Vale Billy Vincent

[Rotor Work]

Sad to see Tasmanian legend Billy Vincent passed away on the 20th of April 2016.
Sympathy to Billy's family.
I will post funeral details when they become available.

May you find peace as you fly through eternity.
Regards R W.

[Duck Pilot]

i would consider Billy as being one of Australia's aviation icons, especially for his contributions to the Tasmanian aviation scene back in the 70s and 80s. I know there are some of Billy's ex-pilots now in pretty senior positions within the industry world wide.

Condolences to his family and friends.

How old was he when he passed away?

[zac21]

RIP Billy, he was a legend.

[Aussie Bob]

Thanks RW for the post. So sad to hear about Billy going. I had the pleasure of flying with him several times. a gentleman and a great mentor.

I recall a trip to Trefoil Island where he was a passenger. I didn't really know him. A gale was blowing and it was misting with rain. I so wanted to make a good landing but blew the approach and finally decided to go around. Billy just looked at me and said "mate, another couple of seconds and I would have done that for you".

[pithblot]

I spent an afternoon with Bill a few years ago at his place in Launceston. He was in his early eighties and Bill remained cheerful, good natured, witty and spry. Since then, I'm told, Bill returned to Smithton where he passed away peacefully yesterday.

Bill was a loveable Old Rogue and there is a fair sized squadron of pilots around the world who got a leg into aviation courtesy of HGV and Cape Country Air Charters. Bill taught those fresh CPLs (self included) a lot about flying, and life, while bouncing around the beaches and islands of Tasmania's West Coast. What's more, he seemed to be genuinely concerned and interested with the life and careers of his former employees. Like a proud father, Bill knew what they were all up to and would rattle off the names of his pilots with the story of who was working where, and who was flying what.

Billy was a great bloke who helped a lot of people over the years and there will be many a tall tale and misty eye in Tasmania over the next few days.

pithblot

[PLovett]

Gawd, fate tried to kill him often enough when he was flying and he always bounced back you would have thought him immortal. He was mentioned in hallowed terms when I was learning to fly and that is an awful long time ago now. That part of Tassie has turned up some very memorable pilots and he will be missed.

[DeRated]

Amongst the rules that Billy broke - THE old bold pilot!

Seems fitting that he was in Smithton for his final flight.

It would be a tribute if a few photos could be uploaded here..........

(I used to operate into Smithton in the '80s)

[Duck Pilot]

I got his book somewhere, it's well worth a read and it's got some good photos in it.

[Rotor Work]

Billy was born in Burnie on the 3rd of October 1931, so he was in his 85th year.

I was lucky enough to have a couple of flights with him in C 206 VH-ERM,

I have found a link to his book, Bush Pilot on PPRUNE.

http://www.pprune.org/pacific-general-aviation-questions/321374-bill-vincent-bush-pilot.html

Regards R W

[skridlov]

Being uncertain which was the most appropriate, I posted an R.I.P. and snap on a couple of other forums here.

I flew quite a bit with Bill in the 70s when I was part of a small mining operation in a remote part of the west coast (now the "Tarkine Wilderness"). It's no exaggeration to say that dozens of people living and working in NW Tasmania and the islands were dependent on Billy's skills and generosity for their livelihoods. Not to mention the fact that the emergency services could often call on him for work that no-one else had the ability to do, like landing on the west coast beaches.

Here's a little story from my own experience.
One day I arrived at Smithton strip after a visit to Hobart, needing a flight back into our mine. When Bill turned up he told me that he probably couldn't take me as he had some freight to deliver for another (Wolfram) prospecting site at the Interview River - an even more remote location than ours. The guys working there, one of whom, Merv, I'd met, had already destroyed some vehicles crossing the estuaries on the coast and were pretty much reliant on Bill for resupply. Never having been to this wild region I was anxious to see it and suggested that I hop in (no baggage) and have him drop me off on the return leg given that there didn't seem to be much of a payload.

He turned to me and said "The problem is that's the stuff I'm taking...". It was about two dozen cases of AN60 gelignite plus the associated detonators and fuse. He also said "I've never taken anyone for a joyride in there anyway, it's too dangerous, there 's no strip." All of which (aged about 30) made the trip even more interesting, so I made up various compelling reasons why it might be a good idea - which worked.

We loaded the plane (snap attached) with the explosives plus a bewildered looking small dog, a cat (in a sack in the pod), a few loaves of bread and a case of beer. At the last minute Billy took the box of detonators out, saying, "next trip." Never let it be said that he was reckless.

Even though I'd been living in the West Coast bush for a while, the flight down the coastal plain of the Western Tiers was impressively bleak and forbidding with few viable emergency landing places even on the beaches.
A few minutes out from the Interview River, Bill pointed out the approximate location of the prospecting site. I couldn't see anything except the river itself, winding through a button-grass plain, plus a yellow dot which presumably was their dozer. A bit lower and closer I could just about identify a small shack but still nothing resembling a strip. Then I spotted the wind-sock - which was a fertiliser sack attached to a bush pole standing alongside a slightly different coloured green area running NE/SW. They'd run the dozer up and down on the button-grass a few times to make something vaguely resembling a landing strip.

The landing was how I imagine a carrier landing feels - assuming the carrier had a deck turfed with barely flattened button-grass. When we'd come to a halt - very, very, rapidly - there was no-one about at all. We piled up the cases of gelignite and placed the sack containing the cat, plus the provisions, such as they were, on top, and tied the quivering dog's lead to the wind-sock pole. Getting the aircraft moving again for take-off required full throttle as the wheels heaved from hole to hole. It was the only time when flying with Bill that I seriously doubted that we'd get off, lightly loaded though we were at that point (and I never saw the fuel gauge in his planes very far past the "E" mark). But we did, as ever, and he dropped me off at our rough but hard gravel airstrip.

