Cyclone Tracy 1974
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Regarding the RAAF input, wouldn't there be a lot of info in the various official unit history's?
I had a relative flying the A model at the time who had his entire crew fall asleep enroute to Darwin one night.
I had a relative flying the A model at the time who had his entire crew fall asleep enroute to Darwin one night.
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I'm surprised that little has emerged about TN & AN flying. Perhaps thay were too busy hating each other to keep any records.
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Whilst it broke our hearts QF 94 to see our great airline go the way it did, we certainly did not hate Ansett. We had a rivalry yes, but hate no. Often in the "Great Australian Air race" SYD/PER, we would wait for the other crew and have a beer with them. We were no different to any other pilots anywhere, we met with Ansett blokes and did the usual whinging about the lack of sex, salary and seniority. I imagine nothing has changed. I have never met any TAA pilot that hated Ansett. They were a truly professional outfit, (Until Abeles and followed by Murdoch) and it was truly distressing to see their distress, we won't forget Hawke, Abeles or Murdoch, until the last one of us has fallen off our perch. Now THAT IS hate!
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Tindal
CLX, Tindal was used, although as I recall only for Exercises with very few permanent personnel there. I operated through Tindal in support of Mirage ops as early as April - May '71 and it was not made fully operational until the 1980's.
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peuce
Maybe a HQ or a very very early HJ
Holden HZ is an automobile which was produced between 1977 and 1980 by General Motors-Holden's Ltd.
Mike
Maybe a HQ or a very very early HJ
Holden HZ is an automobile which was produced between 1977 and 1980 by General Motors-Holden's Ltd.
Mike
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TAA Participation In Cyclone Tracey Evacuation
If you want the figures for TAA flights and possibly Ansett then I suggest you contact the TAA Museum at Airport West in Melbourne. I inform you that TAA created a world record for over 200 pax on the B727 which normally carried around 150. Also the passengers had no or very little baggage and yes some pets were carried. Firstly - the way that TAA was able to seat so many people was that the aircraft were equipped with seats that could not only be converted to First Class but also to all economy - just by simply removing and repositioning armrests. Secondly - if you folded the armrests back then it was easy to fit 4 people in three seats and extend seatbelts and use seatbelt extenders (as they do for lets say "wide body pax.") Add to that infant seat belts for children and you increase passenger load. Another thing to remember is that it was a National Emergency and concessions were made. Also TAA and Qantas were in a position where the Government could combine their operations as part of a transport division of the RAAF. My understanding is that QF indeed carried around 700 on the B747-200. With no baggage or cargo it makes it even easier. You might also be interested to know that cartons of Stubbies shorts for males and blue dresses for women of all ages were sent to Darwin to clothe the evacuees. Great PR exercise for an Aussie clothing manufactuer at the time. The evacuation of people from Darwin continued for a couple of months and most if not all were transported by the use of government warrants ( think of them as open cheques for each person to relocate to relatives away from Darwin.)
Tindal was operational
Bit off topic but, I spent a few hours playing cricket on the tarmac while waiting for approval to land at Darwin. I had a load of Wollies employees from BNE who had to get the Wollies store operational. The store had its own generator and getting it up and running was the first item on the list.
Sleeping in front of the cold dairy cabinet on a camp stretcher that night was immeasurably better than sleeping in the tent in the carpark.
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Boaccomet, it was also interesting to note that the current QF staff at the time, had begged, borrowed and stolen anything that was not nailed down, to give to the Darwinians on arrival. They had boxes of everything imaginable, from food to clothing, toys etc and as the bewildered Territorians arrived they were inundated with gifts and offers of accommodation, not just from QF staff but TN and AN also. That is of course when Airlines were "families" and people were not so suspicious or cautious. If the same thing happened now, insurance would be the big question, and QF, TN, and AN or of course now JQ and Virgin would not dare to perform the same feats. The repercussions would not be worth it, and I imagine the full job would now fall on the RAAF.
Don't forget Connellan Airlines operated their DC-3 single pilot for a while after Cyclone Tracey to keep things moving, using a radio operater in the right hand seat.
Imagine ringing up your friendly CASA FOI on Christmas day and saying, "listen old chap we going to be running around in the DC-3 for a while single pilot and carrying passengers, freight, odd medivac, Darwins got no navaids or met forecasts and the pilots will be working sun up to sun down, no problems with that?"
