HONORARY PATRON : WING COMMANDER (Rtd) EDWIN PLENTY

“ Buff s and Pig s ”

the official members newsletter of

HONORARY PATRON : WING COMMANDER (Rtd) EDWIN PLENTY MAY 2016

AHSNT COMMITTEE & OFFICE BEARERS IMPORTANT DIARY DATES

PRESIDENT CURATOR Tuesday 14/6/16 Tony Simons Ken Lai AHSNT Committee Meeting 0427 187 356 0401 148 672 8931 2576 (H) [email protected] Tuesday 28/6/16 [email protected] Members Meeting – venue TBA PUBLIC OFFICER VICE-PRESIDENT Ron Ninnis Friday 1/7/16 Craig Bellamy [email protected] Members subscriptions due for 2016/17 0403 872 205 8985 4881 (H) ARCHIVIST [email protected] Craig Bellamy Tuesday 12/7/16 0403 872 205 AHSNT Committee Meeting SECRETARY 8985 4881 (H) Julie Mastin [email protected] Tuesday 9/8/16 8946 6835 (W) AHSNT Committee Meeting [email protected] GENERAL MEMBER Alan Cairncross Tuesday 13/9/16 TREASURER 8927 3273 (H) AHSNT Committee Meeting Richard Spillett [email protected] 0409 057 128 [email protected] MEMBERSHIP LIAISON Tuesday 27/9/16 Richard Spillett Members Meeting – venue TBA WEB MASTER 0409 057 128 Ron Ninnis [email protected] Tuesday 6 th December 2016 [email protected] Combined Christmas and 40th Anniversary Dinner – venue TBA

of 5 THE EDITOR’S OBSERVATIONS

APPOINTMENT OF AHSNT PATRON

The AHSNT Committee is pleased to announce that long standing Society member Wing Commander (Retired) Edwin Plenty has graciously accepted the Committee’s offer to become the patron of the AHSNT. The Society has been without a patron for some years now, this position previously being made available to the Base Commander at RAAF Darwin. Ed has a long and distinguished flying career, both in the RAAF and civilian settings.

Ed was born at Port Pirie South Australia in 1931; the youngest of seven siblings. Ed’s father was a World War I veteran of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment who served on Gallipoli and then Sinai and Palestine. His three brothers all served in the RAAF in WW11 and one lost his life while flying P-40 Kittyhawks in Egypt.

Ed joined the RAAF in 1951 and served for thirty years, graduating on Pilots Course in 1953. His first appointment was as a staff pilot at the School of Air Navigation, RAAF Base East Sale in Victoria, flying C47 Dakotas and Avro Lincolns. On graduation from Pilot Course Ed was given the rank of Sergeant, then in 1954 was commissioned to Pilot Officer. In August 1955 he was posted to attend No.14 Flying Instructors' Course at Central Flying School and on completion moved to No. 1 Basic Flying Training School in Uranquinty NSW, where he instructed students onto the Tiger Moth, Wirraway and Winjeel.

While at BFTS Ed was promoted to Flight Lieutenant and became "B" Flight Commander. In March 1958 he moved to No.82 (Bomber) Wing, Amberley Qld to fly Canberras, but first was attached to No.23 Squadron also at Amberley, for initial jet training on the DH Vampire. The Wing commenced Canberra training in May 1958 and completed training in September 1958 and then joined No.1 (Bomber) Squadron. After six months, and being an ex-flying instructor, in mid-59, Ed moved to No.1 (B) Operation Conversion Unit to instruct on the Canberra.

In September 1960 he moved to No. 2 (B) Butterworth in Malaya then, where in addition to being a squadron pilot , he was appointed Squadron Training Officer and Squadron Instrument Examining Officer. During his last three months at Butterworth, he was appointed the Instrument Rating Examiner for all the Canberra pilots in the Far East Air Force.

Ed came back to No.1 (B) OCU, Amberley at the end of 1962 to again take up full time instructing on Canberras and for 1965 he was appointed temporary Commanding Officer. During this this period Ed got to do a one hour dual flight in a Boeing B-47 Strato-Jet. The Americans were worried that the RAAF Canberras needed replacement and that the RAAF might buy a replacement from some other source, so they offered to lease us a Squadron of B-47s.

