Vale Billy Vincent
Thread Starter
With a POB of 4 CME departed Tasmania for the Richmond bicentennial air show in 1988. After the Airshow finished CME then headed for Expo 88 in Brisbane. They landed on a gravel road beside an open cut mine near Scone, they enjoyed a night in tents & a fire to cook by. The next morning CME lined up on the gravel road, the landing gear hit a mount of rocks on takeoff spearing CME into the open cut mine. 3 deceased and one survivor. I spent a day with the survivor on the way home a week later at Newcastle Hospital. Very sad as I knew 2 of the deceased.
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1988/aair/aair198802398/
Regards RW
Skridlov, I will keep an eye out for Billy's Book for you.
Last edited by Rotor Work; 2nd Jun 2016 at 06:20.
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Billy V.
Met Billy in 78 when I flew into Smithton with a brand new IFR C185. Must have been blowing 25/30 kts,,, tied down and next thing Billy arrives (landing xwind on the taxiway) in this beat up C185, spun it around and jumped out unloading empty 44 gal drums and a few pax sitting on the floor. He was involved in a search for missing fishermen at the time in terrible conditions.
Billy came over and had a look at my C185 and said,, "sh!t,, thats too shiny for me!",,, what a character he was,,, I sure would love to read his book.
Zac
Billy came over and had a look at my C185 and said,, "sh!t,, thats too shiny for me!",,, what a character he was,,, I sure would love to read his book.
Zac
Thread Starter
Noticed this from ABC
I will have to a look at listening to the interview,
'Wings Over the Wild West' the tales of Billy Vincent - 16/02/2007
'Wings Over the Wild West' the tales of Billy Vincent
By Merian Ellis
Friday, 16/02/2007
Time to fasten your seatbelts! Today in our last episode of Wings Over the Wild West we are going to take you on a wild ride.
Stories about pilots always involve a few crashes, near death moments and the odd aerial stunt.
Tasmanian bush pilot Billy Vincent is no different with some of his most vivid memories involving hair-raising crises, calculated risks and emergency landings on remote beaches and rough bush tracks.
Billy said that despite the risks, if you couldn't have fun flying, it wasn't worth doing.
And not even family members were safe from his antics...
The series Wings Over The Wild West was produced by Merian Ellis for the Regional Production Fund and was assisted by Guy Nicholson from Penguin, who is writing a biography about Billy Vincent.
In this report: Billy Vincent, bush pilot from Somerset in northwest Tasmania
I will have to a look at listening to the interview,
'Wings Over the Wild West' the tales of Billy Vincent - 16/02/2007
'Wings Over the Wild West' the tales of Billy Vincent
By Merian Ellis
Friday, 16/02/2007
Time to fasten your seatbelts! Today in our last episode of Wings Over the Wild West we are going to take you on a wild ride.
Stories about pilots always involve a few crashes, near death moments and the odd aerial stunt.
Tasmanian bush pilot Billy Vincent is no different with some of his most vivid memories involving hair-raising crises, calculated risks and emergency landings on remote beaches and rough bush tracks.
Billy said that despite the risks, if you couldn't have fun flying, it wasn't worth doing.
And not even family members were safe from his antics...
The series Wings Over The Wild West was produced by Merian Ellis for the Regional Production Fund and was assisted by Guy Nicholson from Penguin, who is writing a biography about Billy Vincent.
In this report: Billy Vincent, bush pilot from Somerset in northwest Tasmania
Unfortunately the archive mentioned in the previous post doesn't have anything before 2011 so this radio piece doesn't appear to be available.
Unless I'm mistaken Bill's plane can be seen in the retrospective programme about Alan Whicker which has been shown in the UK. One of the segments in one episode - which covers Whicker's extensive career in television travel journalism - shows him being taken out to one of the NW Tasmanian islands (Trefoil? Three Hummocks?) where a couple were living in splendid isolation which relied to a great extent on resupply by air. It's even possible that this series appears somewhere on YouTube.
