The Good Old Days of TAA, I remember them well...
It is not often that an airline gives you the use of an aircraft for a couple of weeks to wander around Australia on a sight seeing tour, but back in May of 67 that is virtually what happened.
I was a F.27 F/O at the time and received a telephone call from a senior TAA captain – now deceased - to inquire as to whether or not I would be interested in doing such a flight. Needless to say, my reply was a resounding, “Yes.”
It started with a lunch at the prestigious Athenaeum Club in Melbourne ostensibly to meet a guy called Bill, the then Chairman of The Manufacturer’s Group of Victoria (TMG) to discuss the planned flight, but in reality I think it was more about being able to pass muster. Choice of the two Flight Attendants to make up the crew was left up to the captain. I have to add that he made a very good choice.
We departed Melbourne for Williamstown on the morning of the 24th flying VH-TFL a Mark 2 F.27 on what was to become the first leg of an unforgettable trip.
On arrival we were bussed to Newcastle for a tour of the foundry and steel works followed by lunch with the city’s dignities. Early in the trip it was made quite clear that the crew were to be included in all tours and hospitality afforded. Later in the afternoon we carried on to Brisbane for a night stop.
Day two took us to Townsville and Mount Isa for a tour of what at the time was the largest copper mining and smelting operation in the country.
By this time we were only using two of the four hotel rooms booked for crew accommodation, and the captain and I were most certainly not sharing…
Darwin was next on the list and with multiple tours and events to attend we stayed for two nights.
We departed Darwin early on day six, stopping first at Kununarra for a look at the Ord Dam and river system, before flying on to Derby for a tour of the Windjana Gorge National Park.
Day seven was a busy day, flying first to Port Hedland, named after the Master of the sailing vessel Mystery which arrived off the coast in 1863. After viewing the ore loading facilities it was off to the mine at Mount Tom Price itself.
Now you have to remember that this was back in 1967 and whilst the mine and the rail to the coast were established and operational, it was still early days. The airstrip at Tom Price was made of compacted red ore tailings and the surrounding country desert like.
Now the F.27 didn’t have an APU and the OAT was already in the 30s, and in spite of urging them otherwise our two hosties decided that they had enough of looking at mines and were going to stay aboard the aircraft, and use the time to wash each others hair.
Leaving them to their chosen endeavours we boarded the tour bus and headed off to view the mine. About thirty minutes later we arrived at the workers accommodation area and to our surprised found that we parked alongside a ladies hair salon.
Later on returning to the aircraft, which by now was baking in the p.m. sun we didn’t have the heart to tell the girls that they could have spent the time having their hair done and relaxing in air-conditioned comfort.
That evening we left Tom Price for Carnarvon.
Day eight was probably the most interesting day for me as after a short flight to Exmouth we were going to visit, what at that time, was the very secretive U.S. Navy’s VLF Communications Base, and used for communicating with their nuclear submarines in the Indian Ocean.
On the surface the station consisted of a block house and thirteen antenna towers, the tallest called Tower Zero is 387 m (1,270 ft) tall. Six towers, each 304 metres tall, are placed in a hexagon around Tower Zero. The other six towers, which are each 364 metres tall, are placed in a larger hexagon around Tower Zero.
On entering the block house, which is just a guard room and the entrance to a lift system, we descended some distance below ground level before arriving at our destination - the main control room – which was like a scene from a James Bond movie.
I was particularly interested in the Helix Room, in effect a massive loading coil enabling the transmission of a massive 1 megawatt 19.8 kHz signal from that surface antenna array.
After spending another night in Carnarvon it was off to Perth where everyone enjoyed a couple of free days.
Over the remaining four days we flew to Kalgoorlie, Forrest, Whyalla and Broken Hill visiting mining and ship building enterprises and throughout the trip enjoyed fine foods and the best of wine.
Arriving Melbourne on the evening of day fourteen having logged a total of twenty hours of flight time we bid our passengers fair well, and kissed our girls for the final time.
Yes, those were the days...
