Cyclone Tracy 1974

[Centaurus]

[IMG][/IMG]

One result of Tracy

[Brian Abraham]

A couple of yarns.

Lyall O'Donoghue Navy HS 748

I was in hospital (appendix op) when Tracy hit. I got to Nowra on 27th/28th of Dec I think and flew to Darwin soon after. Phil Landon was F.O.
and Peter Robottom (Bum Bum) was the navigator I think on the first flight We carried chainsaws and ladies underwear/cosmetics as best I can recall. I still had the stitches in from the appendix op and the seat-belt rubbed on them all the way to Darwin causing a bit of pain. I found the sick bay at Coonawarra to try to get some relief. They thought that I had escaped from Darwin General Hospital after Tracy and were going to lock me up! It took a bit of talking to convince them that I was the Skipper of one of the resue aircraft!! We left the next day with about 46 pax and only 20 or so seats!! We routed via Mt Isa, Brisbane, Sydney to Nowra. On the first leg they got up to quite a bit of mischief and Bum Bum was worried that they were going to open the emergency escape windows. (Post traumatic stress reaction I guess!) The only thing I could think to do was to send Bum Bum back with the message that we were having problems with one on the engines and that they should sit still etc. Then I briefly shutdown the number 2 engine - the 748 prop would rotate very slowly when feathered - and shook the aircraft around a bit and restarted number two donk. Bum Bum said they all went very pale and decided to go to sleep. No problems from them after that.
Apparently, one sailor and his girlfriend took up residence in the rear baggage compartment and "enjoyed" each others company immensely for most of the first leg!

Some days after the first rescue mission I went back again but details are very sketchy. By then I had had the stitches removed and it was a much more comfortable trip!

One last thing, on the first trip, Phil and I had to hand fly the aircraft the round trip as the auto-pilot was U/S. All shoulders to the wheel sort of thing.

Ron Green, FO of record breaking 747

We were, I believe, the second aircaft into Darwin for the evacuation airlift - the first being a Herc. flown by an old mate , Bill Fewster (Sqn. Ldr. at the time). Our aircraft was a B747-200B, registration VH-EBB flown by Ken Nicholson , myself, and crew.
We had told Darwin we could carry 750 pax. but ended up with (only) 694 as that was all there were at the time at the airport who wanted out. That flight was followed by another jumbo which carried slightly fewer - can't recall the number as I didn't record it.
Of interest is we were still 80 tonnes under max. TOW out of Darwin as we took round trip fuel from Sydney.

An interesting thing concerning the evacuation airlift was that 'the powers that be' brought in Allan Stretton (Brigadier) to run the operation, whilst right on the spot was Dave 'Crazy Horse' Hitchins who was the Group Captain Base Commander in Darwin - a former C.O. of 36 (Herc.) Sqn, and also the R.A.A.F Commander of the Dakota Sqn (I think it was 38 Sqn.) during the Berlin airlift. Dave had also been Senior Staff Officer (Air Transport) at Ops. Command, and the commander of the first flight into Iwakuni on cessation of WW2. During the entire Darwin op. he was never called - sat in his office and went over to each incoming aircraft, saying g'day and offering cups of tea ! - It was a great cup of tea too ! Sadly, Dave (who also painted extremely well but would not show his work publicly) left for the great hangar in the sky about 18 months ago. All who worked either for or with him held him in high regard.

[teresa green]

I can assure you Dave (crazy horse) Hitchins hated Stretton with a passion. I received more than a earful the day I arrived in TFF, and ended up in future years becoming a close mate. David died on the 18 Jan last year, and a large military funeral was held in NTL. Just why they overlooked Hitchins I have no idea, he was a ideal military man, competent, smart and a great organiser, who never suffered fools wisely. I can only think it was political, but Dave never quite got over it. His kids gave himself and myself a sign they had made, we both put it up over our shed doors, it said, " be reasonable, do it my way" I guess it says a lot about both of us. I have tried to improve. Hitchins was a great support during 89 (he hated pollies even more) and was on the side of the pilots, even if it meant that the govt. had to "borrow" his beloved aircraft, and it would be safe to say, (and he always used to say it) that he was the prime unpaid producer for QF as he steadily churned out pilots and flight engineers that left his Squadron for greener fields, and I guess some of the current Skippers of today were Hitchin "trained". RIP ol fella you were one of the best, there is a bar named after him in DRW base, I cannot think of a better memorial.

