One For The Nostalgia Buffs

[Stationair8]

Stickybeaking in a secondhand bookshop and came across this little gem,

The Depatment of Civil Aviation 1970 Aircraft Register.

A few of the companies featured in the registery included:
Air Express
AirFast
Ansett Transport Industries
Avis Rent a Plane
Benders Spreading Services
Civil Flying Services Morabbin and Jandakot
Connellan Airways
Davey Air Services Dubbo
Depatrment of Civil Aviation Flying Unit
Executive Airlines
Flinders Island airlines
Gilgandra Aero Club
Jack Brabham Aviation
Jetair
Nationwide Air Services Canberra
Rex Aviation
Rex Aviation QLD
Royal Aero Club of NSW
Royal Aero Club of SA
Royal Victorian Aero Club
SAATAS
Schutt Aircraft Sales
Schutt Flying Academy
Trans Australian Airways
Tamworth Aero Club
Tasmanian Aircraft Sales and Service
TBN Airlines
Townsville Aero Club

A few of the aircraft types on the register included,
Ansett-Mal Caribou,
Austers,
Beech 18's,
Beech B50 Twin Bonanza's,
Beech B55,
Boeing B727-100
Cessna 310k,
Cessna 401,
Chipmunks
Dc-3's ,
DC-4's,
DC-9,
Lockheed Electra,
Piper Single Commanche
Piper Twin Commanche
Piaggio P166's,
Shorts Skyvan,
Vickers Viscount.

The big time charter operators had a fleet of Barons, or Cessna C310's or Twin commanches. The flying schools had gone to Cessna 150 or Pa-28, but the RVAC still had some Chipmunks in use.

Bring back a few memories for the old timers?

[Stationair8]

Another few companies from the list were Premier Airlines and Bush Pilots.

The cabin class twins such as the Cessna C402(VH-ELU and ELT) and Piper PA-31/310(AWW and CFE) were just starting to appear on the register.

[mostlytossas]

P***off! old timer indeed!:}

[frigatebird]

The kids are jealous..!!?? Now..Now.., shame they missed it all..

[Arnold E]

Well I can tell you that this week I have had the "pleasure" of working on one of these "CLASSIC" pieces of junk, and I have deceided that I want to join CASA so that I can get rid of these piles of junk from our skies. Actually the problem is with owners. If you have to ask, how much does this piece of JUNK COST TO maintain, then you cant afford to be in the industry, so GET OUT!!!
I think you should be able to see, Not happy Jan!

[Fantome]

P***off! old timer indeed!


The late Humphrey Lyttleton, droll, laid back MC of 'I'm Sorry, I haven't a clue', (notable for it's sharp smut), was accosted by a non-fan of the show, a Yorkshireman.

Lyttleton, ah'm a blunt, plain speakin' man, and I . . . .

I am too. Now f*** off!


Arnold . . . go on then, join them. Get thee hence. Be another taxpayer funded cypher battening onto those who spend half their lives doing fantastic work, keeping alive our aviation heritage. (Let's know where you end up. A tip off may circumvent a f*** off.)

[Dog One]

Brain & Brown Airfreighters - DC3's BAA, BAB?

[Stationair8]

A few more companies from the register and there aircraft,

Ansett New South Wales with a fleet of F-27 Fokker Friendships

East -West Airlines with a fleet of F-27 Friendships and a few Dc-3's

MMA Airlines with a fleet of F-27's and Dc-3's

Royal Flying Doctor Sevice NSW Section with two Beagle B206

Royal flying Doctor Service Vicorian Section with a Beech Queenair and a Baron B55.

[Aye Ess]

Also for NSW & Sydneysiders,was Masling Air Services.....DC3s & Queenairs from memory.

[Dog One]

As well as Cessna 402's.

[tail wheel]

Did Jack Masling have DC3s? I remember C402s (VH-MWD?) and Bandits?

[Aye Ess]

Ah yes Tailwheel....before the bandits were even invented Maslings operated DC3s....I have a piccy of VH-MWQ,but no doubt other old timers can fill us in on the other DC3s in their fleet.

[bonvol]

Think Jack had a twin bonanza at one stage as well? What a character he was.

[Fantome]

What a character he was.


Oh yeah. And then some. One "Donkey dick", there in the 60s, dubbed the boss "Happy Jack". And it stuck. So many stories about the old bugger.

And the shady buggers who worked for him. Stand by for a sample.