I imagine those of us who knew and flew with Bill regularly could fill a book with stories although some would probably best be left unwritten! I think most, probably all of us, will remember him very fondly as someone who was always ready to help in any way he and his sometimes battle-damaged aircraft could. It's no exaggeration to say that we will not see his like again.

If anyone's interested I can put up a couple more snaps and some other reminiscences.

Roy

[Aussie Bob]

Skridlov, pm sent

Amongst the rules that Billy broke - THE old bold pilot!


Yes, still flying in his 70's in a Drifter ultralight (If memory serves me) complete with 2 stroke engine, over tiger country and onto the NW Tas islands in weather most ultralight pilots would shun.

[colebertos]

Hey guys, I'm Bills grandson.

Bill passed peacefully on Wednesday, surrounded by his family who had flown from all over to be with him, aged 84.

A service is being planned for Friday the 29th at 2PM at the Smithton Christian Fellowship.
If you need any more info, or have any photos or stories you would like to share with the family feel free to PM me

[B772]

I met Billy 52 years at YSMI after diverting due to wx on a PPL cross country. His tips and assistance were of immense value. Saw Billy again not long after at a CPL exam venue. About 3 years later saw Billy again at YSMI when I was an AN F27 F/O. Years later saw Billy again at SMI when I was a F27 Captain. He remembered me right back to my YSMI diversion.

Another 15 years or so were to pass before I saw Billy again. This time I was on a family holiday and we called into a seafood cafe at Stanley (Tas) for lunch. Billy appeared from nowhere and we had a good chat. I think Billy was doing the 'books' for the cafe as the Accountant.

RIP Billy

[Rotor Work]

Noticed a copy of Billy's book, Bush Pilot on Gum Tree,
Second hand, it's very hard to get a new copy as it is no longer in print.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/rosetta/nonfiction-books/billy-vincent-bush-pilot-scarce-tasmanian-book-/1110013253


Edit it's been SOLD
Regards RW

[CharlieLimaX-Ray]

Showed this thread to another pilot courtesy of the company I-pad, and the good chap blurted out something about f*****g smelly oily mutton birds , shorts strips, overloaded aeroplanes and he felt a nasty headache coming on!


Is Heather Innes still flying out of Smithton?

[skridlov]

Showed this thread to another pilot courtesy of the company I-pad, and the good chap blurted out something about f*****g smelly oily mutton birds , shorts strips, overloaded aeroplanes and he felt a nasty headache coming on!


Is Heather Innes still flying out of Smithton?
I wondered how long it would take...

[Aussie Bob]

Heather is actively involved in the Women Pilots Association but only flies as a passenger these days.

[supercharger]

Hello guys,great to read your memories of Bill Vincent,he was a great friend to all and a real gentleman.I attended his memorial service in Smithton last Friday,over 450 people there.It concluded with a low Cessna flypast along Nelson st on a rainy afternoon in Smithton. Great to hear that aircraft engine sound overhead.

[Rotor Work]

Welcome to the forum Supercharger

From the Advocate

A legend of local skies | The Advocate (http://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/3882036/a-legend-of-local-skies/?cs=87)

A true bush pilot who could land just about anywhere was remembered fondly at a memorial service in Smithton last week.

Harold Gordon ‘Bill’ Vincent OAM died on April 20 at Smithton aged 84 years.

Flying legend: Harold Gordon 'Billy' Vincent was a legend of the air and recognised with an Order of Australia Medal for his services to search and rescue. Picture: Supplied

Mr Vincent was born in Burnie on October 2, 1931, just before midnight, and the delay in paperwork saw his birth registered as October 3.

His niece Sharalyn Walters presented the eulogy at his memorial service and said that as was tradition in the family he was assigned the nickname Billy by his grandfather Burgess, and was known by it ever since.

From his early years he had a passion for flying, and would gaze skyward at anything from a tiny Tiger Moth to a Lockheed Hudson bomber which landed at Redpa in 1941.

“A defining moment in his life – young Bill was hooked. He realised his dream to fly in 1949, gaining his private pilot’s licence in September 1952,” Mrs Walters said.

“Bill’s yearning to fly coincided with meeting Brenda Edwards who also showed a keen interest in flying – and Bill Vincent. They were married in 1953 and their honeymoon was a circumnavigation flight of Tasmania. Who did that sort of thing in 1953?”

He quickly established himself as a talented pilot. It was often said that he could land a plane on a ‘postage stamp’ or drop a parcel on a spot the size of a ‘dime’.”

Mr Vincent’s extensive local knowledge led directly to his involvement in search and rescue operations from as early as the late 1950’s. Over the years he devoted long hours in the air to assist in searches for missing fishermen around the islands and in Bass Strait.

Over the years he serviced the island families of Bass Strait, and with his brothers “Doggy” and “Toddy” built a mutton birding business.

In the early 1970s he married his second wife Susan, and with her and their three children moved to Queensland for a time in the late 1980s.

In 1980 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) recognising his contribution to search and rescue in Tasmania and services to the Circular Head community.

It was while in Toowoomba he found ultra-light aircraft, and continued to fly until 2003 logging almost 20,000 hours in the air.

[aroa]

Only met the man when I delivered an Auster EDF to Ted ? Jago in Smithton 1974??
who also shipped mutton birds from the NW islands

Interesting to read about his flying experiences and legendary status. RIP Billy V

Any one here have some history on the Jago operations.? I know it wasnt long before the Auster ended up in the water, having run off an island strip.
Jago at one time had a Proctor which was condemned by DCA, then stripped and burnt, alas.

