Sunstate Airlines & The Nomad

[Flyer517]

I have a vague recollection of flying between Brisbane and Bundaberg on a Sunstate operated Nomad. This would be in the early to mid 1980s.

I was quite young so the route or the aircraft may be wrong. I know I did travel on that route in a Bandit as well.

Can anyone here recall if Sunstate operated Nomads between Brisbane and Bundy at that time?

Thanks in advance.

[RENURPP]

I have a vague recollection of flying between Brisbane and Bundaberg on a Sunstate operated Nomad. This would be in the early to mid 1980s.

I was quite young so the route or the aircraft may be wrong. I know I did travel on that route in a Bandit as well.

Can anyone here recall if Sunstate operated Nomads between Brisbane and Bundy at that time?

Thanks in advance.
maybe a Twin Otter?
in the 80’s Sunstate was owned by Bevan Whitaker, they did operate bandits, twin otters, shorts 360 and nomads for a short time. In the late 80’s when TAA bought a 1/3 share the fleet was rationalised and no more nomads.

[Flyer517]

Could very well be and I suspect I flew on most of these types. But I do seem to recall being asked what I thought of the Nomad by a family member though mentally I can't picture it.

[Qanchor]

G'day Flyer517,
During my time in Sunstate the Nomad mostly did BNE-TWB-BNE and BNE-MCY-NSA returns, that's not to say it didn't operate to other destinations.
Sometimes in a pinch due to unserviceabilities or low loads another type would fly other routes so it's entirely possible that you did travel to Bundy on the "venerable" Nomad.

If your a fan of Sunnies, frigatebird posted this earlier this month,
When does something begin? With an idea, or the first action or acquisition, or when registering a name? For an airline, I believe it is when a pioneer acquires, and uses their first aircraft. Much has been written about the early pre-Qantas, when the founders were surveying landing strips in the Outback for an air race, and meeting a grazier who would back them to start an Outback air charter company, but Qantas did not start until their first aircraft flew.
50 years ago today, on 3rd. September 1971, Bevan Whitaker, an International Harvester truck and tractor dealer, acquired his first aircraft, a C182A Skylane, as an $8,ooo Trade-in on a truck and tractor deal with Peter Bambling. Since taking on the dealership in Rockhampton, together with the ones in Maryborough and Gympie, he would drive to Rockhampton on a Monday, spend a day there, and drive back to Maryborough with the truck delivery drivers. A day in the office in Maryborough, one in Gympie, and one taking the drivers to I.H. in Rocklea followed.
Then a truck owner, an Aero Club member, suggested he should fly in the Club's Cherokee 140 to Rockhampton and Archerfield instead of driving. He did that for six months before getting his first aircraft. Six months on, after the Chief Pilot's interview by his pilot, submitted Operations Manual and paperwork, and approval from D.C.A., Whitaker Air Charter began.
4 years later, (3 weeks after Gough's Dismissal !), after winning the race to build an airstrip at Noosa Heads against Snow Richards of UnionAir, the Commuter operation of morning and afternoon flights to and from Ansett Brisbane to bring in holidaymakers from the South, as NoosaAir commenced.
Later, with a change of Interline agreements to T.A.A., and a name change to Sunstate Airlines, that Queensland airline became well known.
Amalgamation with Murray Valley Airlines, another Shorts operator, gave them a southern operation, and the MVA became Sunstate Mildura.
After 15 or so years, in 1987, Bevan sold Sunstate to Australian Airlines, but kept the charter company, Whitaker Air Charter, to service his resort on Lady Elliot Island, off Bundaberg, until it was taken over by another operator hailing from the Gold Coast.
With the Australian Airlines name change to Qantas Domestic, and the Sunstate aircraft painted as QantasLink, they now fly Dash 8 throughout Queensland.
Bevan died last year. He won't be attending any anniversary celebrations, I wonder if any other old-timer pioneers of Whitaker Air Charter, NoosaAir, or Sunstate will get an invite to a Qantas do?

By the sound of it frigatebird pre-dates my tenure, most likely he employed me. Like many of my former Sunnies colleagues I have fond memories of my time there.

Very best...

[Squawk7700]

Speaking of the Nomad…

I notice in the new RFDS series they have a Nomad in the hangar next to the Kingairs.

I assume this is for nostalgia purposes, however is this the one from the earlier series or the one from outside at Broken Hill? It’s been ages since I’ve been there.

[Flyer517]

Thanks Qanchor for that. If only my memory was not as fried...

[ThereISlifeafterQF]

The Nomad they had outside the terminal is still there.

I think the one that was seen in the hangar is one that came from the RAAF (I recall someone saying it was used as a training aid at RAAF Wagga - ?!)
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_20201030_075413_3_ec86bd1b9f4eb2698c04d7c101ce849079ffc5 00.jpg
This is the one in the hangar when I was there last October.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1481/img_20210309_134041_c8e85b1573aee72ce81177c06c3bdf55f15c1116 .jpg
This is the one outside the terminal.