[Aye Ess]

And for a brief period Maslings owned Aeropelican,making them one of the largest regional operators. That is how C402s VH-MWF & MWG came to be painted in Aeropelican colours.
Great thread,thanks Stationair 8.....many memories for lots of us.

[jetstar21]

Just to add a little to the Masling side of things, the main aircraft was the Queenair (4) a DC3 (MWQ) Twin Bonanza (SKY) Twin Otter 200 and then commencing in June, 1978 E110 (P2s)(4).
MWQ was originally used by the US marines in PNG then went to WA as (MMA) and later returned to PNG as P2-ANS and eventually to Masling as MWQ and had in excess of 66,000 hours when on sold to Air North. It was a great aircraft and gave fantastic service with no engine probs whatsoever after one chuffy cylinder was changed. It even serviced Lord Howe Island by delivering freight and the furniture and belongings of the met observers on changeover.

All the aircraft operated were great for their time.
The first E110 arrived in Aust on the 30th June, 1978 after a ferry across the South Pacific via Easter Island.

[zlin77]

As an aside, Jack had special paint dots applied to the M.P. & R.P.M. gauges in The Queenairs, these were the power limits for T/OFF & Climb Power to be used by his pilots.......................Bandits were fun, still the single pilot days in OZ, only problem on The CBR-ABX run was the fact that pitot heat was the only protection from icing!!

[Clearedtoreenter]

Too true Arnold..amazing that this 'nostalgia' is still carrying paying pax the backbone of GA! As for operators getting out because they cannot afford to keep these old girls going - well, maybe, but would there be any industry at all if they did?

[tinpis]

I'm sure I flew a black and white VH- MWD 402 in TPNG?

[Dog One]

Masling's initial reg 203 flights introduced the 402. Masling was a Cessna Dealer in those early days. I understand that later on the 402's were replaced by the Queenairs for better capacity

[Aye Ess]

And I flew VH-MWF in Aeropelican colours when the company I worked for in 1980 cross hired it for a few weeks.....I tell you that was the oldest,most tired aircraft I've ever flown.

[Dog One]

Executive Airlines at Essendon, Shrikes, 680FL's, 680FLP and 690. Also had a base in Launceston, as well as the Victorian Air Ambulance contract.

[Aye Ess]

Early to mid 70s,Burnett Airways operated 2 Trislanders & a navajo from Brisbane to regional centres in southern Qld. They were taken over by Bush Pilot Airlines.

[Wally Mk2]

'Dog One' I used to work for Exec's back in the good 'ole days. Was fun then, no security to speak of. People used to wander about the A/C almost unchallenged.
I recall we had the Aero commanders in various sizes. The 'Gomad' contract to make 'em fly properly:} Enstrom choppers new out of the box, funny looking Tabago's etc (funny way back then) also new out of the box. Steve Nott was a young skinny apprentice back then (may he RIP now). The times we made him sweep the floors & get our lunches:}
Vh-ALH, may that A/C RIP also, sad story there, ugly actually:sad:
Did I read a couple mention Vh-MWQ? Flew her today, well an old Beech with the rego of the old '3' & it still has round engines:ok:.

Does anyone recall the PBY that lived at EN late 70's to early 80's? Survey craft I believe & once heard that if it ever landed on water that would be it's final resting place, well at the bottom of the ocean that is!:}
And those Canberra Bombers up at the old EN Grave Yard................ahhhh you could almost smell aviation back then:ok:
I truly reckon that the youth of today keen on aviation missed out on a lot, oh well such is life, nothing is 4ever:ok:

Wmk2:)

[Stationair8]

Qantas were operating Boeing B707 and DC-4 for passenger flights and retained a DC-3 and the two Hawker-Siddely HS125 for crew training.

Found a nice shot of Flinders Island Airlines Beech 18 taken at Point Cook airshow in 1974 on Airliners.net

Anyone know what SAATAS did was it charter or RPT?

[Steam-Driven]

Early to mid 70s,Burnett Airways operated 2 Trislanders & a navajo from Brisbane to regional centres in southern Qld.

Stretching the memory a little, but I think the Tri(s) were BSP and BSG...
Navajo was PNK (ex PNG)...
Plus a pretty tired Aztec, MBX.

Roger, Bundy

[By George]

Wally, John Edwards was one of the pilots of the Catalina you mentioned and I flew with him at Air Express, a really nice bloke and many interesting stories. VH-EXG if I remember correctly. I often wonder what happened to all those people. MBX was one of Australian Air Charterers first Aztecs followed by MBU and that awful 'F' model MBQ. Ice would build up on the 'F's elevator horns and pump the stick back and forth, really horrible. MBU was an 'E' and quite nice for a 'Aztruck'. Ah, the good old days.