[Rotor Work]

Hi aroa.
Not sure about the Jagos
but did find this.
Regards R W

Karl F Jaeger (possibly Frank) owned a Proctor VH-BQH that crashed on Trefoil Island 27 March 1964. It was stripped of engine and useful parts then burnt onsite.
It goes on to say the pilot was 39 had a ppl with 298 hours and 63 hours on type.

PERCIVAL PROCTOR IN AUSTRALIA (http://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/percival-proctor/percival-proctor.html)

[aroa]

RW...thanks for all that.

Had an old neuron fuse blow there...Karl Jaeger it was.

Ted Jago was the guy nr Innisfail that had 2 Tigers and an Auster 111 all in various stages of disrepair in the 70s.

Sad to see on the Proctor site how little the old machines were valued in days gone by. Dumped in creek beds, burnt etc.

Got to ride with Bob Burnett-Reid in SCC to Waikerie and back out of Parafield in 1967.

[Aussie Bob]

Karl Jaeger was always known as Frank and was a gentleman. He operated a Cherokee 6 from Smithton in (his) later years. Frank died at the controls with a CAA check pilot alongside him. Heather Innis was in the back seat. Heather tried to revive Frank while the CAA man flew the plane back to Smithton. It was only weeks after Frank passed his class 1 medical. Anyone who thinks a Cherokee 6 is not a short field aeroplane would be stunned at where Frank landed his.

Very sad end to the bloke who gave me one of my very first charters as a newly minted CPL. Now only Heather (and Frank B I believe) remain as the last of the "earlier era" bush pilots from Smithton.

Another highly competent pilot, Adrian Becker took over Heather's business not long after and a few years later was involved in a tragic accident on Trefoil Island that took his life and that of his passengers. That was basically the end of commercial aviation from Smithton.

[Rotor Work]

Thanks for the memory jolt Aussie Bob.
Reading back through Billy's book, Frank took Billy for his first flight, in a Moth Minor, 15 minutes for 10 shillings. Billy was fourteen at the time.
I still miss Adrian Becker, always will.
Regards R W

[pithblot]

Frank was another character from Smithton. He was a carpenter by trade &
made some really beautiful furniture out of that lovely local timber. I bought a
table from him well over thirty years ago. There isn't a nail or screw to be seen anywhere - it's all dowels and glue and a beautiful example of French Polishing, that is still going strong today.

Aussie Bob, you are right about the Cherokee 6. I spent a morning riding with Frank around the beaches and rough strips in the Hunter Group a few years after I'd done my time with Bill. I'm not a Piper bloke, but what I saw Frank do was pretty impressive. He was working the manual flaps like it was a 180 or a 185 and, along with cold weather and high winds, I don't think there was anywhere in the area Frank couldn't operate.

I'm struggling to remember the Cherokee 6 registration....I'm fairly sure it was
on line at the Darwin Aeroclub in the mid 80s, when the Aeroclub was flourishing on the Southern side.

Prior to the Cherokee 6, Frank had a Cessna 182, VH- BAM. Frank used to add
a home made bench seat just for the Mutton Bird season, a time he quite openly proclaimed, was when the rules went out the window in favour of making hay while the sun shines.

One season, departing on about my 15th return trip to Trefoil Island, the DCA arrived in town in "Charlie Alpha something", one of the DCA fleet, to do ramp checks. Frank was still on Trefoil & he was at best indifferent to the regulator's presence. They can "go forth and multiply" - or words to that effect - "it's the Mutton Bird season and our time to make some money".

Soon after I watched Frank land his 182 on the taxiway in front of the DCA then taxy into his hangar. Frank had no time for a ramp check, explained the realities of the season to the DCA fellows while loading the bench seat & refuelling. He then pushed his aircraft out of the hangar, said goodbye and took off on the taxyway again.

Frank was quite a bit older than Bill. I'm pretty sure that Frank had a brother called Carl (Karl?), who was older and also involved in flying. I seem to remember seeing a photo of Billy as a student in a Wackett, with the Jäger brothers. Long time ago though, so I could be wrong.

Anyone remember the SMI groundsman at the time? What would now be called the ARO - Jack Harrex - another gentleman and essential cog in the wheel of aviation in that part of Tasmania.

[Aussie Bob]

Thanks pithbot! I believe the DCA or the CAA ow whatever they were called at the time also took the trouble to hide and film Billy taking off on the said taxiway because it was all they could get evidence on to actually charge him with something. Something is wrong with Smithton, the taxiway always seems most orientated into the wind and is the same size as the runways. It should have been a three strip airport perhaps, the locals certainly made it one.

[Flying Binghi]

Didn't know B.V. that well though run into him from time to time. Last i seen him were at YTWB when he and Austflight's J.F. had just turned up from a test flight in the new 'Strutter' Drifter. Dont know what they'd been up to though there were a broken main strut connecter brace on the aircraft. Pilot and co-pilot didn't seem concerned about it and were more interested in selling aircraft..:)





.

[skridlov]

Interesting posts here. I knew Carl Jaeger a bit (some of my friends and colleagues knew him well) and there seems to be a bit of confusion. Feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken. I believe Carl and Frank were brothers and together operated a sawmill. I know they jointly owned an Auster at one point. In fact I was told that they'd made various attempts to modify the landing gear so that it could land on untreated button-grass. One version had some sort of articulated two-wheel bogie on each strut - on the assumption that when one wheel was in a hole the other would be riding the range: it didn't work. Another attempt was said to have involved home-made skids; when testing this "system" they greased some boards to enable the take-off run to get started. The result was a nose-in at the end of the greased "runway" resulting in prop and engine destruction. I arrived in the area just too late to fly with Carl but some of my friends had flown with him quite a bit. It made them very nervous as his eyesight wasn't too great by that stage.

