60 Years Ago Today
 

It was sixty years ago today that the Lockheed Electra II made its maiden flight. Ansett-ANA's VH-RMA came along a bit later but she's still going strong with Buffalo Airways and indeed she was flying yesterday.

http://www.adastron.com/lockheed/electra-188/vhrma3.jpg

Great pic of a great aircraft. Another great Lockheed design spawning the mighty P-3 line..

I remember the Ansett Electras serving the Australia - Port Moresby - Lae air route. If was before the wing problem was fixed and once in the cruise the inboard engine power was reduced to avoid (I believe?) harmonic oscillation in the main spar.

They finally became a magnificent aircraft, serving many years in passenger and finally freight operations.

I recall one old Ansett captain suggesting they were only 5 minutes slower Sydney - Melbourne than a Boeing 737.

My first ever flight was on an Ansett ANA Electra in 1958 if memory is correct ..on the red eye Perth Melbourne ..I think first class was down the back, could be wrong about that though...I seem to remember sitting over the wing as a 9 year old, I thought it was magic :):)

Probably right... my first flight at 2 months old in 1965 was on a Qantas Electra Mk IV from MEL to PER.
Right about First Class I meant, Mum and Dad tell me that First Class was down the back in the Constellations too... probably something to do with most of the noise being forward as opposed to rearward as is the case now with jet aircraft.

Flew to New Zealand on an Electra in the early '60s. Teal I think. It was a long way!

And exactly 50 years ago Harold Holt disappeared.

About 8 or 9 years later I was an apprentice electrician in Melbourne and we wired Ansett's jet engine test cell at Essendon airport, I well remember on my lunch break walking down to the tarmac in my overalls and climbing into Electra's,Viscounts, F27's, DC3, Convairs and anything else that was parked there..the good old days,no one ever questioned me and there were no asic or any other ID cards required to access the tarmac.
All that fired me up to start my pilot training, did it for another 50 years..:):):)

I recall one old Ansett captain suggesting they were only 5 minutes slower Sydney - Melbourne than a Boeing 737.

.. and, MEL-LST, the jets had no show of winning the sector race.

July 08, 1961. Essendon - Sydney, 54 minutes, Captain G. J. White. VH-TLA. TAA.

That's 423 kts downwind!

I'm sure there's more!

Currently sitting in a motel room on King Island, a P3 just flew past low over the coast line whilst I was reading this post. :ok:
Beautiful sound.
Regards RW

Flew the Electra’s military cousin, a mighty machine, only just being retired. The stubby wings and huge props on both types were a sight to behold. We called the P3 ‘the big grey and white Kingswood’.

So much power it was easy to forget an engine had been ‘loitered’.

1965 I flew jump seat Melbourne to Sydney in the Electra, departed after a 727 landed Sydney first by less than 1 min. Great flight.

A magnificent machine- truly a thoroughbred. The story of the structural problems tearing wings apart is an interesting story and well described in "The Electra Story". Well worth reading if you can obtain a copy.

Basically the gyroscopic effect exerted by the 13'6" prop in turbulence could not be dampened by the engine mounts and exerted a twisting force on the wing that increased until the wing snapped. Hence the initial fix by reducing airspeed to around 400 mph max.

After stiffening the eng mounts the Lockheed test pilots flew the aircraft at increasing speeds and turbulence until finally flying at vne in severe turbulence over the Sierra Nevadas with the prop attach bolts slackened off.

End of problem. I dips me lid to those guys!:D

Emeritus

Ah, the lady we all loved. I spent 10 years in Wombat Sqn.
Four (air) screws beat two blow jobs any day!
Manducat Radices Floria.

Man’s aeroplane.

Thanks for posting that great photo Fris B Fairing.

Casper

If you google "Manducat Radices Floria" the first hit is this PPRuNe thread! Drill a bit deeper and it is revealed that it describes the dietary habits of said wombat. I'm a bit slow today.

Casper, if you are not already on this list please shoot me a PM.

Ansett Electra Crew

There is a very good yootoob video of an Air Atlantic Electra engine start. Lovely to watch but they could have washed it more often!

... and for passengers, particularly young ones, there were postcards with pictures of the aircraft in the seat pockets.

And flight deck visits for kids and the crew would complete and sign souvenir cards with altitude speed etc. I had a couple from the mid '70s trans Tasman flights on Kiwi DC-8's.
Didn't even need passports in those days. How times have so changed... :-(

I've still got one somewhere. I will hunt it out and post a pic when I find it.

I joined the TAA Junior Flyers Club in 1960 after a gallop on one of these from Essendon to Sinny, and received a magnificent set of wings for the effort. Got a set from Ansett too.

A lot of plane for not a lot of wing!

This should bring back many memories.
 

Ansett ANA : L188 Flight from Brisbane to Melbourne.
Capt. Kev McFadden
F/O Peter Smith
F/E Bill Fedricks.
I had the pleasure of flying with all of these guys as an F/O on the B727.
Also had the pleasure if flying the L1888 as a Capt. with Ansett Air Freight.
Lovely to fly but without the lovely ladies looking after us was very boring indeed.
Very happy when I left it to go onto the DC9 and others.
Great fun though and would not have missed it for the world.
:ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok:

Not on December 6th, he didn't.

RodH

I recall one "overday" in a southern clime that you did not find boring!

That was in a " butter " time . Most memorable escapade with two lovely " friends " to spread the joy!! A very entertaining stop over indeed. Sure helped pass the time in that exciting City!!!
To this day I still wonder what the housemaids did with that particular left over in the fridge, the imagination runs riot.
:E:E:E:E:E:E:E:E:E:E:E:E:E

Sorry, Gang, I'm somewhat lacking in skills on this site. Can anyone advise how to post a photo, please?

