NEWS Published by the Aviation Historical Society of Inc. A0033653P, ARBN 092-671-773 Volume 33 Number 4 (Published September, 2017) Editor: Dion Makowski All images by editor unless otherwise credited email: [email protected] Website: www.ahsa.org.au (memberships available) facebook: look for us under Aviation Historical Society of Australia

Obituary On Friday 30 June 2017 an era came to a close with the death at age 77, of Aviation Historian extraordinaire John Hopton. John was a foundation member of AHSA and its offshoot the Moorabbin Air Museum being a life member of both. His collection of data and images pertaining to Australian Aviation History was accumulated over a lifetime of photography and diligent archival research making him an expert second to none. He developed his own method of storing and retrieving this data well before computers whose value he recognised and embraced as soon as they were sufficiently developed. John maintained a vast network of fellow historians globally, exchanging information and images, first by mail then via computer. A pro‐ lific contributor to our Journal his name can be found in hundreds of aviation books and magazines as a valued author and contributor. John was always available to assist and mentor those persons showing a genuine desire for help in any aviation research or writing. He had a photographic memory for things Aviation and Books, a wicked sense of humour and a more than passing acquaintance with music, the arts and wood work. Those of us privileged to have him as a friend and work with him closely found him to be scathing of less than perfect work but always ready to teach and help us overcome our deficiencies. John, by Government default was the one stop, " Australian Aviation Archive". Sadly we have lost a great histo‐ rian, tutor and friend but, he will live on in the legacy of his work. Vale John . RJ.

John is survived by his sister Helen. The attached image is of him in his office discussing aeronautics with Trevor Boughton, foundation member of AHSA on 16 September, 2009.

President’s Column

PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS Welcome to this issue of the AHSA Newsletter. Below are a few items that I feel will be of interest to members. As I have noted before both the editor of this newsletter, Dion, and the editor of the Journal, Aviation Heritage, would both like to hear from members with news or articles that they can run in their respective publications. The motto is your news should be the member’s news.

PC Virus. A lot of us use computers for our recording and communication work. Now most will recall that in recent months there has been a lot of media pub‐ licity about computers in the commercial field having an attack by ransomeware. What is a ransomeware attack? To put it in simple terms it is an attack from persons unknown, from some unknown location around the world, who put a virus into a computer and demand a ransom to remove it. The attack locks the computers files and you cannot get access to them. The payment is to be made in Bitcoins so there is no known way to track the offending party. There is no gurantee that even if you paid the ransom that the virus would be released from the computer files.

Now you ask how does one get a dose of this virus? The most common way is to open a file that then downloads the virus and locks your computer and its records. That file could be as simple as an email telling you that you have won a prize or asking to fill out a survey. The clue can often be to look at the senders address and if it does not match the subject matter then be very wary. Often the spelling is poor and there may not be good graphics to go with the email. I got a dose of this virus in 2016. It locked my files, but not my email, and demanded a Bitcoin ransom that equated to about A$820. I declined and got my computer geek in to look at the issue. He was able to get rid of the virus in the locked files but I lost two years of files. Imagine my thoughts. What is the lesson from all this?

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The main thing is to be very wary of any incoming email that you are not expecting or looks a bit odd or strange. Be prepared to delete it to pre‐ vent an attack. Understand that greed is a human negative so do not believe that you have won a lottery that you have not entered. That survey that ask questions is the same. The promised free holiday with the enter here button could well be a virus about to be given the green light – by you.

There are several ways to try and get around this issue. One is to have an external hard drive back up and every few days back up your records and files. Do isolate that external hard drive when not using you PC so that it cannot be accessed by a virus.

For files that have less priority another way is to send them to yourself. If they get into the incoming emails they, in my case at least, were not affected by the virus that attacked the record files. The summary is, be wary of anything not expected or that looks a bit odd. Think before you open any incoming email.

The wrong press of a button could end up with a lot of heartache.

COLLECTIONS It is unfortunate to record the passing of members with the end result that their collections of photos, books and other records are left to whoever to dispose of. As we have seen sometimes those records are simply dumped and lost forever. A disaster in our minds.

