Originally Posted by
Centaurus
As a matter of historical interest I knew the captain of that 707 personally . His name was Bill Selwyn. Before joining Qantas he flew DC3 and Lockheed Hudsons with The Sydney Morning Herald Flying Services based at Camden NSW in 1947-50. That company air dropped newspapers at various places in northern NSW. During WW2, Bill flew Vickers Wellington bombers over Occupied Europe. He was one of the most calm and relaxed individuals I have met in the flying game.
As a 16 year old general hand with the Herald Flying Services at the time Bill was there, I occasionally operated as chucker-outer of newspapers into fields such as Armidale, Glen Innes, Muswellbrook, and landing at Tamworth, Casino, Evans head and Coffs Harbour. The pilots let me fly the aircraft in straight and level and in turn I made them cups of awful chicory coffee which looked like black goo. My boss was Captain Harry Purvis AFC, the General Manager of the operation at Camden. Doug Swain DFC was the flight superintendent. Doug was killed in a Hudson crash in the Barrington Tops in NSW some years later.
It's posts like this I wish that PPRuNe had a Like or Thanks button.
Thanks for sharing.