Point Cook Airshows in the 70's
Things I'll never forget as a young spectator at two RAAF Laverton air shows of the seventies:
1. Catching the 'red rattler' to 'Aircraft' railway station at the base, the day of the airshow had finally arrived!
2. The Roulettes (in Macchi jets of course) from East Sale appearing just clear of a thunderstorm and doing the 'low show'.
3. A Mirage doing upward vertical rolls until out of sight into a clear blue sky.
4. RAAF Phantoms' dummy strafing attacks complete with simulated ground cannon shell bursts; the afterburners winking through the 'ecto' as they pulled out; the incredible noise.
5. The Neptune taking off for its act with its recips and its jets at full power!
Postscript: I made it into the military to fly the Macchi in the RAAF via the RAN (thanks to Hawke) and the three years instructing on it in both services were among the best of my life!
1. Catching the 'red rattler' to 'Aircraft' railway station at the base, the day of the airshow had finally arrived!
2. The Roulettes (in Macchi jets of course) from East Sale appearing just clear of a thunderstorm and doing the 'low show'.
3. A Mirage doing upward vertical rolls until out of sight into a clear blue sky.
4. RAAF Phantoms' dummy strafing attacks complete with simulated ground cannon shell bursts; the afterburners winking through the 'ecto' as they pulled out; the incredible noise.
5. The Neptune taking off for its act with its recips and its jets at full power!
Postscript: I made it into the military to fly the Macchi in the RAAF via the RAN (thanks to Hawke) and the three years instructing on it in both services were among the best of my life!
Last edited by Captain Dart; 7th May 2010 at 07:33. Reason: More nostalgia!
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Great Thread for Great memories.
Don't forget Mangalore, another great show.
I was able to go to many shows usually with one of the AN display aircraft.
VH ABR always put on a fantastic show.
Don't forget Mangalore, another great show.
I was able to go to many shows usually with one of the AN display aircraft.
VH ABR always put on a fantastic show.
Agreed with the 'risk averse' and pathetic ADF PR people nowadays .
Recently in the town of Benalla, in the same area as the 'Weary' Dunlop memorial, a memorial to a daring WW II RAN captain, Hec Waller, was unveiled at a public ceremony (by all accounts his actions against the Japanese were deserving of a VC).
Actors, I kid you not, had to be sent from Melbourne in Navy rig for the ceremony. The Navy would not allow even one of their helicopters to do a fly past; a local civilian pilot in his homebuilt did the task.
Quite understandably our servicemen are heavily committed with limited resouces, yet I noted a Navy UH 1B putting on a display at a recent Temora air show... maybe your family has to own a string of shopping centres...
Recently in the town of Benalla, in the same area as the 'Weary' Dunlop memorial, a memorial to a daring WW II RAN captain, Hec Waller, was unveiled at a public ceremony (by all accounts his actions against the Japanese were deserving of a VC).
Actors, I kid you not, had to be sent from Melbourne in Navy rig for the ceremony. The Navy would not allow even one of their helicopters to do a fly past; a local civilian pilot in his homebuilt did the task.
Quite understandably our servicemen are heavily committed with limited resouces, yet I noted a Navy UH 1B putting on a display at a recent Temora air show... maybe your family has to own a string of shopping centres...
I know a Cadet Commander who would have gladly transported her Navy Cadets from Tingarra to Benalla for a cenotaph guard or whatever uniformed detail requirment..what an insult to great hero.....ACTORS!
As for a flypast? Whisper in the right ear and things happen. BLA is a bit of a distance aways from Albatross but surely, someone in the RSL knows someone who knows the people who task this stuff.[/thread drift]
My Dad took us to the 71 airshow at LAV..The RAAF Golden Jubilee...only ten and still remember the chopper dropping the car. The whole show was just non-stop.
As for a flypast? Whisper in the right ear and things happen. BLA is a bit of a distance aways from Albatross but surely, someone in the RSL knows someone who knows the people who task this stuff.[/thread drift]
My Dad took us to the 71 airshow at LAV..The RAAF Golden Jubilee...only ten and still remember the chopper dropping the car. The whole show was just non-stop.