It is to be noted that a lot of our brethren in the aviation historical field are part of the baby boomers bubble passing through time. They were born in the period of 1945 to around 1960 and that massive bubble of people of a like age are now moving through the years. In the late 50s’ and 60s’ and onwards they were aviation enthusiasts as well as house buyers, car buyers and of course getting married. Some bought aircraft but that in‐ volvement has peaked with time and interest. Now we see that baby boomers bubble reaching an age where there is more interest in overseas holidays and river cruises and concern with how long their superannuation will last.

This leads back to the issue of disposal of one’s collection. This subject has been in previous issues of this column and it will continue. In recent times an aviation friend dropped me a few words on how he plans to dispose of his collection. He is an avid aviation book collector and has a large collection in his man cave. I have seen his old man cave. It was impressive and included not only books but other aviation artifacts and ‘stuff’ that he had acquired over the years. Aware that he is closer to the end than the beginning he has chosen to move the majority of his collection to an acquired hangar. The hangar has become a warehouse. There he has batched his book collection into various groups. He has catalogued and pho‐ tographed the batches so that on his demise the executor will be very able to put the whole lot up for sale via an illustrated catalogue with a de‐ scription of the items in the various batches.

VALE MEMBERS It is with much regret to advise the passing of members of the AHSA. Member John Hopton passed away on June 30 at Dandenong, Vic. He was aged 77.

John was probably the best know aviation historian in Australia. He did not write bulk books but did write a series of monographs on various sub‐ jects. He also contributed to a number of author's books in Australia and overseas. The A.J.Jackson British Civil Aircraft books have numerous Aus‐ tralian details that came via John. John was a character in his own right and did not want a formal funeral or event to note his passing. In spite of that a gathering of friends and contacts was held at the Australian National Aviation Museum (Moorabbin Air Museum) on Saturday September 9. Some 40 people present heard a précis of John’s life from friend and MC, Roland Jahne. John was a founding member of the AHSA and the Austra‐ lian Aircraft Restoration Group. He may be gone but John’s legacy will be long felt. R.I.P.

AHSA Inc ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – 23rd August 2017 Treasurer's Report

The year finished with an overall profit of $7100 compared with a prior year loss of $840.

This turnaround in operating profit was mainly due to lower expenses in Journal production and distribution ($5084). This was achieved through the benefits of digital printing and the change to a bulk mailing system. There was also a small net increase in membership fees of $789 after de‐ ducting $648 received this year for fees due in the prior year 2015‐16, as referred to in last year’s treasurer’s report. The amount of pre‐paid memberships now stands at $280, compared to $2408 at 30th June 2017.

The money in the PayPal account at 30th June was transferred to the Business Cheque account in July 2017. At the same time donations received during the year $1125 were also transferred to the Publications and Research account. Our net worth has increased accordingly and now stands at $43,206. This is an increase of $4973 (prior year $38,233). The accounts for the year 2016‐17 were audited by Lionel Robert Arnold CA from J L Collyer and Partners.

Robert Van Woerkom ‐ Treasurer

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Membership Secretary Report for AGM

Total Membership is now 287. This is an overall increase of 1 member as at the same time last year.

This number includes 30 from AHSA (NSW) Inc., 7 overseas members, 18 Australian organisations and 2 international organisations.

The balance consists of 230 individual members from all Australian states. Included are 14 Honorary and Life members.

It is interesting to note we had 25 new members which was almost offset by 24 who either resigned, or passed on, or forgot to pay.

David Knight

Royal Australian Air Force 2018 Heritage Awards

Is a competition designed to enhance the records of the RAAF and foster interest in its heritage. Prizes are awarded for outstanding achieve‐ ments in literature and art, as well as assistance for individuals seeking to undertake valuable historical research. The scheme is administered by the Directorate of history ‐ Air force (DH‐AF) within the History and Heritage Branch, in Canberra. entries close close of business, 1 February 2018. Copies of the brochure with the application form may be downloaded from the Air Power Development Centre's website http:// airpower.airforce.gov.au, or obtained on request by phone: (02) 6128 7010 or email [email protected]

Bob Wills Memorial Plaque awarded to Dr Arun Chandu for his article in Aviation Heritage

Presented annually to the best written and researched article published in Aviation Heritage, for 2016 was awarded for his article “Pre WWII History of Tullamarine Lands” to Dr Arun Chandu BDSc, MBBS(Hons), MDSc, PhD(Melb), FDSRCS(Eng), FRACDS(OMS) who completed a PhD thesis on the Planning History of the Tullamarine Airport ( Airport), 1920 to 1970. Arun's research drew heavily on the archives of the Civil Aviation Historical Society. As of 2016 he is working on publishing the results of this extensive study.