When I knew him he was a sort of mechanical guru to our mining operation, having operated heavy equipment in his logging business for many years. That man could fix or build anything. At the time (mid to late 70s) although quite an old man he was constructing a magnificent boat inside a building in Smithton. He had no previous experience of boat-building and had to read it up first. The hull planking timber was entirely Huon Pine which he'd collected, stored and milled himself during his logging years. It must have been 40 ft, double-ended, and entirely assembled with dowels apart from the bolts holding the bow, stern and keel elements together. He selected the timber and turned the dowels himself, having calculated the relative expansions of the various timbers involved. He also formulated his own caulking material. He fabricated the stainless steel fresh-water and fuel tanks to fit exactly into the profile of the boat and, as far as I recall, managed to haul them up and into the hull - on his own. My friends and I contributed some of the timber he needed to be used for the deck support (not very well up on marine architectural terms) by dismantling an old dance hall in Irishtown.

I once asked him what sort of masts he was proposing to buy. He told me that commercial masts were much too expensive so he was going to use very straight, green, Blackwood tree trunks hollowed out using a modified lathe and diamond drill rods, a system he'd designed himself, naturally. Once hollowed out (the Blackwood has much harder, denser wood on the periphery of the log) he'd dry it by pumping air at ambient temperature through the core so that it dried from the inside outward, thus hardening the wood optimally. When I asked if that was a well-known technique he said that he'd not heard of anyone else doing it previously...

The boat finally went in the Duck River a couple of years after I'd left Tasmania. As Carl had predicted, it immediately sunk. Some time much later, once the timber had swelled to the degree he'd predicted the boat was pumped out and floated up, water-tight. I always thought that when Carl popped his proverbial clogs he ought to be set on this magnificent craft (how much would that amount of Huon Pine be worth now?), pushed out into Bass Straight and set on fire like a Viking chieftain. I often wonder where this boat is today, and whether its owners have any idea what a remarkable individual its creator was - because it's Carl Jaeger's memorial.

It would be great to hear some more recollections of Bill and Carl. Maybe I can persuade some who knew them better than I did to post some stories.

[pithblot]

Hey skridlov

What a great post - thank you!
Talented men those Jagers.I'd love to see the boat - if it's Huon and not been wrecked it will probably float forever.

Your story reminds me of a similar tale from Strahan, years later. A bloke called George Martin salvaged Huon logs from the southern end of Macquarie Harbour, dragged them 20 miles on the water into town, milled them and built a 40 ft boat in the old hall by himself. The hall roof had to be removed to lift the boat out by crane and she did float. She didn't yet have a name when I saw her but she was often touted as the last reasonable sized Huon boat built. George was a contemporary of a bloke called Mundy(?), who lived on the other side of Macquarie Harbor, near the light house. I flew him into Interview River a couple of times when working for Billy - is he the bloke you mentioned, Merv ?

Apologies for the thread drift.

pithblot

[Aussie Bob]

Apologies for the thread driftKeep it up! Thank you for the history both pithblot and skridlov, it's appreciated. Skridlov, I am sure your correct about Frank and Carl, I only ever met Frank.

[truthinbeer]

It is interesting reading the anecdotes in this thread. :ok:
Keep 'em coming please.

[skridlov]

Here are a few more snaps associated with Bill Vincent in the mid 70s around our mining operation at Balfour on the west coast of Tasmania.
One shows his Cessna in which we flew most of the time other than when it was "in the shop" - when he was using a hired 4-seater with a tricycle lg.
Another I took whilst waiting to be picked up at our strip after he'd dropped me off along with provisions and a couple of 44's worth of diesel - one broken down into smaller drums. Bill often did this for us during winter when it was hard to get out for supplies even in one of our 1944-vintage ex-army Studebaker 6x6s. For the little that we could afford to pay for his services this sort of help is why so many people remember him so warmly.
A couple of the other shots show the scene from the plane on the way back into our mine, one of which I think shows Mt. Frankland in the foreground.

[Sandy Reith]

Got to know Billy in the 70s, it was always a pleasure to see him, his cheery grin like no one else. I flew with him a couple of memorable times landing once on Stanley International..the beach.. He flew with me too, once or twice, and he pointed out some of the unlikely places that he'd landed. A strip of sand bar near Robbins Island but well out from land, available only at low tide. A patch of tea tree on Three Hummock where due to very poor light he'd mistaken for the landing ground, fortunately no real damage, the tea tree seemed to support the wings and the aircraft was extricated and got out to open ground. He used to fly into my Phillip Island airport at times with various cargo or passengers, sometimes fishy goods that inspired washing out the 185 with a good hosing. The resulting rooster tail of water exiting the tail cone on take off was a sight, Billy handling the change in C of G with aplomb. Even then he had around 20,000 hours, he wanted to come over and do his commercial licence with me but could never find the time...He wasn't too popular with the idiots, they took him to court for illegal charter flying but they had to withdraw many of the instances they relied on because they had chartered him themselves to visit crash locations they were investigating. The Magistrate was therefore not impressed with the clowns but with irrefutable evidence had to order the absolute minimum fines. Billy then made a valiant attempt to 'go straight' but the employed commercial pilots, even the especially CAA approved ones, kept crashing so he had to keep flying himself but I think the fun was going out of it. They should have just given him an honorary Com licence, but of course that would spoil the Can'tberra party and we can't have that. Vale Billy, truly a fine Australian and as someone else said we won't see his like again, a product of freedom, all powerful bureaucracy will see to that.

[12-47]

Hopefully a few of the ex King Island FSOs could turn up with some of their anecdotes. Great days and amazing reading if you can get a hold of Billy's book.

