gerry111 – thanks for agreeing with my comment about the origin of Forrest’s hangar. I really can’t imagine the US having any “strategic interest” in Australia back in 1929…
Dale Hardale – In the period 1965-1970 (when I was there anyway), Civils had four Bonanzas; these were V35’s CFC, CFH & CFK plus S35 CFB. CFC was Perth-based, the rest were at Moorabbin.
Now I thought I might be able to regale you all with a tale combining CFK and the Forrest hangar, but my logbook reveals it wasn’t that particular aircraft! In March 1968 I ferried a gorgeous brand-new E33A, DDE (were they still called Debonairs then?) from Bankstown to Jandakot. This involved overnighting at Forrest; I was kindly offered space in the hangar and told that I was in luck because “tonight was movie night”. All the locals gathered from far and wide; the venue a theatrette built into the side of the hangar. Vast quantities of amber liquid were being consumed at a prodigious rate; the night got ever louder and more raucous. The film was “The Ipcress File” – I was looking forward to seeing this. However the projectionist was already absolutely legless and having successfully, despite much fumbling and swearing, shown the first reel first, he then jumbled up the remaining three reels out of sequence. Of course, the film now made no sense at all; oddly it seemed I was the only one who even noticed. The gathering got louder and louder. The next morning brought a pounding headache plus a strong desire to see the film again to make some sense of the story. Oh, and my once immaculate Beechcraft was now covered in bird-poop too….
Lastly, a photo of CFK at Ararat in 1967, from the extensive collection of Geoff Goodall.