Righto RodH!!:= You've done it now!:=

You simply cannot allude to what is possibly ..err...sorry, most definitely a most sordid, juicy tale:E and not give us the whole great story!:D


Come on then; Out with it!!!:ok::ooh::ok:

You simply cannot allude to what is possibly

SOP .. all and any such (alleged) antics were always had by someone else or another crew on some other overnight and one can only report those bits of the story which were related at the bar sometime after by someone who heard the story from someone else. Of course all such revelations are hugely imaginative and subject to all sorts of nudging and winking ... none of them could possibly have been actual, real events ....

If the truth be known, they probably were in attendance at the local Salvation Army band rehearsals ..

(Otherwise we would all be in strife of the deepest do do variety).

Then again, as we get older, we probably do have a tendency to rock away gently in the rocking chair .. the faintest smile very occasionally turning up the corners of the mouth in fond reflection ...

"Then again, as we get older, we probably do have a tendency to rock away gently in the rocking chair .. the faintest smile very occasionally turning up the corners of the mouth in fond reflection ..."

Oh man...Sigh!...I'll drink to that!

Bit of a thread shift...my most memorable overnights were on the F28 with MMA/Ansett WA in Darwin. The things that went on......:E..or maybe came off ( but of course was at the library at the time that the things allegedly occurred )

Oh dear .. the Darwin Travelodge .. no, we really shouldn't go there ... no-one would believe the stories, in any case.

More than a few people were lost track of by the crewing system on Darwin (and Perth) overnights ... some folk were forgotten for days at a time, especially for the wombat chaps who did quite a bit of crewing one way and paxing the other (this is noted only to make the post relevant to the thread).

There were more than a few occasions where Mrs X would ring crewing to check on hubby's expected return from an extended tour .. only to be told, quizzically, that he was at home. As far as I know, all such unfortunate instances were resolved without recourse to divorce and other unpleasantness.

Ah, Darwin ..... (eyes glaze over whilst gazing wistfully into the depths of the port) ...

or maybe came off

I am reminded of a most memorable overnight (the gist of which I heard about somewhere else, of course) and the stunning entrance of a local (then GA) pilot mate at the party ..... sometimes I wonder what young Bob is up to these days as I lost track of him years ago when he went O/S to fly big birds.

The Darwin Travelodge! I think we should apply the 100 Year Secrecy Rule here. Oddly enough, the Narita Travelodge shared the same design (that curved wall/triangular plan) but NONE of the atmosphere!

I am so glad I flew in the days when WE could all have a bit of fun etc. etc. etc without being accused of sexual molestation as is now the case these days!
One can hardly look at a female without the threat of molestation occurring.
I feel so sorry for the guys and the gals as well in that things have changed to become quite ridiculous in most cases. Sure , there are grounds for some cases of repugnant occurrences but there were a lot of things we all did that would now be classed as molestation. The ladies seem to be driving a big wedge between us males which in my opinion is very sad.
Gone are the days when we could all enjoy the over nights without fear of retribution !!
:{:{:{:{:{:{:{:{

Pinky. If I gave you the whole true story you probably would not believe it as it was quite remarkable.
Also If I did then I'm sure a few people might be able to work out the identity of the " enjoyers ' and a few divorces would surely follow suit.
Given that, my lips are sealed and only 56P and the 2 " friends " will ever know.
:E:E:E:E:E:E:E

If I gave you the whole true story you probably would not believe it

Often, in years gone by and over an ale, (the generic) we would speculate on a project whereby all the boys and girls in all the airlines would sit down around a tape recorder and tell their tales.

The result would be culled into, probably, a 40 volume work on "Tales of This and That".

Then someone would always spoil the thought with a comment along the lines of "you'd never sell a copy ... no-one would believe a word of it"

Ah, reminiscences ...

(If you can get a copy either of Nan Witcomb's or Bob Binning's books ... you would get a small taste of things ...)

Know a lovely lady who in her younger days was a F/A with Ansett and then went to Qantas.

She did a stint in PNG, with Ansett and she can tell some very good stories about flying, drinking, partying, overloaded aircraft etc. Some of the names of flightcrew are interesting, funny one or two she mentions held relatively high positions in Ansett in later years! She is still trying to workout why some flightcrew flew naked in the Dc-3, must be for OH&S reasons!

Not mention the partying on Lord Howe Island, when crewing the Sandringham’s.

A sad note following on from a previous post. Ran a search on google only to find results that I wasn't expecting ..

https://www.pprune.org/where-they-no...ghlight=goakes

For those who knew him but, like me, were not aware that he is no longer there to regale folk with tales, recitations, and general mayhem ...

Not a happy jt this evening ...

True story...we got "lost" in the crewing system once in Darwin. We were meant to go DRW to ASP for some runs to the rock. Got a call, change of plans..we need you to position to Cairns in the morning. We duly got to Cairns..and there was a lot of head scratching as to why we had appeared.Several phone calls later ( no mobiles in those days)..sorry its a mistake...you should be in Sydney. We both looked at each other and said..Sydney, for a Perth based F28 crew, thats a bit odd...but off we went the next morning to Sydney. Much head scratching there...we checked into the hotel and down to the Rowing Club for a few cold ones. Next morning..crewing contacted us...your "Must Rides" are here for this afternoons flight back to Perth....had a lot of fun with the Girls looking after is in First Class one the home, (like others have said, Im so glad I flew in those days)...when we got back to Perth, no one said a word. We had spent 5 days flying around Australia, for no reason, as passengers. Those were the days!!!!

No air too ruff old mate, we had the best of it in those days. How goes the iron compass these days?