Yep . . . so handy to park there , go through the never locked gate. Gaze nostalgically at the oldest hangar on the field, just there, as a freight shed in the 60s. Said to be the hangar of the original ANA (CKS and CTP Ulm) 1930 erection. Knocked down by the soulless.
When the old international terminal was close to the QF hangars in the early 60s you could wander through the, once again, never locked gate. A kid conducting himself cautiously and respectfully could pretty much go anywhere unsupervised. The first visit of a 727, the Boeing demonstrator on her world wide tour - open house. Ditto the first BOAC Comet to come through.
Today, signs of those days are not quite entirely wiped away. You can still see where the old tower building dating from the early 40s stood proud, now incorporated in one of the newer large terminal complexes. From the roadway side, if you walk the elevated footpath, you can see the original QEA crest, (Qantas Empire Airways),that was the escutcheon adorning that building.
Clive James, the boy from Kogarah, wrote of the excellent times he and his mate, both addicts, had there in the 50s (see
'Unreliable Memoirs' by CJ).
To try to envisage the place as it was when first selected as a landing ground by Nigel Love and Harry Broadsmith in 1919 (see 'Flying Matilda' by Norman Ellison) would be as nigh impossible as it is today for anyone in England poking round where Hounslow and Hendon and Croydon were once the bustling cradles of British aviation.
Then again, consider at Bankstown, Sid Marshall, (of blessed memory, with his open, warm heartedness), always welcoming youngsters into his Aladdin's Cave of a hangar. OK you can sit in the Mustang (the pillar box red one VH-AUB of Aubrey (Titus) Oates.). Move the stick around if you like, but don't touch anything else if you don't mind.)
Get G White of Moruya talking and he'll recall the inspirational times he had helping out, a spotty little shy boy, in the Marshall Airways hangar.
Last edited by Fantome; 5th Mar 2013 at 10:42.