NSW FSU's and the good old days
NSW FSU’s were Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Wagga, Albury, Cooma ,Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands with Briefing Officesestablished at Tamworth, Canberra, for a short time at the International Terminal,and Bankstown Briefing.
All presided over by Sydney Flight Service Centre.
Dubbo FSU staff were Max Miller, Les Thompson, Fred Kluth,Alan Nutton, Alex Mackenzie and Dave Turnbull plus others at various times.Paul Phelan was there working for Davey Air Services, and reckoned that a boxof matches was worth 30nm on a WAC.
Among the staff at Wagga FSU were OIC Rex Shilton and PatChiswell. Rex had been around for years working long stints in places likeCloncurry and Camoweal, and the future boss of NSW, Dudley Reynolds, was up theroad at Karumba. Rex used to tell stories of the Qantas Lancastrians which flewfrom Sydney to Darwin and all the problems they encountered en-route.
Pat Chiswell was one of natures gentlemen and told storiesof International Charters of DC4 aircraft flying from Europe to Albury withYugoslavian refugees on board. He said the aircraft badly reeked of sick. (Atthis time Pat may have been at Holbrook Airadio…. Not sure)
Some people of interest I met in Southern NSW were JackMasling, Don Kendell and John Macknight.
Jack Masling was the area Cessna dealer and was involved incloud seeding throughout the state.
Story goes, that on one occasion a cloud seeding C310 landedat Cabramurra,in the Snowy Mountains, and had to be trucked out due lack ofstrip length. Maslings were one of the early Reg203 (Commuter) operators in NSWand his fleet included C402, C320,Queenair, Banderiante, Twin Otter and DC3.
The Masling pilots were always very professional, and mostof our dealings were over the phone , and we never met many in person. Anexception was Lane Morrow who always came to Wagga for a drink. Just forgettingthe aforementioned for a minute, therewas an occasion one night when a Twin Otter pilot called and said he had struckthe ground while conducting an approach at Cootamundra and would be divertingto Wagga. After touchdown, the aircraft left the runway , due to damageto the undercarriage. The Air Safetyboys were there at 8am the next morning!
Jack Masling also had a contract to deliver newspapers toMildura every Sunday morning. He would often do this flight himself in his ownC310 AER… departure time Cootamundra was 3am!
Every year, just a few days prior to Christmas, Jack wouldfly over to Wagga with a couple of cartons for the boys. Ask todays pilot who JackMasling was, and they would say “Jack who?”.
Speaking about Christmas I recall a BN3 being lost to the mountainsSW of CB just prior to Christmas one year. The pilot was the victim of a strong cold front movingthrough the area … quite unseasonal
Don Kendell, former Airline pilot and now a Air Charter and flight school operator atWagga had done his homework and decided to set up a Reg203 operation between Wagga andMelbourne.
First aircraft were PA31’s (DAP CLU) followed by Riley Heron(KAM CLW), then came the Metros, first one was KDR?, then the first SF34(EKD?) Some of the early staff whichhelped Don make this Airline a success, included engineer Bob Godwin, andpilots Max Langshaw, Bernie Hoitink (former NATO F104 pilot) John Smith andGordon Pickering, both ex RAAF.
Wagga also had a good of mix of MIL aircraft staying ondetachment or passing through.
Canberra ATC were always busy, but were a great bunch towork with.
Cooma FSU … didn’t workthere myself but would have been nice. Cold and busy in the winter with theFK28 and FK27 ops plus others comingdown for the snow. They also had some SMA activity
I remember the day when thePL6 hit the tower at Polo Flat
Could some old geiser starta thread on the SMA aircraft and or the Snowy airstrips!!??
Coffs Harbour … great placeto work prior to the tower. Plenty of F111 activity on the ranges. Favouritetime was the weekends, with all the lighties flying up/down the coast.
Albury.. did some reliefthere and encountered people such as Les Sears, Pieter Mol (Snr) Warren Wilks andJohn Love and his Lockheed 12A, and of course Joe Drage at Wodonga.
Norfolk Island was prettywell laid back, in contrast to Lord Howe who only had one officer, and he wasquite busy, with all the Oxley and Norfolk Airlines flights.
Norfolk had Daily flights toSY with EWA FK28, Airlines of NSW with FK28 flew twice weekly from Brisbane andAir New Zealand flew twice weekly fromAuckland using B737 200 series, Also agood mix of MIL aircraft from OZ and NZ. On one occasion a flight of 12 Miragesfrom Williamtown landed enrouteWilliamtown/NZ/Williamtown. Caused quite a stir. One pilot said that he had anengine malfunction, and that he would normally have ejected, but being over somuch water he decided to keep on trucking!! The RAAF did an engine change onthe tarmac.
My wife got a ride back toSY on the DCA FK28 and was left on the tarmac to find her own way out ofairside … no hi-vis vest either!
Meanwhile down in Aucklandthe French were scuttling the Rainbow Warrior. Two of the saboteurs fled toNorfolk in a small yacht. I think one jagged a flight to Noumea, but the othercame running into the FSU asking when was the next flight to SY. (He had justmissed it) I think this was the guy who the police were chasing through the SYstreets but he got away.
My favourite type of acft atNorfolk was the RAAF BAC111…. Made the FK28 look puny…. Might have been thecolour scheme or something.
I remember Russ Evanscalling in to briefing, he was flying a corporate jet.
When it was time to leave weflew to Sy on EWA FK28 under command of Captain Frank Owen and he allowed allthe family up front.
While all this was going I wasdabbling in flying.
In 1966 my CFI Bob Curtis,put myself and about a half dozen others up for their PPL test.
Examiners Tom Curlewis andJohn Bressington had been in Canberra and arrived in a pristine C182 completewith golf sticks in the back. Everybody got a pass, the test aircraft being VictaAirtourers RSJ and RSL.
1979 upgraded to CPL, theExaminer being Peter Marmon
1984 CIR Flight, Examinerwas Geoff or Kevin? Warrener …. a young gentleman … said he was ex RAAF Miragepilot.
1987 Instructor Rating Test.Examiner was John? Collins? .. ex RAN A4 pilot. Halfway through the long briefI remember a pained expression on his face, however my superior skills got methrough!.
First renewal was done byexaminer Bill Scott well known ex RAAF pilot.
My IFR renewals were alsodone by examiners, usually meeting me somewhere where they were waiting in theCommander 1000. I am sure they enjoyed getting out of the office and flying theCommander 1000.
Back at wagga I was helpingout at the RAAF Flying Club. CFI was Group Captain Bill Monaghan the base CO,and my sometimes mentor was Mick Haxell DFC, who would come over from Canberra.
Mick earned his DFC flying a Huey in Vietnam.
RAAF Base Wagga was almostin a time warp. Plenty of Winjeels,Vampires, Sabres, Canberras Neptunes C47 andthe odd chopper and Herc.
Even the old tower lookedgreat. I think this was used by DCA upto the mid 60’s. One of the tower staffthere was Bob Imber who was the first controller at Camden in the portable tower adjacent to the runway.
Well, aviation has given mea good lifestyle. I operate a biplane and ex mil trainer, but after more than40 years in FIS and 45 plus, years flying, the passion is starting to wane.
Will have to see what thefuture brings!