C130As at Norfolk Island and Nauru
Further to the two photos that CoffmanStarter has kindly posted for me in 2611, herewith some details.
The flight to Norfolk Island was made for the purpose of delivering a new fire tender. There were two fairly short runways, one of which was grass - it straddled the golf course. All those whom we met looked after us very well and we stayed overnight. I was struck by the local accent, which was a blend of Australian with West Country (i.e. Devon/Cornwall). (Descendants of Christian of the Bounty.)
The trip to Nauru was special in several ways other than simply being the largest aeroplane ever to land there. The call came in the morning for two crews and a Nursing Sister to get ready to fly to the Pacific Island of Nauru to bring out a little girl who had been injured by a falling tree and needed urgent and specialised medical treatment in a fully-equipped hospital on the Australian mainland.
We departed in A97-206 in the late afternoon of the 1st of June 1966. I flew as co-pilot on the first leg to Townsville, Northern Queensland, where we refuelled before heading out to Honiara, Guadalcanal for a landing just after first light, as the strip had no refinements! (It had been a need to land here in daylight that had determined our necessarily late departure time from RAAF Base Richmond NSW.) We had installed litters so that some horizontal rest could be attempted by the off-duty crew. The third leg of 780 miles was straight to Nauru which is roughly circular with a big hole in the centre from which phosphates were being extracted (the primary source of wealth to the islanders at that time).
Before landing we made a low pass over the coral strip to ensure both that it was clear of people, dogs, bicycles, etc and that the masts of yachts moored in the small harbour wouldn't create a hazard. After landing our engineers oversaw a further refuelling from drums whilst the rest of us enjoyed hospitality provided by the Government representatives (a brush up and a meal) and by the islanders who draped us with garlands of flowers.
When all was ready, the little girl (Nadine), accompanied by her father and a nurse who spoke English boarded the aircraft and we departed on the 2,100 mile flight direct to Brisbane. After we had offloaded our three passengers we flew on down south to Richmond.
The round trip had been some 5,235 miles. Unknown to us until after we had landed circa 22.30 on the evening of the 2nd of June, the whole flight was being reported widely across Australia as a mercy mission (fairly unusual in itself at that time) with bulletins every half hour or so. Thus, when we arrived home we were met not only by Customs (of course) but also by the Press.
As a post script I should add that Nadine made a full recovery. After a lifetime spent flying I should observe that this had been the longest crew flying duty period that I ever experienced!
Last edited by Nugget90; 8th Mar 2015 at 17:08.
Reason: Typo