[nitpicker330]

From the Captains logbook:

27th Dec 1974 DRW ADL VH-RMV 727-277 Pax 311 + staff pax 3 + crew 7 = POB 321

A record for the 727 at the time.

Written up in the Daily Telegraph 7/2/74 regarding the record.

Cheers

[Brian Abraham]

that 747 had kittens, puppies, goldfish, rabbits, guinea pigs, and what ever else you could hide

What interest could the jobsworth have had? Did they think Darwin was some exotic disease ridden cesspit not of Australia?

[teresa green]

That is exactly what they thought Brian Abraham, they totally overreacted, destroying anything that had more than two legs. Just stupid bureaucracy at its worst, as killing family pets only added to the trauma. Once this was realised, naturally anything that could be hidden was, only to meet more stupid bureaucracy at the other end. You would have thought I would have the brains to check the two cats in cages for forwarding addresses, that I inherited, but everything was so chaotic it was the last thing on my mind. I always thought those two cats were symbolic of defying stupidity (both mine and the powers to be) and they took over our household, took the best chairs, beat the hell out of the dogs, and I moved yet further down the food chain. But I never regretted taking them.

[Centaurus]

One last thing, on the first trip, Phil and I had to hand fly the aircraft the round trip as the auto-pilot was U/S. All shoulders to the wheel sort of thing.

Which is why I have the greatest respect for Canberra bomber pilots who flew high altitude, single pilot, no automatic pilot, no weather radar and and only one ADI and a turn and bank indicator to fall back on if the ADI toppled.

Bashing through the ITZ and among huge CB was normal SOP in some parts of the world. Add to that the propensity for high altitude engine flame-outs, then you have some highly experienced instrument pilots.

[Fris B. Fairing]

List Updated

Thanks to everyone who has contributed so much useful information. Included in today's update is the story of Ray Vuillermin's day at the office. This is a great read which Ray has compiled in the last couple of days especially for us.

It will be noted that the list now has an arbitrary cut-off point of 03 JAN as this date marked the resumption of RPT flights from Brisbane. Please keep the contributions coming.

Read the list and Ray's story here

[Arcturus]

On checking my logbook, I find that I operated as F/O on a TAA evacuation flight on 29th December 1974. The aircraft was B727-200 VH-TBJ and the Captain was Ron Black. I don't recall who was the F/E. We flew from BNE to DRW then direct to SYD where we disembarked our pax at the International Terminal which was being used as a reception centre for evacuees. I seem to remember a figure of about 232 pax on board.
During the ensuing 4 weeks I operated a further 5 flights out of DRW to BNE with Capts Tom Bennett, Cliff Meares & Keith Galloway, but these were operated with normal pax loads.

[boaccomet4]

TAA And Ansett Cyclone Tracey

Hey Nitpicker. Thanks for the feedback. I was not aware that Ansett got the record for the B727 re pax load. Hope that world record histoians documented it all. Also I have to agree that relations with Ansett and TAA were cordial and the airlines often helped each other other during times of aircraft unserviceabilities etc. I looked at the relationship between Ansett and TAA just as your would the mutual respect between two opposing rugby teams. Both were in there for the game of the competition but in reality were both fulfilling the same job with the best of intensions,loyalty and mutual respect between the two teams. The other brilliant fact is that they had a common spare parts pool for their identical fleets (well the 70's anyway). Great way to save money on holding spare engines etc.

[Brian Abraham]

By a C-130 pilot who wishes to remain anonymous.

25Dec74
I was celebrating 1974 Christmas with my family at my in-laws house in Sydney on Christmas Day when I heard about Cyclone Tracey on the radio. I rang the squadron (C130 – “Herc” Squadron) immediately to offer my services as I knew they would become involved. But all aircraft had already been crewed up, so I was asked to depart Richmond on 27Dec when another aircraft would then be available.

