By the end of the 80's the good times were over and the move to the north side was on the go.
What about all those great nights at the RAAF Officers Mess. Many GA pilots were Hon Members and in the early 80's it was Wed nite and then Thu nite for the raffle. Some top events over there including the odd Dining In night were it was the only time in DN that one got to wear a dinner suit and bow tie!!
Charlie Downs left RAAF ATC and did some flying then moved to BNE where he worked for Flight West - Now retired I believe.
Civil ATC did Arrivals outside of 30nm.. remember "handrail" - one of the characters of ATC (now in BN tower I am told).
The RAAF 75 Sqn came down from Butterworth in 84, before the MIR's were sent to Woomera in 87(?) and the Sqn moved to TN with the F/A18.
Remember the new RAAF hangar that had the fire system go off and flood the place with foam... it took a while for some of the MIRs to be cleaned up..! When the hangar was new, they held the annual RAAF Base Ball in it... what a night!
NTAC - Graham Ball (used to fight with Ozzie all the time!)
WimRay - Ray Allwright and Wim ????. Started with just one a/c then a demountable near the aero club. Used to x/hire the club a/c quite a bit. One of the few companies that moved northside.
Bob Miller went up there as a tech for Telecom in the late 70's. He had a Victa then. He had RNL (Baron) and used to use it for the club and Wimray and anyone else that wanted a twin. He finished up with Skywest or was it NJS. Since left DN.
Remember one time that SAO was on the ground at OEN and called up for a relay as he was u/s. Msg passed but then some 3rd voice come on the freq and "is your biscuit crumbling?" .. got lots of laughs.
Anyone remember the line book in the old tower with all the classic R/T comments... ROFL..!!
Have some pics of the AF Concorde and a MIR on each wingtip.. what a great day that was.
Theres more... but that will do for now... what great times
