C130As of No 36 Sqn RAAF
That photo of A97-209 flying over the Blue Mountains brings back many very happy memories of the time, 1965 to 1967, when I had the great pleasure of being first a co-pilot and then a captain with the Richmond-based Squadron. The photo shows clearly on the tail of 209 the Squadron badge of a rampant black stallion (motto, 'Sure') that today, i.e. more than 50 years on, is applied to the RAAF C17s of the modern No 36 Squadron now based in Queensland.
Having completed a two-year tour with No 24 Squadron flying Hastings out of RAF Colerne, I was fortunate to obtain an exchange tour with No 36 Squadron RAAF and enjoyed every minute of my time there! The first and best thrill was getting to handle this beautiful aeroplane that was so responsive to control inputs, and thereafter the fun was operating to airfields all around the Commonwealth of Australia and the surrounding territories: Papua New Guinea, Honiara, Nauru, Norfolk Island, Canton Island (Pacific), Hawaii, Philippines, Malaya, Thailand, Vietnam, Cocos Island, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji, etc. Absolutely the best time in my (flying) life.
We operated onto crushed coral, grass, clay, PSP (Pierced Steel Planking) as well as hard surfaces, and flew some relatively long flights such as Darwin - Changi (7.15) whilst having the capability of making some very short-field take-offs and landings. The long three-bladed propellers gave this aircraft that extra performance. All very different from flying the Hastings - which I don't regret having flown for for the company and the challenges - and seeing many beautiful sunrises and sunsets all around the tropics.
On the way up from Pearce WA to Butterworth in Malaya via Cocos we would of course have to negotiate the ITF/ITCZ with its towering cumulus. We had a Flight Engineer who could draw quite well, and he would illustrate these clouds on the vertical profile chart on which we plotted our course, then handed the result with its depictions of where the clouds were to the Met folks at Cocos Island to help them with their forecasts. These charts, if drawn by this Flight Engineer, used to be kept as 'Pin-Ups' by the Met Office because he drew the big bubbling clouds in the style of Botticelli with voluminous curves, rosy cheeks and smiling eyes!
As co-pilots we were checked out in the left-hand seat, and over each weekend two of us would be on standby together with a Flight Engineer and a Loadmaster (no Navigator needed) to carry out air tests on aircraft that would emerge on Saturday or Sunday. We were authorised to fly for three hours, and after we had completed the air test, and assuming that there were no deficiencies, we could do whatever we liked! Thus we would shoot ILS approaches to Mascot (Sydney Airport) overflying the Harbour Bridge (for the view) and, my favourite, low flying along the canyons of the Blue Mountains.
Purely coincidence, but I'm meeting up tomorrow with the RAF Navigator who served with me in Richmond, and his wife, to meet and greet one of our RAAF colleagues and his wife who are visiting a member of his family over here in the UK. Friendships made all that time ago still endure!