Mustangs at Maralinga
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gassed budgie - Here is photo. Taken the later half of October 1966. Was training with Clem Atkin at RVAC at the time (Chipmunks). Roy Goon CFI and strangely Roy was CFI of the club in Whyalla mid 30's when the old fella learnt the art in Tigers.
For the life of me have been trying to resize the image but with no luck. Obviously technology is beyond me, tho seemed to have no trouble in the past, but never tried it on slides before.
Try this link http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m...rent=t0006.jpg
For the life of me have been trying to resize the image but with no luck. Obviously technology is beyond me, tho seemed to have no trouble in the past, but never tried it on slides before.
Try this link http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m...rent=t0006.jpg
Last edited by Brian Abraham; 14th Dec 2007 at 03:32.
Roy Goon CFI and strangely Roy was CFI of the club in Whyalla mid 30's when the old fella learnt the art in Tigers
For the life of me have been trying to resize the image but with no luck
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Thread creep I know, but there is folklaw of a dozen or so UNASSEMBLED, COMPLETE & UNFLOWN Spitfires somewhere 'buried' near Toowoomba / Oakey / Pittsworth. anyone know where to even start to look for these gems?....
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Atomic Mustangs
Ahh the good old days when you could buy Mustangs for scrap , drag em out of the South OZ desert (Emu Junction) and even fly one home ...
They probably glowed in the dark as they were used in the atomic bomb tests.
Anyone remember Tony Schwerdt flying one of these back to Parafield ?
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I haven't spoken with Tony for 19 years , lost contact.
I heard about this 'story' around the traps at Parafield and to be honest I thought it was bull**it and then met Tony in the SA aerobatic club a few years later, it came up in conversation and Tony brought some pictures with him at the next aerobatic training day.
Apparently all the hydraulics were shot in the P-51 so Tony flew all the way from Emu with the gear down using the call sign P-51D hehe.
Apparently he got fined for the flight and it took ages for the paperwork to get processed to get it registered and eventually he gave up and sold it the USA
I heard about this 'story' around the traps at Parafield and to be honest I thought it was bull**it and then met Tony in the SA aerobatic club a few years later, it came up in conversation and Tony brought some pictures with him at the next aerobatic training day.
Apparently all the hydraulics were shot in the P-51 so Tony flew all the way from Emu with the gear down using the call sign P-51D hehe.
Apparently he got fined for the flight and it took ages for the paperwork to get processed to get it registered and eventually he gave up and sold it the USA
Silly Old Git
Flew via Coober Pedy. There is a film of it arriving in a cloud of white dust at Coober
Was escorted I believe from there to Para by DCA in their AeroComm.
Enormous **** fight ensued, Tone got the naughty corner, P51 exported, rest is history
That P51 BTW was the first off the line at CAC
Thats big Tone peering into the cockpit and faithful sidekick Pierce Dunne peering into the guts.
Tony still floating around Para somewhere, ask him.
Was escorted I believe from there to Para by DCA in their AeroComm.
Enormous **** fight ensued, Tone got the naughty corner, P51 exported, rest is history
That P51 BTW was the first off the line at CAC
Thats big Tone peering into the cockpit and faithful sidekick Pierce Dunne peering into the guts.
Tony still floating around Para somewhere, ask him.
Bugsmasherdriverandjediknite
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And the rego on the DCA's commander was VH-DCA. apparently that ship still wears the rego. it is sitting neglected at York now (or was last time I saw it). Looks like a gunrunners ship and the (previous???) owner is as dodgey as a gun runner.
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Langdon's Mustang wasn't one of the Atomic Mustangs. It was A68-119, which went on to become VH-IVI. It was subsequently sold to Ray Whitbread in NSW, and destroyed in a fatal crash in 1973.
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Seems weird the DCA escorted him to Parafield from Coober Pedy and then later put him in the 'naughty corner'.
Imagine climbing into a Mustang for the first time with no training on type and then pulling the ferry flight off !
Imagine climbing into a Mustang for the first time with no training on type and then pulling the ferry flight off !
Always remember the story about DCA flying up the centre in the 1960's in their Aerocommander only to find a Mustang formate on them and the pilot give them a friendly wave before flying off into the distance.
Another bloke told me that it happened out in western NSW in the late 1960's. This gentleman worked for a large charter company they were then tasked by DCA to fly around and look for suitable landing grounds and buildings that could be used to hide a Mustang. The company used a C182 to fly around and look for buildings from about 300', with a length of wire attached to each strut. The wire was a certain length and when the aircraft was flown at 300', the pilot and observer could fly abeam a building and if the wire and building lined up it meant that the barn or shed could fit a Mustang in it. The local Police or DCA then followed up with the landowner. He said DCA spent a lot of time, money and effort into tracking down the phantom Mustang, until the pusre strings got tightened by Canberra in the credit squeeze of 1974. This gentleman reckoned DCA also spent time observing outback properties and posed as campers to try and get more information. This bloke was pretty smart and reckons he knew the owners of the Mustang and had been for a ride in it, but his boss told him to act dumb and fly the nice people from DCA around and that way everyone would be happy!!
Another old time aviator told me that it happened out in Western Queensland in the late 160's and involved the DCA Friendship going up to Mt Isa.
Now their must be a few more people out their that know about the Phantom Mustang?