27-28Dec74
On 27Dec I picked up an aircraft and a crew and departed for Canberra where we picked up emergency equipment for Darwin. As there was uncertainty about the weather, and the availability of fuel in Darwin, we then flew to Alice Springs where we topped up with enough fuel to fly to Darwin, not be able to land, and to return to Alice (or some other place).Then on the Darwin, which had no working navigation aids, nor radar or approach aids, nor “normal” communications available. We did not have an understanding of the actual weather, nor the actual state of the airfield, but en-route we discussed how we were going to penetrate the cloud, arrive at the airfield and assess the runway condition. I recall the Tower only had a hand-held VHF radio set but once we were in range of that we were able to be briefed on what to expect, and we knew other aircraft had gotten in OK. The navigator on board was a USAF exchange officer, and he had conducted Airborne Radar Approaches in Hercs in the USAF and he convinced me that this was a good option, tho I had never performed one or even discussed such a thing. Anyhow, because Darwin airport stuck out on a spit of land we figured the “weather” radar in the Herc would be able to pick this up and allow us to line up on the runway. And so we performed this manoeuvre from a straight-in approach, and my memory of it was that we broke overcast cloud at 500’ AGL with the aircraft lined up on the runway at a suitable distance which allowed us to land straight ahead. The weather was not a problem as I recall – not heavy rain or strong winds. A path had been cleared down the centre of the runway with debris pushed to either side. No problem as the runway was very wide and we had plenty of room to land.

The concerns at Darwin were largely associated with the fear of diseases from malfunctioning infrastructure so the main aim was to evacuate Darwin as soon as possible. The civilian passenger terminal was set up with placards showing the Australian major cities, and passengers were asked to wait under the sign of their preferred destination. When an aircraft load was assembled, an aircraft and crew would be assigned to fly there. My first load was to Brisbane and we did a night flight there, making it a long day for us.
The next day we returned to Darwin via RAAF Base Amberley to pick up more equipment (lots of tents, generators and medical gear.)

29-30Dec74
On the 29th we again departed Darwin for Brisbane, arriving after dark, and then on the Rockhampton, arriving after midnight (about 1am as I recall). We had a problem with the aircraft which required us to keep one engine running while we loaded more emergency equipment and refuelled the aircraft. This took over an hour, so for all that time the residents of Rockhampton were subjected to the dulcet tones of the Allison T56 engine. Once loaded, back to Darwin by night, arriving early on the 30th, so all up it had been a long period on duty.

After some time on the ground at Darwin, the next task was a flight to Adelaide. When I returned to the aircraft from Flight Planning at Darwin, the Loadmaster informed me that a police car had driven up to the back of the aircraft and two burly NT Policeman had bundled a person onto the aircraft and departed without a word. As this seemed strange I rang the Darwin Police who stated that the person was a known criminal who had shot a Policeman in Darwin, and who had a distinct dislike for all police to the extent that he would go mental at the sight of a police uniform. I expressed my concern about what would happen on arrival Adelaide as there were sure to be emergency services personnel meeting the aircraft including Police. I was assured that the Adelaide end was covered and would not be an issue.
On arrival at Adelaide that night, an ambulance backed up to the aircraft once the engines were shut down and the ramp opened. This seemed strange as we had no-one on board that needed medical attention. The back doors of the ambulance opened and out jumped two policemen who ran into the aircraft, grabbed the criminal and bundled him into the ambulance and drove off.

The aircraft was fitted out for military passengers so had four rows of canvas seating arranged longitudinally down the aircraft providing 94 sideways-facing passenger seats. On this flight we actually carried 168 passengers, mainly women and children, so the women had to carry their children on their laps for the 5 hour flight. Not only was this very uncomfortable for them, but the aircraft had no toilet facilities other than a tin can with a canvas curtain located on the aircraft rear ramp. The aircraft was never intended for civilian passengers and was cold, noisy and uncomfortable, and had no catering facilities other than the dreaded “box lunch”. These passengers did it tough, and some urinated in the seats. Evacuees who managed to get on civilian airliners had a much better time of it.

During the flight down to Adelaide, we devised a roster to enable each member of the flight deck crew to have a quick “Z”, as we were all tired. Other crewmembers took over the tasks of the sleeping person for half an hour or so. When I woke up from my turn to have a “Z”, I looked around the flight deck and all crewmembers were asleep – the Herc had just kept droning on with the autopilot engaged! There was then a flurry of activity as our current position was re-established and normal duties recommenced!

1975
Multiple flights to Darwin taking mainly generators. The civilian evacuations were mainly being handled by civilian aircraft so the return flights sometimes consisted of a few Servicemen, and their cars!

One load we took to Darwin consisted entirely of sheets of roofing iron. As this was a dense load and very heavy, it constituted the heaviest load I ever carried in the Herc. Normally the cargo hold would “bulk-out” around 20,000 pounds but this load was 45,000 pounds and this unusually high cargo weight, together with the fuel necessary for the flight, put the aircraft over its normal maximum all-up-weight, and we needed to use the “war-overload” provision to depart. Under this provision, the aircraft needed to have a minimum amount of fuel in the wing tanks at all times to retain wing rigidity, so this required us to make an intermediate stop for fuel as otherwise we would have arrived at Darwin with less than the required amount in the wing tanks.

