Cloud Seeding Cessna 310 Moorabbin 1980's
CFJ, a Beech 55, was the aeroplane Civil used to do instrument rating training in. I remember Jock, Peter, Ian and Russ were there in Sept 1969.
At that time there was another Baron away in western Victoria doing cloud seeding.
I noticed I did circuits at MB at night in Sept using flares. We had to call the flight off after 30 minutes as the flares were being blown out by the south-westerly.
I don't know if CFJ did any cloud seeding although it was well equipped for flight in icing conditions.
At that time there was another Baron away in western Victoria doing cloud seeding.
I noticed I did circuits at MB at night in Sept using flares. We had to call the flight off after 30 minutes as the flares were being blown out by the south-westerly.
I don't know if CFJ did any cloud seeding although it was well equipped for flight in icing conditions.
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BSB... I think you may be correct. Have a look at the log books around the late '60's' to see if there is any mention of the mod to put the gear on/off, at the wing tips. May not be sign on the a/c any more?? I was around Civil at that time and sure there was one other than CFJ.
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Spirax and 601,
When I purchased her the log books were "missing" but could be found for cash. We started with fresh logbooks so I don't have any of her history.
I met a guy once who flew her in WA in the early days and also seem to recall a conversation with someone about her time at Horsham. Any further info that you could enlighten me with would be appreciated, just to know some of the things she has done. With over 10,000 hours in the air she must have had some wonderful adventures.
BSB
When I purchased her the log books were "missing" but could be found for cash. We started with fresh logbooks so I don't have any of her history.
I met a guy once who flew her in WA in the early days and also seem to recall a conversation with someone about her time at Horsham. Any further info that you could enlighten me with would be appreciated, just to know some of the things she has done. With over 10,000 hours in the air she must have had some wonderful adventures.
BSB
BSB
MB was a strange dark and foreboding place where we learnt to control a Frasca before getting into a Baron. I did not have anything to do with CFA as I believe it was away cloud seeding. I was VFR S/E Commercial Pilot, flying a Baron and cloud seeding was way out of my league.
CFJ was used for Civil's instrument training. Had this all singing all dancing HSI
After flying C150, C182 and C205s, this was the bees knees.
One memorable incident happened one cold night at CFS. There was a line of Musketeers? on the apron. A pilot was going to do some night circuits and was checking the fuel by dipping his hand into the fuel tank to feel the fuel.
As the night was cold and humid, the fuel did not evaporate so he did not feel the coolness on his hand as the fuel evaporated. He then lit a match to visually check the fuel
Of course the fuel on his hand caught fire and he shook it to put it out only to ignite the fuel in the tank. No explosion, just this 3" round column of flame about 8" high. All he had to do was put the cap back on.
There was pandemonium in the office. The tower was notified to sent the fire service.
The hangar doors were closed. To get the extinguishers one had to run to the back of the office, into the hangar, run to the front of the hangar where the extinguishers were kept and repeat the reverse journey.
The rest is history. No planes were damaged, but lessons were learnt.
MB was a strange dark and foreboding place where we learnt to control a Frasca before getting into a Baron. I did not have anything to do with CFA as I believe it was away cloud seeding. I was VFR S/E Commercial Pilot, flying a Baron and cloud seeding was way out of my league.
CFJ was used for Civil's instrument training. Had this all singing all dancing HSI
After flying C150, C182 and C205s, this was the bees knees.One memorable incident happened one cold night at CFS. There was a line of Musketeers? on the apron. A pilot was going to do some night circuits and was checking the fuel by dipping his hand into the fuel tank to feel the fuel.
As the night was cold and humid, the fuel did not evaporate so he did not feel the coolness on his hand as the fuel evaporated. He then lit a match to visually check the fuel
Of course the fuel on his hand caught fire and he shook it to put it out only to ignite the fuel in the tank. No explosion, just this 3" round column of flame about 8" high. All he had to do was put the cap back on.
There was pandemonium in the office. The tower was notified to sent the fire service.
The hangar doors were closed. To get the extinguishers one had to run to the back of the office, into the hangar, run to the front of the hangar where the extinguishers were kept and repeat the reverse journey.
The rest is history. No planes were damaged, but lessons were learnt.
Checked my logbook and as a trainee cloud seeding officer I flew in CFJ Beech B55 flown by Neate out of Adelaide, CFR Beech C55 flown by Borthwick out of Horsham and RLY Cessna 310 flown by Hill out of Horsham in 1968. A great experience for a newbie SPL with about 3 hours at the time. Not to mention duck shooting from a Beaver flown by Mustachis south of Horsham on fine days not suitable for cloud seeding!
BSB
I don't know if it's relevant but I found the following reference in an article written for the AHSA Journal by Barry Tate:
The article is illustrated with photos of VH-CFG but unfortunately the other Baron is not identified.
Rgds
I don't know if it's relevant but I found the following reference in an article written for the AHSA Journal by Barry Tate:
During the late 1960s in Western Australia Civil Flying Services provided two Beech Barons, on contract to the WA Forestry Department, for controlled aerial burning of the forests of Manjimup area south of Perth.
