Props & mags OCTOBER 2013

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN AVIATION MUSEUM

66 LIPSON STREET, PORT ADELAIDE P.O. BOX 150, PORT ADELAIDE, SA 5015. PHONE (08) 8240 1230

Http://www.saam.org.au/

A MAJOR SYMBOL OF PORT ADELAIDE IS ITS LIGHTHOUSE

2013 PORT FESTIVAL

THIS WEEKEND SATURDAY & SUNDAY 19/20TH OCTOBER In the past the Port Festival has proved to be a fun-filled weekend of food, arts and culture for everyone young and old. With FREE admission to the Museum we are expecting quite a turn out and it will be an ‘all hands on deck’ event. As a consequence, all SAAM members are asked to try and assist over these coming two days. If you have no specific task, please help by patrolling the hanger, ensure the aircraft and exhibits are not being damaged, and most importantly, assist the visitors. SAAM is putting on a sausage sizzle by our eminent cook and his team; opening the cockpit of the F-111, where for a small fee members of the public can get to sit in it; model aircraft kits will be on sale as well as books along with many more activities that all need your help. So come along for a few hours, a day, or as long as you can spare to assist at your Museum. Remember the old saying many hands make light work – well, let’s just make it that for everyone, not just the dedicated few. Members also please note that from 9.00 am Saturday to 5.00pm Sunday, the speed limit on Lipson Street is 25kph and many streets will be closed.

S.A.A.M. COMMITTEE

_____________ MUSEUM PATRON:

THE HON. ALEXANDER DOWNER AC

_______________ PRESIDENT:

DAVID BYRNE

M: 0401 125766

VICE PRESIDENT: PIETER VAN DYK

Ph: 8240 1629 M: 0407 328161

TREASURER:

JOHN HILLIER

M: 0414 734017

CURATOR:

PAUL DAW

M: 0417 816268

SECRETARY:

MIKE MILLN

M: 0401 124318

WORKSHOP MANAGER: GRAHAM BELL

Ph: 8251 0792 M: 0417 845109

PUBLIC RELATIONS:

JOHN ROBERTS

M: 0418 800062

MEMBERSHIP: JEFF HANN

Ph: 8251 0947 M: 0419 724060

TECHNICAL ADVISER:

WAYNE LEE

M: 0407 244084

Dates for your diary ……. .

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING And

GENERAL MEETING SATURDAY 16th NOVEMBER 2013 – 1pm

History Group Meeting 10.30a.m.

Committee Meeting 7th November, 2013

PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE PORT FESTIVAL THERE IS NO GENERAL MEETING THIS MONTH

FROM THE COMMITTEE …

DARWIN CONFERENCE The annual meeting of Aviation Museums was held in Darwin at the end of September. This year two new Museums attended, Nhill and Evans Head. The Conference was hosted by the NT Aviation Heritage centre who pro-vided the venue and all facilities. It was a great venue – where else can you have your morning tea and gaze at a B 52 and an F-111? A great number of interesting and valuable topics were discussed and the annual exchange of ideas proved useful to all members. A full report on the con-ference will be made at the next general meeting

PLASTIC MILK BOTTLES REQUIRED. Work is progressing on restoring the cockpit of our Canberra. We have the ejection seats, the control column and the instruments to fit it out. To do so we must remove all the miscellaneous weights in the cockpit. The best way to do this is to replace it with lead shot. We therefore require about 100 + 2 litre plastic milk bottles (with lids) to use as lead shot containers. These will be used in the Canberra to keep the nose firmly on the floor as without engines it is out of balance. WiFi The museum is soon to have WiFi connection available. This will enable data to be downloaded anywhere in the hangar. Accordingly we are adding QR (Quick Response) codes to our new Collection guide and all new display signs. This will enable people to be able to locate the museums website and further information very quickly via their phone.

F-111 RAFFLE The painting by John Ford is now available to view next to the F-111. All members were sent a small number of tickets to sell. Please make the effort to sell these and return the money to our Treasurer John Hillier as soon as possible. All proceeds go towards our building fund to erect another isplay hangar.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Notice is hereby given of the Annual General Meeting of The South Australian Aviation Museum Inc., which will be held on Saturday 16th November 2013 at 66 Lipson Street Port Adelaide SA 5015, commencing at 1:00pm. The order of business at the meeting shall be the consideration of the accounts and reports of the Executive Committee and auditors and the appointment of auditors and Executive Committee members. All present Executive Committee members will retire at the meeting and shall be eligible for re-election. Nominations for election to the Executive Committee should be made in writing by financial ordinary members only, signed by the person nominating and proposed and seconded by financial ordinary members. Nominations must be in the hands of the Secretary no later than 11th November 2013. Elections will then be held at the meeting by secret ballot, should any position receive more than one nomination. Should it be necessary, two financial members who are not nominees will be appointed by the Chairman to act as Scrutineers of the voting paper to report directly to the meeting. Nomination for Election and Proxy Vote forms are available from the Secretary and/or at the Reception Desk at the Museum. Mike Milln Secretary South Australian Aviation Museum Inc secretary@saam.org.au Ph 0401 124 318

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OPEN COCKPIT DAY coming soon Sunday 10th Novemher If you have not placed your name on the list for a task please do so asap. We need as many members as possible for this day. Good supervision of cockpits is essential.

