A.H.S.A. NEWSLETTER Published by the Aviation Historical Society of Australia Inc. A0033653P, ARBN 092-671-773 Volume 27 Number 1, March 2011 Print Post approved 318780/00033 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.ahsa.org.au Editor: NEIL FOLLETT EDITORIAL. We ask all our members who take advantage of the In this issue of the newsletter we have devoted three direct deposit method of payment to ensure that they pages to the unveiling of a plaque to Gertrude McKen¬ include their name with any direct debits made. We zie. This was an AHSA initiative and was cost neutral, have had a couple of occasions where those details due to generous donations from The City of Kingston, were not given which made it difficult to determine who the Victorian Division of the Australian Womens Pilot s had paid. Association, the McKenzie family, AHSA members and past students of the McKenzie Flying School. Commemoratin Pioneer Aviators. From our Darwin correspondent: Mike Flanagan This is the type of project the AHSA should be involved in to further its aims of recording and preserving Austral¬ In November 2006 three new thoroughfares were gazet¬ ia s rich aviation history. ted in the Northern Territory. In all our capital cities there were early airfields where All were in the Darwin Airport area and all three com¬ our pioneer pilots operated from. How many of these are memorated the names of pioneer aviators’. marked? Probably none. They are: Collopy Road, Neale Street and Osgood Drive. Melbourne for example had five: South Melbourne, Port Being honoured are: Melbourne, Glenroy, Glenhuntly and Coode Island. None are plagued for current and future generations to learn a Frank Collopy, who was Regional Director of SA/NT Re¬ little of the past history of their area. Recently closed gion of the Department of Civil Aviation during the 1960s aerodromes in the Melbourne area include Fishermans Bend and Berwick. Frank Neale, born in England and served with the RCF/ RAF during WWI. He came to Australia in the mid-1920s MEMBERSHIP CARDS. and flew with Australian Aerial Services and Mackay’s Members who paid their 2011 subs in 2010 will have Aerial Survey Expedition. In WWII he was awarded the received two membership cards. Those who have re¬ Air Force Cross and at one time was Commanding Of¬ newed for just 2011 will receive the cards shortly. ficer at Essendon. He died in Victoria in December 1979, aged 84. The reason for two cards is for one to be put in an ap¬ propriate holder and be worn at AHSA functions with the Edward Charles (Ossie) Osgood, also born in England, other as a means of identification when taking advantage moved to the Territory in 1953 to fly early uranium explo¬ of discounts to AHSA members. ration surveys and then joined Doug Muir Aviation. Fif¬ teen years later he formed Arnhem Air Charters (with its At the moment only two organisations are offering these famous buffalo head motif) which he operated until retire¬ discounts. Both Alexander Fax Booksellers in Canberra ment in 1995. In January 1994 he was appointed a and Hylands Bookshop in Melbourne offer a 10% dis¬ Member in the Order of Australia. He passed away in count to members. May 2005. (Also see AHSA Newsletter, Vol.21, No.4, December 2005). MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS _ As we did last year we are offering members the oppor¬ Other roadways at or near Darwin Airport named after tunity to pay two years membership to avoid any sub¬ aviators are: Charles Eaton Drive, Henry Wrigley Drive, scription increase for 2012. Pederson Road, Fenton Court, Sir Norman Brearly Drive, Lorres Bonney Avenue, Murphy Drive, Lancaster Road, Many have taken up this offer but due to two different Larkin Avenue, Batten Road and Amy Johnson Avenue. renewal notices (different printers) being sent out, only one showed the option for the two year payment. Email Discussion Group. An email discussion group is If any member has paid for one year, but would like to being established under the guidance of Lance Fishman. take up the two year option, simply send another $58 It is hoped to publish full details in the next newsletter. (Australian addresses) with a note and we will gladly For information in the meantime please contact Lance at accept it. [email protected] au. 1 Melbourne Meetings. November. 