Rgds
Ah, the memories are flooding back after looking at this thread. I did some cloud seeding with Maslings 67-68 in 310 WRG and 320 FJW which had belonged to Fletcher Jones of clothing fame. Had a very pleasant couple of weeks flying FJW out of Hobart as a backup to the East West Twotter. After Maslings I flew for Civil (Moorabbin) mainly on cloud-seeding and the aircraft we used were CFB, CFR and CFS, all C55 Barons and CFJ which as someone mentioned was a B55 with all the bells and whistles. I operated it out of Adelaide in the latter half of 1968 and with all that gear and the small engines it didn't take too much ice to send you towards terra-firma. CFS was the only one fitted with radar but that didn't stop one of the guys having a nasty encounter with a hail-storm one day out near Eildon. Lots of damage.
I flew out of Horsham for six months in 1969 initially with CFS then CFB. CFR was operating out of Mt Gambier at the same time mainly with Russ Thompson and Doug Krause. I don't remember seeing CFA used for cloud-seeding in Victoria but it may have after I left in early 70 as well as in WA. CFB seems to spend most of its days sitting at Murwillumbah lately.
C310B TTM was also mentioned on this thread; I never flew it while I was with Maslings but later flew it for the would-be third airline Jetair out of Eagle Farm as well as the also mentioned Twin Bonanza CLO which was a bucket of bolts way back then (1970).
I'm surprised Fantome hasn't appeared here yet as he spent a lot of his youth playing with clouds and aeroplanes. Another great guy involved in the cloud-seeding with Maslings was Lane Morrow, a Yankee import. Unfortunately he passed away in early 2004.
My first encounter with cloud-seeding was about 1964-5 in Wagga when the CSIRO were operating REK and REL from there with the legendary Chris Braund being one of the pilots.
I flew out of Horsham for six months in 1969 initially with CFS then CFB. CFR was operating out of Mt Gambier at the same time mainly with Russ Thompson and Doug Krause. I don't remember seeing CFA used for cloud-seeding in Victoria but it may have after I left in early 70 as well as in WA. CFB seems to spend most of its days sitting at Murwillumbah lately.
C310B TTM was also mentioned on this thread; I never flew it while I was with Maslings but later flew it for the would-be third airline Jetair out of Eagle Farm as well as the also mentioned Twin Bonanza CLO which was a bucket of bolts way back then (1970).
I'm surprised Fantome hasn't appeared here yet as he spent a lot of his youth playing with clouds and aeroplanes. Another great guy involved in the cloud-seeding with Maslings was Lane Morrow, a Yankee import. Unfortunately he passed away in early 2004.
My first encounter with cloud-seeding was about 1964-5 in Wagga when the CSIRO were operating REK and REL from there with the legendary Chris Braund being one of the pilots.
Last edited by WTFIGO; 8th Dec 2009 at 10:55.
The 310s that Maslings of Cootamundra had cloud-seeding included -
VH-AER, VH-REK, VH-WRG, VH-TTM, VH-GBC (subsequently privately owned, broke up in a Cb, Broken Hill to Mildura), VH-RLY (destroyed in Coota hangar fire) and C320 VH-FJW, ( crashed fatally Warwick Farm, NSW. Originally owned by Fletcher Jones, Warnambool, hence FJW.)
The bases for these ops (all designated drought relief) were Wagga, Cobar, Dubbo and Horsham. For a brief period in 1968 AER was contracted to the Department of the Interior in Canberra for seeding over the Cotter catchment due to the severity of the drought affecting Canberra's water supply. The officer from the CSIRO who ran this job was Arthur Tapp, a Second World War nav in Bomber Command and the nav for the trans-Pacific ferry of REK and REL. (Arto was also as funny as a hat full of bums.)
The Beagle 206 VH-UNL was certainly contracted by Western Air Navigation, Eagle Farm, to the Queensland Government in 1969-70 for drought relief. Dubbed by some 'Winston Spencer Beagle', she was a bit of a dog when loaded to the hilt but on the other hand, on the controls, beautifully harmonised. A superb pilot's aeroplane, with outstanding outlook from behind the huge clear canopy/windscreen. Configured as an eight place, the rear two 'hunchback midget' seats featured a fairly low roof line.
VH-AER, VH-REK, VH-WRG, VH-TTM, VH-GBC (subsequently privately owned, broke up in a Cb, Broken Hill to Mildura), VH-RLY (destroyed in Coota hangar fire) and C320 VH-FJW, ( crashed fatally Warwick Farm, NSW. Originally owned by Fletcher Jones, Warnambool, hence FJW.)
The bases for these ops (all designated drought relief) were Wagga, Cobar, Dubbo and Horsham. For a brief period in 1968 AER was contracted to the Department of the Interior in Canberra for seeding over the Cotter catchment due to the severity of the drought affecting Canberra's water supply. The officer from the CSIRO who ran this job was Arthur Tapp, a Second World War nav in Bomber Command and the nav for the trans-Pacific ferry of REK and REL. (Arto was also as funny as a hat full of bums.)