Another bloke told me that it happened out in western NSW in the late 1960's. This gentleman worked for a large charter company they were then tasked by DCA to fly around and look for suitable landing grounds and buildings that could be used to hide a Mustang. The company used a C182 to fly around and look for buildings from about 300', with a length of wire attached to each strut. The wire was a certain length and when the aircraft was flown at 300', the pilot and observer could fly abeam a building and if the wire and building lined up it meant that the barn or shed could fit a Mustang in it. The local Police or DCA then followed up with the landowner. He said DCA spent a lot of time, money and effort into tracking down the phantom Mustang, until the pusre strings got tightened by Canberra in the credit squeeze of 1974. This gentleman reckoned DCA also spent time observing outback properties and posed as campers to try and get more information. This bloke was pretty smart and reckons he knew the owners of the Mustang and had been for a ride in it, but his boss told him to act dumb and fly the nice people from DCA around and that way everyone would be happy!!
Another old time aviator told me that it happened out in Western Queensland in the late 160's and involved the DCA Friendship going up to Mt Isa.
Now their must be a few more people out their that know about the Phantom Mustang?
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Another bloke told me that it happened out in western NSW in the late 1960's
VH-BOB / A68-104 (cn 1429) Post-war CAC production, taken on RAAF charge in November 1947. Struck off at RAAF Tocumwal April 1958 & sold for scrap 1960. Rescued from scrapping by Titus Oates & subsequently passed through the hands of Adastra Airways before ending up on a farm at Jerilderie, NSW. Operated from Jerilderie from August 1964. Purchased by present owner Bob Eastgate October 1970 & registered VH-BOB. Flown
The 'phantom fighter' story in northen South Australia as I heard it was a Spitfire.
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aseanaero
There were no duals so we all had to launch unassisted for that first flight.
My first ride at night was straight into the Korean war. It went something like this.
Ring Ring - "who the hell is ringing me in the middle of the night?"
"Ops room here Milt. Canberra has decided to commit the Squadron. You are off on the first mission. There will be a jeep around to pick you up in about half an hour. All you need is your flying suit."
Four of us launched out of Iwakuni, Japan at about 0400 with full gun bins, full fuselage tank and two drop tanks to fly top cover against Yaks threatening Gooneys evacuating USA civilians out of a Korean airfield.
The Mustang was unstable in pitch with fuel in the fuselage tank and had to be coaxed constantly to fly level. Climbing up through low cloud in close line astern in the dark rapidly broadened one's experience.
We didn't see any Yaks although I shot up one on the ground later.
There were no duals so we all had to launch unassisted for that first flight.
My first ride at night was straight into the Korean war. It went something like this.
Ring Ring - "who the hell is ringing me in the middle of the night?"
"Ops room here Milt. Canberra has decided to commit the Squadron. You are off on the first mission. There will be a jeep around to pick you up in about half an hour. All you need is your flying suit."
Four of us launched out of Iwakuni, Japan at about 0400 with full gun bins, full fuselage tank and two drop tanks to fly top cover against Yaks threatening Gooneys evacuating USA civilians out of a Korean airfield.
The Mustang was unstable in pitch with fuel in the fuselage tank and had to be coaxed constantly to fly level. Climbing up through low cloud in close line astern in the dark rapidly broadened one's experience.
We didn't see any Yaks although I shot up one on the ground later.
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When I heard the story of the phantom, it was a Mustang, and, according to the chap who told it to me (an FSO), it was supposedly painted black.
I recall seeing a (I think) dark blue Mustang with red (?) spinner landing at Adelaide airport on a number of occasions in the late 1960's - I wondered if this machine might have coloured the story of the phantom.
I saw a picture of a mustang at the Reno air races, with a painting of a boxing kangaroo on the gear-door. This was surely the same P-51 that Tony recovered.
I met Tony only once - in Parafield in 1981 when a Merlin III made an emergency landing having gone around from ground-strike incident at Colin Hayes' private strip in the Barrossa Valley. Tony had been called in to complete the charter in a Lloyds BE200 - the passenger that was to be picked up from the private strip was none other than Malcolm Fraser, who had been enjoying Colin's hospitality. Wisely, it was decided to send the PM to Parafield in a car, and then fly him home from there!
(I wish I had had a camera to take a picture of the Merlin - it was so bent that fuel was running like a tap from the ruptured wings, and the props had bent forward........then there was the bent gear, and cracked wheels, and corrugated skin, and......!!)
I recall seeing a (I think) dark blue Mustang with red (?) spinner landing at Adelaide airport on a number of occasions in the late 1960's - I wondered if this machine might have coloured the story of the phantom.
I saw a picture of a mustang at the Reno air races, with a painting of a boxing kangaroo on the gear-door. This was surely the same P-51 that Tony recovered.
I met Tony only once - in Parafield in 1981 when a Merlin III made an emergency landing having gone around from ground-strike incident at Colin Hayes' private strip in the Barrossa Valley. Tony had been called in to complete the charter in a Lloyds BE200 - the passenger that was to be picked up from the private strip was none other than Malcolm Fraser, who had been enjoying Colin's hospitality. Wisely, it was decided to send the PM to Parafield in a car, and then fly him home from there!
(I wish I had had a camera to take a picture of the Merlin - it was so bent that fuel was running like a tap from the ruptured wings, and the props had bent forward........then there was the bent gear, and cracked wheels, and corrugated skin, and......!!)
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Always remember the story about DCA flying up the centre in the 1960's in their Aerocommander only to find a Mustang formate on them and the pilot give them a friendly wave before flying off into the distance