2010 Chris Hawker - great-nephew of Harry Hawker gave an January, 2011. This was a Members Night , with 18 illustrated talk on the visit to Australia by Harry with the members giving a short talk on their favourite aeroplane Sopwith Tabloid in 1914. This was an aircraft much ad¬ which ranged from the early Bleriots to the Boeing 747. vanced on any held by the Australian Government in stor¬ age at Point Cook. He gave demonstrations in Mel¬ Hinkler Mural. The photos below are from Maurice Richie bourne, Sydney, Albury, Bendigo and Ballarat before it who reports that the mural to Bert Hinkler still adorns an was damaged beyond repair without importation of parts. ex Brisbane Council building in the suburb of Windsor. Of great interest was movie film of the flying. The building is on the corner of Blackmore and McDonald Streets. 1 1 • , . T , S H Chris Hawker holding a framed piece of the Tabloid's *to..: ¦ 1 wing. The plaque reads, Fragment of wing structure from Tabloid aircraft flown by Harry Hawker MBE, AFC in Aus¬ tralia in 1914. Given to Jim Hawker by his father Bert »ua Hawker (Harry s brother). 2 NAMED AIRCRAFT. DE Havilland DH.60M Moth, VH-UPG. Silver Eagle On 26 November 1937 while performing a loop at Mac¬ c/n DHA2. Built at Mascot and first registered to Qantas kay the aircraft suffered structural failure of the port top in January 1931. Qantas were the de Havilland agents in wing. The pilot managed to land successfully at Mackay Queensland and quickly sold the aircraft to F. V. Roffey Aerodrome. of Rockhampton, with it being registered to him on 7 Jan¬ uary 1931. Silver Eagle spent most of the war years without a C of A stored at Mackay. In August 1945 it was railed from Mackay to Brisbane for C of A renewal and was registered to W.R. Dalgleish effective on 12 January 1946.. Ownership quickly changed to Stanley Porter d- Queensland Flying Ser¬ vices at Archerfield Aerodrome on 7 February 1946. 27 July 1946 saw Queensland Flying Services as the registered owner until 7 March 1947 when a J.G. Bardin became the new owner.. The last registered owner was K. Drew of Esk, Queens¬ land on 12 December 1950. VH-UPG s days ended on 12 February 1951 when it crashed near Toll Bar, in the Toowoomba Ranges. Roffey shipped the aircraft to New Caledonia where he hoped to use it commercially. He had named it The Golden Eagle . His commercial ven¬ ture was not successful and on 21 November 1931 flew the DH.60 from New Caledonia to Maryborough, Queensland. VH-UPG was on and off the register a couple of times before being sold to R. Sorenson of Mackay on 20 January 1937, who in turn sold it to J.J. Connor on 25 May 1937 The Golden eagle had now been renamed Silver Eagle . m ®Sl(l Structural damage to the port upper wing is very evident in this pho¬ to. It is not known if the person holding up the aircraft was the pilot flying the aircraft when the damage occurred. A newspaper report indicated that the pilot Alan McLean of Ipswich was seriously injured and his passenger was T; killed when the aircraft ¦ crashed in a clearing in heavily timbered coun- try. 3 McKenzie Plaque Unveiling. The newly elected [three days previously] Mayor of the It took almost seven years to come to pass, but on Sun¬ City of Kingston, Cr. Ron Brownlees was the next speak¬ day 5 December 2010 a memorial plaque was unveiled er . He spoke about Gertrude’s local government involve¬ on the grave of Gertrude McKenzie at the New Chelten¬ ment, being the first female mayor of the City of Mordial- ham Cemetery in Melbourne. loc. [ the City of Mordialloc was incorporated into the City of Kingston several years ago ] Gertrude, who operated the McKenzie Flying School at ||s|fl*S| nearby Moorabbin Airport in the 1950 s was lying in an unmarked grave until two months ago. Through the ef¬ forts of the AHSA a project was undertaken to have a plaque placed on her final resting place. Upon hearing that the grave was unmarked her descendants organised a formed grave and headstone. This gave us something to mount our plaque upon. With financial assistance from the City of Kingston, the Australian Women pilot's Association [Vic. Division], the McKenzie family, the AHSA and members and past stu¬ dents of her flying school the project became viable. The ceremony was conducted by Dr. Graham Whitehead, the historian of the City of Kingston. Graeme gave a brief account of Gertrude s municipal life. AHSA Secretary and project coordinator Neil Follett was the first speaker who spoke of the project progress from an initial idea to unveiling. He told of coming to the grave site some seven years ago expecting mention of her headstone of her aviation feats. He found just an un¬ marked grave. Cameron McKenzie, Gertrude s grandson, then spoke about Gertrude's achievements, one of which was flying a jet aircraft while on a trip to England while attending a Farnborough Air Show. The Mayor of the City of Kingston, Cr.