The guy that had the car rental business near Darwin airport in the 80's had a collection of photos he had taken around the airport on Christmas day. The early model C310 flipped up against the hangar always sticks in my mind.
Just a little side story, some of the people flown out of Darwin post Cyclone Tracey finished up in Hobart on the 5th of January 1975. Fortunately for them, they made it safely across the Tasman Bridge before it got struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra and a span collapsed into the Derwent killing a number of people. My uncle was a senior commonwealth public servant, who been seconded to Hobart during this time as part of the relief effort. He had seen the last bus off from Hobart airport and had stayed back to check on details for the next lot of arrivals for Monday. When they arrived to cross the bridge 30 minutes later, the bridge was out of action.
Imagine ringing up your friendly CASA FOI on Christmas day and saying, "listen old chap we going to be running around in the DC-3 for a while single pilot and carrying passengers, freight, odd medivac, Darwins got no navaids or met forecasts and the pilots will be working sun up to sun down, no problems with that?"
The guy that had the car rental business near Darwin airport in the 80's had a collection of photos he had taken around the airport on Christmas day. The early model C310 flipped up against the hangar always sticks in my mind.
Just a little side story, some of the people flown out of Darwin post Cyclone Tracey finished up in Hobart on the 5th of January 1975. Fortunately for them, they made it safely across the Tasman Bridge before it got struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra and a span collapsed into the Derwent killing a number of people. My uncle was a senior commonwealth public servant, who been seconded to Hobart during this time as part of the relief effort. He had seen the last bus off from Hobart airport and had stayed back to check on details for the next lot of arrivals for Monday. When they arrived to cross the bridge 30 minutes later, the bridge was out of action.
Bacommet:- I hate to bust your bubble but as mentioned in the start of this thread we ( Ansett Airlines of Australia ) carried 313 pax on our first 727-277 flight out of Darwin to Adelaide on the 28th Dec 1974. A record for a 727 anywhere in the world until 3 months later when World Airways carried 330 pax on a 727-100 war evac flight out of Danang Vietnam.
How do I know? I was on the jump seat that first flight out after spending Xmas in the Cyclone. Something I'll never forget.
Teresa:- fully agree with you regarding Ansett/TAA Pilot relations, whilst rivals we were good friends and helped each other frequently. The NT track trips on the F27 were quite fun I'm told !!
How do I know? I was on the jump seat that first flight out after spending Xmas in the Cyclone. Something I'll never forget.
Teresa:- fully agree with you regarding Ansett/TAA Pilot relations, whilst rivals we were good friends and helped each other frequently. The NT track trips on the F27 were quite fun I'm told !!
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You wanna believe it Nitpicker, normally finishing in that great little Greek restaurant in Smith St, best tucker ever, sadly it got blown away as well. Just about every crew headed there.
Thread Starter
Connair Question
The book "Connellan Airways Outback Airline" states that after the cyclone, Heron VH-CLS and 3 DC-3s were ferried back from Katherine. One of the DC-3s is later identified as VH-EWE but what were the other two? I have not been able to eliminate one of PWM, UPQ or MIN. Any ideas?
The list is progressing well although I am still processing some input from this thread. Please keep it coming.
CYCLONE TRACY EVACUATION FLIGHTS
Rgds
The list is progressing well although I am still processing some input from this thread. Please keep it coming.
CYCLONE TRACY EVACUATION FLIGHTS
Rgds
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MIN or MI
N as she was so fondly known, was A TAA aircraft, but whether she was still reg then, perhaps the TAA historian would know. MIN was used extensively when leased "wet" to the Dept of Mineral Resources, and she could have been flying under their flag at the time. I flew her for three wonderful years under their flag, and wished I had had the brains to invest in the minerals that were being discovered as we chris crossed miles of FA at 500 ft. Another story again.
N as she was so fondly known, was A TAA aircraft, but whether she was still reg then, perhaps the TAA historian would know. MIN was used extensively when leased "wet" to the Dept of Mineral Resources, and she could have been flying under their flag at the time. I flew her for three wonderful years under their flag, and wished I had had the brains to invest in the minerals that were being discovered as we chris crossed miles of FA at 500 ft. Another story again.