Dr Chandu trained in both the UK and Australia, completing Medicine, Dentistry and Masters of Dental Science at the University of Melbourne with fellowships from the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons. He is head of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Western Health, Melbourne, and a consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon at both the Royal Melbourne Hospital and The Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne. He is in private practice in Moonee Ponds and Sunbury and is an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor, School of Dental Science, University of Melbourne.

Searching for a new field of endeavour, Arun decided to do something completely different and turned to the history of Melbourne Airport, a long‐standing interest.

Melbourne Airport was one of the first well‐planned post‐war airports in the world, readily expandable with plenty of land and with multiple access modes, although the rail‐link is still to be built. It became the blueprint for all new airports in Australia and the region and influenced land‐ use planning around airports in Australia. Arun's thesis covers the planning history of Tullamarine, its construction, the history of airports in the area, access methods including the rail‐link, Stanley Korman and his satellite city for Tullamarine ‐ Woodlands, land‐use zoning and its history of failed housing projects around the airport, the 1959 protest movement and places of interest lost to the airport’s development such as the Inver‐ ness Hotel.

Dr Arun Chandu was appointed the inaugural Research Fellow at the CAHS & Airways Museum in February 2013. (from the CAHS website)

Talk on the Black Cat Catalina's of WW2 On 15th June Mr Owen Peake (past Chairman of Engineering Heritage, ) gave a 50 minute talk using PowerPoint slides for Engineering Heritage, Victoria to describe their origin and use in WW2. Owen's father flew in the Black Cats during the war and was able to illustrate the talk with some personal family photographs. The talk was held at the Engineers Australia head office at 600 Bourke Street. About 40 people were in attendance. Via Richard Honess

Member’s Pages

Members’ Responses:

AHSA President knows stuff about an engine Dion, Re The P&W Hornet engine (NEWS 33.3 ‐ Wanted, Page 4)

When Guy Hanson and I were at the AAAA fly‐in at Echuca this year we were enjoying ourselves when this fellow came in the front door of the area we were in. He said that this was the first that he knew about an ‘old aeroplane mob’ being at Echuca and wondered if anyone knew any‐ 3

thing about old engines. He mentioned the Hornet. I immediately introduced him to Guy Hanson who had tried to buy the engine some time ago. This fellow (name unknown) had bought it. It had been on the wall of an motor car repair shop if I recall correctly. Guy has more details and that fellows name.

It was an amazing coincidence to be near the door when that fellow came in and wanted to talk about his Hornet engine and Guy was just there and knew all about it.

And now you know all. Cheers, Dave. (Prossor)

18 Squadron News Draws Comment

Thank you for the AHSA News Vol. 33/3.

I read the attached article with great interest and with special interest the article regarding NEI‐RAAF 18 SQN Association.

My late father was a member of the NEI‐RAAF 18 SQN and served at Bachelor whilst his wife and 3 children were interned in Java by the Japa‐ nese. All except one sibling were reunited after the war when Java was recaptured.

The story of the unification is another real interesting story, B25s flying at very low level over the camps throwing parachute tags with names on them tied to bolts and how many families were eventually reunited.

My father, mother and siblings transferred from Bachelor to and then returned to The Netherlands via Indonesia in the early 50’s, our family immigrated to Australia in 1964 where he joined Ansett where most of his war buddies were employed, pilots and ground crew.

My late father, mother and siblings have died. My late father did have the opportunity to attend several of the NEI‐RAFF 18 SQN Association reunions in Australia and had many good stories to tell.

I have some photographs and will dig them out and provide copies to you if you’re interested.

Kindest regards, Bob van Aken 0438 294 293

Joe Does Kimberleys

Hello Dion, added this list of a/c movements a long way from home. I can provide approx. GPS co‐ordinates if wish.

