Seabreeze , I beg to differ that Bevan bulldozed the Noosa strip in late 1975 himself, he had it constructed.
Being on the shores of Lake Weyba, when the centre section of the strip was crowned with material from the sides, just outside the allowed approved strip dimensions, the trench on the left when facing the normal take-off path south-east would fill with rainwater and support plant growth. The trench on the right facing south-east, closest to the Lake, being below the lake water table would fill with brackish water seeping through the foreshore from the lake. Its plant growth was less.
Part of my job, as well as everything else at the time, was to mow the grass at the sides of the strip. The centre gravel section had bitumen applied at the ends for run-ups, and terminal area apron, after about a year of operation, and after Graham Allen picked up a stone that chipped and unbalanced the wooden propellor of his homebuilt Minicab causing him to crash on takeoff onto the lake foreshore. His aircraft overturned on touchdown as the fixed undercarriage dug into the wet, soft, soil. He was lucky in a way that he hadn't made it as far as the lake, or he would have drowned with the canopy jammed. Later, after he had salvaged all that he could from the wreck, mainly the metal bits, he used my Land Cruiser ute to cart it up the the other end and fire it. Being made of wood, fabric, and dope, it blazed brightly for a time. He had built it in his lounge room in his Sandpiper Motel in Hastings Street. Later he built another little wooden bi-plane of 1930's design, that he kept in a hangar on the Noosa strip. He had a Commercial licence and was our backup pilot for the the Commuter and Charter flights when he was available.
frigatebird
By the way, after we had the 1959 model 182A Vh-BXO for about two years, he acquired a Beech 36 Vh-FWZ which got us to Archerfield and Rocky a bit quicker. The 182 was sold to Sid Melksham of Fraser Island.
His first twin a bit later was a Beech 55 Baron Vh-ATB (ex Cairns Aerial Ambulance).
Then came the Cherokee 6 Vh-PYD - and later Vh-PPK.
Last edited by frigatebird; 29th May 2023 at 02:41.
Reason: additional info