In response to one of the previous posts, as one of the people operating a self-funding mining operation at Balfour in the 70s, I'd like to point out that the attribution "alternative" to our small group there is somewhat, if not entirely, misleading. We weren't a bunch of indolent hippies; our existence was totally reliant on our capacity to extract Cassiterite ore - rather than growing turnips or raising goats. This entailed the construction and maintenance of a separation plant involving heavy equipment on a steep hillside - dangerous conditions.
It also required us to maintain ourselves in a primitive camp located in a clearing in a rain-forest throughout the year - generating our own electricity and water supplies etc. We were frequently working unbroken 30 day stretches in gruelling conditions, particularly in winter - the west coast gets about 80"of rain p.a. Access in and out was extremely difficult and apart from food supplies we needed large quantities of fuel. It would have been wonderful to have the use of the sort of equipment shown in programs such as "Gold Rush". Even a D7 was out of the question. We hauled in a generating plant and the associated cable, motors etc - about a 7 ton load - on one of the old Studebakers (nominal capacity 2.5 tons). The rivets were popping out of the chassis like bullets.
Bill Vincent was absolutely vital to our capacity to keep the operation going, as I've mentioned previously, as were many of the people of Circular Head. Communication was only possible because we were given a VHF radio associated with a small logging operation. This enabled us to get a message out which had then to be relayed to various suppliers, not to mention Bill. During the mutton-bird season he'd often buzz us and drop a couple of boxes of birds off, gratis, at our strip and at other times simply buzz the hill where we were working and throw a couple of rolled and tied up newspapers out of the window of the plane. What a terrific bloke he was.
Unless I'm mistaken Bill's plane can be seen in the retrospective programme about Alan Whicker which has been shown in the UK. One of the segments in one episode - which covers Whicker's extensive career in television travel journalism - shows him being taken out to one of the NW Tasmanian islands (Trefoil? Three Hummocks?) where a couple were living in splendid isolation which relied to a great extent on resupply by air. It's even possible that this series appears somewhere on YouTube.
In response to one of the previous posts, as one of the people operating a self-funding mining operation at Balfour in the 70s, I'd like to point out that the attribution "alternative" to our small group there is somewhat, if not entirely, misleading. We weren't a bunch of indolent hippies; our existence was totally reliant on our capacity to extract Cassiterite ore - rather than growing turnips or raising goats. This entailed the construction and maintenance of a separation plant involving heavy equipment on a steep hillside - dangerous conditions.
It also required us to maintain ourselves in a primitive camp located in a clearing in a rain-forest throughout the year - generating our own electricity and water supplies etc. We were frequently working unbroken 30 day stretches in gruelling conditions, particularly in winter - the west coast gets about 80"of rain p.a. Access in and out was extremely difficult and apart from food supplies we needed large quantities of fuel. It would have been wonderful to have the use of the sort of equipment shown in programs such as "Gold Rush". Even a D7 was out of the question. We hauled in a generating plant and the associated cable, motors etc - about a 7 ton load - on one of the old Studebakers (nominal capacity 2.5 tons). The rivets were popping out of the chassis like bullets.
Bill Vincent was absolutely vital to our capacity to keep the operation going, as I've mentioned previously, as were many of the people of Circular Head. Communication was only possible because we were given a VHF radio associated with a small logging operation. This enabled us to get a message out which had then to be relayed to various suppliers, not to mention Bill. During the mutton-bird season he'd often buzz us and drop a couple of boxes of birds off, gratis, at our strip and at other times simply buzz the hill where we were working and throw a couple of rolled and tied up newspapers out of the window of the plane. What a terrific bloke he was.
skridlov,
I'm very sorry for the offence I caused you. I didn't mean to imply that you were a bunch of indolent hippies. In general West Coasters are a hardy, hard working resoursful lot, including those who I flew to and from Balfor, all of whom showed me kindness and grace as I found my feet. There were also a group of hippy types, not indolent, and just as hardy, hard working and resourceful as the more conservative West Coast straight shooters.
pithblot.
