more . . more . . give me more. . . so went the old song
Last week in Canberra, was getting some photo prints done at Harvey Norman, when a big young bloke called John who runs the shop noticed my prints had planes. Geese said he, there was a bloke in here a year or so back with a stack of prints to copy. They were all RAAF wartime subjects. Lots of squadron line ups of crews etc... When I asked if he knew the customer's name, he said it was Laddy Hindley. Well I looked up the name in the phone book straight away. Spoke to the man himself who said come over now if you like. That was at 1100. At 1200 we were having lunch together in his retirement village. By 1400 he'd told a lot of his life story. I finally left clutching a signed copy of his memoir called 'Joys and Dangers of an Aviation Pilot'.
Laddy enlisted in 1942. He joined 80 SQN in 1944 on P40s. Saw service in PNG and the SW Pacific islands. He later trained on choppers. Instructed on Hueys with 9 SQN at Canberra. Went to Vietnam. Awarded his DFC for service there.
Discharged, went back to PNG and Bougainville, flying choppers for civvie survey outfits. Gave it all away in 1988.
Last month the RAAF invited Laddy and his wife Lesley to fly Auckland return on a commorative flight in one of their Boeing C17s.
His book is a joy to read. He is forthcoming about many detailed aspects of a very full life. From a lusty young fella growing up in Goulburn . . . busting at the seams with adolescent testosterone. . . finding an older shiela who took down behind a hay shed . . to finding huge satisfaction flying a wide assortment of types . It is an explicit memoir, well illustrated, one of which is probably the first to be published showing three naked airman holding a black swan they have just shot with the wings spread to barely cover their wedding tackle. Laddy said he is not proud of the things he shot in his younger days, as after the war he became a hobby farmer with the a strong attachment to all the causes related to conservation and wildlife protection.
Last edited by Fantome; 5th Jun 2015 at 16:51.