[aroa]

skridlov...top anecdote. Amazingly practical folk in the not so distant 'good old days'

Karl Jaeger's good ladywife introduced me to the unique taste of roast mutton bird, something completely different ... most enjoyable meals.

First attempt with Karl for a trip down to Hobart was aborted nr Launceston due reports of 90 mph gusts at Hobart...that would have stopped the Auster in its tracks.!! Made it a few days latter and came back to Smithton via the west coast, refueling at Strahan. Sure is some wild and wooly country and wx down there !!

I remember Karl had the Gipsy Six engine from the Proctor hanging in the shed at home...I wonder where that ended up.

Amazing gentlemen all R I P

[CharlieLimaX-Ray]

No rescue choppers, no flash Dornier, no Sat Phones, the local fishermen relied on people like Billy V to come and rescue them. Local knowledge of the waterways, tidal movements, weather conditions are gained by actually operating in the area over a lifetime not from a PowerPoint presentation in an air conditioned office at a training session.

Look at the Blythe Star search debacle that has been on Sunday Night over the last two weeks.

One of the old Heron skippers at Airlines of Tas, had either worked for or knew Billy from the past and could tell some interesting stories!

[pithblot]

CLX,
Bill would get very hot under the collar talking about the Blythe Star.

From another thread http://www.pprune.org/pacific-general-aviation-questions/392138-great-read.html#post5252366

Blythe Star
It should be a good read. I remember Bill Vincent describe Dick Richey rescue (really 'rescue') one [or was it two??] of the Blythe Star survivors. Flying his Super Cub in foul weather, Dick took off from an impossibly short sand bar, through a wall of foam & spray to save the ship wrecked sailor. But that was only part of the story. Dick & Billy had to battle an incompetent bureaucracy that was reluctant to start or continue the search and who even sent the Tasmanian Police to physically stop these two pilots entering the search

[supercharger]

I have found a picture of Bill Vincent's Cessna 206 at the Balfour airstrip,northwest Tasmania.Bill flew us over to an airshow in Mt Gambier SA one time,he took the seats out of the plane and set up his bedding and slept in the plane overnight.Cheers to you all...

[skridlov]

Hi supercharger.
Well, I flew in and out of that strip at Balfour with Billy many times - the plane in question usually being that of which I've posted photos already - I believe it was in New Guinea before Bill acquired it (can't recall the model - 6-seater 6 cyl). When was your photo taken and what were you doing at Balfour? There are quite a few more people in and out of there now than there were at the time we were actively mining Specimen Hill. In winter parts of the track were really difficult, even with our trusty (sometimes) Studebaker WW2 vintage 6X6s so Bill would occasionally fly in a couple of emergency drums of fuel and drop them at the strip as shown in one of the other pix I posted. Last time I drove in was in a small Ford saloon in Dec 2000. The only damage was a knocked off exhaust system although on the way out I had some help from a Land Cruiser. These days you don't even need a 4x4 in dry weather. I recall someone riding a Honda Gold Wing in some time back in the 70s. Not my idea of a trail bike.

On one occasion with 18 drums of fuel on the flatbed Studebaker we were bogged overnight until someone came out with extra chain and cable - we'd already winched out all the small trees we could reach. Shortly after getting under way again we were on the easy part of the track when I noticed I'd left the prop-shaft handbrake on for a couple of miles. Letting it off again ignited all the oil that had soaked into the brake shoes from the leaky transfer case and it immediately ignited like a blowtorch - under the three drums of petrol that were at the front of the wooden truck bed. Amazingly the fire extinguisher that was lying around amongst the debris on the truck floor actually worked otherwise the smoke would have been visible in Marrawah, if not Smithton.
It was a different world back then.
Edit: I really have to get hold of a copy of Bill's book!

[pithblot]

My goodness, ERM the germ! What a great workhorse, with Robertson STOL, that Bill used in the early 80s. Someone in an earlier post mentioned taxiing power against brakes....shut the engine down....aircraft sits on it's tail. That was ERM. She was a great example of 1001 ways to kill a Cessna that failed....like Clarkson's video of how not to kill an old Hilux! (http://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/579526-our-australian-members-end-falcon.html) (post 3). Bill was flying into Balfor a lot in the 80s because it was still a very dodgy 4WD track, five hours from Smithton IIRCC, verses 15 or so minutes in the 206.

Back then Balfor was an 'alternative' lifestyle community supported by 'horticulture' and small tin mines. Marty Larn had an octagonal house down there and a MKV Jag in Smithton. With the newish Tarkine Track the Jag could probably get to Balfor now.

Most of the preceding types were conventional gear (tail wheel), like CME the red one you mentioned skridlov. It was a Cessna 185 that was in PNG for many years before Bill got hold of it. Flying a 185 properly in gusty conditions is quite a skill and Bill had lots of practice (I think about 6000 hours, just in CME) - he seemed immune to crosswinds in CME.....his X wind technique was a tail down wheeler and he told me he listened for a change in note through the wing strut as part of the flare/check forward. It worked for Bill.

CME suffered a very nasty end with its new owner, I think on its ferry flight north from Smithton.

Great yarn about the truck skridlov!

[Rotor Work]

CME suffered a very nasty end with its new owner, I think on its ferry flight north from Smithton!

CME resided between Deloraine and Pieman Heads with its new owner Brian S
With a POB of 4 CME departed Tasmania for the Richmond bicentennial air show in 1988. After the Airshow finished CME then headed for Expo 88 in Brisbane. They landed on a gravel road beside an open cut mine near Scone, they enjoyed a night in tents & a fire to cook by. The next morning CME lined up on the gravel road, the landing gear hit a mount of rocks on takeoff spearing CME into the open cut mine. 3 deceased and one survivor. I spent a day with the survivor on the way home a week later at Newcastle Hospital. Very sad as I knew 2 of the deceased.

https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1988/aair/aair198802398/
Regards RW

Skridlov, I will keep an eye out for Billy's Book for you.

