Recollection of Fletcher FU-24 Fatal Accident Armidale area circa 1957
In December 1956 I was a RAAF flying instructor at No 1 BFTS Uranquinty NSW flying Tiger Moths and Wirraways. About that time Air Farm Pty Ltd of Tamworth NSW advertised for part time crop duster pilots qualified on Tiger Moths to come to Tamworth for about three weeks at a time if available and do crop dusting; learn on the job. Same thing again in March and April 1957.
Several other RAAF pilots then went to Tamworth where we met Basil Brown the manager of Air Farm Pty Ltd. We simply took 2-3 weeks recreation leave from the RAAF at the time. We were already experienced on RAAF Tiger Moths so Basil Brown hired us over a several week period.
I really enjoyed the flying although living in a caravan was no fun. We flew long hours. I did 79 hours in 11 days operating from strips at Wollam, Walcha, and Jogla all near Armidale where density altitudes in that summer was 6000 ft or more.
My mentor for the first week was George Hite. George was a former RAAF Liberator pilot in WW2 and the nicest man you could ever meet. I also shared a caravan with a NZ pilot who could lap me every 30 minutes or so he was that good. His name was Bob Taylor and I had previously sold my RAAF fur lined flying boots to him for a couple of quid. In later years I heard he disappeared forever flying a crop duster Tiger Moth from a strip in the north part of NZ North Island. He took off and was never heard of again.
After my last tour with Air Farm which was in April 1957 and returned to instructing at Uranquinty, our CO Wing Commander Keith Bolitho DFC (he flew Catalina’s against the Japs during WW2) told us intrepid RAAF crop dusters to cease this work forthwith or we would face a Courts Martial. I was a Pilot Officer at the time.
Then Air Farm got their first Fletcher FU 24 I think and George Hite flew it. I heard he was killed in it soon after. I understand but un-verified, a rumour that he flew into a big ghost gum tree towards the end of a long day and it was thought he never saw it in the setting sun.
Browsing through my log book of that era, I wondered if any Pprune contributor could suggest where to find the results of the Court of Inquiry into that accident?
Last edited by Centaurus; 10th May 2017 at 14:38.