I recon the couple 'living in splendid isolation' would be Commander John and Elenor Alliston. They were quite an eccentric and charming couple who raised a family on Three Hummock Island after John retired from the RAN. Bill relates a story (I think in the book) of supply runs for the Allistons involving dropping mail at the homestead to save a landing. On one occasion he also dropped some groceries with the mail, which missed the target and hit the roof. No big deal normally, except the groceries contained one frozen chicken...which made a chicken sized hole in the roof
There was a book written about Commander Alliston and his time in the Royal Australian Navy. I'm not sure if it's autobiographical. I think the title is Destroyer Man.
Bill also told me that while on the island Mrs Alliston used to write Mills & Boone romances under the pen name Minka Jones....
I'm very sorry for the offence I caused you. I didn't mean to imply that you were a bunch of indolent hippies. In general West Coasters are a hardy, hard working resoursful lot, including those who I flew to and from Balfor, all of whom showed me kindness and grace as I found my feet. There were also a group of hippy types, not indolent, and just as hardy, hard working and resourceful as the more conservative West Coast straight shooters.
pithblot.
I recon the couple 'living in splendid isolation' would be Commander John and Elenor Alliston. They were quite an eccentric and charming couple who raised a family on Three Hummock Island after John retired from the RAN. Bill relates a story (I think in the book) of supply runs for the Allistons involving dropping mail at the homestead to save a landing. On one occasion he also dropped some groceries with the mail, which missed the target and hit the roof. No big deal normally, except the groceries contained one frozen chicken...which made a chicken sized hole in the roof
There was a book written about Commander Alliston and his time in the Royal Australian Navy. I'm not sure if it's autobiographical. I think the title is Destroyer Man.
Bill also told me that while on the island Mrs Alliston used to write Mills & Boone romances under the pen name Minka Jones....
Last edited by pithblot; 2nd Jun 2016 at 11:34.
No offence taken. BTW the white MK5 Jag which was used as our company car was kept at Smithton airport - with the key in the exhaust pipe. Not something you'd do today even in Smithton, I'd imagine. When I was in the area almost nobody ever locked their cars or their houses. It was a great place and time to be in one's early 30s.
And yes you're right about the couple on Three Hummock.
Also I'm trying to get access to the radio programme that someone linked a reference to earlier in the thread. I'll put it up if ABC oblige.
And yes you're right about the couple on Three Hummock.
Also I'm trying to get access to the radio programme that someone linked a reference to earlier in the thread. I'll put it up if ABC oblige.
What a lot of people don't realise about Billy was that for the majority (all perhaps?) of his flying career, he only had a private pilots licence. While this is no reflection on his flying skills, it sure pissed off the DCA.
I'm a bit surprised that relatively few people are posting anecdotes about Bill (or the Jaegers for that matter.) In the latter case I seem to recall something about panicked sheep being jettisoned over Bass straight.... But I guess sheep don't post here (cue witticisms.)
It's worth reiterating that Bill's abilities made him the primary resource for S&R work in the NW which created an ambivalence about prosecuting him
The first time I met Billy, he gave me a long hard stare and raised an eyebrow after I introduced myself followed by; "what ya say ya name was?" After that we got on fine. It wasn't until I read his book that I discovered that his family and my relatives were sworn enemies from childhood and encounters often resulted in fisticuffs. Sadly you can't pick your relatives!
Balfour_jpeg-.jpg
That was taken some time in late 78 or early 79. We'd just acquired the tipper which had been meticulously renovated - everything worked, even the brakes (at least for a short period), which were something we'd learned to do without on its brother flat bed. Working on that hill you needed to be in the correct gear at all times in the absence of brakes... The front axle could be engaged when required and in low ratio first gear the PTO winch would pull at roughly the same rate as the wheels rotated which was something very useful as we were frequently bogged during the transit of the forest section of the track (The Gap) which was bottomless mud. The Studebakers used a lot of gas - as you'd expect of 7L 6cyl side-valve motors being used in low gears most of the time.