At the end of 1965 Ed moved to Canberra to take up the appointment of Flight Safety II (FS2) at the Directorate of Flying Safety and in mid-1966 he was promoted to Squadron Leader.

After 2 years working in Flying Safety, Ed moved to RAAF Staff College to undergo a 12 month tertiary level course which was to prepare him for command and control of higher appointments. In January 1969 Ed took up the appointment of Operational Requirements (bombers) and his responsibilities included managing the operational requirements of the F-111 project. Then came disastrous news that the F-111’s 'Wing Box’ in the test rig at General Dynamics had cracked at about half the guaranteed life. The programme then went political with panic from the politicians of the ruling party and attack from the opposition. Ed spent half his time preparing answers for the politicians to fight off the opposition. The RAAF remained firm in their requirement; they wanted the F-111C, and they put forward that General Dynamics be required to produce a new wing box capable of providing the aircraft life which they had previously guaranteed.

In the mean-time, the RAAF’s twenty four F-111Cs went into storage at the manufacturer (General Dynamics). The RAAF needed an interim aircraft to fill the void and were able to negotiate the lease of 24 new F-4 Phantoms, and before Ed left Canberra, he saw these aircraft ferried across the Pacific and arrive in place at Amberley.

of 5 In January 1971 Ed was promoted to Wing Commander and moved to RAAF East Sale, to be Commanding Officer of Central Flying School, operating Macchi jet trainers, Winjeel piston engine trainers and Dakota multi-engine trainers. After three years as CO of CFS Ed was moved to Melbourne to Headquarters Support Command, to be Command Operations Officer. The RAAF was having problems filling appointments and so for three years in Melbourne Ed spent about half the period in the Group Captain's chair as Staff Officer Air Training and about half in the Wing Commander chair of Command Operations Officer.

In January 1977 Ed moved to Darwin as Commanding Officer of Base Squadron Darwin. RAAF Darwin had been destroyed two years earlier in Cyclone Tracy and as such the base had no hangars with all aircraft maintenance being performed in the open. The Base had no covered storage for motor vehicles, all parked in the open, the Barracks Store consisted of a leaky roofed building and a tent, and there was a stores hanger and a small Bellman type (but the doors had been blown off the Bellman so in a storm the rain blew in one side and out the other. Ed left Darwin in February 1979 on posting to a position at Air Force Office Canberra in the personnel services area.

In April 1981 Ed was reaching his 50th birthday; the compulsory retiring age for Wing Commanders in the flying branch, but he chose to go a week earlier and so on 31st March 1981, Ed retired after 30 years’ service with the exalted rank of Wing Commander.

Prior to retirement Ed and his wife Helen had purchased a 5 acre block on Whitewood Road at Howard Springs, designed their own house and then engaged an architect to draw up the plans and to register them and obtain a building permit.

Ed had been up to Darwin in February 1981 and completed a government sponsored resettlement course with the Darwin Aero Club to transfer his Air Force instructor rating to a civil rating and to gain endorsement on a light twin engine aircraft. Ed and Helen’s daughter was in her matriculation year so she had to stay on in Canberra, and so on retirement Ed proceeded to Darwin on his own, where, upon arrival, he shared a flat with his son and started work as a flying instructor and charter pilot with the Aero Club.

After six months his instructor rating was upgraded to a Grade 2 and the following year upgraded to Grade 1, which is as high as an instructor could go. Next the Chief Flying Instructor wanted some assistance, so Ed was asked to undergo the test with a CASA examiner to obtain authority to test for and award night ratings. Ed was at home one day when he got a call from the Club manager wanting Ed to take over as the Chief Flying Instructor, which for personal reasons, Ed declined at the time.

About a month later Ed was asked again to take up the CFI role, and this time accepted, knowing that assurances had been given regarding the circumstances of the previous CFI. In due course Ed was appointed by CASA to be CFI and then did his examination test with CASA to be approved to test for and recommend the issue of pilot Licences up to Commercial Pilot Licence and also to instruct and award twin-engine ratings. About this time that CASA introduced the ATO (Authorised Testing Officer) system and Ed was appointed as an ATO with testing and approval ratings for all the aforementioned.

By now it was 1991 and Ed had considered that it might be time to hand over to someone else and just revert to part-time work. Fortunately another ex-RAAF/civil airline/CASA candidate was recruited to take over and Ed retired to a part-time role helping out the ATO.

