RAAF 100 years
 

Heads up, overheard on the 4-Corners ABC outro that next week's show will celebrate the RAAF's 100 years of service which was founded 31 March, 1921. Mark it in your calendar.

Hopefully it'll be a good one and not under water.

The programme is called To The Stars, 100 years of the RAAF and starts at 935pm Monday night.

And don’t forget about the televised flypast via the ABC, 31 March at 9.30am Q time and that’d make it 10.30am Southern time. Goes for one and a half hours.

Probably should've put this in the post ...https://airforce2021.airforce.gov.au...tenary-flypast

Good opportunity to spray some Chemtrails on the parliament, they need to be brought back to reality.

See that squadron flying hours to be drastically reduced on several RAAF types to save money. Why not make the 100 Years fly-past a virtual flypast. Saves heaps and lets more people watch.

Some good videos put together for the 100th by the RAAF:

https://www.youtube.com/c/AusAirForce/videos

And some of us former RAF Tanker chaps were on the 50th Anniversary Fly Pasts - we tanked Lightnings from Tengah to Edinburgh Field and I can remember doing fly-pasts at Adelaide and I think Melbourne, or was it Laverton ? (and the Lightning guys beat up Alice on the return to Darwin - at Alice’s request).

Certain specific types are having hours reduced but definitely not to save money. Not everything you read in the Australian is fact.

The flypast is being broadcast live on the ABC.

comes up as 10:00 on the Melbourne ABC TV guide and 10:00 on the Brisbane guide as well so I’d say Brisbane are delayed 1 hour and not live.

Yeah, I've not experienced that at all, quite the opposite in fact.

Nice Flyby In Sydney Today..
 

4 x PC-21s, a Dakota, 2 x Caribou, a Neptune, an Orion and a Catalina.

Thanks RAAF and HARS!

Almost forgot about it. Starts in a few minutes 9:40pm AEDT.

Hmmm, like most things on the ABC these days the narrative left more depressed than when I started watching.
Such a shame, as I found the technical side of the doco making was just brilliant and the guests were well picked.

What ****** in the RAAF, approved that piece of garbage to get aired on TV.

Hopefully the flypast in Canberra, is a lot better and includes some aircraft footage.

A few bombs might be a more appropriate alternative :ok:

There was some footage in there of operations in Borneo in WW2. It was footage I'd never seen before and, as my had father served there, put a little context to the (few) memories he'd shared with me of his time there. Having not been ex-RAAF myself, I found it worth watching and if you missed it, it's on Iview here.

"What ****** in the RAAF, approved that piece of garbage to get aired on TV".

Yes, I agree totally; that was way below optimal. Didn't seem to have any coherent or logical plan to it; just jumped from one unco-ordinated topic to another without any connection by way of time-line or subject. It had the ABC aroma all over it.

"A few bombs might be a more appropriate alternative".

I tried. When that F-18 sim was housed down along Nudgee Road, I gave it a go just to see how much of a ham-fisted pilot I was (I am). The young man managing the event gave me the plan "take off Amberley, overhead Brisbane, down to Evans Head, drop weapons, low level back to Amberley". So, I asked him "son, how about we go to Canberra and we drop a weapon on Parliament?".

I got a one-word answer of "No".

I'll wait 'til he has had a couple of decades paying tax and listening to the garbage that comes out of the place and ask again.

I thought it was pretty good - enjoyed watching it.

Watched it and thought it made a fair effort to cover all the RAAF activities ... in an hour.

Will probably watch again after the fly past - to see what I’ve missed.

Noticed the RAAF flying program doesn’t list any Hawks. Anyone know if this an omission from the fly past or just missing from the program?

I was a little surprised that the opening tune played by the RAAF at Yarralumla was Aces High (or the Luftwaffe March).

I think someone in the band must have been having a quiet giggle at that one. The images that popped into my head was of Fat Hermann inspecting the bombers in the "Battle of Britain". Surely the Dambusters theme would have been more appropriate. Who knew that a newsreader from Channel 9 was also a Wing Commander.

PARADES ARE FOR PARADE GROUNDS
 

It was not just the opening march... I thought the entire parade was a shambles.

Chance for the RAAF to showcase themselves in an event that would be watched by. a large audience and replayed many times over the following years wasted on a terrible venue. If you are going to hold a parade - do it on a parade ground not a garden setting that would have been appropriate for a cocktail party or morning tea. Surely there are plenty of places around Canberra where a decent parade could be staged with sufficient troops on the ground to show the RAAF in a good light to the nation.

