In the spirit of the "Right Stuff" those of us with a desire to leave the earthly bounds of this planet will mourn & remember the greatest pilot we ever saw.......Neil Armstrong whom passed away overnight aged 82 a man am sure will still be floating around out there in outer-space. Neil & the whole NASA team left an indelible mark on the human race back in 1969.
Delaying a Twotter at Brissy, that was ready to depart westward on the RPT flight. Pax weren't going to leave the terminal which had TVs showing the landing and we were in there with them. We were abour fifteen minutes late getting away.
Last edited by sixtiesrelic; 25th Aug 2012 at 23:12.
It's a good time to revisit that wonderful Australian movie "The Dish". Towards the end there is a lovely scene where the gullible but well-meaning security guard, thinking he has just spoken to Neil Armstrong on his walkie-talkie, looks up at the moon and says:
The Dish had a few factual errors in it too, Fris. i.e. The first video feed of Neil's walk came from Honeysuckle (HSK), not PKS as shown in the movie But it wasn't a bad movie otherwise
Wally, I was a bright-eyed primary school kid, sitting in the Assembly Hall watching it unfold on a 26" black & white telly with a couple of hundred other kids. The week or so's media coverage leading up to the culmination of the landing and EVA on 21 July was the inspiration for me (and I'm sure a generation of others) to pursue an aviation career.
So, I still have to say Neil is the best pilot I ever saw. Rest in Peace.
If you're asking about an Australian pilot, I couldn't mention his name here, because he's too humble, and would be embarrassed to see his name on a public forum
I have to nominate, teh astronauts, flight controlers, system specialists, manufacturing engineers et al, from Apollo13, the one that had the O2 explosion on the way to the moon. Great team work and problem solving skills. Apparently the whole world said, what can we do to help......even the ruskies and that was at the height of the cold war.
I guess we can all remember where we were when....
I was on a charter for the local TV repair man to the thriving metropolis of Latham in the WA wheatbelt, where about half the town population was glued around the B & W TV set, waiting for the TV man to 'get it right'....and he did, just in time!
Having just been to Oshkosh the flying displays there were remarkable especially from the Shell aero team in their Texans at night
Australian? Don't know if he was the best but when I started learning to fly I was about to give it up because I couldn't understand the theory (That Cessna CBT pilot training garbage) That was until a bloke put me onto Trevor Thom's theory books. I still reckon they are the best.
I finally met the bloke about two years ago, a thorough gentleman and humble to a boot. What a top bloke my aviation hero
We also met Dick Rutan and another one of his Vietnam compadres. Buy the book called 'Misty' fantastic stuff.
RIP Mr Armstrong.
Last edited by Jack Ranga; 26th Aug 2012 at 08:28.
Damn..missed it.! No TV on a ship heading for the UK.
Top pilot from my early days was Fred Hoinville (Fred, who? these days ) He use to do skywriting at FLs in a Tiger Moth, stopwatch and rated turns...amazing. All in an open cockpit and bloody freezing half to death. Magic. He sure could aerobat that Tiger of his.... "Brolga".
Hats off to ALL those ballsy Test Pilots around the world, like Armstrong and Co in his earlier days, stepping into things like the X 15 that might just go "KaBoom!" instead of rocketing off into stratosphere.
His giant step and the photograph of his boot print in the moon dust is a defining shot of the 20th century. It will still be there long after we're all gone.
Hurry up folks...I want to still be around to see the footprints on Mars.
To all those aviators with folded wings, Fred, Neil, and everyone else, past and recent. RIP
........................Jesus 'RR' I can't remember yr bank Acc details for the bribe $$$$...........but next time I'll bring an apple instead!
There's some good responses here & in a world that's kinda crazy right now aviation wise it's comforting to know where some of the current aviation techno stuff came from & from whom it was born:-).
The 'Right Stuff' lives on in every pilot I reckon it's just that a few from the past took it to the outside of the envelope & hauled it back in!
...................who was the best pilot you ever saw?..................
But it wasn't a bad movie otherwise 