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Just a bit more nostalgia:
It is the Laverton airshow circa 1953 (might be a year out), and we - my father who always wanted to be in the RAAF (and was for a day), and me, youngish teenager. We are on the Geelong Rd between Brooklyn and Laverton in the 1936 Chevy sloper, the old man's pride and joy, when suddenly there is a huge roar, and a Sabre (presumably the ARDU Sabre) passes overhead, doing about 350K and a few feet up, it seems. I now suspect that it was on low initial for 23, but at the time many people thought it was either in trouble or advertising the forthcoming airshow that day.
My father's RAAF sojourn was remarkably short. He had joined the Militia about 1928 (Sigs), but was very aware of the hazards of trench warfare, doubtless well educated by the previous generation in the family. So when war came again, he signed on with the Air Force. The very next day, there was a knock on the front door, and there was an Army Warrant Officer who said: "You can't do that, Sir!" So he was ex RAAF that day. But I digress.
Now, there are two events that have always stuck in my mind from that day. The first was that a pair of Vampires were programmed to demonstrate a napalm drop. Whether it was in fact napalm, or just a large tank of petrol in the "target" I don't to this day know. However, both aircraft actually dropped tanks, so it may have been fair dinkum. Now, to deliver napalm from a Vampire, the drop-tank mounts were the bomb-rack, and the jettison lever was used as a bomb release. For whatever reason, number two was far too close to number one, and during the distraction of reaching down and back for the jettison lever, he flew into the fireball caused by number one. He must have pulled ten g, because he came up vertically from the fireball. I still recall the blast of heat when the stuff went off. Talk about workplace health and safety - can't see it happening these days.
But by far the most entertaining aspect of the afternoon was the sound-barrier demonstration by the Sabre. I want you to imagine the slightly muffled, but cultured tones, of SQNLDR Black Jack (and I must here admit to a mental block - there were at least two "Black Jacks", and I can't recall which one this was - perhaps Walker) who has been wired for sound, and is climbing to 40,000 feet SW of the airfield, talking into his oxymask, and being re-transmitted over the PA system for the crowd's benefit. As an aside, I need to explain that there was quite a substantial hill just NE of the 23 threshold, through which the Geelong Rd had once passed, see my earlier comments above. Also, on this day, there is a freshish breeze from the SW.
So, the SQNLDR starts his spiel: "Good afternoon ladies and gents, boys and girls, I'm now at 40,000 feet some miles to your SW, and I'll shortly be commencing my mach run............" or words to that effect. So, he talks his way into the dive, quoting off the mach meter: "Point 92, point 94............"etc until he says: "OK, I have passed through the sound barrier, and you will shortly hear the boom". Sure enough, suddenly, BANG BANG, then, as he decelerates, BANG BANG again. Still talking, he announces that he is just crossing the airfield boundary, and all eyes turn to the SW. Sure enough, there is the beautiful little silver dart, doing about 550K absolutely silently. Then the sound, trailing well back, is heard. A wonderful demo of modern technology.
The Sabre is at very low level, maybe 20 feet, but then again my height judgement wasn't quite so well developed back then. It flashes across the field, and into the substantial updraft over the cutting. The tail is seen to weave back and forth several times. To the great delight of all the boys in the crowd, and having failed to switch his mike off, there is a long drawn out "Fuuuuuuuuuuck" over the PA, followed by CLICK!
Having seen all this, I knew then that one could do anything in the Air Force. It just became a matter of getting there. The hill must have been removed soon after, because it didn't exist by the time I first flew at Laverton some years later. Little did I imagine that almost exactly 25 years later I would be Ringmaster at one of the last shows held there.
It is the Laverton airshow circa 1953 (might be a year out), and we - my father who always wanted to be in the RAAF (and was for a day), and me, youngish teenager. We are on the Geelong Rd between Brooklyn and Laverton in the 1936 Chevy sloper, the old man's pride and joy, when suddenly there is a huge roar, and a Sabre (presumably the ARDU Sabre) passes overhead, doing about 350K and a few feet up, it seems. I now suspect that it was on low initial for 23, but at the time many people thought it was either in trouble or advertising the forthcoming airshow that day.