The RAAF AP‐3C and C‐130 were real surprises and so unexpected. Having lunch and suddenly these 2 a/c criss‐cross each other coming over the tree canopy without any time to raise the tele. Joe Vella

(ed: This is great stuff Joe and FINALLY we have a contribution by a keen spotter! Anyone going on holidays, remember you can easily take a quick photo to refer to later on—make sure your camera date is correct and you WILL be recording history of interest to someone here). Aircraft sighted recently in North Western Australia, Kimberley region whilst on holidays

VH‐CAP Robinson R44 ‘Scenic Helicopters’, Mabel Downs Station. 07/6/2017 VH‐NEM Robinson R44 El Questro Wilderness Park. 12/6/2017 VH‐TCF Robinson R44 El Questro Wilderness Park. 12/6/2017 VH‐HWL Robinson R44 El Questro Wilderness Park. 12/6/2017 VH‐ICM Aerospatiale AS350B2 ‘Lake Macquarie Helicopters’ –‘Firebird 288’, El Questro 12/6/2017 VH‐UTS Bell 206B Jetranger Mitchell Plateau 14/6/2017 VH‐JRF Bell 206B Jetranger Mitchell Plateau 14/6/2017 VH‐LCN Bell 206L Longranger Mitchell Plateau 14/6/2017 VH‐KSV Bell 206L Longranger Mitchell Plateau 14/6/2017

Unidentified Gipps Aero GA8 Airvan, operating from Drysdale Station 14/6/2017 Unidentified RAAF P3C low level approach overhead the Mitchell Plateau from the West over the Timor Sea followed by rapid climb onto a reverse heading. Probably on northern coastal patrol duties on 14/6/2017 Unidentified RAAF C130 over the Mitchell Plateau crossed under the same low P3C flight path on a southerly heading on 14/6/2017 VH‐ZZG DHC‐8 ‘Australian Border Force’ Broome Airport 21/6/2017

Multiple unidentified Sikorsky S‐92 ‘Bristow’ Helicopter movements from Broome Airport on 20 & 21/6/2017

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Ron Flockhart and WW2 Mustang VH‐UWB (formerly RAAF A68‐113)

On the morning of April 12, 1962 I was working in clearing (but still foggy) conditions on our family market garden located on the west side of the creek at the end of Berry Road, Bayswater North when I was suddenly startled by an unfamiliar aircraft engine. Being interested in avia‐ tion and being on the Moorabbin to Alexandra flight path I often looked up at passing aircraft and this was no different. Looking up I was amazed to see this aircraft moving relatively fast and only about 300 feet above me in the foggy conditions.

I thought how strange it was for it to be so low and yet moving so fast (I will never forget how it just roared past) and didn't give much thought about it 'til I went home for lunch to hear over the news that a Mustang had crashed into the side of Mount Dandenong and that the pilot was quite famous. Being only fifteen years of age at the time, I did not realize the significance of my sighting and so I never contacted DCA as to what I had seen that day.

For an interesting website about this tragic loss, see: https://historic‐dandenongs.wikispaces.com/ron+flockhart Richard Honess (AHSA)

Disposals and Acquisitions

Book for sale (still!)

If anyone is interested I still have copies of "Aerial Agriculture in Australia" and "Airmen I have met: their stories" available @ $30 each posted from 6 Alpine View Avenue, Bright, 3741. Please email Derrick at [email protected]

Regards Derrick Rolland

Coming Events

October 14 Coffs Coast Airshow; Coffs Harbour, NSW October 19 AirVenture Australia 2017; Narromine, NSW October 21‐22 Wings Model Show (and Book Sale); Cancelled. October 27‐29 AAAA Auster Rally at Benalla, Vic. See a great collection of Austers and chat Auster with the pilots and others October 28‐29 Open Cockpit Weekend; ANAM; suggest call ahead to check it’s still on November 26 Lilydale Air Show; Lilydale, Vic

March 16, 2018 AAAA 42nd national Antique Fly‐in. Echuca, Vic. Old aeroplanes by the score!

"Happenings"

National Vietnam Veterans Museum, Phillip Island Victoria

On 05 August 2017 I was requested to attend the official unveiling of DHC‐4A Caribou c/n 231, A4‐231, a gift from the RAAF to the museum.

