Vale former RAAF signaller and ATC Flt Lt Colin "Dinny" Ryan
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Vale former RAAF signaller and ATC Flt Lt Colin "Dinny" Ryan
"Dinny" Ryan was a Warrant Officer signaller on Lincolns at Townsville when I first met him at No 10 (Maritime Reconnaissance) squadron in mid 1953. He was a signaller during the Berlin Airlift flying Dakotas then. On 25 January 1955 in Lincoln A73-69 our crew had to fly to Mount Isa from Townsville to pick up the body of an RAAF member of No 2 Airfield Construction Unit who had suicided. Jack Thomas AFC was the captain, Dinny was the radio operator, I was the second dickey and Flight Sergeant Len McTaggert was the navigator.
On arrival at Mt Isa we were dismayed to be told that the body was not ready so we had to stay overnight in a run-down pub. We were having a few drinks before dinner (I found a dog or dingo tooth in my soup) when a belligerent drunken bogan tapped me on the shoulder and said he had been a corporal during the war and that he hated Sergeants. And guess what -I was a sergeant pilot.
Things looked serious until Dinny Ryan appeared from nowhere and tapped the bogan on the shoulder. Dinny was a big bloke and normally easy going. When the drunk turned around from shirt fronting me, Dinny said to him very quietly "I'm a Warrant Officer - and I hate corporals" The drunk thought the better of it and wandered away. The next day a flat bed truck arrived at our Lincoln with a coffin. We asked the undertaker to help load the coffin at the rear of the Lincoln fuselage. He said it was his only coffin and left the corpse with us wrapped in a hessian body bag and seriously decomposed. There was no morgue and formalin was injected into dead bodies to slow down the rate of decomposition in those days
Between us we got the poor dead bloke into the Lincoln. The smell was over-powering so we opened the mid-upper escape hatch to get more fresh air through the fuselage. All that did was draw the air forward towards the crew compartment which was not pleasant. On arrival at Lincoln we tumbled from the Lincoln and told the waiting undertaker to put the body into his vehicle. He wanted to see the papers for the body. We didn't have any papers. He then refused to accept the body. The tarmac was hot being Townsville and our Commanding Officer didn't stuff around. He went to his office and returned with a Service revolver. At the point of the gun he ordered the undertaker to take the body or he would be shot. Of course it was a bluff but the undertaker didn't know that and he took the body.
As a mark of respect, our crew, the CO and those airmen attending our arrival all stood at attention and saluted the poor soul in the hessian bag as the hearse was driven away by one seriously scared undertaker.
............................................................ ............................
In later years Dinny Ryan became an RAAF Air Traffic Controller. About 15 years ago I discovered that he now lived in Melbourne and I looked him up. I was a bit shocked to find him living like a hermit in a house badly in need of maintenance. We talked of the old days but his memory was fading so I didn't stay long. But I thanked him for saving my skin at the Mount Isa pub in 1955.
Last week I just happened to be driving in his suburb of Pascoe Vale and thought I would divert and see if he was still around.
As with other houses in the same row, his had been renovated but no one was home at the time. I talked to his next door neighbour who said Dinny had died of a stroke about seven years ago. She had watched over him as he grew more frail with the effect of increasing age and dementia. He was born in 1926 which means he would have been about 81 when he died. He was such a popular bloke in the RAAF.
Oh - and one more story about him. Once or twice a year a Lincoln would drop supplies to a bunch of meteorologists living at a weather station on a tiny island in the Coral Sea called Willis island. Normally a dummy run would be made across the strip of sand to warn the people below and to gauge the wind direction for the supply drop which consisted of "storpedos" dropped by parachute. But experience showed that a dummy run would really stir up the flocks of sea birds who nested on the island so it was decided to scrub the dummy run in favour of the one actual live drop. That way the sea birds were caught by surprise and the Lincoln was gone before the birds flocked airborne.
However on this occasion the pilot decided a dummy run was needed. That done, the aircraft lined up for the real thing but not before the captain (one Flt Lt K.K. Wilson forever known as KK) had swopped seat with his co-pilot Sgt Arthur Barnes (later Group Captain Arthur Barnes DFC AFC) Now KK knew about the bird strike danger which is maybe why he let Arthur fly from the left seat figuring if a bird went through the windscreen better the co-pilot got clobbered than the captain.
And that is exactly what happened. The birds flocked airborne after the dummy run and the Lincoln copped a bird right through the captain's windscreen where Arthur Barnes was flying. It smashed into his head and partially blinded him while the remains of the bird funnelled through the fuselage past the navigator who ducked in time. Meanwhile, Dinny Ryan was sitting on the fuselage floor next to the main spar and because there was no air-conditioning in the Lincoln he had his flying suit unzipped to his belly (SOP in those days) The remains of the bird came to a gory rest on Dinny's guts making a helluva mess. Dinny was shaken but unhurt.
KK flew the Lincoln back to Townsville from the RH seat and on arrival Arthur was carted off to hospital to get his eye fixed. The happy ending was that young Arthur Barnes fell for the attractive nurse Yvonne who gave him TLC and he later married her. Dinny Ryan got a new flying suit from RAAF stores and it was a happy ending for all.
On arrival at Mt Isa we were dismayed to be told that the body was not ready so we had to stay overnight in a run-down pub. We were having a few drinks before dinner (I found a dog or dingo tooth in my soup) when a belligerent drunken bogan tapped me on the shoulder and said he had been a corporal during the war and that he hated Sergeants. And guess what -I was a sergeant pilot.