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LIBRARY—EQUIPMENT On Wednesday 2 October 2013 the laminator machine located in the Library was not turned off correctly and it was only by chance that a member leaving the Library at 4.00pm noticed that the power switch on the wall was still turned on. When leaning over the machine to reach the switch it was discovered that the laminator was still in operational mode, extremely hot, and with its dust cover on. No doubt a poten-tial fire was avoided. Please read ALL instructions located on the left hand side of the machine before attempting to laminate articles. Please ensure that the machine is set to COLD after use as failure to do so will result in the rollers over-heating and possibly needing to be replaced due to damage, and a potential fire situation. Please ask Library staff if you are not sure how to operate any equipment located in that area.

AGM NOTICE OF MOTION MOTION TO AWARD LIFE MEMBERSHIP In accord with Clause 5.8 of the SA Aviation Museum Constitu-tion, the Executive Committee recommends to the Annual General Meeting to be held on Saturday 16th November 2013, that the following members be awarded Life Membership for their meritorious service and significant contribution to the Museum. Peter Ormsby Alan Killmier

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS I am pleased to advise that the membership renewal fees have been paid more quickly than last year and currently the Museum has 171 financial members. Unfortunately, 10 members from 2012/2013 have not renewed to date despite numerous reminders. It has been decided that if they do not renew by the 31 October 2013 they will be removed from our list and this is the last P&M newsletter they will receive. Jeff Hann Membership Officer

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C. James (Jimmy) Melrose Commemorative Lecture – Saturday 21 Sep-

tember 2013

13th September was the 100th anniversary of Jimmy Melrose’s birth and Helen Blake agreed to make a presentation at the Museum to commemorate the date. While the 21st missed the mark by a week, it was felt that it would give more members a chance to en-joy the event if we scheduled it in conjunction with the general members’ meeting. We advertised the event through Props & Mags and an email out to members; and Helen was interviewed by Ashley Walsh on Radio 891 that morning when she gave the Museum and her lecture a good plug. This all seems to have done the trick because her presentation was very well received by 30 members and 23 mu-seum visitors. There was standing room only in the meeting room. Helen is a keen amateur aviation historian with a spe-cial interest in Jimmy Melrose. She wrote a history of his life in 2009 titled Boy Phoenix – a biography of South Australia’s gallant aviator. The title conjures up images of Jimmy’s incredible rise in such a short time to become a national and international celebrity, and his untimely death at the age of only 23 in the crash of his Heston Phoenix.

The book is available in our library or you can purchase it online from Helen at:- boyphoenix1@gmail.com It makes for a very interesting read. Helen’s lecture really brought Jimmy to life. She showed family photographs her grandfather had taken of Jimmy, numerous photographs from the Melrose’s family collection, clips from films Jimmy himself (he was a keen cinematographer) had made, and a PowerPoint presentation detailing his life and achievements. Many of the attendees stayed behind after the presentation to continue dis-cussion, view the film clips again and see other material Helen had brought along. Thank you Helen – a great success! Mike Milln History Group October 2013 5

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN AVIATION MUSEUM SIGNIFICANT AVIATOR PROFILES

WING TIPS

The following article is reprinted with the kind permission of Colin Watt, who also supplied the photographs; and the Mitcham Branch, RAAF Association Inc, in whose Newsletter Vol.68 No. 8 September 2013 the article was first printed. Footnotes to define some of Colin’s acronyms have been added. AUS 407852 COLIN WATT RAAF – A POTTED HISTORY