I went in place of our Chairman who had gone on holiday to and left me to endure the Antarc‐ tic conditions prevailing on the day. The event had the dual purpose of commemorating the first flight of the Caribou in Vietnam on 8 August 1964 and the formal placing on display of A4‐231. Dave Milligan, 35 Squadron veteran The unveiling of the plaque was conducted by Ms Harriet Shing MLC after having given an address to the 300‐plus attendees, highlighting the immense contribution of the NVVM volunteers. I briefly managed to speak with one Dave Milligan (yes he is a relative) who produced a RAAF Form PP138 detailing his Vietnam tour on the Caribou with 35 Squadron (Known as “Wallaby ”: Ed), as a loadmaster. Between 1 October 1970 and 1 June 71, he flew 1462 sorties totalling 936.20 hours – all in daylight. Averaging 5 sorties per day this brought home to me like nothing else I have read the intensity and short duration of the sorties flown. For the aviation buff the museum has four helicopters, two Cariboux, an English Electric Canberra and a Grumman Tracker, not to forget the superb collection of Viet‐ nam War‐related non‐aviation historical material.

NVVM is a must visit location for anyone interested in Australia’s participation in the Vietnam conflict. Roland Jahne

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Member Site Visit — Mahindra Aeronautics

Avalon 2017, and AHSA met with George Morgan and Dave Wheatland of Gippsland Aeronautics (later GippsAero, Now Mahindra Aeronautics and hereon referred to as GA for the earlier company). An invitation to AHSA to have a tour was made, and at Latrobe Valley Airfield, Morwell, on Saturday 26th August over three hours, a group of 24 AHSA members and other invited guests (roughly the size of a general AHSA Vic. Inc. meeting), was shown around by GA founder and Mahindra Tour Guide Mr George Morgan, who acknowledged the formative and ongoing contribution of his business partner, Peter Furlong, who is now unwell with a Parkinson’s type illness, is unable to talk, and living in a home. George gathered us in the Reception area, with excellent hospitality and a welcome cuppa before heading into the production hangar. George has an encyclopaedic knowl‐ edge of general aviation, gliding and Marketing. We began where they cut the metal, and completed the tour with the completed, factory test and R&D hangars.

In the Airvan Production Hangar: GippsAero formed in 1977 providing performing commercial aircraft maintenance and modification including for the National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA) then went into manufacture of the GA200 Fatman, a redesign of the Piper Pawnee. Certificated in 1991, 50 have been built, many for export. It was explained that Mahindra now reaches into 42 countries (unsurprisingly including Canada and Alaska), and remains in fierce competition with Cessna. Airvan remains the principal design product and it is this we came to see. There is much written on the subject and we focus here on the visit. There were no restrictions on photography and a “commonsense’ approach to avoiding dan‐ ger was expected.

Starting with the GA200 aerial‐agricultural aircraft, GA took lessons learnt from Piper’s Cherokee – no single extrusion main Spars for light planes which created inbuilt fatigue issues‐ all spars in the Airvan are laminated. George jokingly recounted the “Bryant & May Insurance Policy” which reputedly helped in the early years of the aerial‐ag. industry. Bryant & May made matches, and a set of matches was given to those early pilots! If you crashed, and you knew the repairs were borderline big ticket, you would ensure the wreck was conveniently helped along! Drought later brought a big squeeze to the Aero Ag. Industry. The GA200 was how‐ ever rugged, more repairable and overall, cost effective. It also built experience in production for the growing concern.

GA saw a gap in the market, including that place once claimed by the now‐rare GAF Nomad. So developed the GA8 Airvan. Airvans have a good payload & haulage capacity. Dramatic improvements in production with the purchase of a CNC machine from Germany. Raw sheets of material could be cut, folded, hole punched, etc. This saved a lot of money on earlier, hand crafted paneling and structure. Example: building the airvan tailcone – use to take 10 people to do the job the CNC machine could do in 6 hours. The sheet metal machine technology has al‐ lowed designs to return to simpler, earlier designs of light planes as constructed by the major manufacturers of the past. Everything in the Airvan is pre‐primed (except the fuel tanks) which gives the product excellent longevity – up to 50 years +. They did try pre‐priming the fuel tank, but this led to lots of problems with the primer flaking off and causing blockages in the fuel line, etc

