Just a bit more nostalgia:
It is the Laverton airshow circa 1953 (might be a year out), and we - my father who always wanted to be in the RAAF (and was for a day), and me, youngish teenager. We are on the Geelong Rd between Brooklyn and Laverton in the 1936 Chevy sloper, the old man's pride and joy, when suddenly there is a huge roar, and a Sabre (presumably the ARDU Sabre) passes overhead, doing about 350K and a few feet up, it seems. I now suspect that it was on low initial for 23, but at the time many people thought it was either in trouble or advertising the forthcoming airshow that day.
My father's RAAF sojourn was remarkably short. He had joined the Militia about 1928 (Sigs), but was very aware of the hazards of trench warfare, doubtless well educated by the previous generation in the family. So when war came again, he signed on with the Air Force. The very next day, there was a knock on the front door, and there was an Army Warrant Officer who said: "You can't do that, Sir!" So he was ex RAAF that day. But I digress.
Now, there are two events that have always stuck in my mind from that day. The first was that a pair of Vampires were programmed to demonstrate a napalm drop. Whether it was in fact napalm, or just a large tank of petrol in the "target" I don't to this day know. However, both aircraft actually dropped tanks, so it may have been fair dinkum. Now, to deliver napalm from a Vampire, the drop-tank mounts were the bomb-rack, and the jettison lever was used as a bomb release. For whatever reason, number two was far too close to number one, and during the distraction of reaching down and back for the jettison lever, he flew into the fireball caused by number one. He must have pulled ten g, because he came up vertically from the fireball. I still recall the blast of heat when the stuff went off. Talk about workplace health and safety - can't see it happening these days.
But by far the most entertaining aspect of the afternoon was the sound-barrier demonstration by the Sabre. I want you to imagine the slightly muffled, but cultured tones, of SQNLDR Black Jack (and I must here admit to a mental block - there were at least two "Black Jacks", and I can't recall which one this was - perhaps Walker) who has been wired for sound, and is climbing to 40,000 feet SW of the airfield, talking into his oxymask, and being re-transmitted over the PA system for the crowd's benefit. As an aside, I need to explain that there was quite a substantial hill just NE of the 23 threshold, through which the Geelong Rd had once passed, see my earlier comments above. Also, on this day, there is a freshish breeze from the SW.
So, the SQNLDR starts his spiel: "Good afternoon ladies and gents, boys and girls, I'm now at 40,000 feet some miles to your SW, and I'll shortly be commencing my mach run............" or words to that effect. So, he talks his way into the dive, quoting off the mach meter: "Point 92, point 94............"etc until he says: "OK, I have passed through the sound barrier, and you will shortly hear the boom". Sure enough, suddenly, BANG BANG, then, as he decelerates, BANG BANG again. Still talking, he announces that he is just crossing the airfield boundary, and all eyes turn to the SW. Sure enough, there is the beautiful little silver dart, doing about 550K absolutely silently. Then the sound, trailing well back, is heard. A wonderful demo of modern technology.
The Sabre is at very low level, maybe 20 feet, but then again my height judgement wasn't quite so well developed back then. It flashes across the field, and into the substantial updraft over the cutting. The tail is seen to weave back and forth several times. To the great delight of all the boys in the crowd, and having failed to switch his mike off, there is a long drawn out "Fuuuuuuuuuuck" over the PA, followed by CLICK!
Having seen all this, I knew then that one could do anything in the Air Force. It just became a matter of getting there. The hill must have been removed soon after, because it didn't exist by the time I first flew at Laverton some years later. Little did I imagine that almost exactly 25 years later I would be Ringmaster at one of the last shows held there.