Have been following this thread for months and thoroughly enjoy it - mainly because of familiar places and people mentioned. In fact in the Sixties I landed a RAAF VIP Convair 440 at the then new Mt Hagen airstrip (Cornfield or similar name) to pick up two injured RAAF pilots who had crashed their Caribou after a botched up go-around somewhere in the mountains. The Convair performance charts were USAF designed and didn't take into account Density Altitude in those days. We lifted off right at the end of the strip and would have been in serious trouble if we lost an engine. Also flew the first HS 748 (RAAF) into PNG in 1967. That is a story on its own..
Mention was made in an earlier post of Athol Jory, a DCA Examiner I believe. Is he still around? He was awarded a DFC in Vietnam I believe. I was his RAAF flying instructor on Winjeels and Wirraways at No 1 BFTS at Uranquinty in late 1956. . He came close to being scrubbed for chronic airsickness in the early stage of Winjeel flying. Despite that affliction he topped the theory and flying stage of basic training. Again, that is another story