[frigatebird]

http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy129/bird__photo/Aero%20Club/scan0001-1.jpg

[Fantome]

Does anyone recall the PBY that lived at EN late 70's to early 80's?

The aforementioned EXG, operated by Geoterrex Surveys. Now in the RAAF museum, Point Cook, despite no RAAF service.

[tinpis]

Used to see the poor buggers stagger out of VH-EXG at Kununurra after a loooooong day low level survey around Kimberlys

[RENURPP]

Aye ess,

Aeropelican owned MWF and MWE (402's) well before Masling bought his share in the company, although they were ex Masling aircraft. MWG was never with Aeropelican

Aeropelican started with 7 402's (MWF, MWE, CKU, ROX, ELT, BOZ, EVF) and by the time Masling bought his share in Aeropelican they also had 3 x twatters. (MMY, TZL, TGY)

[tinpis]

Aero duck
The lady that came to grab the landing fee was known as "The Lone Haranguer" :p

[Hempy]

frigatebird,

classic, thanks for that :ok:

[triadic]

Does anyone recall the PBY that lived at EN late 70's to early 80's? Survey craft I believe & once heard that if it ever landed on water that would be it's final resting place, well at the bottom of the ocean that is!


Wally, John Edwards was one of the pilots of the Catalina you mentioned.....


Did about 600 hrs in EXG back in the '70's all over the country. Was in BHI when Whitlam got the sack! Some really interesting flying and no GPS then - all the nav visual from aerial photos that were taken in summer and u were then in winter! The noise was painful without a headset - you could actually reach out the window and touch the prop tip! The aeroplane was something else, it would actually talk to you and had personality plus. The work on survey was hard yakka - all at 400ft agl on line, but at the end of the day it was fun and a great experience. It had Wright 2600's installed for the water bombing role and went very well. The orig had 1830's I recall.

John Edwards was great to fly with - he was an ex croppy and could turn the Cat around better than anyone else at the time. He went on to fly a CASA 212 which picked up the same work for Geoterex after EXG ceased flying. It sat in the northern park at EN for a while then went to PCK and I understand went to Amberley for rebuild then back to PCK now.

Most of the guys at Execs got a gig on it at sometime back then. Back in the days of Wes Guy, Stan Tayler, Chris Moody, Bob Barnes and others I cant recall right now. (getting old!) Great times...:ok:

[RENURPP]

Tinpis, that was "Mrs Paul".

[tinpis]

To start a business in EN in those days all one needed was a tiny office, a potted rubber tree, phone, pictures on wall (Lear Jets) and a secretary with da bigga tits

[ozaggie]

With regard to Geoterrex crew, Bill Balmain was another. Middle of winter in Cootamundra, Standing on the wing in Green Shorts And brown boots.

[Stationair8]

Tinnpis, no different to the Essendon operaters today.

In the directory the first of the mighty Cessna C207's UBV and UBW appear.

[frothy]

tinpis and renurpp
That was indeed Mrs. Paul. One scary Lady(?) I was once told there was a bus stop out the front(bus No 348) get out and use it. Just finished a demo para drop on the Central Coast and couldn't get back to MND so dropped into PLX due summer storm. Tied the A/c down and wandered into the Pax lounge full of irate pax as the 402's couldn't get to SY at that stage to arrange a lift back to MND. She was not amused with me as they all saw this A/c land so why couldn't they t/o. Ignorance is bliss I s'pose.The Pilots Rig(emerg Parachute) I had over one shoulder probably did not amuse her. I've seen her actually chase A/c taxiing out to score them for a landing fee even though there was no one round at the time.Although something sticks in the brain. Wasn't there an honour box on the fence in the early days?

Frothy

[nevces]

No Maslings did not operate DC3s

[Aye Ess]

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a401/alan_spears/VH-MWQ.jpg?t=1308807901

[Animalclub]

Is that ex PX DC3?

[Aye Ess]

Indeed Animal,correct. No use wasting a colour scheme.

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

Thanks Mr 'Triadic',
Re..'you could actually reach out the window and touch the prop tip!

At Kal. one day, John had leaned out to clean the windscreen with the props windmilling...and the prop wash took off his favourite cap.
We heard the 'thwack!', and were much relieved to see it was just the cap.....
He just asked us (F.S.) to pick it up for him, and went on with the day's work...and he got it back OK...another 'bash' in it.

