Torres.
Somewhere else in here (pprune) someone said the Cat is almost complete to static standards in N.Z.
When I found that picture lastnight, I was looking for a slide taken in 1977 (My cousin's) of the old girl wearing a sign saying she was off to N.Z.
I visited Mac a few years back in the Brisbane valley and he was'nt exactly jumpin' over fences then. I've heard he's crook too. I'll check with a bloke who knows these things later today.
I visited him, Jim Sinclair and a couple of old prewar people from N.G. trying to see if any could identify places on a bunch of home movies my uncle took in 1940 to 42. They're on
Early Years - Papua New Guinea Aviation
Brian had a magic VHS tape of his adventures flying a Cat all over the world for a documentary. Bloody glorious thing painted white with red and blue that looked better than a painting when moored in the Amazon and amongst icebergs in the Arctic. It was something to do with Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes. Who remembers them?... "the most popular cigarettes in the world" the American voice told us from the black and white TV while there was the backdrop of sophistigated Noo Yorkers smokin' 'em like they were the only cigarette in the States. I had a yank visit me about 1970 and he asked how you pronounce it when he saw a billboard... Haa!
I asked Brian if I could get a copy of that tape, but his recorder was playing up and he was scared the tape could get eaten and it was the only one he had. He was also a bit wary of any recorders, so he wasn't keen on me bringing mine to his place and doing a copy.
He said it was hard work as the crew were working hard after and before flight while the cameramen and others sloped off to the accommodation ans settled down for a beer.
I am sucking the contents out of the brains of another old bloke, friend of me' father who went to Wau in 1935 and became the only engineer there with A,B,C and D licenses. He went on to own Muir Airways in Darwin and Perth.
He's the only living, Flight Engineer left from the Qantas Cat fleet, that flew the Indian ocean, Perth to Columbo.
Tells great stories which I taped and now I regularly ring him to get more bits.
They initially were so overloaded (Till dump valves were fitted) that they couldn't hold altitude on one engine for the first ten hours. No wonder they didn't go much above 1500 feet for the trip.