The Beagle 206 VH-UNL was certainly contracted by Western Air Navigation, Eagle Farm, to the Queensland Government in 1969-70 for drought relief. Dubbed by some 'Winston Spencer Beagle', she was a bit of a dog when loaded to the hilt but on the other hand, on the controls, beautifully harmonised. A superb pilot's aeroplane, with outstanding outlook from behind the huge clear canopy/windscreen. Configured as an eight place, the rear two 'hunchback midget' seats featured a fairly low roof line.
Chris, George, both joined the great celestial holding pattern a good while ago. Characters of a kind now in short supply. Both cut teeth in the RAF in Europe and North Africa. Both perpetual boys at heart. Many Chris anecdotes in 'Laughter in the Sky', put out by Jim Thorne. George ones not so accessible.
Do recall him sneaking up behind a 150 over Katoomba and imitating machine gun on the RT and then barrel rolling his 310 in front of the 150.
An ex QF, George Rickey, did a brief stint with Masoes. Also a character.
Like to know where he is. Similarly Ray Smythe, ex TAA, flew VH-MIN on the BMR survey contract. Native of Kempsey. (Knew how to put it way, prior to joining AA).
Do recall him sneaking up behind a 150 over Katoomba and imitating machine gun on the RT and then barrel rolling his 310 in front of the 150.
An ex QF, George Rickey, did a brief stint with Masoes. Also a character.
Like to know where he is. Similarly Ray Smythe, ex TAA, flew VH-MIN on the BMR survey contract. Native of Kempsey. (Knew how to put it way, prior to joining AA).
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Memories of Cloud Seeding
Fantome:
Talking about George I remember a time that two rain making Cessna 310's did a fly past/over the Anzac Parade at Dubbo on Anzac day.
Not sure how it looked from the ground but from the air, it was spectactular, line astern, I was flying the rear C310.
Tmb
Talking about George I remember a time that two rain making Cessna 310's did a fly past/over the Anzac Parade at Dubbo on Anzac day.
Not sure how it looked from the ground but from the air, it was spectactular, line astern, I was flying the rear C310.
Tmb
George Rickey & Ray Smythe
Any word about on either's whereabouts? Heard recently from Ron Roberts (ex QF 747 skipper who started on the Cats) that George blotted his copy book seriously on a 707 command check at Avalon with checkie Eric ? in right seat when George lent across on downwind and said 'Dangle the Dunlops daddio.' In addition to that I recall George recounting during his brief time at Maslings '67 or '68 that he'd made a few unwise remarks to his check captain at turn in time in the pub at Geelong, probably that same day. Ray came from Kempsey and was based at Goulburn with Maslings on their Reg 203 services with C402 same era. (Also had a nasty run in with the management)
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I remember Ray samson from Cobar involved in cloud seeding.Later in the 80's,Ray operated a C310 from his Cobar property on charter.Ray later died suddenly from a bee sting.Apparently he was allergic to bees.
I have heard that there is film footage of some of Civils ops regarding cloud seeding and incendiary dropping for controlled burns from CSIRO archives from the 60's or 70's. Another bit of film that may be interesting is an add for the Ford Mustang involving a Bonanza around the same time, may have been Civil also.
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Cloud Seeding Cessna 310 Moorabbin 1980's
C310, VH-WRG eventually came to grief - fell out of the sky in bits after losing an argument with a thunderstorm in 1974. Investigation put it down to pilot inexperience on type and lack of recency.
CFS Barons
Gents, I've only just discovered this posting!
I flew for CFS in WA from 1966 to 1970. Looking at my log book, it shows cloud-seeding operations out of Perth in 1967 in 95-B55 VH-CFJ and the following year out of Meekatharra (a real punishment posting that one) in 95-C55 CFB.
CFB (formerly BIB) certainly had all the bells and whistles; the only downside I recall was that as it had generators (not alternators) it was possible to flatten the batteries with the engines idling and everything turned on - as I found out to my embarrassment once.
Fris B. Fairing - the firebombing ops were conducted in 1969, operating mainly out of Manjimup. The aircraft used were 95-C55 CFG (as you said) and 95-B55 CFO. Barry Tate and I were often involved in this (another punishment posting!)!
I flew for CFS in WA from 1966 to 1970. Looking at my log book, it shows cloud-seeding operations out of Perth in 1967 in 95-B55 VH-CFJ and the following year out of Meekatharra (a real punishment posting that one) in 95-C55 CFB.
CFB (formerly BIB) certainly had all the bells and whistles; the only downside I recall was that as it had generators (not alternators) it was possible to flatten the batteries with the engines idling and everything turned on - as I found out to my embarrassment once.
Fris B. Fairing - the firebombing ops were conducted in 1969, operating mainly out of Manjimup. The aircraft used were 95-C55 CFG (as you said) and 95-B55 CFO. Barry Tate and I were often involved in this (another punishment posting!)!