[aroa]

Was it Sunstate that had some Nords..??. Looked a bit like a Bandit? See at Bundaberg.
Or are some marbles missing from my bag.

[Capt Fathom]

Noosa Air / Sunstate operated several N22 / N24 Nomads over different periods of time.

[Fris B. Fairing]

Was it Sunstate that had some Nords..??. Looked a bit like a Bandit? See at Bundaberg.
Or are some marbles missing from my bag.

aroa
Sunstate was just about the only airline that didn't operate the Nord Mohawk. Lloyd, Queensland Pacific, Southern Pacific and Majestic are a few of them. All with similar outcomes.
Rgds

[CharlieLimaX-Ray]

The original ParAvion operated the Nords as well, running then across Bass Strait during the pilots dispute.

Sunstate also operated a Cessna 404 and a Shorts S330 out of Brisbane during the mid 1980’s.

[cac_sabre]

Circa 1985, Brisbane Airport
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51445184135_25dfd6dfe7_h.jpg

[halas]

Flew for Skywest for a number of years on different contracts. Being the, then, largest Nomad operator, l was lucky enough to have never set foot in one.

ParAvion. My first full time job in Arnhem land was in a 206 owned by PA

Learned to fly with Bevins son. 40yrs ago.

halas

[TwoFiftyBelowTen]

Noosa Air / Sunstate operated several N22 / N24 Nomads over different periods of time.

Really? Can’t remember them having any N22s. And I think they only had one N24.

[Capt Fathom]

Really? Can’t remember them having any N22s. And I think they only had one N24.

I just made it all up! :ugh:

[TwoFiftyBelowTen]

aroa
Sunstate was just about the only airline that didn't operate the Nord Mohawk. Lloyd, Queensland Pacific, Southern Pacific and Majestic are a few of them. All with similar outcomes.
Rgds

As I recall Comalco would give their business to an operator offering a pressurised turbine out of Gladstone.
The Mohawk fitted that specification. They were barely any faster than the Shorts and only settled just above the transition level anyway… FL110/120 ish

[TwoFiftyBelowTen]

I just made it all up! :ugh:

I stand corrected. Wiki says they did too!

[aroa]

Thanks Fris. That straightens out a few crumpled neurons. How the years flick by and all these interesting aircraft come and go.

[puff]

Amazing isn't it when Noosa was this quiet little town they have an RPT service, now it's crazy busy with multi millionaires living up there, you have to fly up to MCY and drive up. Lots of airports similar to that now I guess. I remember as a kid driving up the dirt road and there was a Nomad parked up there, and TWB used to have a pretty regular service (by multiple operators over the years). I believe everyone up at Noosa hates the aircraft noise(as they all do)

[donpizmeov]

I learnt to fly in the early 80s at Suncoast flight training at Maroochy (was that the name? The Cessna flight training one owned and operated by Doug N). The twin Otters use to park out front the old terminal and it seemed like the dream job.
When I remember all the GA aircraft parked and flown from there back then, and see what is left today, it's very sad. Probably some of the same tails.

[e2_c]

Bushies had an N24 Nomad for a while from memory. I only ever flew the N22S and N22B.

[Sihawk]

The Nord Mohawk 298 was operated by Lloyds (around '87), then QLD Pacific (till '92 I think), then Majestic Airlines (the owner picked up 3 airframes for $500k at the time I seem to recall), all the while being based (maintained) in Bundy, She was a PT6 re-engined Nord 262 originally designed for the French Navy and then saw some use with some commuters in the US. She was a 26 seat pressurized high wing aircraft, with gear which retracted into fairings on the side of the fuselage, a bit like the Shorts 330/360, which incidentally she competed against up and down the coast against Sunstate. I flew in the jump as a kid, up to Gladstone, then back down to Bundy and Brisbane. Now and again it would appear in Sydney. I remember they didn't have an autopilot (or it was often US), and it was a REAL aircraft, in the smelly, greasy meaning of the word, with a 1+2 seating config. When I was 13 I was so desperate to have a legit reason to loiter around the airport that I begged the maintenance guys to be able to wash the aircraft, for free. Let me tell you, trying to remove the grease from behind the Pratt with a 10 foot tall broom was no fun in the QLD heat. But more often than not I'd crack the door and sit in the flight deck. Her days were numbered when Sunstate received their first Dash-8's, along with Flight West's Dash and Embraer Brasilia. There are 2 Mohawks remaining, if you can call it that. One was dropped into the ocean somewhere along the Great Barrier Reef, to help form some kind of artificial reef, and the other is sitting at the Caloundra aviation museum, VH-HIX or something similar I believe. Damn I loved that aeroplane.