I was accepted by the RAAF Reserve in Adelaide in July 1940 and sworn in on the 1st February 1941 when I was posted to Pearce for initial training on 11 Course EATS(1) Afterwards to Cunderdin for elementary training on Tiger Moths and Geraldton for service training on Avro Ansons. All of these stations were in West-ern Australia. Wings were presented on 24th July 1941. I was posted overseas and departed Adelaide on 10th October 1941 to embark in Sydney on the Matson liner “Mariposa”. We had a day ashore in Honolulu six weeks before Pearl Har-bour. The journey from Sydney to Bourne-mouth took only 37 days, arriving 23rd Novem-ber – that was fast travelling in those days. A week’s leave followed after settling in, and of course it had to be spent in London. Memories of that occasion were having a cold shower be-cause there was no hot water (November was cold) and boarding the correct numbered bus but going in the wrong direction. I did not find the Underground till long afterwards. Through the Lady Ryder Scheme (I have found that very few Brits know about this scheme) Christmas 1941 was spent in Berkshire with Sir Maurice and Lady Peterson. He had been am-bassador in Spain and after the war he was the British ambassador to Moscow. It was a most interesting time. In January 1942 it was a taste of the cold east wind off the continent, for a Beam Approach course at Coningsby where 106 Squadron were flying Hampdens and 97 Squadron Manchesters

having received their first Lancaster only a fortnight before. I stood in the snow just to see one start up, little dreaming that in six months time I would be flying one too. Back to Bournemouth, where we were very Bolshi, not doing anything and the Japs were rapidly approaching Australia. _______________________________________ (1) Empire Air Training Scheme 6.

At the end of February it was a posting to 2 AFU(2) at Brize Norton for advanced flying. We shared the mess with LACs(3) who were finishing their SFTS(4) there. I think it was to accustom us to the English conditions and we very soon learnt that the visibility even on a fine day meant an IF(5) circuit or lose the drome. During training in Western Aus-tralia we had only 1908 survey maps and found the ¼ inch maps of England unbelievable with the amount of detail displayed. We all got lost on navigation exercises. The course consisted of one Englishman, one Scot, two brothers from Guatemala in the RCAF, numerous Americans who had joined the RCAF before America came into the war, three South African officers, Canadians, New Zealanders and Australians. With the coming of spring we started to appreciate the country. Then to 14OTU(6) at Cottesmore, the 5 Group Hampden OTU. First it was day/night flying in Oxfords with four so-dium lights to simulate a flare path, a sodium light over the instrument panel and blue goggles – really good IF training. No dual in Hampdens so plenty of cockpit drill in a static aircraft. Sitting on the spar, peering around the corner of the armour plate on the back of the pilot’s seat, the aircraft was demonstrated by an instructor. Then the pupil talked him around normal, single engine, gliding and precautionary circuits. Then off on one’s own with a very nervous WAG(7), sitting in the back at his radio set in case a QDM((8) was required. We were the junior course when the senior course went on the first 1,000 bomber raid to Cologne followed two nights later to Essen. There was a lot of excitement on the station. During the next moon period in June we went to Bremen. My WAG had been on the first two but the English navigator, New Zealand bottom gunner and I had never seen a shot fired at us in anger. What I remember of that trip was actually passing a Whitley while everything else seemed to be passing us, the smell of cordite in the target area (it became very familiar) and a numb bum after over 8 hours sitting on parachute straps. A week’s leave in Scotland followed, with a New Zealander and another Australian from the course. After returning to Cottesmore for our postings I never saw them again. I had 299.45 hours in my log book. My posting was to 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF at Waddington, an overall grass field. 44 Squadron was the first squadron in the RAF to have Lancs and a couple of months before my arrival had lost five of the six aircraft they sent on a daylight to Augsburg when John Nettleton was awarded a VC. Until it was time for command training, we sprogs congregated in C Flight (the conversion flight as Conversion Units were just forming). Flight Engineers and Bomb Aimers were just coming to the squadron too. We flew as co-pilots for operations when required in A or B Flights, the operational flights. ______________________________________________________ (2)Advanced Flying Unit (3)Leading Aircraftsman (4)Service Flying Training School (5)Instrument Flight (6)Operational Training Unit (7)Wireless Air Gunner (8)Q code meaning “What is the magnetic direction of the navigational aid or airfield from the aircraft, without allowing for any wind?” 7.

Crews were still scarce so each crew had their own aircraft, which would normally be the stand-by aircraft for op-erations during the crew’s six day leave. Often it would not be used during the six days. I had a Canadian rear gun-ner and the rest of the crew were English. Apart from the usual operations on German targets we had a week of low level formation practice right around the country. It was a lot of fun legally flying right on the deck but very tiring. Land army girls would cover their ears and duck down as we went over. Cattle went crazy. When we came together as a group of better than 90 aircraft the slipstreams forced us to fly higher. One Spitfire making a dummy attack was caught out and speared straight in. Our crew went on leave and 5 Group went to Le Creusot in daylight, hence the low level practice. The crew was mad at missing out on this special operation and on re-turning from leave we were told by the rest “to get some daylight hours in”. The next night we went to Genoa as the Battle of El Alamein was about to start. A day later we went to Milan in daylight – quite an amazing flight. My tour fin-ished on Berlin on successive nights in the middle of January 1943. The posting was to one of the satellite dromes (Wigsley) in a clutch of three, which were the Heavy Conversion Unit of 5 Group. There we instructed on Manchesters and Lancasters until the Manchesters ran out and were re-placed by Halifaxes. When Lancaster Finishing Schools started early in 1944 we flew our old Lancs without any identification at low level to 3 Group and they were replaced with Stirlings. I was posted to Syerston, the 5 Group Lancaster Finishing School. I lasted a little over a month before being posted home at the end of March 1944 less than three months before D Day. When I left the UK, of the 11 course pilots who had finished at Geraldton in September 1941, only three of us had survived from the 14 who had been posted to Bomber Command. One of the three was a POW from Christmas 1942 and the other was Dave Shannon of Dam Buster fame. Luck can be so kind to some and so malevolent to oth-ers. The memories that remain uppermost are: 1. Disliking the place and the people in the first six months. Remember we were exposed to the boarding house

