Originally Posted by
Bend alot
When I worked for the RFDS WA Section many moons ago, I think we had 4 or 5 bases other than Jandakot. Of the 5 they have now only Meka and the Port are the same. Some of the others were covered by the Goldfields section and pretty sure Broome came under the Victorian section back then.
So for much of the RFDS operational history shows they operate from bases - so when a new type is implemented, I don't see why the operation now should operate from a single base when using multiple bases has proved effective.
When I had my station in the Upper Gascoyne, we were serviced by both Carnarvon and Meeka bases as we were pretty much equidistant from both. We had crystals for both bases in the HF and often passed telegrams and urgent messages from people on one to the other.
The plane from Meeka crashed short of the Mt Augustus airstrip one night while trying to transport one of the Hammerquist kids who had fallen off a mustering wagon and had head injuries. No fatalities all round thank goodness and thank goodness for the flying doc.
Kaz