No.67 Pilot Course Ground School started in Oct 1967. The four Navy Midshipman on this course, fresh from about 3 months onboard HMAS Anzac, arrived just before the RAN FAA Vampire crash. This course had No.17 RAAF Academy Graduates joining later for flying training, starting beginning of 1968. FLGOFF Barkley did not make the course.... Laverton is just a few miles north of Point Cook.
FLGOFF S. Barkley pax: www.adf-serials.com/newsletter/news1006.pdf
"N6-837 4105 T.34T34A Delivered 1954. Originally A79-837. Coded 927, 956 or 960 between 1954-58. Coded 805 between 1963-68. Noted in Navy service still wearing A79-837. Crashed 11/10/67 Laverton Vic. Killed were the Pilot Sub Lt Lynch and passenger [FLGOFF S. Barkley]. Noel Fenton adds “Crashed at Laverton in October 1967. The cause of the crash was the failure of the engine main thrust bearing at a critical time during takeoff. The aircraft continued beyond the runway end into the over-run. Unfortunately, it hit the railway embankment which demolished the nose of the aircraft and caused damage to one of the two full drop tanks. Burning fuel sprayed over the two crew and they died from major burns. The non-pilot (a Pilot Officer just graduated from Melbourne University) was an Engineering Officer attached to ARDU and had been posted to Point Cook for his Pilots Course [No.67] a day or so earlier."
ADF Serials Message Board -> Crash Of Vampire N6-838 &
http://www.adf-messageboard.com.au/i...1301446928.jpg