My father's RAAF sojourn was remarkably short. He had joined the Militia about 1928 (Sigs), but was very aware of the hazards of trench warfare, doubtless well educated by the previous generation in the family. So when war came again, he signed on with the Air Force. The very next day, there was a knock on the front door, and there was an Army Warrant Officer who said: "You can't do that, Sir!" So he was ex RAAF that day. But I digress.
Now, there are two events that have always stuck in my mind from that day. The first was that a pair of Vampires were programmed to demonstrate a napalm drop. Whether it was in fact napalm, or just a large tank of petrol in the "target" I don't to this day know. However, both aircraft actually dropped tanks, so it may have been fair dinkum. Now, to deliver napalm from a Vampire, the drop-tank mounts were the bomb-rack, and the jettison lever was used as a bomb release. For whatever reason, number two was far too close to number one, and during the distraction of reaching down and back for the jettison lever, he flew into the fireball caused by number one. He must have pulled ten g, because he came up vertically from the fireball. I still recall the blast of heat when the stuff went off. Talk about workplace health and safety - can't see it happening these days.
But by far the most entertaining aspect of the afternoon was the sound-barrier demonstration by the Sabre. I want you to imagine the slightly muffled, but cultured tones, of SQNLDR Black Jack (and I must here admit to a mental block - there were at least two "Black Jacks", and I can't recall which one this was - perhaps Walker) who has been wired for sound, and is climbing to 40,000 feet SW of the airfield, talking into his oxymask, and being re-transmitted over the PA system for the crowd's benefit. As an aside, I need to explain that there was quite a substantial hill just NE of the 23 threshold, through which the Geelong Rd had once passed, see my earlier comments above. Also, on this day, there is a freshish breeze from the SW.
So, the SQNLDR starts his spiel: "Good afternoon ladies and gents, boys and girls, I'm now at 40,000 feet some miles to your SW, and I'll shortly be commencing my mach run............" or words to that effect. So, he talks his way into the dive, quoting off the mach meter: "Point 92, point 94............"etc until he says: "OK, I have passed through the sound barrier, and you will shortly hear the boom". Sure enough, suddenly, BANG BANG, then, as he decelerates, BANG BANG again. Still talking, he announces that he is just crossing the airfield boundary, and all eyes turn to the SW. Sure enough, there is the beautiful little silver dart, doing about 550K absolutely silently. Then the sound, trailing well back, is heard. A wonderful demo of modern technology.
The Sabre is at very low level, maybe 20 feet, but then again my height judgement wasn't quite so well developed back then. It flashes across the field, and into the substantial updraft over the cutting. The tail is seen to weave back and forth several times. To the great delight of all the boys in the crowd, and having failed to switch his mike off, there is a long drawn out "Fuuuuuuuuuuck" over the PA, followed by CLICK!
Having seen all this, I knew then that one could do anything in the Air Force. It just became a matter of getting there. The hill must have been removed soon after, because it didn't exist by the time I first flew at Laverton some years later. Little did I imagine that almost exactly 25 years later I would be Ringmaster at one of the last shows held there.
It is a warmish spring day in September, and the occasion is the Laverton Airshow, 1966, and for this show it is my pleasant duty to demonstrate the paces of the Caribou,
Pity there is no sound.
I would love to make this available for posterity.
Whilst I don't know who you are Grusome, I certainly know Centaurus, and I would happily add 30 years to my age to have done and flown what John has done and flown. I did get to fly the Bou, and I did get to fly it in airshows before the PC risk averse brigade came into being.(by that I mean the goats who don't trust very well trained military pilots to put on a bloody good airshow). But these sort of stories that Grusome and Centy tell are the stuff of young boys fantasies. You guys will probably snuff it before me, but when we all meet up in the back bar in the sky, it will be you guys with the stories that everyone will be hanging on. Except for Lois, as always, he will still be in the bushes outside the back bar vomiting.
My Dad was a framie at Pt Cook through the 70's and can well remember both the Pt Cook and Laverton air shows.
My best memories as a kid were Saturday mornings at Laverton when the transports would roll in. To keep me out of trouble I spent countless hours inside the many neptunes on the ramp that were awaiting disposal.
As a 5 or 6 year old I flew countless imaginary missions in those Neppies....... certainly sowed the seeds for the career I now enjoy.