Ed continued in this role until 2001 when he realized that he had been flying for 50 years and also reached the age of70 years and perhaps it was time to retire, and so that is what he did.

of 5 MEMBERS MEETINGS

The next member’s meeting will be on Tuesday 28th June. The Aviation Heritage Centre seems to be the most suitable venue for meetings, given the increased attendance in recent times. If any member has a particular item or presentation they wish to see then please let one of the Committee members know in advance. Don’t forget that the Christmas Dinner this year will coincide with the 40 th Anniversary of the founding of the Society, so the Committee has agreed to have a special function. If any member knows of a suitable venue that canl accommodate our needs for a screened off or separate dining area then please let one of the Committee members know.

FINANCIAL MATTERS

Financial results for April returned a loss of $4,000 but this was attributed to additional stock expenditure in preparation for Open Cockpit Day. Year to date results show we are on par with last year and, after a very successful open cockpit day, we are expecting May’s financial result to look good.

AHSNT LOGO

A suggestion was made some time back at our annual planning day that we should consider updating the AHSNT official logo. We currently use two logos/banners in our correspondence templates. The official Society logo is the one that appears at the head of the newsletter. The other is the Heritage Centre logo which appears on our interpretative signage in the Museum (shown at right). Perhaps if members have some observations or suggestions to make regarding an updated logo they could contact one of the Committee members.

AN EXCITING DISCOVERY

Our intrepid Curator recently went investigating the contents of the old trunk donated to the Society by the family of Wing Commander Clive Caldwell, who served in the RAF and RAAF during WWII, including at airfields in Darwin. Amongst other items in the trunk he discovered two old Cine-matic reels of film on Spitfire related matters. After some investigations from member Bill Allom, we have managed to find a film laboratory that can transfer the film contents to a digital format, which will enable us to ascertain exactly what is on the film, and perhaps set up an new DVD display in the Heritage Centre. We have also received advice on conservation methods for the original film.

HERITAGE CENTRE NEWS

HERITAGE CENTRE UPGRADES

Replacement of the old roof skylights has been put on hold due to the continued presence of storms during April, but is expected to go ahead shortly. Department of Arts and Museums (DoAM) has provided funding that will enable us to have the museum hangar doors repainted and the B-52 mural restored. They have also funded painting of the interior and exterior of the Aviation Heritage Centre toilet and storeroom block. An in principle commitment has also been given by DoAM to fund replacement of the garden watering systems at the Heritage Centre, following on from receipt of a report into our water usage by Living Smart Water (commissioned by DoAM).

of 5 OPEN COCKPIT DAY

The annual Open Cockpit Day was an outstanding success this year, and certainly the most successful in my ten years with the Society. Over 750 visitors attended on the day which, considering it clashed with Mother’s Day, was an amazing result. Airborne Solutions’ heli-tours were also very popular on the day with 15 separate joy flights being made.

LOAN OF ARTEFACT

The Society received an approach from the Australian War Memorial in Canberra seeking a loan of the drop tank from Toyoshima’s Mitsubishi Zero which is on display in the Heritage Centre. The War Memorial wants to add the drop tank to their display ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin. We have agreed in principle to the loan, provided the tank is used only for display in the War Memorial; we have declined to make it available for a proposed travelling road show on account of the increased potential for damage to the artefact.

On matters relating to Toyoshima’s Zero, we are still awaiting a response from the Heritage Council to our application to have the remains of the aircraft heritage listed.

HERITAGE CENTRE EXTENSION

Our business case for extensions to the Museum hangar is still with the Minister for consideration.

GENERAL SOCIETY BUSINESS

COMMISERATIONS

A few of our members are on the sick list at the moment. Cathy Myors has been discharged from her hospital stay and is on the mend, but still has some way to go before she is 100%. Brian Thomson, Alan Cairncross, and interstate member Phil Withnell’s wife are also unwell, and our thoughts are with them and their families.

OPERATIONAL ISSUES

Just a reminder to all AHSNT members that any communications and directions to AHSNT staff must be done through the AHSNT President or another committee member.

WORKSHOP HAPPENINGS

The Workshop Crew continue on their collective efforts on the restoration of the B-24 Liberator Sperry ball turret and hopefully it shouldn’t be too much longer before it is ready to go on display.

Tony Simons Editor

*F-111 photograph Courtesy of the RAAF and Mick Raftery