Things looked serious until Dinny Ryan appeared from nowhere and tapped the bogan on the shoulder. Dinny was a big bloke and normally easy going. When the drunk turned around from shirt fronting me, Dinny said to him very quietly "I'm a Warrant Officer - and I hate corporals" The drunk thought the better of it and wandered away. The next day a flat bed truck arrived at our Lincoln with a coffin. We asked the undertaker to help load the coffin at the rear of the Lincoln fuselage. He said it was his only coffin and left the corpse with us wrapped in a hessian body bag and seriously decomposed. There was no morgue and formalin was injected into dead bodies to slow down the rate of decomposition in those days
Between us we got the poor dead bloke into the Lincoln. The smell was over-powering so we opened the mid-upper escape hatch to get more fresh air through the fuselage. All that did was draw the air forward towards the crew compartment which was not pleasant. On arrival at Lincoln we tumbled from the Lincoln and told the waiting undertaker to put the body into his vehicle. He wanted to see the papers for the body. We didn't have any papers. He then refused to accept the body. The tarmac was hot being Townsville and our Commanding Officer didn't stuff around. He went to his office and returned with a Service revolver. At the point of the gun he ordered the undertaker to take the body or he would be shot. Of course it was a bluff but the undertaker didn't know that and he took the body.
As a mark of respect, our crew, the CO and those airmen attending our arrival all stood at attention and saluted the poor soul in the hessian bag as the hearse was driven away by one seriously scared undertaker.
............................................................ ............................
In later years Dinny Ryan became an RAAF Air Traffic Controller. About 15 years ago I discovered that he now lived in Melbourne and I looked him up. I was a bit shocked to find him living like a hermit in a house badly in need of maintenance. We talked of the old days but his memory was fading so I didn't stay long. But I thanked him for saving my skin at the Mount Isa pub in 1955.
Last week I just happened to be driving in his suburb of Pascoe Vale and thought I would divert and see if he was still around.
As with other houses in the same row, his had been renovated but no one was home at the time. I talked to his next door neighbour who said Dinny had died of a stroke about seven years ago. She had watched over him as he grew more frail with the effect of increasing age and dementia. He was born in 1926 which means he would have been about 81 when he died. He was such a popular bloke in the RAAF.
Oh - and one more story about him. Once or twice a year a Lincoln would drop supplies to a bunch of meteorologists living at a weather station on a tiny island in the Coral Sea called Willis island. Normally a dummy run would be made across the strip of sand to warn the people below and to gauge the wind direction for the supply drop which consisted of "storpedos" dropped by parachute. But experience showed that a dummy run would really stir up the flocks of sea birds who nested on the island so it was decided to scrub the dummy run in favour of the one actual live drop. That way the sea birds were caught by surprise and the Lincoln was gone before the birds flocked airborne.
However on this occasion the pilot decided a dummy run was needed. That done, the aircraft lined up for the real thing but not before the captain (one Flt Lt K.K. Wilson forever known as KK) had swopped seat with his co-pilot Sgt Arthur Barnes (later Group Captain Arthur Barnes DFC AFC) Now KK knew about the bird strike danger which is maybe why he let Arthur fly from the left seat figuring if a bird went through the windscreen better the co-pilot got clobbered than the captain.
And that is exactly what happened. The birds flocked airborne after the dummy run and the Lincoln copped a bird right through the captain's windscreen where Arthur Barnes was flying. It smashed into his head and partially blinded him while the remains of the bird funnelled through the fuselage past the navigator who ducked in time. Meanwhile, Dinny Ryan was sitting on the fuselage floor next to the main spar and because there was no air-conditioning in the Lincoln he had his flying suit unzipped to his belly (SOP in those days) The remains of the bird came to a gory rest on Dinny's guts making a helluva mess. Dinny was shaken but unhurt.
KK flew the Lincoln back to Townsville from the RH seat and on arrival Arthur was carted off to hospital to get his eye fixed. The happy ending was that young Arthur Barnes fell for the attractive nurse Yvonne who gave him TLC and he later married her. Dinny Ryan got a new flying suit from RAAF stores and it was a happy ending for all.
Last edited by Centaurus; 17th Nov 2014 at 05:32.
I always wondered what happened to him and I'm very sad to hear this news. "Dinny" was a legend and an all-round good guy.
During a posting to Butterworth with Dinny in the '70's we all had so many laughs and great stories.
May he rest in peace...
PS: Speaking of his house Dinny purchased a new mower and decided to try it out when he brought it home only to discover that it might have worked better on grass than the carpet which was torn to shreds!
During a posting to Butterworth with Dinny in the '70's we all had so many laughs and great stories.
May he rest in peace...
PS: Speaking of his house Dinny purchased a new mower and decided to try it out when he brought it home only to discover that it might have worked better on grass than the carpet which was torn to shreds!
SQNLDR Colin (Dinny) Ryan
I have good memories of him at RAAF East Sale. In fact I qualified as a GCA controller there and I just looked at my graduation certificate with his signature on it as the CO. He was a good bloke, always ready for some humour. I remember him driving up and down from the Base to Sale in an electric blue Toyota Celica flying along happily and always ready for a chat. He certainly looked after us. RIP mate. Like I said, he was a good bloke.
