---

"Col began flying back in the 60’s under a scholarship with the Royal Aero
Club. He trained on Chipmunks. He joined a syndicate that operated a
Fairchild Argus for some time, then he bought a new Piper Lance so that he
could commute between Sydney and his farm near Quirindi. I’m not sure
exactly when, but he then bought a Tiger Moth. After doing some 1500 hrs
in it, he sold the Lance.

"I first met Col when Bruce Simpson, Pete Walker and I were putting
together Harvard VH-HAR at Bankstown. He had just imported an SNJ that was
to become VH-USS. This would have been around 1985. He had the engine
zero-timed, and so USS was pristine. Col became one of AWAL’s early
members when the organization formed.

"I think it must have been in the early 90’s that Col bought the Beech
Bonanza VH-WDV. He had the aeroplane stripped and repainted, and the
interior redone. Col loved that aeroplane, and used it regularly to
commute to his new farm, Glencoe Station, west of Coonamble.

"In the year 2000 Norm Longfield acquired the as-brand-new Harvard VH-DGP,
but didn’t have a pilot’s licence at the time. Thus Col in USS, Pete
Walker in HAR, (Pete died a few years ago), and Norm and I in DGP flew
quite a bit together. We did trips to Col’s farm, Canberra, Jindabyne,
Nowra, Scone, Bathurst, and NSW north coast with the 3 T-6s. Later, after
Norm got trained-up on the T-6, I added the Tora-Tora Zeke so that we
became a 4-ship force! Those were probably the most enjoyable of my flying
days.

"Col eventually sold the Tiger Moth, then in 2001 Col and I bought
Australia’s first (and I think only) L-29 Delphin, and got it flying. We
had it for 4 years. After that Charlie Camilleri and I put L-39 VH-LCJ
into the air, and Col flew with me in it a number of times.

"In 2003 we both decided to obtain IFR ratings, and it was a competition
between us to be first to qualify. I won, but only just! Col quickly
became a confident and capable instrument pilot, and racked up many IFR
hours in the Bonanza.

"During those busy years Col also found time to go to Florida and train on
the Stallion 51 P-51 Mustang. He did about 20 hours in it, and obtained a
letter of authorization.

"Our last flight together was in December 2012, in my C337. We went to his
farm for a couple of days. Col’s health had begun to affect him, and he
wasn’t prepared to be PIC, but he enjoyed getting in the air even in the
right-hand seat.

"Col will be buried at Rookwood Cemetery (Christian Section) on Tuesday,
11am. This is mainly for family, but all are welcome.

"The celebration of Col’s life is at All Saints Church, Hunters Hill, on
Wednesday at 11am. There will then be a wake at 1pm at the Hunters Hill
Bowling Club."

---