Last time I was down at Balfour, in Jan 2001, the flat bed was still driveable although, like myself, no longer in pristine condition - snap attached. I'm not sure where the tipper ended up. I'll post a few more pix - and I hope they don't seem too irrelevant to the substance of this memorial thread because without Bill's help our enterprise would have been almost impossible. I've added a gratuitous snap of an unusual recreational off-road vehicle for the benefit of military vehicle enthusiasts.
Last time I was down at Balfour, in Jan 2001, the flat bed was still driveable although, like myself, no longer in pristine condition - snap attached. I'm not sure where the tipper ended up. I'll post a few more pix - and I hope they don't seem too irrelevant to the substance of this memorial thread because without Bill's help our enterprise would have been almost impossible. I've added a gratuitous snap of an unusual recreational off-road vehicle for the benefit of military vehicle enthusiasts.
Last edited by skridlov; 4th Jun 2016 at 12:53. Reason: typos
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Hi Skridlov...... I well remember occasionally flying you guys and equipment down to Balfour from Smithton and sometimes Wynyard around 1976 to 1978 when Billy wasn't available. It would have been in either the C206 VH-PGJ or C182 VH-KNW. I used to like Balfour as it was one of the better strips we used to fly in to!
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Hello skridlov Marty gave me the link to this Forum great to share memories of Bill V.Bill showed me one of his tricks to short field landings...........retract the flaps just before touch down "you don't want the thing still trying to fly when you want it to stick on the ground".Found another pic at the Balfour air strip.Cheers David L
Thread Starter
I have found two copies of Billy Vincent's Bush Pilot, Book.
They are both used, but in good order.
If anyone is interested please send me a PM.
Regards RW
They are both used, but in good order.
If anyone is interested please send me a PM.
Regards RW
Flew that 206 in Kununurra in the 90s supercharger - if I recall correctly the engine was tired and developed a crankcase crack, after an engine change it flew great. The airframe was ok and if my memory serves me well it had a Robertson Stol Kit on it. I think it's still somewhere in the west.
Last edited by Duck Pilot; 30th Jul 2016 at 21:41.
how good is this? blokes who can talk about Billy now without restraint. who in fact knew the old curmudgeon far better than those such as i whose only personal reminisce can be of a few chance encounters over a dinner here or a fuel stop there, and maybe a few drinks (actually, I can't t recall that Bill was a drinker at all) . We shared a table one night in a marque at a big two day airshow the air force put on at RAAF Richmond. Airlines of Tas ran a Heron up there with father (KS) and son (DS) in the wheelhouse . . (What a merry throng we were. I have a bunch of photos taken in that packed Heron going up and coming back) Bill was in full flight that night as far as wanting a ready ear to hear of his many run ins with the despised traps, as he called them. His story about flying his fourteen year old daughter to the mainland for medical treatment , picking up a few sacks of MB on the way back, then being pulled over at Smithton , having his cargo tipped out, torn apart, searched on suspicion of drugs , then strip searching both he and daughter, had me, to put it mildly, slack-jawed in disbelief. . (When Bill launched into a long involved story you knew you were in the company of an inveterate yarn spinner, one who could warm to his tale like a Henry Lawson character steeped in bush lore) .
One thing I do remember clearly. He said that he was writing it all down. He said that when the time came, maybe he'd be dead, but when the time came , one person in particular who had been the instigator of much of his grief , would finally be brought to brook.. A bearer of false witness, is what he said. His quiet, bitter, smouldering angst was almost palpable,. .
On the strength of what he recounted that night, I could name names. I could be party to a campaign to clear formally the name and reputation of the man. Would he want that ? Would he like the muck-raking that would ensue were people required to speak under oath? Bush- lawyer that he was, maybe so. What a can of worms, you can be sure, would be opened. The depth of bitter hatreds, and rancour, that seem to be a feature of much of Tasmanian life, to generalise , is something more extreme than perhaps is the case more broadly throughout Australia . The late Margaret Scott, such an astute observer of people and society , characterised it as an extreme polarisation. I got to know Margaret pretty well in the years I was based at Port Arthur on the Maules of the late T.M. (of whom I can only speak with some bitterness , I have to say. The planes were not his anyway, They were paid for by his brother-in-law, IW, in Sydney.
