The things you find
 

Shouldn't this be in that other thread: 'Mile High Club Comes to Australia'? :uhoh:

BOOM...BOOM...!!!

Cheeerrrsss…….

You should see the things I've been getting to look through! 5 logbooks containing over 18,000 hours of flight starting with the Tiger Moth, on to the Mustang, DC3 ending with the B727. Magnificent. Lucky fellas that generation.

No they're bloody not! They tell a huge story. If you are serious about their demise, I'll give you a postal address, I'll make sure they're looked after!

Probably should clarify a little and perhaps a better use of words! Yes, getting shot at wouldn't be pleasant.

A great generation, enduring The Great Depression, WW2, coming through all of that, forging a career in some great aircraft they could hand fly. And I've heard not one whinge or complaint.

My father's logbooks show him flying the following:
Tiger Moth
Anson
Botha
Blenheim
Wellington
Halifax II
C47
and then into the airline:
Lancastrian (flew as captain after 1.7 hrs dual), and on one trip flew 68 hrs in 5 days. That's over 13 hrs a day, 5 in a row.
Shorts flying boat
Hythe flying boat
back onto Lancastrian
DC4 (no apparent logged dual checks, straight in as captain)
Constellation, after 6.7 day and 1.5 night dual.

Don't throw out those logbooks, they are a source of history. Particularly when you read the entry where he ditches in the sea and logs 3.5 hrs dinghy time.

I have 5 logbooks covering 5 decades. And I can tell you, they contain nothing interesting!
Just lots of ups and downs and boring bits in between.

However, my Father’s logbooks. Now they are worth a read.

The RAAF Museum at Point Cook might be interested in having log books that have military flying hours. Also the Civil Aviation Historical Society museum at Essendon Airport for other log books. Either way, they will be in good hands.

I was pleasantly surprised that my daughter has laid claim to my logbooks which started with the Tiger in Nasho and mainly instructing on 50 GA type A/C

Please do not dismiss your logbooks as worthless or uninteresting. Source documents are incredibly important to historians. Remember, history is not just politicians and battles, it is also about what individuals have done and achieved. Your logbooks help to tell a tale about the times in which you lived.

Agree 100%

I'll make that suggestion, after I've finished drooling over them!

Did a lot of time with Rod Pyke in Viscounts and DC9's in the 60's. A pleasure to fly with and drink a few beers with. Rod was with MMA after the war before joining Ansett. He was Jimmy Woods f/0 when they lost an engine on t/o out of Broome. Ended up on the mudflats east of the rwy. Luckily the tide was out and several hours later after they had waded through the mud to shore the Lockheed 10 was totally submerged.

Emeritus

Agree wholeheartedly on that point. I was 16 when I did my first flight in 1948. It was in Lockheed Hudson freighter VH-SMK of the Sydney Morning Herald Flying Services at Camden NSW, flown by Harry Purvis AFC. Harry used to fly the Southern Cross and was the chief engineer for Sir Charles Kingsford Smith universally known as "Smithy."

The Hudson was on a test flight after an engine change so Harry Purvis invited some of the ground staff along for the 30 minute ride. Being a cargo aircraft there were no seat belts so we sat on the cold metal fuselage floor - about six of us. On descent my ears hurt like hell because no one told me how to clear my ears. The noise of the engines on takeoff was horrendous as there was no sound-proofing on cargo Hudsons.

It was then I started my first log book - or should I say a log sheet, which I drew up myself. Very neatly drawn too if I say so myself. I logged 30 minutes of passenger time. Over the next year I logged 19 hours on Hudsons and 120 hours on VH-SMI and VH-SMH which were freighter DC3's. As one of my jobs was to throw newspapers out of the back door of these aircraft in a form of low level aerial delivery, I was told I could log the time as supernumerary crew. It was bulldust really but the pilots went along with my youthful enthusiasm and signed my log sheet after each flight. The pilots would let me fly straight and level in the DC3's and allowed me to stand behind the pilots and watch the takeoff and landings. It was the perfect job for a scruffy teen-ager. . I even had the Flight Superintendent, Captain Doug Swain DFC sign the log sheet each month. It meant nothing to Doug Swain of course as I was only a kid, but I treasured that log sheet for years. It was lost during my moves in the RAAF.

Bought my first official civvy log book in March 1951 and first official dual flight was on 3 March 1951 in Tiger Moth VH-BNM of the Kingsford Smith Flying School at Bankstown. Instructor was either Stan Birtus or Jan Kingma. I forget which. Their accents were so thick I couldn't understand a word they shouted down the Gosport Tube intercom. Did eight hours dual with various instructors until Bill Burns sent me solo in VH-AUO on 26 May 1951. Bill had flown Hudsons in WW2 and did part time instructing at Bankstown; although his main job was the Qantas Flight Safety Manager. He was the perfect instructor and in later years I realised how fortunate enough I was to have him as an instructor. His ARN was 1524. Now that is seniority..
Next log book was RAAF issue which I got for free as were the rest of my flying hours thank goodness as I had no money

So yes, you are right when you wrote " Your logbooks help to tell a tale about the times in which you lived."

My grandfather who passed away prior to me having a serious attempt at flying was only a PPL but he had around 3000 hours flying but gave it away in the 80’s. I never talked to him too much about his flying adventures but I’ve been given his flight bag. Unfortunately it only has his last logbook with no more that a few months filled in, so I’ve no idea what he got up to apart from the last bit which is pretty disappointing, I’d love to get my hands on his original. Log books are very interesting to the right person and I hope one day someone would be as interested in reading mine as I am with my grandfathers.

Pilots often relate how our Instructors and the previous generation of pilots lived through an interesting time in aviation. But us Baby Boomers saw a lot of changes also and one did not have to be in a airline to experience those changes.

From doing circuits in Chippies and C150s through to International flying at speeds faster and higher than some of the airline aircraft. From looking for a star picket in the middle of the Australian desert using WAC charts to crossing oceans using GPS. From surveying the un-mapped Indonesia Islands to flying Heads of State. Landing at a small grass airfield in Central West NSW and having all the pupils from the local State School turn up unannounced to have a look because you were the first to land a jet there. Spending all night just to pickup an esky on an organ retrieval flight

Sure we may not have retired on mega bucks but we had a ball.

So Logbooks do tell a tale. You may have lived it as if flashed past but your children and grandchildren may look through those Logbooks in wonder at what you did with what you had.

When I look back at my Father and Grandfather lives I can only find snippets of their lives in newspapers and Govt archives. With Logbooks one nearly has a day by day look at a person's life and experiences.