Australian Air Race 2024 - 47 Years in the Making

[Advance]

B & H Air Race 1976 Entrants List

File of entrants names and aircraft is attached.
Lot of "names" in that blast from the past.

There were a raft of serious aviators on the Organising Committee including Chief Marshall, Jim Hazelton; Chief Steward, Keith Robey.

In today's woke world I suppose you would have to include Blackout Bowen Fuel Supplier and Greta Thunderberg, Media Relations???

Now if you are seriously going to replicate the 1976 event, you will also need to organise a total eclipse of the sun on the day the race stages through Melbourne, as happened on October 23rd 1976.
Would you believe the Victorian Government set up a co-ordinating committee to manage this. Yep, only in Victoria.

The original route was as follows where "O" means overfly, "X" means overfly and fuel available, "N" means an overnight stop with fuel.

Jandakot October 20th 1976
O Hyden
X Norseman
O Caiguna
O Loongana
N Forrest
O Nullabor Homestead
X Ceduna
O Port Augusta
N Adelaide Parafield
O Cambrai
O Tintinara
O Naracoorte
X Warnambool (watch for the black snake, right George # 40??))
O Apollo Bay
N Melbourne Moorabbin 2 nights (Not allowed fly day VFR during eclipse)
O Frederick Hill
O Tocumwal
X Narrandera
O Parkes
O Bathurst
N Sydney Bankstown 24th October 1976

Followed by a very nice dinner and prizegiving at a city hotel (Hilton??)

And a bunch of great memories 48 years later.
Like the engine failure at 1500 ft at Head of Bight on the way across and the amazing replace two cylinders and fly on in two days.
Like Horrie Miller of MacRobertson Miller Airlines in the stocks at a steakhouse the night before the race.
Like the black snake at Warrnambool who had never seen so many aircrew and was not a happy fellow!
Like doing it all with a map, a compass and a watch. No navaids on board! GPS, what is that?
Yeah, it was a blast.

And Clinton, take my machine and go for it!