SA8
Did the odd Track trip from 70 to 75. The last of the "social" trips where you had a few days with the same girls and got to know them, sometimes in the biblical sense!
Most of the girls bidded for the track trips for the fun, be it with the crew or with a remote b/friend. I met my wife of 38 yrs in the crew taxi into the Midlands Motel !!
As I recall a few of the Traffic Officers and some of the charter pilots were frequently the hosts of rowdy parties. One party in particular some one threw a bucket of water and it was on for all.
The junior Hostie was being checked by the senior and I can still see the look of dread on her face as someone threw a bucket of water over the check hostie. Said check hostie was apparently held in some dread by the troops and so her sense of humour was an unknown quantity until then. No one made it out dry.
The Survival Kit ....a large cardboard box full of stuff for a barbie was kept at the Motel. The guys were on daily allowance whereas the girls were still on meal allowance at the accomodation.
Girls would sign the meal chits at motel and instead of 2 meals they would give us 4 steaks plus extras which with a flagon or 3 that we bought equipped us for a great bbq.
Track schedule....as I recall it was something like this..
Sat pm...AD-AS o/n...crew ch
Sun...AS-TC-KN-DN...o/n
Mon...DN-KN-TC-AS...crew ch
AS-TC-KN-DN...o/n
Tue...DN-KN-TC-AS...crew ch
AS-TC-KN-DN....o/n
Wed..DN-KN-TC-AS...crew ch
AS-TC-KN-DN...o/n
Thur..DN-KN-TC-AS...crew ch
AS-TC-KN-DN...o/n
Fri....DN-KN-TC-AS...crew ch
AS-OD-LC-AD
Most of the time the a/c was FNI..I'm sure it knew the way without our input! Occasionally one would be saddled with a QC a/c FNR,FNS.FNT which had a higher basic weight and made life a bit harder if there were alternates required.
Anyone remember Jack Watkins(?)who owned the cabs in AS and BIG Clive the cabbie in DN? Story goes that Jack decided to put in a pool at his place and anyone volunteering to man a shovel would be provided with free beer to keep the enthusiasm up. Jack also liked a beer now and again, like now..and again. He had his suppy of darwin stubbies and occasionally a nav bag would be found in the forward locker with 4 or 6 empties inside. On arrival in DN the bag would disappear and the next morning it would reappear in the locker with full stubbies inside.
I can still see Jack sitting at his radio in shorts and singlet with a stubbie close by. Occasionally he picked up high ranking US military people off the Starlifter that came in every thursday luchtime but he would never say where he took them.I suspect they had another base there besides Pine Gap as years ago talking to Don Elford he said in the 50's when he was doing aerial survey work up there, they were approached by some Yanks to photograph an area just outside AS. Payment was in cash and they took the film with them.
In those days there were no tourists around during the summer and so loads were a lot less, making it easier with holding/alternates.
Got caught once in Oodnadatta on a trip AD- AS. Had a heavy load on a QC with 60 mins on AS. Only way out was to refuel in OD. The fueller there was not all that reliable but Traffic in AD rang him and told him we needed fuel and a rough est of amount.
Arrived to a temp of low 40's . Port tank was refuelled and I was then told he would have to go back to the farm and fill up the tanker. Eventually arrived back to say that he could not get the fuel to pump out of the u/ground tank. Terrific!! Full load of pax in the non a/c shed that was the "terminal" and stuck between a rock and a hard place.
After about an hour n a half I was adv that AS had taken the 60mins off.
Fortunately I just had enough fuel to get to AS albeit with 700 lbs more in the port tank. Checking the manual I was just on the fuel assymetry limits.
Apparently the fit hit the shan when I put in the Gen Flt Rep. There were apparently questions in the house at the highest level within Ansett n BP.
Lots of stories to be told,some will not but still many more.
Loved the cameraderie between ground/aircrew and AN/TN. The trip was very competitive between them n us with alot of fun and skulduggery to get away first.
Emeritus