My best memories as a kid were Saturday mornings at Laverton when the transports would roll in. To keep me out of trouble I spent countless hours inside the many neptunes on the ramp that were awaiting disposal.
As a 5 or 6 year old I flew countless imaginary missions in those Neppies....... certainly sowed the seeds for the career I now enjoy.
I had a few embarrassing moments during air show demonstrations in the 1950-60's. These were called Air Force Week Displays and others were called Battle of Britain display. Both stuff up's happened at Townsville.
We didn't do any practices before hand. First on was supposed to be Mustang v Lincoln fighter affiliation. The crowd was in place and the Mustang gets airborne first (self flying) does a beat up along Townsville Runway 20 at 100 ft then pulls up to do a barrel roll (or was it just an aileron roll)?
As I got inverted, the sight of Mount Louisa (700 ft amsl or near enough) seemed to fill the windscreen. It was the first time I had rolled a Mustang at such a low altitude (stupid me) In fact, Mt Louisa was slightly to one side of the intended flight path but when you are inverted at 200 ft and climbing your eyes plays tricks on you and I got a bit disoriented.
I thought I was going to hit the top of Mt Louisa so instead of completing the barrel roll which as it turned out would have been quite safe, I hastily reversed the direction of turn. In other words, only did half of the barrel roll before chickening out and going back to where I was before starting the manoeuvre. The spectators would not have known what I was doing anyway.
I then saw the Lincoln bomber get airborne flown by Warrant Officer Frank Slater GM. Frank was awarded the George Medal as a flight engineer (before he re-mustered later as a pilot) when he rescued a crew member from a crashed and burning Catalina at Georgetown, North Queensland.
Frank allowed me to get on his tail to start the fighter v bomber stoush over the crowd. Now keep in mind Frank had a few thousand hours flying Lincolns and was about 35 and I had 50 hours on Mustangs and was 21.
His evasive flying was first class and I was never able to get a bead on him. In fact, Frank pulled that Lincoln so tight he got on to my tail which wasn't part of the plot. We forgot about the spectators and finished up in a line astern chase half-way to Magnetic Island.with Frank chasing me in his Lincoln rather than the other way around. Most embarrassing, although I am sure the spectators enjoyed the noise of five Rolls Royce Merlin engines going full chat.
It was then the Sergeant air traffic controller in the control tower had to remind us we were supposed to be entertaining the crowd at Townsville aerodrome, not swimmers at Magnetic island. The end result was I owed Frank a beer in the Sergeants Mess that evening.
The third embarrassing event was a few years later when there was another Air Force Week display at Townsville. By then I was an instructor on the Lincoln. Townsville Runway 02 was the duty runway that day and there were two tall goal post like poles stuck in the ground well either side of the landing threshold for 02 and about 500 feet in from the threshold. My job was to do a short field landing between the two poles.
Nick Watling who was one of our Lincoln pilots, was in the control tower running a commentary as he had a good speaking voice. In later years, Nick won a DFC in Vietnam while flying Caribou's.
Now on this occasion I had practiced the day before and had plonked the Lincoln down nicely on three points between the poles. This time I came around on base leg and could see a few thousand spectators all looking in my direction, Now a Lincoln with gear down and full flap on short final is an impressive sight.
That is when I made the big mistake. To ensure the touch down was dead between the flags (the poles had a flag on them I think) I decided to reduce speed a few knots less than I had before. The effect was dramatic.
I cut the throttles just before the flare and the Lincoln fell out of the sky short of the poles and hit the red dusty earth of the under-run. Now Lincolns are big tail draggers and the view over the nose of the Long Nose Lincoln is very restricted. They will also bounce high into the air if mishandled on landing. We hit the ground so hard and bounced higher than the poles and I had no choice but to apply full power and go around off the bounce.
I heard later there was a big cheer from the spectators as the noise of four Merlins once more at full power and the huge cloud of red dust at the impact point and the sight of the Lincoln clawing for height, was a sight not to be missed. The TV cameras didn't miss it either.
Nick Watling the announcer in the control tower was caught by surprise and with his hand on the microphone he was heard by the crowd to exclaim " Christ Almighty - he bit the earth that time".:
Needless to say the next landing was more sedate with 10 knots added (not subtracted) for Mum and the kids. That evening I was forced to shout the Mess a few beers. Worse still, the bounce and go around was all on local TV that evening.
