Frank was in Brisbane in the early fifties.