"the budding authors club"
 

SHARPIE
tks those email contacts - kwik and easy and cheap - sounds like an old girlfriend of mine - your name came up when having a xxxx with "argus tuft" at the reunion - we recalled having a sp or 3 with yourself and whycho in pom when we x-hired sq to cover some mtc on the a310 - i think sq gave those jobs to old pngers who might still have a rough idea where pom was - must have been when px had the good sense to only have one a310 - nice work if you can get it but hard to make the $$$ work with 1 line a/c plus 1 ops/mtc spare - and i think suzie might have joined us later in the night - you and i had a few words about something which must have been mighty important because we couldn't remember for love nor money what it was about - neither love nor money is something either of us easy going chaps would normally argue about so it must have been to do with some aspect of px ops mgmt or some other great mystery of life - whycho was referee and i think his decision was we both lost - being a polite visitor "argus" wouldn't comment on the decision but said it was my shout anyway - the story of my life - and welcome to the budding author's club - with 100 pages in the can you're 100 pages ahead of me altho there is a good amount of material coming in - i have this vague "xxxx" plan in my head that once i put pen to paper if i just write one page per day for 365 days i'll probably be close to having a book - great plan but i'm sure it won't work anything like that - we'll see how we go - cheers

Jeezus - Sharpie and Shocking start writing books the lawyers are going to make a killing - out of divorce and libel actions!!!

:}

Woomera

Yeah. Been both sides of the fence and like one of my long-time drinking mates, even sat astride it at times.

One page per day eh? Sounds great and I read somewhere that writing a book was a piece of p..... You get a front page, a rear page then just fill-up the in between!

Lawyers? Did not Shakespeare advise to shoot the lot! Have a few here who could teach fred astaire how to move his number 7's.

Anyway, both great ideas and let's hope something good or humerous comes from it all but maski long lusim tumas diwai long PNG.

Sharpie & Barryhoc; Please may I have personally autographed copies of your books when published?:ok: Even though reading them will really bring it home to me that I missed out on all the real fun.:{
Chuckles; You still have'nt told us how you managed to escape the princess's brother intact after declining her services. :E

You only live twice. Once when
you're born. Once when
you've looked death in the face.

various
 

FANTOME
further to PM - on other points in yr msg - (1) TAA-NG still had a Catalina - it must have been 1965 because I was very new - I remember john simmler - who I didn't get to know very well - and graham "fatty" Hawkins - who I got to know very well - and perhaps a 2nd F/O - and I think engnr peter braybon - ferried it to HKG - (see correction later in thread) regretably I never got to fly in one - the same graham Hawkins bought a Seabee when he was based in lae in the late 60's - it went from there to Mel/Vic when graham went pinis - and later Alan Searle flew it up to mission beach where I think they taxied (?) it from the beach up the road to became a display at the hotel/motel resort - (2) never had much to do with masling - (3) Eddie connellan came to ng to have a look at the twin otters when TAA first got them - we gave him a good look around for a week or so mainly with the same graham Hawkins (above) who had worked for connellan prior TAA - we were most impressed when Eddie had a group of us to dinner at the fairly new gateway hotel in Pom as a thank you before he left - esp as it involved trvl lae-Pom-lae and o/nite accomm - (4) re EWA I knew Bryan grey from ansett-ng and later compass - and my friend and gm from bushies/bpa/air qld Ron Entsch was also there after TAA bought air qld out from under ANSETT'S nose - Paul minehah and Dave soden were there at various times - and quite a few of the airng f28 pilots were prev with EWA - (5) never had much to do with a/lines of tas - (6) I've never met Jim Sinclair but he is a near neighbour just down the road at Buderim - I have a fone referral thru a mutual acquaintance - I will be seeking his advce when I get a bit further advanced - I have a copy of his "golden gateway" book on morobe province - (7) Bryan McCook was the baron pilot in item (3) in the book preamble - (8) I didn't know the Howells - that about covers it I think - cheers

PINKY THE PILOT
thy will be done and it will be a pleasure - i just hope i get it to that stage - cheers

Yeh ok woomi i sober .
Got Barry Hocking referring to a "Bryan" McCook now.
Um...:confused:

Well well well..... Barryhoc - A PPRuNe Virgin tru. It's been a while. I thought your day dealing had made you a billionaire and you had build a pad on the Gold Coast.!!I think there should be a book written with contributors from ex Pixies and others, including "Mad Barry's Airlines"!!
Ones retirement from PNG dims the mind and makes one muse over the friendly exchanges, when they weren't so friendly in situ.
Welcome to Disneyland a la Proon Mate.! Taildragger alias the Mad axemans victim.!

Barry,

Methinks that Tataa's Catalina was still operating in 1966 and was later used as fire practice at Jacksons and then a lot later, may have been taken to NZ for the Auckland Transport Museum.
Last I had contact with John Simmler, he was in Hong Kong. Would have to be retired by now.

I still think that a 3rd A310 would have helped expand to satisfy the ever increasing demand for charters, but the kiwi bean counter would not go that way. Maybe just as well, as we were selling the bus for something like US$5500/hour. less than the pocket rocket!