As the PBY had no flaps, it was just a 'big C-150' to watch him land it, on the mains, hold off as long as was practical, then gently lower the nose wheel on....that was the 'slow down' procedure. LUVLY!

If you read this John, all the best!!
:ok::ok:

[RatsoreA]

Who flew VH-Sally Anne Osgood?!

It had a sister Navajo at the same time??

[aroa]

Had a few trips in his Miles "Gemini ".:ok:.the little wooden twin, when I worked there briefly as a hangar "gopher", late 50s. Was learning to fly at the time.
First solo was in an Illawarra FS Champion Tri-Traveller.

Never had a camera in those days...Anyone got any James Gemini pics ??

DCA put a stopper on the wooden machines...dont know of James history after that.

Sure was some diverse machine around then... Gannets, Vampires, Austers, Tigers of course, and a host of others. Sid Marshalls hangar was an Alladins cave as well.

[Fantome]

Like SAO another initialed one was TDB the first C411 in the country

that went to Murchison Air Charter over in the West - 1965 (Bob Oliver -

who used

to go up you for having a rotating beacon on in the day time, occasioning

unnecessary wear.)


Rex , Bankstown, had a sales person by the name of Teresa Dora Brollie (or Brolly)

[LeadSled]

Qantas were operating Boeing B707 and DC-4 for passenger flights and retained a DC-3 and the two Hawker-Siddely HS125 for crew training.

Found a nice shot of Flinders Island Airlines Beech 18 taken at Point Cook airshow in 1974 on Airliners.net

Stationair8,
Two DC-3, -EDC and EDD. EDC wound up in Botany Bay, EDD was the fire wreck in Cairns for years. Don't forget the L-188 Electra of that era.
If it's the Beech 18 I think it is, that's now at Bankstown, in good condition, and currently the subject of much TLC.
Tootle pip!!

[Dora-9]

Fantome:

As one who knew both TDB (never quite lived up to its expectations) and RT Oliver (what a horrible man), I was never aware of the background to that registration - thanks.

[Capt Casper]

I am working on a history of Walter Ernest James - James Air Charter P/L.

The following list of people share a link with James Air Charter P/L, Commerce International P/L, Ansett General Aviation P/L. or Bankstown Airport in the 50's & 60's.

JIM BRAY, JOE BOWDEN, LEN CARMEL, MAX CONRAD, DICK COOMBS, JOHN COUGLE, JACK DAVIDSON, BARRY DAVIS, PAT DAVIES, BRUCE DEADMAN, MARK DIGNAM, SAM DODD,NOEL DODWELL, DOUG FAWCETT, MARJORIE GADD, JOHN GAMBLE, RON GREEN, FRED GREENTREE, LEN GUY, CAL HALLOW, KEN HOLT, LES JAYCOCK, CLIFF JEFFCOATE, BOB JERVIS, MILTON KENT, JOHN LARKIN, PETER LLOYD, PAT LONG, LEN LYMOUTH(dec), JOHN MACKNIGHT, SID MARSHALL(dec), PAT MATHEWS, KEN MAY(dec), RICHARD McCLEAN, ROSS McKAY, ERN McQUILLAN, ALAN MORFOOT, ALAN PARKES, LUIGI PELLARINI, STEVE PADGETT, ALAN PETTIFORD, KIETH ROBEY, BOB ROUSTON(dec), JUDY SHARP, LES SHAYLOR, JACK SHULTZ, ROBERT SHUTE (dec) JOHN B SMITH, "HOCKEY" TRELOAR, LEN TUCK, BOB VALE, BRIAN WALKER, VIC WALTON, DENIS WOODWARD

Any information, anecdotes or contacts (including family) for any of the above, or about James Air Charter P/L would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, CC

[vwark]

Hi my name is Veronica Wark. I am part of a group doing family research for a book on the Wark family in Australia. If this Walter Ernest James is the same one which I am researching we would be thrilled to add at least some of his achievements into the book. Our Walter Ernest Clyde James was born in Yass NSW on 6 Oct 1906 to Henry Augustus & Rose Emily James. He was in the Australian Army during WW2 and married Josephine Patricia Harris in 1941 in Randwick Sydney. I have as yet not discovered if he had any children from this marriage. He was the great grandson of Johann Heinrich Wark who came from Germany in 1846 to Australia and started the Wark family line and all its many descendants.

I note that one of the people mentioned in your thread has the surname Bowden which was Walter's mothers maiden name.