[zac21]

Met Billy in 78 when I flew into Smithton with a brand new IFR C185. Must have been blowing 25/30 kts,,, tied down and next thing Billy arrives (landing xwind on the taxiway) in this beat up C185, spun it around and jumped out unloading empty 44 gal drums and a few pax sitting on the floor. He was involved in a search for missing fishermen at the time in terrible conditions.
Billy came over and had a look at my C185 and said,, "sh!t,, thats too shiny for me!",,, what a character he was,,, I sure would love to read his book.

Zac

[Rotor Work]

Noticed this from ABC
I will have to a look at listening to the interview,

'Wings Over the Wild West' the tales of Billy Vincent - 16/02/2007 (http://www.abc.net.au/site-archive/rural/telegraph/content/2006/s1849429.htm)

'Wings Over the Wild West' the tales of Billy Vincent

By Merian Ellis
Friday, 16/02/2007
Time to fasten your seatbelts! Today in our last episode of Wings Over the Wild West we are going to take you on a wild ride.


Stories about pilots always involve a few crashes, near death moments and the odd aerial stunt.
Tasmanian bush pilot Billy Vincent is no different with some of his most vivid memories involving hair-raising crises, calculated risks and emergency landings on remote beaches and rough bush tracks.
Billy said that despite the risks, if you couldn't have fun flying, it wasn't worth doing.
And not even family members were safe from his antics...
The series Wings Over The Wild West was produced by Merian Ellis for the Regional Production Fund and was assisted by Guy Nicholson from Penguin, who is writing a biography about Billy Vincent.
In this report: Billy Vincent, bush pilot from Somerset in northwest Tasmania

[skridlov]

Unfortunately the archive mentioned in the previous post doesn't have anything before 2011 so this radio piece doesn't appear to be available.

Unless I'm mistaken Bill's plane can be seen in the retrospective programme about Alan Whicker which has been shown in the UK. One of the segments in one episode - which covers Whicker's extensive career in television travel journalism - shows him being taken out to one of the NW Tasmanian islands (Trefoil? Three Hummocks?) where a couple were living in splendid isolation which relied to a great extent on resupply by air. It's even possible that this series appears somewhere on YouTube.

In response to one of the previous posts, as one of the people operating a self-funding mining operation at Balfour in the 70s, I'd like to point out that the attribution "alternative" to our small group there is somewhat, if not entirely, misleading. We weren't a bunch of indolent hippies; our existence was totally reliant on our capacity to extract Cassiterite ore - rather than growing turnips or raising goats. This entailed the construction and maintenance of a separation plant involving heavy equipment on a steep hillside - dangerous conditions.

It also required us to maintain ourselves in a primitive camp located in a clearing in a rain-forest throughout the year - generating our own electricity and water supplies etc. We were frequently working unbroken 30 day stretches in gruelling conditions, particularly in winter - the west coast gets about 80"of rain p.a. Access in and out was extremely difficult and apart from food supplies we needed large quantities of fuel. It would have been wonderful to have the use of the sort of equipment shown in programs such as "Gold Rush". Even a D7 was out of the question. We hauled in a generating plant and the associated cable, motors etc - about a 7 ton load - on one of the old Studebakers (nominal capacity 2.5 tons). The rivets were popping out of the chassis like bullets.

Bill Vincent was absolutely vital to our capacity to keep the operation going, as I've mentioned previously, as were many of the people of Circular Head. Communication was only possible because we were given a VHF radio associated with a small logging operation. This enabled us to get a message out which had then to be relayed to various suppliers, not to mention Bill. During the mutton-bird season he'd often buzz us and drop a couple of boxes of birds off, gratis, at our strip and at other times simply buzz the hill where we were working and throw a couple of rolled and tied up newspapers out of the window of the plane. What a terrific bloke he was.

[pithblot]

skridlov,
I'm very sorry for the offence I caused you. I didn't mean to imply that you were a bunch of indolent hippies. In general West Coasters are a hardy, hard working resoursful lot, including those who I flew to and from Balfor, all of whom showed me kindness and grace as I found my feet. There were also a group of hippy types, not indolent, and just as hardy, hard working and resourceful as the more conservative West Coast straight shooters.
pithblot.

I recon the couple 'living in splendid isolation' would be Commander John and Elenor Alliston. They were quite an eccentric and charming couple who raised a family on Three Hummock Island after John retired from the RAN. Bill relates a story (I think in the book) of supply runs for the Allistons involving dropping mail at the homestead to save a landing. On one occasion he also dropped some groceries with the mail, which missed the target and hit the roof. No big deal normally, except the groceries contained one frozen chicken...which made a chicken sized hole in the roof :)

There was a book written about Commander Alliston and his time in the Royal Australian Navy. I'm not sure if it's autobiographical. I think the title is Destroyer Man.

Bill also told me that while on the island Mrs Alliston used to write Mills & Boone romances under the pen name Minka Jones....

[skridlov]

No offence taken. BTW the white MK5 Jag which was used as our company car was kept at Smithton airport - with the key in the exhaust pipe. Not something you'd do today even in Smithton, I'd imagine. When I was in the area almost nobody ever locked their cars or their houses. It was a great place and time to be in one's early 30s.
And yes you're right about the couple on Three Hummock.
Also I'm trying to get access to the radio programme that someone linked a reference to earlier in the thread. I'll put it up if ABC oblige.

[Aussie Bob]

What a lot of people don't realise about Billy was that for the majority (all perhaps?) of his flying career, he only had a private pilots licence. While this is no reflection on his flying skills, it sure pissed off the DCA.