As an ex Colour bearer (CFS 1979) and part of the team which organised the dual Colour presentation parade (CFS and SAN) at ESL that year I tuned in with the expectation of a ceremony and parade fitting the occasion only to be sorely disappointed. Very easy to get a fly past spot on with an advance in review order preceding it but not if you are parading on a postage stamp. What ever happened to sizing the troops so the ranks have symmetry - you can still do that and have the PC balance needed these days. Imagine the spectacle of all those Colours, Standards and Banners in a wide open setting with a full escort squadron - the day was made for it, the weather perfect for it.

Given her comments reported at the memorial service in London and the fact she chose to make it her first formal event for the year HRH is likely to watch a replay of the parade. I shudder to think what she will make of it.

MJG

P.S. It will take a while to repair the damage to the lawn as well.

Maybe times are changing

Back in my day.......

Couldn't agree more but possibly COVID and/or security may have dictated having the parade at Government House. The AWM or the least suitable venue, an actual airport with historic links to HRH, would have been ideal.

It should have been at Point Cook, the actual birthplace. Parade grounds, airfield, holding areas over the bay, delightful odours of the Werribee sewerage farm drifting by, and the spirit of Sir Richard Williams nearby.

And the bagpipe tune, 'Highland Cathedral', was actually written by German musicians Ulrich Roever and Michael Korb.

[QUOTE=mgahan;11020090]It was not just the opening march... I thought the entire parade was a shambles.

Tend to agree. If your going to hold a parade, particularly one of such significance, a bit more effort into parade such as an appropriate venue with the pomp and ceremony to go with it.

I guess if they stirred up too much dust someone would get upset but than killing that grass would also upset someone.

So a question to those who have served...

From his video on the RAAF's Youtube channel below, it would seem that Peter Overton joined in the not too distant past. He also seems to be doing voiceovers for some of their videos so they're probably employing his present career skills rather than him holding a tool or flying.

Would it be normal to go from joining to the rank of Wing Commander very quickly through talent, or is it possible to get direct entry at a more senior rank given he could bring skills and a public profile to the service? If it's the latter, is this normal?

One can't understate the importance of a good parade and sound marching skills. That's all I've ever strived for in my career. :yuk: How was the flypast?

In the good old days, the Caribou boys would have happily landed and departed of the lawn of Yarralumla without batting an eyelid.

Agree with everything you say about the parade being a poor show Michael. But think of this, a truly grand and worthy parade would have required
1. A very detailed 6 month risk assessment
2. A full OH and S package prepared
3. An equal opportunity inclusion study done
4. A gender diverse participant selection process
5. A flight of LGBTQI
6. A flight made up entirely of female pilots
7. A binary inclusion process
8. An indigenous inclusion and sensitivity study conducted
9. A 10 million dollar study would be needed to ensure the parade ground is actually not a culturally sensitive site
10. They would have had to grab some indigenous people to light eucalypt branches and sweep the parade ground
11. More people on the parade ground would have meant more rifles, and that would no doubt offend many many citizens (fancy our military having weapons)

Perhaps Mel said yeah.......nah,........just 'cause it's a hundred years to the day. Who really cares? I mean it's not like we just got our first female admino or anything!!!

Just found out today that 31 March is also International Transgender Day of Visibility - whatever that means - do they lift up their skirts/kilts for all to see how we guessed?
Perhaps this parade rained all over the RAAF one...

Overton is a Specialist Reserve Officer. They can be appointed at pretty much any rank deemed to be warranted by their specialist skill set or qualifications. The Specialist Reserve is there to accommodate medical specialists such as surgeons, legal specialists such as barristers and judges and callings such as Chaplain but I know that it's also used by the Media and Public Relations areas as well.

Wing Commander (Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, Commander in the Navy) is the middle ranking Senior Officer's rank (above Squadron Leader, below Group Captain). In a non-flying branch it took me nine years to get to Squadron Leader; Wing Commander would have been at least another six years away after that. Flying squadrons are usually commanded by a Wing Commander so it's certainly up there in terms of status.

I couldn't say whether Overton was appointed to that rank on joining or promoted after joining five or so years ago as say a Squadron Leader.

Thanks Mick. Exactly what I wanted to know.

Perhaps Mel said yeah.......nah,........just 'cause it's a hundred years to the day. Who really cares? I mean it's not like we just got our first female admino or anything!!!
Trev,

Looking at his expression several times during the debacle when the ABC cameras were on him it looks as if he's thinking, "not the best decision...".
MJG

Awesome in my opinion. Nice to see most of the fleet types in the air at once.