So I am hoping that I have the right person and hope you can confirm this.

Look forward to hearing from you

Regards
Veronica Wark

[Wally Mk2]

"AE" nice photo of VH-MWQ,even though I have a lot of hrs on MWQ am positive that it never sat that low at the tail!!!:E The only thing common I recall is that both airframes had 'round' engines:ok:
I must PM you shortly to commission a couple more of yr paintings, hopefully you still have the photo/s I sent sometime ago of the old Dove & I'll get you to dream up a scene for a 'bus' shot also:-):ok: That will make a 4 painting set covering my life as a dreamer:ok:

Keep the good work up there 'AE' & I only hope (saying with kindness)that you don't get involved with a woman otherwise yr exquisite work will go to pot !:E

Wmk2

[Aye Ess]

Yo,Wally....yup,still slopping paint onto canvas. For those of you confused,the DC3 (scroll up) is VH-MWQ,but Wally flew same rego but as a B200.

Yup,still have the Dove photos. And nope,still no lady. My glory box is still chockers.

[Stationair8]

Where were the Qantas HS-125's based?

With the crew training, was that mainly flew at Avalon?

[JamieMaree]

They were based at Mascot, although in the latter days the remaining one (ECE) spent most of its time at Avalon where it did base training and licence renewals for B747 S/O's. One instructor actually moved to Geelong to live as did the guy who ran the operation there. The other instructors commuted from SYD as did the line pilots. Down to MEL and then by QF minibus to Avalon and any overnights were in Geelong at the Travelodge and before that the Carlton.
When they first arrived, all base training was done at Narromine. Up to Dubbo on Airlines of NSW F27 or F28. The taxi guy from Narromine would pickup and convey pilots to Narromine where they would stay in the local hotel run by the wife of White Russian immigrant who had unexpectedly died. The pilots stayed in specially constructed rooms out the back (reportedly built with QF financial assistance) which were initially for Constellation and DC4 base training. I can"t recall whether the Electras did their training there as well.
At Narromine, anyone doing night flying had a standard instruction to help themselves to the big container of soup in the kitchen, and were free to cook themselves anything from the fridge that took their fancy. The bar closed strictly at 10pm but there were always other "provisions".

[Stanwell]

Additionally..
There was an ex-Qantas 125 which sat down at The Oaks airport, south of Sydney, for a few years.
I don't know what eventually happened to it.

[Band a Lot]

Jack Brabham Aviation

"Sir Jack" - yep seen him as the first owner of a PA28-180 in the log book.

[Styx75]

Additionally..
There was an ex-Qantas 125 which sat down at The Oaks airport, south of Sydney, for a few years.
I don't know what eventually happened to it.

Flew past this at the oaks last month

https://www.dropbox.com/s/imyhyof5ipi14d3/2016-10-30%2012.11.31.png?dl=0

[Stanwell]

Ah, thank you, Styx.

[Fris B. Fairing]

If anyone has the ear of the owner of VH-ECE please encourage him to give the aeroplane to a museum - any museum. He's presided over its deterioration for long enough.

[aroa]

Was that the Q HS 125 that was in the 1969 BP UK to Oz air race.?
Have the Q Museum at Longreach tried to get hold of this?

[Fris B. Fairing]

aroa

The race aircraft was the other one VH-ECF.

Several museums have tried to save this aeroplane.

[Stationair8]

What was involved in a typical training sortie in the HS125, circuit work, navaid training or did they head off into the wide blue yonder?

[JamieMaree]

If you want the full story:
On the B707, S/Os used to do what was called a second class endorsement. Training to be able to T/o and land the aircraft but not legally allowed to do it on line. A licence renewal was 1/2 hour at Avalon which was T/o and landing, twin locater approach and low level circuit, assymmetric as time permitted.
Come the jumbojet, this was too expensive, so the sop to the pilots was as above in the simulator and HS125 training as base training/checking on a real aircraft.
That constituted 2 hrs of " practice" and a 30' licence renewal (check).
In the practice, it was a combination of ILS, NDB, assymmetric, low level circuits etc etc etc.
The L/R consisted of a NDB,an ILS, a circuit, an assymmetric circuit.
That was it.
Conducted over two days, Narromine or Avalon sometimes you went straight back to SYD, sometimes you cooled your heels in the Lara pub until the "big" jet finished base training and went back to SYD.
In hindsight it was more of a funtwo days than a PIA as it seemed sometimes.

