OK Coff, not sure if I ran the whole route in previous posts, but Doug will confirm if my ageing recollection is accurate.
Our outbound flight to Adelaide, to collect the detritus of the Maritime Competion that year, continued from our run in the jungles of Borneo with the hash house harriers, with a night stop in Darwin, and then a long leg across Oz to Adelaide, where a nice night off beckoned. Not so for the two GEs, as we had been nursing a leaking prop, along the way. Our Flight Eng, ISTR the First "Lady Flight Eng" (not that it matters) was aware of the leaking rear GITZ, as was the Captain. On arrival at Adelaide, the prop hydraulic level was off the dipstick, and, we estimated unlikely to get us back to Darwin (our next scheduled stop) without being shut down. Now, one thing most GEs in my day prided themselves in was knowing where the spares or support were, and we were both well aware of RAAF Richmond, home of the Antipodean Albert. So we rang them up, spoke to their duty Engineer Officer, and asked if they could help with a prop drop, GITZ replacement, refit and EGRs as required. No probs Pom was the response, so, it was put to ATFOC and the Captain, we went to Richmind for a 24 hour, unscheduled delay.
I'm sure that Doug and the lads (and Lady) enjoyed their time in Sydney, had I and Tucker T not been busy playing with a propellor, we would have too. But, having spent that night trying to catch up on their sight seeing, we left the next day for Darwin, with a good prop, and confidence we would get Albert home.
Posing with my "route steal" boomerang (which I still have) after an all nighter in Sydney. Hmm, Still got a good head of hair, but apologise for the ugly mug !!
Our arrival in Darwin was normal, with the standard 14-16 hours ground time planned. The next morning we were grounded by FATCOCK when our Air Eng went sick with a throat/chest infection. A 24 hour delay followed, and I can't remember who played in the crew Golf match (Doug ?) but I certainly wasn't in the winning team. The return was pretty standard for such a route, and, I have to say was one of the best memories I retain from my days as a GE. For the GE, it wasn't always Albert that threw Wobblies!!!
Smudge
