Coff, the Boomerang is still on a wall in my bedroom. The Nav bag remains elusive at present, I'm hoping to make my way up the ladder myself shortly, Im sure it's up there. Mrs Smudge wimps out too quickly for my liking, so time to resolve it once and for all.
Meanwhile, the boomerang that accompanied Dougie and myself home was purchased in Sydney after a very busy day, and night. Our trip was to collect and return the remnants of a Nimrod detachment to Adelaide as I recall, and we were routed down through Brunei to Darwin, then Adelaide. Our return being another night stop at Adelaide northbound and then the usual track. The No2 prop had been throwing oil since heading south from AKR, and both TT and myself were concerned at the potential for bother it offered. By the time we arrived at Adelaide, we had a real problem. Our concern was that at the rate the leak was worsening, we would end up asking for spares and a team in a remote location heading north, which would delay us considerably. We took the opportunity to phone the Duty Engineering Officer at Richmond (Sydney), where the Aussie C130s were based, and he quickly offered a prop pull, GITZ change and ground runs. We then called ATFOC with the proposition that it would be folly to turn the "in theatre" assistance down, to break down in Singapore/Bangkok on the way back.
So, next day we transited the one hour or so to Richmond, where Dougie and the rest duly went to sample Sydney. Us two GEs spent the next twelve hours with some great Aussie tradesmen pulling off No2 prop, replacing the GITZ etc etc. We got to the hotel around 2300 local as I remember, and decided to sample Sydney for ourselves. We both had a great night out and arrived back at the hotel, in good time to shower, shave and "shampoo" before the transport arrived. I have some good photographs from that trip, not in my Nav bag, and will post some soon, it may make Dougie chuckle a bit. Perhaps he remembers our Sydney divert.
Smudge