Construction of the aircraft is modular, allowing for better safety design, and worker ergonomics during construction. Unlike boats – built from the floor up, they build the cabin and floor separately, then put these together. Workers no longer have to negotiate internal structures to the extent of old, and many places in the structure may be reached easily during construction. One example: They have put a joint in the main spar. They were finding a lot of pilots were damaging the wing tips, so with the joint insitu, it was easy to repair/replace the wing, rather than replacing the whole spar. George recounted a story from Germany. An Airvan was accidently reversed into a hangar wall, with the tail‐ cone being very badly damaged. The owners asked if they could “ship a new tailcone” to Germany – which they did. The company received it on a Tues, and had the plane flying by Thursday. The customer experience and the ease of repair, increased sales in Germany.

Company motto is Listen to what the customer wants, need to build what they want. We were intrigued to learn (and it is obvious to the observer now we know) that the aircraft was based on the Wittman philosophy of aircraft design– lessons from legendary aircraft designer, builder and air racer Steve Wittman, are:  Add lightness and simplify;  Never accept drag unless you have lift His advice and ideas have had significant impact on aircraft design and run into the fuselage and tail shape for example, of the GA8.

To date, there have been no fatalities in an Airvan ‐ only lots of silly operator accidents. Much of their good record is due to the number of safety features included in the actual design. Other General aviation manufacturers have put a parachute in their planes and promoted in‐ creased safety ‐ but really covering up a lack of safety design features such as those built into the Airvan. Tricycle undercarriages need next to no maintenance. Moving from 2 to 3 bladed props ‐ Noise constraints is a factor driving this development. Regrettably, (George being a big fan of the legendary DHC‐2 Beaver), replacing Beavers in Alaska with Airvans as Bushplanes is happening as sales are now trickling down from

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Canada. Operators are increasingly going over to turbine power so Mahindra are developing these installations. Diesel may be the way of the future also. Customers are now 'screaming' for diesel engines and electronic motors. However, GA had to overcome challenges: how were these to be maintained in remote areas? Simple and rugged is best with ease of maintenance in‐country and this is the philosophy built into the Airvan series. One Airvan based in Africa – even carried a sick 2‐month‐old baby elephant in an emergency evacuation!

On this visit, GA8 airframe build numbers 240 – 247 were identified in various stages of production, while they are starting production of GA10 the stretch version (parts for #004 were noted). Recently, a contract was signed for the California Highway Patrol. CHP operates on many lev‐ els, apart from chasing getaway vehicles a’la O.J. Simpson. They wanted a surveillance plane which looks like an ordinary plane on the ramp. Airvan modified the luggage pannier to carry very high tech cameras. The surveillance cameras come down below the wheels so they are able to achieve a 360 degree view. You would never know the role of the plane just to see it on the airport ramp. Interestingly, while competitors (let’s call them Cessna) try to whiteant them and the product “they build ‘em in a shed”, many operators have ordered either a mix of Airvan and Cessna 208 Caravan, or go with a fleet of just Airvan to replace their older C206s. Typically, it seems Australian authorities have bought the “..its shiny and expensive, we’ll have that one” approach and bought Caravan. We reserve further comment as having not seen the specific requirements, however George had little doubt the Airvan could do the job as he understood the local requirements.

Car Park: Walking between production and flight precincts, it was explained that GA had specifically located the car park to be in middle of the business – the philosophy of “can't mix the production/manufacturers/procedural people with the innovation/LAME/flying types”!!!!

The Flying Side: The factory test area is the GA200 hangar. This is where they do all the testing of production airframes. Most paint schemes are now stickers ‐ easy to change and update (especially if a company logo changes). Paint is heavy and expensive. “You can order any col‐ our, as long as it's white”. However, they have started doing some red wing pan‐ els for orders from Alaska. (Mahindra are also doing some trials with floats there.) Airframes # 17‐240 thru #17‐243 were present this date.

As an example of innovation and local “Can‐do”, they make the windows onsite. This is a skill that Peter learnt when he was at CAC. When they first started, he built a little oven to make the windows, and the oven is still in use today.