[tail wheel]

The Aerospatiale Nord 262 originally has a pair of Astazou turbines. Fred Frakes of Cleburne, Texas converted a number of airplanes for Allegheny Commuter Mohawk Airlines in the late 1970s by installing PT6A-45 engines (same as the Shorts SD3-30). The late Guy Lloyd bought two or three of those aircraft to Australia.

[Seabreeze]

maybe a Twin Otter?
in the 80’s Sunstate was owned by Bevan Whitaker, they did operate bandits, twin otters, shorts 360 and nomads for a short time. In the late 80’s when TAA bought a 1/3 share the fleet was rationalised and no more nomads.

Bevan did many things in addition to starting and developing Sunstate.
I met Bevan in the late 90s when he ran Whitaker Air to/from Lady Elliot Iskand, and also had the LEI lease. He was then well into his seventies and still had car franchises in Maryborough and elsewhere. Well over 6 ft tall he was an impressive figure even at that age.

He told me he had driven taxis as an under 18 teenager during WW2 in Maryborough, began an automotive repair business, then a cherokee 6 to get around when that expanded. He also bulldozed the Noosa strip himself and later bought the Great Keppel lease for a song and put in the electric cable from the mainland. An impressive life story.

[frigatebird]

Seabreeze , I beg to differ that Bevan bulldozed the Noosa strip in late 1975 himself, he had it constructed.
Being on the shores of Lake Weyba, when the centre section of the strip was crowned with material from the sides, just outside the allowed approved strip dimensions, the trench on the left when facing the normal take-off path south-east would fill with rainwater and support plant growth. The trench on the right facing south-east, closest to the Lake, being below the lake water table would fill with brackish water seeping through the foreshore from the lake. Its plant growth was less.
Part of my job, as well as everything else at the time, was to mow the grass at the sides of the strip. The centre gravel section had bitumen applied at the ends for run-ups, and terminal area apron, after about a year of operation, and after Graham Allen picked up a stone that chipped and unbalanced the wooden propellor of his homebuilt Minicab causing him to crash on takeoff onto the lake foreshore. His aircraft overturned on touchdown as the fixed undercarriage dug into the wet, soft, soil. He was lucky in a way that he hadn't made it as far as the lake, or he would have drowned with the canopy jammed. Later, after he had salvaged all that he could from the wreck, mainly the metal bits, he used my Land Cruiser ute to cart it up the the other end and fire it. Being made of wood, fabric, and dope, it blazed brightly for a time. He had built it in his lounge room in his Sandpiper Motel in Hastings Street. Later he built another little wooden bi-plane of 1930's design, that he kept in a hanger on the Noosa strip. He had a Commercial licence and was our backup pilot for the the Commuter and Charter flights when he was available.
frigatebird


By the way, after we had the 1959 model 182A Vh-BXO for about two years, he acquired a Beech 36 Vh-FWZ which got us to Archerfield and Rocky a bit quicker. The 182 was sold to Sid Melksham of Fraser Island.
His first twin a bit later was a Beech 55 Baron Vh-ATB (ex Cairns Aerial Ambulance).
Then came the Cherokee 6 Vh-PYD - and later Vh-PPK.

[Checkboard]

Is the Noosa strip still active in any way? I live in the UK, but own a house in Tewantin and we are moving there in the next couple of years.

[frigatebird]

Can't say. Perhaps someone who lives locally will answer that.
I am retired back up in Wide Bay now, and the last time I drove out to the point at the northern end of the lake the entrance road gate was locked with Private Property and No Entry signs.
But then it has always been Private Property, and access was restricted to passengers, and friends of the owner with private aircraft, even in my time.

[Seabreeze]

Thanks frigatebird. Sometimes stories evolve with time... always good to know the truth...
SB

[frigatebird]

Another story of those times - I was takeing-off towards the south-east on a commuter run in the QueenAir Vh-CTE one time,(Jack Brabham's old ship that he used to fly around Europe in when Formula One Racing in his heyday), and after applying power on this marginal length strip for its operation I just passed the point for a successful abort when a seabird (shag) came out of the vegetation on the left side into the centre of the strip and flew straight ahead down it. As I was committed, even if I had an engine failure, and with no room to manoeuvre, as the wheels left the surface I ran him down. Later It reminded me of a Disney cartoon of the Road Runner and Wiley Coyote seeing the poor bird looking back over it's shoulder at the gaining aircraft just before contact. Landing at Brisbane I checked the left engine but there was only a smear of blood on a propellor blade. Back at Noosa later, I had another look around and discovered the beak driven (speared) into the outside of the aluminium cowl in line with the propellor arc.
frigatebird

[tossbag]

Is the Noosa strip still active in any way? I live in the UK, but own a house in Tewantin and we are moving there in the next couple of years.

Pretty sure it is, it's on the current maps. Prior permission of course. The last time i passed by it looked like it was being looked after.

[Capt Fathom]

Looking at Google Maps, it’s a shadow of it’s former self.