Getting back to the dear Margaret though. She had a beautiful analogy for Tasmanian life , in that when she was making jam, the little muslin bag through which the fruit would slowly strain into the bowl beneath , reminded her of the mainland and the island state beneath , , that is the bottle containing the fruit was the mainland, and the bag beneath being vaguely in the shape of Tasmania, meant for her that all the essence was concentrated in this bag . I got it pretty quickly. She did not have to elaborate this time for Mister Slow , on her analogy.
When I asked Bill at that dinner what he would do with the book he was writing he said something to the effect that one or two persons he had put in there would one day want to turn in their graves. He also said it could not be published during his lifetime.
One thing I do remember clearly. He said that he was writing it all down. He said that when the time came, maybe he'd be dead, but when the time came , one person in particular who had been the instigator of much of his grief , would finally be brought to brook.. A bearer of false witness, is what he said. His quiet, bitter, smouldering angst was almost palpable,. .
On the strength of what he recounted that night, I could name names. I could be party to a campaign to clear formally the name and reputation of the man. Would he want that ? Would he like the muck-raking that would ensue were people required to speak under oath? Bush- lawyer that he was, maybe so. What a can of worms, you can be sure, would be opened. The depth of bitter hatreds, and rancour, that seem to be a feature of much of Tasmanian life, to generalise , is something more extreme than perhaps is the case more broadly throughout Australia . The late Margaret Scott, such an astute observer of people and society , characterised it as an extreme polarisation. I got to know Margaret pretty well in the years I was based at Port Arthur on the Maules of the late T.M. (of whom I can only speak with some bitterness , I have to say. The planes were not his anyway, They were paid for by his brother-in-law, IW, in Sydney.
Getting back to the dear Margaret though. She had a beautiful analogy for Tasmanian life , in that when she was making jam, the little muslin bag through which the fruit would slowly strain into the bowl beneath , reminded her of the mainland and the island state beneath , , that is the bottle containing the fruit was the mainland, and the bag beneath being vaguely in the shape of Tasmania, meant for her that all the essence was concentrated in this bag . I got it pretty quickly. She did not have to elaborate this time for Mister Slow , on her analogy.
When I asked Bill at that dinner what he would do with the book he was writing he said something to the effect that one or two persons he had put in there would one day want to turn in their graves. He also said it could not be published during his lifetime.
Last edited by Fantome; 30th Jul 2016 at 21:31.
ERM didn't smell of mutton birds when I flew it, they must have cleaned it out pretty well before we got it.
Found Billy's book recently when unpacking from our recent house move, might be time to read it again!
Found Billy's book recently when unpacking from our recent house move, might be time to read it again!
Bil told me that Frank J's health had been in decline following his second marriage. If I copied correctly, Frank all his life hitherto had enjoyed s beer and a smoke after knocking off for the day. After the new nuptials his nursing sister wife imposed some prohibition rules regarding drinking and smoking. This sudden change upset, allegedly, Frank's physiological tolerances to the extent that before long, unbeknown , abstinence took, so to speak, it's toll. (In other words, you may be poisoning yourself over time, but the body has acclimatised itself to the punishment . And the mind is often in these circumstances far more content or tranquil. . . . such as when puffing on a pipe. Beware suddenly going cold turkey.)
Carl J had a Tiger Moth that he force landed way out in the button grass or horizontal , The Tiger ended up inverted before he extricated himself and awaited rescue. The late Jack Koerbin had a low level aerial newspaper shot of the Tiger on her back. l
Carl J had a Tiger Moth that he force landed way out in the button grass or horizontal , The Tiger ended up inverted before he extricated himself and awaited rescue. The late Jack Koerbin had a low level aerial newspaper shot of the Tiger on her back. l