But all may be revealed from Bomana dark dungeons!

correction
 

SHARPIE / FANTOME
re tataa's catalina (vh-sbv) - correction noted - tku plenti tumas - altho i'm a bit confused now - maybe i was thinking about a return flt from mtc in honkers - which might have occurred early 1965 - before being retired early 1966 and used for firedrill at jacksons as you suggest - i'll get my research dept to check it out - after i mow the lawn etc - god it's enough to make a man thirsty - cheers

lapun i-gat tamiok long baksait
 

TAILDRAGGER (dero ples nem - "old axe in back")
g'day mate - and far too long betwwen drinks - we had to cncl the last in apr03 when you had a more important appointment at the haus sik - trust all goes as well as can be expected - the share trading continues but with limited success - ie i'm losing money but i'm happy -
re matters aviation/literary there'll be plenty of 'before and after ' in "TAA-NG" and i'm hoping there will be some who'd like their two bob's worth from both "air nogat" and "mad barry's airlines" - that last old nickname raised a smile and a few memories - i'd like a carton of barbed wire beer for every time i had to deny any financial involvement - ever time we x-hired a dornier or twotter (or perhaps even the citation) the question was raised - and it didn't help when i started using their new air-conditioned bus to do our crew pick-ups - director's offices - herr gm's office - boardroom - we denied it here - we denied it there - we denied it everywhere - i was told the matter was even raised in parliment - at one stage i think the real owner thought it ncessary to make a press statement to that effect - (the full story will be in the book)
you're dead right about time playing mind games - you'll see elsewhere where sharpie had to starighten me out on the detail of an operation from taim bilong bipo - for me of course TAA-NG was aviation camelot and as with camelot - fact and fiction - lies and legends - tall tales and true - are becoming blurred in the mists of an old ops bloke's mind - as well as a lot of others i'm constantly informed - and that's why i'm going to try and write it down
both "air nogat" and "mad barry's airlines" had their moments but these were in another place in another time - i remember them both as "interesting" rather than places of great achievement and/or satisfacion - with "fond regard" as opposed to say "great affection"
emi inap

barryhoc

Not being picky but it would make it easier to read your lengthy posts if you used capital letters as appropriate.

Lukim Yu

OOoooooooooohhhhhh Pussy Pussy....get another saucer of milik for Hanoi then.!!
However, one is reminded of the punctuation Police failing to spot the War report from the Journos embedded with the Desert Rats, when they filed a report entilted "British push bottles up Germans" One comma would have made sense of it all, but would not have added to the humour.!!

NOT WRIT PROPER
 

You really are a hard man HANOI. But i guess there's not much chance for a book if "it ain't writ proper". There's an excuse of course. Laziness. There's a reason. It makes it easier and quicker for a very ordinary two-fingered typist. And there's a story (there's always a story), but it's rather lengthy so i won't post it here. But i'll do the best i can to oblige in future, starting right now. Cheers.

Re the Catalina. I travelled in the Cat to Samarai around 1964 (back on the Beeps M.V. Bulolo). I suspect the Cat ceased services before 1966 as it sat at the marine base for some time before the engines were removed and Bill Chapman bought the airframe for a reputed one shilling. The Air Museum did not eventuate so the aircraft was removed to Jacksons for the firies, probably around 1966.

Sharpie is correct. The Cat ended up in New Zealand.

CATALINA...getting close now
 

"BALUS" vol 2 states vh-sbv was back on the "SUNDUCK" service "in march 1965" after a flight to HKG "in DEC 1964".Jan 05 1966 is noted as the last scheduled service, and 10 cents as the sale price to the group with plans for an aviation museum, and confirms the aircraft going to NZ "many years later".
TAA engnr Peter Braybon, writing after vh-sbv was retired, noted Jan 02 1966 as the date "the aircraft was retired from service".Peter added, "several trips were undertaken, the most interesting being to Mortlock and Tasman Islands, and to Hong Kong in DEC 1964, via Guam and the Philippines, for extensive corrosion repairs."

There was a Cat fuse parked on a hill[1970] not far from the Dero in POM?
Also standing beside the dero was a bewt Wirraway complete with tattered fabric.
And who would ever forget the P38 in the swamp.

tinny

Was it a Wirraway? My junior spotters book had it listed as a Boomerang.

Have vague memories of bits of a P-47 stored in the same area?

Yeh was a Wirraway Cooda.I dont know who got it.
Sharpie probably remember.

Seem to remember a Wirraway on display at the old CAA Training College at Six Mile in the early 70's. Don't know what became of it.
Across the road , in the woodyard going up to the old Erma Motel was the remains of a P-39 Airocobra.
On the south side of Bootless Bay, just off the shore , were the bones of three B24's in a row.
The attempted recovery of the P-38 from the Waigani Swamp was a story in itself , can anybody give details.

The Wirraway was moved from the CAA Training College to the Aero Club and the engine was often run-up. I think some of the lads were going to restore it to flying status but there may have been a few prtoblems with log books and ownership.

To best of my knowledge, it went back to the RAAF for restoration.

I'm not sure about the Waigani Swamp P38 recovery, but the P47 recover was a disaster after cutting the wings off and the fuse in half to transport it back to the(?) museum. Sad, as only a few years later the aircraft could have been lifted by chopper without further damage.

Go to Pacific Wrecks as Leahy runs a informative website.