Model Hangar: To AHSA enthusiasts, this was presented much like a museum hangar and had many interesting airframes in flying order. There was a GA200, NM5, two GA8, the GA10, GAF Nomad We list these below:

 VH‐XGZ – GAF Nomad N‐24: Mahindra are wanting to upgrade / modernize the design (which was never fully certificated for General avia‐ tion use) this airframe will test some of these changes;  VH‐XGI: GA200 Fatman  VH‐XNM: the ‐ NM5 was Mahindra's first forage into Aerospace and we feel, was somewhat “foisted’ onto GA to produce locally. It has not sold here.  VH‐XGA: Second prototype Airvan GA8. This is the second plane, as first one crashed: (Dave Wheatland was test pilot when CASA came down to sign off on spin recover ‐ poor weather, acknowledged it was a bad decision to proceed. Due to extreme turbulence Dave had to bail out but parachuted to safety and the plane was lost. They collectively learnt a lot from this incident, and incorporated those lessons into the next version. Prototype was hand built with no jigs used up to Serial No 3. The first production plane was serial no 4.  VH‐XGY: GA8 test article. An emergency chute fitted internally, protrudes from the rear. There is an extra fin under the fuselage for sta‐ bility. Mahindra looked at squaring out the corners of the design, to fit their vehicle‐production expertise, but it physically looked terrible – you have to have some aesthetics before going into production. They brought some old commercial vans and designed the sliding door, based on them. Also looked at yacht tracks at bottom of door.  VH‐XMH: GA10 Demonstrator

R&D hangar: Testing bigger wheels and bigger landing capacities. Two aircraft inhabit the Cabin drop test area – ex‐ Salt Air ZK‐MAB on wheels and the fully stripped‐down (possibly GA8‐130 TB?) fuselage.

As our visit ended we then were privileged to be permitted to visit Howard Jones’s Hangar: Howard Jones (Born in Manitoba, Canada); about 14 people wandered across. He had three aeroplanes (all beautifully restored): Piper Cub VH‐AGA, Cessna 140 VH‐ZBP and Jacobs Avro 643 Cadet MkII VH‐AFX in Hardy Bros. spraying scheme. Several aero‐engines (Armstrong‐Siddeley Genet Major 7 and Continental Jacobs R‐755 radials) plus pieces of aeroplane, technical drawings and many cabinets of models, flight gear and smaller aeroplane components on display. Howard has up to seven Cadets (or projects) and a spares holding to support them – he is currently downsizing his collection, to the benefit of collectors worldwide. AHSA thanks George Morgan and Howard Jones for throwing open their hangar doors!

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In The News...Commuter Airlines (or Regulation 203 Exempt Airlines) turn 50 Roger McDonald