3rd Party Incidents (not verified)

1. On approaching Darwin, the Herc was struck by lightning, taking out the aircraft radar and compasses. The aircraft had some difficulty locating Darwin, and had no way to penetrate cloud, so eventually another Herc was despatched and shepherded the stricken aircraft into Darwin.

2. One Herc on the ground at Darwin had an engine problem and was awaiting a spare. But tarmac space was limited so the Senior Officer directed that the aircraft depart on 3 engines without passengers or cargo. Shortly after takeoff the aircraft suffered another engine failure, but don’t recall where it landed.

Perhaps the "The concerns at Darwin were largely associated with the fear of diseases from malfunctioning infrastructure" may indicate why the pets were taken from the pax. Is there a vet in the house who could comment?

[trashie]

MMCIAU
Just found the thread. I was captain on your wife's aircraft. It was actually Mt Isa and what a fantastic response from the town.
We had a slight leak from one of the props. We probably would have made Brisbane but did not want to risk a shutdown if the RPM went out of limits so topped the oil up at Isa.

[trashie]

Capt Kremlin,
Re the crew goinbg to sleep, there was no such thing as fatigue management. I did three trips in an A (not asleep though) and my average crew day was 40 hours over the three trips.
My second trip was the most interesting. Lost an engine due to nacelle overheat going into Darwin. An engine change was required; but I was ordered off the airfield by Gpt capt Hitchins (an old 36 Sqn CO) and took off on three engines declaring a PAN on taxy. Got an overtemp on one of the other engines on take off but elected to keep it going. Went to Tindal after 40 hours awake. After double engine change returned to Darwin for fuel and flew to Adelaide via Tindal to pick up an orphanage and a hippie colony plus a rabbit and two puppies. total pax and crew 186 with 19 on the flight deck.

[Fris B. Fairing]

Significant Progress

I'm pleased to report significant progress with the list. Through a miracle of bowerbirdery we have what purports to be a complete list of all TAA flights connected with the evacuation. What we desperately need now is an Ansett bowerbird.

I have also added a contemporary list of aircraft destroyed or damaged by the cyclone.

The List

Rgds

[Rule3]

Fris BF

Bekol, How are you?

The F27 was a Fairchild formerly N228X that was then Indonesian registered as PKVFM and did the Timika run to Freeport mine in Irian Jaya.

I once flew in the yellow C310 to Scott Creek with Graeme Schumann. The callsign will come to me.

Can't remember which 2 of UPQ, MIN, or PWM were in Darwin then.

Comms were done by the RAAF from the Small Tower on the Fire Station Using a Portable VHF TX/RX. If I remember correctly Acft called inbound at 200nm inbound to TN VOR and came in on the 321 R and out on the 118 from Darwin to ISA.

My Pregnant wife and her mother were evacuated on VHTFE.

[Stationair8]

The C310 was VH-PRC.

What happened to the Doves of NTAMS, flown south prior to the cyclone?

Apart from Ossie and the aero club, was there any other GA companies in Darwin on those days?

[Old Fella]

Fatigue

As Trashie said, not much in the way of fatigue management in the military in days gone by. I recall one trip, not Cyclone Tracy related, where we originated in Bulawayo, flew to Salisbury and waited three hours for our pax who were delayed, flew to Mauritius which was supposed to be a night stop. Changed to tech stop then to Perth (tech stop) to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. To try and get somewhere near crew duty limit compliance a replacement tech crew was requested to meet us in Perth. Only a F/O and F/E available, the F/E requiring a line check which was conducted Perth-Melbourne-Canberra-Sydney. Not 40 hours but 15.5 hours block time logged without crew rest. And some not part of it thought the B707 operations to be a "cream" job.

[Dale Hardale]

I recall leaving Darwin on a TAA F27 late on a very wet and windy 24th for Baucau in Timor. A very rough ride.

We were lucky to get out when we did.

[Fred Niven]

I'd be very interested in details of the crew, which flew 727-277 VH-RMV DRW-ADL on 27/12/74, in what I understand is still the World record for uplift by a 727.
I tried to find an online copy of the Daily Telegraph article on 7/2/74, but couldn't locate one.
Many thanks.
Fred Niven (Ansett Group historian)

[WMUOSF]

Fred, if memory serves me right Capt. Wally Oldcastle.