Vale Sir Dennis Buchanan

[Capt Vegemite]

Thank you Sharpie
Ah yes travelling down the Waghi in RHG with Bobby Gibbes puffing away on a huge cigar.Completely IFR inside the cockpit,and one of the rare days when the Twin Comm wasnt having a runaway prop.

[OzExpat]

Thanks for that Bleater, I'd only just now discovered the same information. Well, what can I tell ya? I don't get out of the office as much these days...

Anyway, at least Chuckles can rest easier in the knowledge that he was right about it!

[Capt Vegemite]

Bleater I'm damn sure GKB had 16000 hours on it when I last flew it in 1974 !

[OzExpat]

And that was after you wound it back ... am I right Veg?

[Sharpie]

A quick review of the old and bold Talair pilots since day one indicate the following.

Jack Gray (D) Ray Harris. Noel Peacock. Les Taylor. Mat Matus. Bill Johns(on loan from MAL) Tony Chadin. John Downie. Harold Hindwood(MAL on loan). Jin Rhodan(MAL on Loan). Rudolph Feichman. Allan Woodward(DCA pt time)Gerd Franck. Bill Sherwood. John Bayles. Nev Hargreaves. Neale Williams. George Wicks. Col Hay. Jasper Maskelyne(DCA Pt Time). Bryan Mc Cook. Helly Tschuchnigg. Peter Hurst. Bryan Raspin. Doug Steele. Max Parker. John Gaffney. Laurie Wright. Dick McIntosh. Jogn Clayton. Gary Honour. John Ironsides. A Anderson. Noel Mann. Lou Pronk. Graham Hawk. W. Knight. Hank Nabor. Mike Feeney. Mal Douglas. Peter Sharpe.Frank Johnson. Dennis Thew. Eileen Steenson. Charles Weir. Graym Syphers. John Perkins. Len Cleaver. Ian Hull. Scotty Adams. Dick Broomhead. Peter Griffiths. Patrick Johnston-Bell. Ian Oliver. Peter Taunsell. Peter Barter. Clive McIver. J. Mc Neice. John Metzl. Ross McLernon. Darryl Brumby. M. Condon. Bernie Flanagan. Mike Grant. Trevor Gleeson. D. Howe D. Howell. Graham Humphries. Arch Illingsworth. David Niven. Don Sinclair K. Shorthouse. Greg Thorne. Mike Tuoy. Allan Wardill. Mal Stewart. Leigh Teasdale. R. Walker. Mal Short. Ray Feltman. Don Howard. Dave Miles.

That takes us to 1969,but I think that I may have missed a few on the way.

Gerd Franck is still flying for Airlines of PNG(MBA)Bill Johns, John Downie and Jasper retired along with a few others. Over to you lads.

Peter Sharpe.

[Chimbu chuckles]

What I wouldn't give for a seniortity list from 1987 through till the end.(my years with Junior)yet another thing sacrificed to the volcano god
I wonder if Geeves(Mike Butler) has his from those days? Can anyone find out if Geeves is on-line for me?
And Veg, if GKB only had 16000 hours on it when it was finally parked I'm a Kiwi Mind you it was the 402 of choice if you were going bush,Kabwum,Lab lab,Menyamya,Wau, Wasu,Sialum, or the old Porgera strip.
God we did some silly things in 402s .


Chuckles.

[Chimbu chuckles]

And Barons,Islanders,Twin Otters, Bandierantes and......

Chuck.

[2daddies]

Sharpie - I know Geoff "Guts" Thiele was an ex Talair driver and I'm fairly certain that Rob Rachinger did some time under the Buchanan umbrella as well.

As for the fate of GKB - if it wasn't already disturbing enough to see its hulk rotting next to the Kiunga hangar on the way to work every morning, one night (not long before I scarpered from a teetering North Coast) the clever Ks decided they'd do a touch of "lawn mowing" around Nadzab. Next morning the rabble turned up for work only to find all the Islanders (only 3 left - ISL/ISM/DWA) hard up against the hangar door as a blackened airport smouldered around them.

Apparently Eric the engineer rocked up to work just in time to move them out of harm's way - GKB was not so lucky and although it still remains intact on its blocks/44 gallon drums, it's considerably sootier than it once was.

Chimbu - last I saw of Geeves, he was still busy wondering whether or not they'd bother allocating disabled car-parking spaces at the Paralympics. Although this thought almost seems normal compared to the one he threw at me one day on the way to Daru:

Geeves - (Looks at me inquisitively and with not a hint of irony or humour);
"Have you ever given any serious thought to how many different types of super-glue there are?"

In light of these missives, I find it doubtful that he would be online. If you want to get in touch with him give Airlines PNG a call on + [phone] and ask for operations - they'll give you his phone number.

[Bleater]

OK gents i should have said GKB had 16000 LOGGED or close to. In the end the department would meet her on each trip to Moresby and try and avoid the leaking oil as they checked the logs. Little did they know that the boost controllers, prop governers , and mixture controls were all so worn that it took 5 minutes to set cruise at top of climb as the slightest change in anything would mean all else had to be reset to match. There was always something to do!! It was lucky the aft door did not fall off due corrosion while entire rows of rivits had slogged through. As for the actual number of hours who knows. One day around the same time I brought back SAC, an Islander (ex Simbu Aviation ex Talair)and announced over a beer it had just passed 20000 hours. She did the same a month before and a couple of months after which did cause wonder as to how sharp the management pencils were and where they got the calculaters from!
Back to Dennis like many PNG Pilots in the 90s I never met him or worked for Talair but flew many of the ex aircraft and routes and did it the Talair way, he left quite a legacy. Cannot help thinking that from the sound of it the companys which followed carried on where Talair left off but left out the fun parts which gave the company such good morale until the final months.

[Capt Vegemite]

Remember these stickers?..My god every aircraft that passed through got zapped with one of these.
"The Screaming *****hawk...I flew with TAL and LIVED !"
Sticker ok but logbook sufferin from a bad dose of grilly.

[STRUTH]

Saw VH-GKE at Caboolture on the weekend.
"Dedicated to the memory of Sir Dennis Buchanan" was signwritten on the door.
Nice touch Guy.