Saturday 1 July 1967 (50 years ago) marked a new era for air charter companies in Australia allowing them to operate regular services with smaller aircraft on routes uneconomic for major airlines; these being to towns that could not support larger aircraft. The genesis to give ex‐ emption to these companies to operate schedule services commenced in November 1963 when the Government brought in new regulations to allow the major airlines to operate small passenger, one pilot aircraft on their uneconomic routes, mainly DC‐3 serviced routes. Now known as “supplemental services”, the first commenced in January 1964 when Queensland Airlines introduced a nine seat Piaggio P.166B aircraft on their minor routes; e.g.: – Kingaroy – Wondai. Airlines of South Australia commenced similar services, also with a Piaggio P.166B in the State while TAA commenced services within using Beechcraft Queenair aircraft. These services continued for the next 30 months with alterations being made to suit traffic offering. Rumours circulated in early 1966 that the major airlines were not satis‐ fied with the economics of the smaller aircraft especially as they had to operate them under the conditions of their licences. The poor economics were compounded by an alteration to Air Navigation Orders issued on 9 April 1965 stating in part “when a Queenair or Piaggio P.166 type aircraft is used on RPT flights, the co‐pilots seat shall not be occupied by a person other than a licenced pilot or an employee of the aircraft operator”. As 1966 closed, reports in the press stated the Government was clearing the way for small operators with lower overheads to be allowed to take over routes uneconomic to current licence holders. The new arrangements were confirmed in May 1967 to commence on 1 July, 1967 when current regulations would be altered with an exemption to Air Navigation Regulation 203 allowing non airline licence holders to oper‐ ate regular scheduled services. With the confirmation, the Government stressed the new operation would not attract a subsidy and the op‐ erator would carry any losses. Further press reports stated the Government, through the Department of Civil Aviation, had received 23 ex‐ pressions of interest by companies wanting licences to commence services. Some proposed routes were regarded as uneconomic for any operation and by the end of June; there was a reduced number of operators applying for the new “Third level Licence” which quickly became known as “commuter airline licences.” The first licence was awarded to based Opal Air Pty Ltd for an Adelaide – Andamooka – Coober Pedy who were well organised to commence services on 3 July 1967 using a recently purchased new Cessna 402A VH‐BUD. (See Aviation Heritage Vol.48 No.2). The second operator to get airborne on 11 September 1967 was Cootamundra based Masling Aviation & Engineering Limited who was a large long es‐ tablished charter operator servicing many regions of NSW. In anticipation of gaining a licence, the company ordered two Cessna 402A air‐ craft, VH‐MWD and VH‐MWE, later joined by two further examples. Over 50 years, many operators “came and went”. In all, around 280 companies started and most ceased. A variety of aircraft were used, for instance, Cessna 402As, Beechcraft Queenair, various Piper models and a host of other types. The largest aircraft were the DC‐3s of Jetair (See Aviation Heritage Vol.35, No.1) who operated a wide network in eastern Australia. Some operations were small – one aircraft – one route – one flight a week which was the case of Q.O.T.S. Air Charter based at Winton in western Queensland who operated their weekly service to Longreach with a Piper PA32. In contrast, Masling built up a large route network, at one stage stretching from Brisbane to Mel‐ bourne which caused the original company to fail financially. The tenacity of the founder, Jack Masling gave birth to a new Masling Airlines operating initially Beech Queenair aircraft and later a mixture of larger aircraft. The spread of commuter airlines across Australia meant many towns (some with a population of around 1,000 persons or less) in all States were connected to other centres by a commuter airline at some time over 50 years. Good examples are Walcha, Hillston, Eucla, Tumut and many in Western Australia like Kalbarri. Even though ‐based Limited (later Connair) appeared to operate as a commuter airline, this company had a full airline licence with exemptions to meet local Northern Territory conditions. Some optimistic operators only operated a small number of flights; one being Glen Innes‐based Glenair who operated one flight to Brisbane in November 1967 and no more. The longest commuter route was Jan Beers Air Charter who operated a weekly flight from Perth to Halls Creek using Beech Baron aircraft. In more recent times, the term “commuter airlines” has been replaced by “Regional Airlines” Some of the current regional airlines can trace their roots back to the commuter airline term. Regional Express (REX) was formed out of a merged and ; both early commuter operators, Qantaslink roots go back to Eastern Airlines, itself formed out of the original Tamair, while Queensland’s , formed out of Noosa Air. based at Moorabbin continue to operate one route with one aircraft to King Island. Other functioning operators formed in more recent times are Hamilton‐based , Free Spirit Airlines based at Essendon, ‐based Skytrans and their associate , Jetgo Airlines operating 135s jets on an expanding network connecting larger centres to other large areas of population. The large Brisbane‐based routes can be traced to who closed down their operations across Queensland in 2002. A long established large charter operator, Canberra‐based Corporate Air has recently commenced services under the title Fly Corporate Airlines with a number of routes ex. Brisbane using SAAB SF340 and Metro 23 aircraft. This company had earlier operated a regular commuter service between Can‐ berra and Merimbula in 1992 then switching the terminal to Albury until it also ceased 3 years later. A subsidiary of Airlines known as Virgin Australia Regional Airlines Pty Ltd (VARA Airlines) is a renamed Skywest Airlines who were a long established commuter airline based at Perth formed out of a number of charter companies from the early 1960s and expanding into regional routes and being ac‐ quired by Virgin. Because of the small size and isolation of some operators which were virtually a “one –man band” i.e. pilot and possibly his wife keeping the books, it was hard for authorities to maintain accurate records of their operations as the return of reporting forms were often overlooked. In some cases, the operator had ceased operations for some weeks before authorities became aware of it. Because of limited landing slots at major airports, better roads, safer cars, reliable electronic communications and the country being covered by improving medical aerial ser‐ vices, the need for country air travel has ceased considerably putting in doubt any big expansion of regional air services and it is unlikely there will be another 280‐odd operators in the next 50 years! 8