Nowadays air displays are much more professional.
We didn't do any practices before hand. First on was supposed to be Mustang v Lincoln fighter affiliation. The crowd was in place and the Mustang gets airborne first (self flying) does a beat up along Townsville Runway 20 at 100 ft then pulls up to do a barrel roll (or was it just an aileron roll)?
As I got inverted, the sight of Mount Louisa (700 ft amsl or near enough) seemed to fill the windscreen. It was the first time I had rolled a Mustang at such a low altitude (stupid me) In fact, Mt Louisa was slightly to one side of the intended flight path but when you are inverted at 200 ft and climbing your eyes plays tricks on you and I got a bit disoriented.
I thought I was going to hit the top of Mt Louisa so instead of completing the barrel roll which as it turned out would have been quite safe, I hastily reversed the direction of turn. In other words, only did half of the barrel roll before chickening out and going back to where I was before starting the manoeuvre. The spectators would not have known what I was doing anyway.
I then saw the Lincoln bomber get airborne flown by Warrant Officer Frank Slater GM. Frank was awarded the George Medal as a flight engineer (before he re-mustered later as a pilot) when he rescued a crew member from a crashed and burning Catalina at Georgetown, North Queensland.
Frank allowed me to get on his tail to start the fighter v bomber stoush over the crowd. Now keep in mind Frank had a few thousand hours flying Lincolns and was about 35 and I had 50 hours on Mustangs and was 21.
His evasive flying was first class and I was never able to get a bead on him. In fact, Frank pulled that Lincoln so tight he got on to my tail which wasn't part of the plot. We forgot about the spectators and finished up in a line astern chase half-way to Magnetic Island.with Frank chasing me in his Lincoln rather than the other way around. Most embarrassing, although I am sure the spectators enjoyed the noise of five Rolls Royce Merlin engines going full chat.
It was then the Sergeant air traffic controller in the control tower had to remind us we were supposed to be entertaining the crowd at Townsville aerodrome, not swimmers at Magnetic island. The end result was I owed Frank a beer in the Sergeants Mess that evening.
The third embarrassing event was a few years later when there was another Air Force Week display at Townsville. By then I was an instructor on the Lincoln. Townsville Runway 02 was the duty runway that day and there were two tall goal post like poles stuck in the ground well either side of the landing threshold for 02 and about 500 feet in from the threshold. My job was to do a short field landing between the two poles.
Nick Watling who was one of our Lincoln pilots, was in the control tower running a commentary as he had a good speaking voice. In later years, Nick won a DFC in Vietnam while flying Caribou's.
Now on this occasion I had practiced the day before and had plonked the Lincoln down nicely on three points between the poles. This time I came around on base leg and could see a few thousand spectators all looking in my direction, Now a Lincoln with gear down and full flap on short final is an impressive sight.
That is when I made the big mistake. To ensure the touch down was dead between the flags (the poles had a flag on them I think) I decided to reduce speed a few knots less than I had before. The effect was dramatic.
I cut the throttles just before the flare and the Lincoln fell out of the sky short of the poles and hit the red dusty earth of the under-run. Now Lincolns are big tail draggers and the view over the nose of the Long Nose Lincoln is very restricted. They will also bounce high into the air if mishandled on landing. We hit the ground so hard and bounced higher than the poles and I had no choice but to apply full power and go around off the bounce.
I heard later there was a big cheer from the spectators as the noise of four Merlins once more at full power and the huge cloud of red dust at the impact point and the sight of the Lincoln clawing for height, was a sight not to be missed. The TV cameras didn't miss it either.
Nick Watling the announcer in the control tower was caught by surprise and with his hand on the microphone he was heard by the crowd to exclaim " Christ Almighty - he bit the earth that time".:
Needless to say the next landing was more sedate with 10 knots added (not subtracted) for Mum and the kids. That evening I was forced to shout the Mess a few beers. Worse still, the bounce and go around was all on local TV that evening.
Nowadays air displays are much more professional.
Last edited by Centaurus; 17th Feb 2020 at 14:18.