[Shaggy Dog]

I recognise a few names and planes on this topic.
Maybe an indication of a misspent youth.:)
My first flight was on a Super Connie, also the first type I wielded a spanner on as an apprentice.
Did some time on aeroplanes with big round piston engines. Still carry the scars.
SD

[Shaggy Dog]

Re my previous post.
One of the scars came from an upside down engine, a Queen 30 as fitted to the DH Heron.
I was lining up the props after a flight, asked the PIC if the mags were off and received an affirmative.
Lined up #1 and moved on to #2 which fired up with hardly any movement of the prop by me.
The prop threw me into the fuselage side and I fell back on to the ground just in front of the rotating prop. The aircraft was inching toward me so I rolled out of the way pronto.
I then ran around the wing up the stairs into the aircraft and found the mags to all four engine in the on position. I shut #2 down and switched off the rest.
Walking down the cabin I saw blood all over the floor, I was wearing a raincoat and the sleeve was a bit over long and covering my left hand. I shoved my hand out of the sleeve to find a V between my index finger and the next one along. Could have held a real big cigar and put Winston Churchills V to shame. The prop must have done this whilst I was performing my aerobatic display.
Anyway I grabbed a stray tarmac terrier to run me into hospital where they spent some time reducing the V to v or maybe u. Good job too though the left arm still aches on a cold day all these years later.
I had a massive bruise on my upper arm which could have only come from the prop launching me into the fuse.
Lucky no doubt. Whilst I was cautious around props before this I have treated them like big black snakes ever since. With an excess of caution.
SD

[Jenna Talia]

Good to see you survived what could have been much worse. What did you end up doing to the PIC?

[Deaf]

Re QF training at Avalon. Heard plenty of it in pre sim days- You could always tell how many engines the 707 had running in the circuit from the noise (at least between 4, 3 and 2) - and sometimes we suspected 1 as:
more noise
often longer between circuits (extend downwind for restart?)

By the Matric exams hardly noticed it.

Maybe I should sue QF for the nice letter from Dr Ruth? from DCA - something like "while I have issued you a Class 1 medical the hearing tests indicates you have severe noise deafness and this will get worse as you age. You should consider your career options"

[Shaggy Dog]

JT,
I may have said something along the lines of "golly old chap you left the dashed magnetos on" though I suspect I was coarser than that making possible reference to his sexual inclinations and dubious parentage.
He did cough up with a carton as I recall.
SD

[tail wheel]

The following list of people share a link with James Air Charter P/L, Commerce International P/L, Ansett General Aviation P/L. or Bankstown Airport in the 50's & 60's.

JIM BRAY, JOE BOWDEN, LEN CARMEL, MAX CONRAD, DICK COOMBS, JOHN COUGLE, JACK DAVIDSON, BARRY DAVIS, PAT DAVIES, BRUCE DEADMAN, MARK DIGNAM, SAM DODD,NOEL DODWELL, DOUG FAWCETT, MARJORIE GADD, JOHN GAMBLE, RON GREEN, FRED GREENTREE, LEN GUY, CAL HALLOW, KEN HOLT, LES JAYCOCK, CLIFF JEFFCOATE, BOB JERVIS, MILTON KENT, JOHN LARKIN, PETER LLOYD, PAT LONG, LEN LYMOUTH(dec), JOHN MACKNIGHT, SID MARSHALL(dec), PAT MATHEWS, KEN MAY(dec), RICHARD McCLEAN, ROSS McKAY, ERN McQUILLAN, ALAN MORFOOT, ALAN PARKES, LUIGI PELLARINI, STEVE PADGETT, ALAN PETTIFORD, KIETH ROBEY, BOB ROUSTON(dec), JUDY SHARP, LES SHAYLOR, JACK SHULTZ, ROBERT SHUTE (dec) JOHN B SMITH, "HOCKEY" TRELOAR, LEN TUCK, BOB VALE, BRIAN WALKER, VIC WALTON, DENIS WOODWARD

Does anyone know what became of John Gamble and John Smith, very respected gentlemen in a cut throat world!!

I guess Brian Walker was probably "Blackjack"? Blackjack fell off his stool in 1997, aged 84.

[ShyTorque]

"Benders Spreading Services"

Not sure I'd like to fly an aircraft with this written down the side!

[Shaggy Dog]

Tail Wheel,
I came across a few of those names in the '60s. They were more scattered when I met them.
There were some interesting folk about the shop back then.
It seemed to me most had dropped out by the '80s.
SD