According to various people, including a Connair pilot that VH-CLX was the one that provided the comms out of Darwin on Christmas morning. The Heron later acquired the name "Nammo" which came from the engineer that spent the night on a tug towing her around the tarmac to keep her facing into wind. The engineer apparently kept himself lubricated with a couple of cartons of a certain breweries finest product.
One of the FSO's in Darwin, used to tell a bit of yarn about the Connair Heron diverting from Darwin to Katherine on Christmas Eve due to the excessive crosswind at Darwin.
One of the FSO's in Darwin, used to tell a bit of yarn about the Connair Heron diverting from Darwin to Katherine on Christmas Eve due to the excessive crosswind at Darwin.
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Heron CLT was left in darwin due to non availability of crew to fly it out. Nammo saved the aircraft by attaching the tug to the rear towing point. He complained that when he opened the first four cans of beer, the wind strenght blew them out of his hand!!
Howard Bailes attempted to bring the crews back from Katherine to be with their families, how-ever, the weather was very poor and they were unable to align the aircraft with the runway after becoming visual due to the cross wind.
Contact with Alice Springs FSU was made using the HF in CLT, although the aircraft sustained some damage, the avionics were okay. Later in the morning CLS returned from Katherine and took over the radio relay role. Connair engineers repaired the damage to CLT to enable it to be used.
Connair DC-3 VH-EWE made the first flight out of Darwin mainly with Connair staff.
Howard Bailes attempted to bring the crews back from Katherine to be with their families, how-ever, the weather was very poor and they were unable to align the aircraft with the runway after becoming visual due to the cross wind.
Contact with Alice Springs FSU was made using the HF in CLT, although the aircraft sustained some damage, the avionics were okay. Later in the morning CLS returned from Katherine and took over the radio relay role. Connair engineers repaired the damage to CLT to enable it to be used.
Connair DC-3 VH-EWE made the first flight out of Darwin mainly with Connair staff.
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Just a bit of background info and after all the years my facts may be a bit out. As I remember it the first comms or at least some of the first out of Darwin may have been from the RAAF control tower in Darwin to RAAF Base Ops in Canberra by phone. That was all that could be established at that point very early on. Base Ops in Canberra was right next to the old "civil" Approach Control Unit. The Approach Control unit Flight Data officer (civil not RAAF Controller) then became the link between Darwin and the National Disaster Centre being set up in Canberra to coordinate the evacuation etc etc Eventually the Flight Data Officers ended up completing quite a few shifts in that centre in Northbourne Ave in Canberra. They basically assisted the fairly complicated comms between Darwin and the various emergency services. I do remember a "Bushies" DC3 being in the fray somewhere and perhaps positioning up from Alice Springs. I later found out a mate of mine was crewing it.
The comms that were established by "just trying it" were quite amazing. Years prior to the internet I thought it would be worth a go to try out the "addressees" of the police teleprinter system into the departure messages from Darwin (RAAF ATC) via the aviation or "AFTN" printer network system. There was no connection as far as anyone knew but it worked. The police in NSW was one example where if I remember correctly, they got the departure messages and others directly but then couldn't understand many of them.
An attempt at keeping an accurate log was made, from memory although all was quite chaotic, and could possibly be obtained if archived in Canberra somewhere wherever the National Disaster Centre records are archived.
The comms that were established by "just trying it" were quite amazing. Years prior to the internet I thought it would be worth a go to try out the "addressees" of the police teleprinter system into the departure messages from Darwin (RAAF ATC) via the aviation or "AFTN" printer network system. There was no connection as far as anyone knew but it worked. The police in NSW was one example where if I remember correctly, they got the departure messages and others directly but then couldn't understand many of them.
An attempt at keeping an accurate log was made, from memory although all was quite chaotic, and could possibly be obtained if archived in Canberra somewhere wherever the National Disaster Centre records are archived.
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Dog One,
Was there much debris on the Runway - I was told that the RAAF used the large bulldozer/crane they had to clean the runway.
Might be story of legends!!!
Mike
Was there much debris on the Runway - I was told that the RAAF used the large bulldozer/crane they had to clean the runway.
Might be story of legends!!!
Mike