[skridlov]

What a lot of people don't realise about Billy was that for the majority (all perhaps?) of his flying career, he only had a private pilots licence. While this is no reflection on his flying skills, it sure pissed off the DCA.
Everyone locally knew this. It's worth reiterating that Bill's abilities made him the primary resource for S&R work in the NW which created an ambivalence about prosecuting him. I shared one flight down to Hobart with him when he was "up before the beak" whilst at the same time I was engaged in my own legal (civil) difficulties. That was a very memorable trip because the weather conditions were abominable with extremely low and heavy cloud. We did the trip in two legs, once out to Smithton from Balfour and the next morning down to Hobart. Both legs were, to put it mildly, circuitous and for some of the first leg actually below tree/ridge level. Maybe I'll expand on that some other time.
I'm a bit surprised that relatively few people are posting anecdotes about Bill (or the Jaegers for that matter.) In the latter case I seem to recall something about panicked sheep being jettisoned over Bass straight.... But I guess sheep don't post here (cue witticisms.)

[Aussie Bob]

It's worth reiterating that Bill's abilities made him the primary resource for S&R work in the NW which created an ambivalence about prosecuting himBack in the days when skills were far more valued than qualifications! Another private pilot, the late Dick Richey was also highly valued for his skills in SAR. Dick was another pilot of choice when the chips were down for some poor soul missing at sea. Sadly these days such skills would be overlooked in favour of qualifications. Both Billy and Dick would commence searches before even being asked. Remuneration was never a consideration.

The first time I met Billy, he gave me a long hard stare and raised an eyebrow after I introduced myself followed by; "what ya say ya name was?" After that we got on fine. It wasn't until I read his book that I discovered that his family and my relatives were sworn enemies from childhood and encounters often resulted in fisticuffs. Sadly you can't pick your relatives!

[Octane]

hi Skridlov,

When was the picture of the truck taken and what happened to it? Guessing it would be a tad difficult to buy those tyres now....!

[skridlov]

489

hi Skridlov,

When was the picture of the truck taken and what happened to it? Guessing it would be a tad difficult to buy those tyres now....!
That was taken some time in late 78 or early 79. We'd just acquired the tipper which had been meticulously renovated - everything worked, even the brakes (at least for a short period), which were something we'd learned to do without on its brother flat bed. Working on that hill you needed to be in the correct gear at all times in the absence of brakes... The front axle could be engaged when required and in low ratio first gear the PTO winch would pull at roughly the same rate as the wheels rotated which was something very useful as we were frequently bogged during the transit of the forest section of the track (The Gap) which was bottomless mud. The Studebakers used a lot of gas - as you'd expect of 7L 6cyl side-valve motors being used in low gears most of the time.

Last time I was down at Balfour, in Jan 2001, the flat bed was still driveable although, like myself, no longer in pristine condition - snap attached. I'm not sure where the tipper ended up. I'll post a few more pix - and I hope they don't seem too irrelevant to the substance of this memorial thread because without Bill's help our enterprise would have been almost impossible. I've added a gratuitous snap of an unusual recreational off-road vehicle for the benefit of military vehicle enthusiasts.

[UTW]

Hi Skridlov...... I well remember occasionally flying you guys and equipment down to Balfour from Smithton and sometimes Wynyard around 1976 to 1978 when Billy wasn't available. It would have been in either the C206 VH-PGJ or C182 VH-KNW. I used to like Balfour as it was one of the better strips we used to fly in to!

[supercharger]

Hello skridlov Marty gave me the link to this Forum great to share memories of Bill V.Bill showed me one of his tricks to short field landings...........retract the flaps just before touch down "you don't want the thing still trying to fly when you want it to stick on the ground".Found another pic at the Balfour air strip.Cheers David L

[Rotor Work]

I have found two copies of Billy Vincent's Bush Pilot, Book.
They are both used, but in good order.
If anyone is interested please send me a PM.

Regards RW

[Duck Pilot]

Flew that 206 in Kununurra in the 90s supercharger - if I recall correctly the engine was tired and developed a crankcase crack, after an engine change it flew great. The airframe was ok and if my memory serves me well it had a Robertson Stol Kit on it. I think it's still somewhere in the west.

[pithblot]

Duck Pilot,

ERM had a tough life in Tassie and she definitely had Robertson STOL gear. More to the point though, did the old girl still stink of mutton birds?

[Sandy Reith]

I have found two copies of Billy Vincent's Bush Pilot, Book.
They are both used, but in good order.
If anyone is interested please send me a PM.

Regards RW
PM sent, that would be most appreciated if still available.

[Fantome]

how good is this? blokes who can talk about Billy now without restraint. who in fact knew the old curmudgeon far better than those such as i whose only personal reminisce can be of a few chance encounters over a dinner here or a fuel stop there, and maybe a few drinks (actually, I can't t recall that Bill was a drinker at all) . We shared a table one night in a marque at a big two day airshow the air force put on at RAAF Richmond. Airlines of Tas ran a Heron up there with father (KS) and son (DS) in the wheelhouse . . (What a merry throng we were. I have a bunch of photos taken in that packed Heron going up and coming back) Bill was in full flight that night as far as wanting a ready ear to hear of his many run ins with the despised traps, as he called them. His story about flying his fourteen year old daughter to the mainland for medical treatment , picking up a few sacks of MB on the way back, then being pulled over at Smithton , having his cargo tipped out, torn apart, searched on suspicion of drugs , then strip searching both he and daughter, had me, to put it mildly, slack-jawed in disbelief. . (When Bill launched into a long involved story you knew you were in the company of an inveterate yarn spinner, one who could warm to his tale like a Henry Lawson character steeped in bush lore) .

