Thoughts on the late Cec Randalls disappearence in PNG
I met Cec when he became CP of Stol Air Services in POM, about mid '68 I think. Rumour was that he had busted several clearences out of SYD while a TAA captain - but we never did find out just why he'd decided to fly for a rough old outfit like Stol.
He hated C185's with a passion. First - he couldn't fit into the bloody things, and it was near impossible to fly with him obstructing you! Second - he couldn't - for the life of him - START a 185 without catching it alight, so he banned himself from flying them as PIC. The cago bois used to move the fire extinguisher cart out to Cec's 185 and place it in close full view of a sweating Cec. Of course this really used to throw him, and almost always guaranteed a big ' whooof ' as another 185 got overprimed. ( It wasn't hard to catch those older IO-470 Continentals alight either!)
Cec came into his own once he got into a twin. In 1968, I was lucky enough do do my initial twin with him on the Turbo Aztec VH-COC, and feel that I couldn't have received better training anywhere. While we were actively encouraged by Cec to stay VFR, it was a dead cert that he often went IFR - there was often no other way anyone could have done it. This may have proven his undoing.
Cec married a lovely young thing while in POM, and we had his reception at our house in Gordon's. Then as mysteriously as he arrived - he turned up in LAE flying for Crowleys. We knew that he and Ron Firns, the owner of Stol, didn't agree on most things aviation, but that was par for the office of CP! It was a tough job.
At that time, there was a huge amount of speculation about Cec and the Crowley Aztec. Despite weeks of searching, it was never found. Readers will remember that Ronald Biggs got out of Oz at almost the same time, and did it via the Cape York area. It would have been possible to fly an Aztec over PNG, onto one of the many unoccupied strips on CY, and then out to Indonesia or the Phillipines. There was no question that Cec was physically more than capable of flying such a mission. I guess we'll never know the answer to it all, until either Ronnie 'grasses' -and that doesn't seem likely, or somebody finds the Aztec in the Kabwum jungle.
Frankly, I like to think of Cec sprawled in the lap of luxury in some exotic Asian or South American hideaway - it brings a smile out of what was very likely just another PNG tragedy.
cheers,