One thing I do remember clearly. He said that he was writing it all down. He said that when the time came, maybe he'd be dead, but when the time came , one person in particular who had been the instigator of much of his grief , would finally be brought to brook.. A bearer of false witness, is what he said. His quiet, bitter, smouldering angst was almost palpable,. .

On the strength of what he recounted that night, I could name names. I could be party to a campaign to clear formally the name and reputation of the man. Would he want that ? Would he like the muck-raking that would ensue were people required to speak under oath? Bush- lawyer that he was, maybe so. What a can of worms, you can be sure, would be opened. The depth of bitter hatreds, and rancour, that seem to be a feature of much of Tasmanian life, to generalise , is something more extreme than perhaps is the case more broadly throughout Australia . The late Margaret Scott, such an astute observer of people and society , characterised it as an extreme polarisation. I got to know Margaret pretty well in the years I was based at Port Arthur on the Maules of the late T.M. (of whom I can only speak with some bitterness , I have to say. The planes were not his anyway, They were paid for by his brother-in-law, IW, in Sydney.

Getting back to the dear Margaret though. She had a beautiful analogy for Tasmanian life , in that when she was making jam, the little muslin bag through which the fruit would slowly strain into the bowl beneath , reminded her of the mainland and the island state beneath , , that is the bottle containing the fruit was the mainland, and the bag beneath being vaguely in the shape of Tasmania, meant for her that all the essence was concentrated in this bag . I got it pretty quickly. She did not have to elaborate this time for Mister Slow , on her analogy.

When I asked Bill at that dinner what he would do with the book he was writing he said something to the effect that one or two persons he had put in there would one day want to turn in their graves. He also said it could not be published during his lifetime.

[Duck Pilot]

ERM didn't smell of mutton birds when I flew it, they must have cleaned it out pretty well before we got it.

Found Billy's book recently when unpacking from our recent house move, might be time to read it again!

[Fantome]

Bil told me that Frank J's health had been in decline following his second marriage. If I copied correctly, Frank all his life hitherto had enjoyed s beer and a smoke after knocking off for the day. After the new nuptials his nursing sister wife imposed some prohibition rules regarding drinking and smoking. This sudden change upset, allegedly, Frank's physiological tolerances to the extent that before long, unbeknown , abstinence took, so to speak, it's toll. (In other words, you may be poisoning yourself over time, but the body has acclimatised itself to the punishment . And the mind is often in these circumstances far more content or tranquil. . . . such as when puffing on a pipe. Beware suddenly going cold turkey.)

Carl J had a Tiger Moth that he force landed way out in the button grass or horizontal , The Tiger ended up inverted before he extricated himself and awaited rescue. The late Jack Koerbin had a low level aerial newspaper shot of the Tiger on her back. l

[flywatcher]

I have stayed out of this thread until now, and I don't recall if Billy used this in his book or it is one of the numerous stories that he didn't use.However, he did tell me one day many years ago that he was in the 185 coming back from Trefoil Island when he spotted, on one of the long flat straight roads to the west north west of Smithton, a quite distinctive sedan owned by one of his fishing mates who would have had the car filled with his crew. Deciding to give them the fright of their lives he quietly circled back, lined them up along the road and decided to sneak up behind them at low power, pop up over the top of their roof and drop down in front of them onto his main wheels, throttle up and soar away. As he got into position just behind them he found he was sinking and banged on the power. The sudden blast of engine noise inside the car certainly frightened them, but what really terrified them was the sudden shadow overhead and then the roof bending down following the impact of a 8.50 x 6 tyre. The car wandered of the road and ended up in a ditch, relatively undamaged, When Bill circled back over the vehicle he saw the full complement standing on the road dancing up and down, mouths opening and closing as they shook their fists at him. On the five minute flight to Smithton Billy decided he had only two options. He could land and get the truck and tow them out, but they were big burly fisherman who were very annoyed and he was quite small. The other option was to land at Smithton, fill up with fuel and head for Victoria until things cooled down. He chose the latter but it was at least a week and many phone calls before he could safely return.

[bugsquash1]

Just found this thread.
I have a signed copy of his book one I will treasure.
My first flight in the co-pilot seat was as a small child with Billy, later I had the pleasure of doing some casual work for him.
We went off on my first day to airdrop some supplies to the Allistons as he showed me the strips and beaches also tidal flats I would use.
My first landing back in Smithton in a fully laden 206, ERM was not pretty bouncing my way down the strip in front of his eagle eye. All I got from him was laughter and advice I'll learn as he disappeared into the office leaving me very red faced to go and try it again.
More than once in the future I would call and ask advice on a stip or something else.
If Billy wasn't around Frank always had some advice even though we were the opposition.
Frank never recommended the Duck river ILS Billy showed me.
I did try VFR a few times. Even though it worked I thought the better of using it for real.

Sitting up the front of a wide body over some foreign country in the middle of the night I wonder if that wasn't some of the best flying of my career

[Aussie Bob]

Sitting in the old Alliston homestead on Three Hummock Island as I write this it is hard to not feel the nostalgia for the old days of Smithton and Bill and Frank and the Allistons. There is a lot of history in this place and some of the Alliston possessions still remain on the island including a huge book collection. As I gaze at the homestead wood stove, I recall the story of Billy delivering it and what a hassle 400 odd kg of wood stove was in a 206.
Another story the Allistons told me about Billy was the day they waited for their Christmas mail. Billy, being in a hurry attempted to drop the mail bag from the air. Unfortunately the bag lodged between the strut and the air frame. Knowing how important the Christmas mail was, Billy then attempted to land to dislodge the mail and deliver it in person.

Unfortunately, during the circuit, the mail dislodged itself and fell into the scrub surrounding the homestead strip. Days and months ensued while all and sundry searched for the missing Christmas mail. To this day it has never been found.