ladies at Bournemouth where we were doing very little because of the effect of the winter weather on train-

ing schedules and the Japanese were approaching Australia. After six months when we were mixing with the

RAF boys this all changed and I argued emphatically with the posting officer in Kodak House (our HQ in Lon-

don) when I found out that I was posted home. I have been back about 28 times since the war.

2. My crew, two of whom were killed.

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3. The low level formation flying practice that led to the raids on Le Creusot and Milan in October 1942.

4. The return from Milan was initially west into France and the sun set behind the Alps with Mount Blanc over on

the starboard side. It had well set by the time we had crossed to the French side when a surprised cry came

from the rear gunner, “There’s a hell of an explosion right behind on the horizon”. It was the full moon rising

over the Alps. The period when the sun was going down and the moon was rising was truly magical but awfully

lonely as I had lost an engine two hours earlier and the other ninety-odd aircraft were a long way ahead.

5.. An attack on Stuttgart on the night of 22/23 November 1942. It was the moon period. We were briefed to climb

high over the Channel heading south. When the cloud broke we were to dive for the deck through the fighter

area and low fly turning east and climb to bomb. My Flight Engineer flashed the v sign on his torch at some of

the French villages and we received some in return. We spent ¾ hour around 6,000 feet below cloud looking for

pin points before bombing and we had a crack at a train on the way back. This was before the PFF(9) really got

cracking. They were only illuminating targets then.

Our draft home sailed west across the Atlantic when everyone was sailing east for the invasion. This was followed by five weeks in New York living it up, seven days crossing the States by train to Sacramento and Fairfield-Suisun, the American Air Transport Corps jumping-off point for the South West Pacific. We were crewed up and given a new Liberator, which we tested and flew back to Australia from 27th May to 2nd June 1944 – just sixteen years after Smithy’s famous flight. Leave followed, then a posting to Tocumwal on Liberators but we found to our disgust it was as instructors. Service-ability was poor and we spent a lot of time playing bridge in the sun while the second front was rolling in Europe. We were not happy. In September 1944 the government released Dakotas to the airlines. They did not have sufficient experienced pilots to fly them. The RAAF were prepared to release suitable pilots. The word went around Tocumwal and a lot of us ap-plied. I was taken on strength of Australian National Airways on 8th October 1944 but was not transferred to the RAAF Reserve until eight days later. It was a good way to end one’s career in the Air Force – eight days on two pays. What did I say earlier about luck? P.S. Colin has some 29,000 flying hours up, so this has been a very “potted” history. Thanks, Colin – we hope to hear more in the future! Contributed by Alan Killmier and Mike Milln September 2013 ______________________________________________________ (9)Path Finder Force 9.

WIND CHANGE I started my training at Parafield in the late 1950’s with the Royal Aero Club of SA and soloed in eight hours and twenty minutes (mustn’t forget those twenty minutes). I did my training back in the days of Aldis lights and kerosene powered flare paths. When the following happened, I wasn’t far from having ten hours solo and of course, in my defence, I really wasn’t very far in to it all. I found myself solo on final descent to the south at Parafield for a landing in a Tiger Moth. Up to this stage, while it not being a common occurrence, I was always a little concerned about experiencing a wind change while airborne and having to reassociate myself with a new circuit for a revised landing approach. This particular day my worst fears be-came reality with a very strong wind shift from the southwest . I quickly noted the huge amount of crosswind drift that this wind change had given me and well knew I had to do something about it, especially as there were four other aircraft on the ground waiting for me to land and get out of their way. However, I became totally mesmerised by the spectacle - which was a bit like a pantomime – that was developing in front of me. The aircraft on the ground immediately began shuffling around as the result of a smoke flare the tower had shot up to notify everyone of the changed circum-stances. I guess for the moment, I forgot where I was and what I was do-ing. The crosswind from the changed wind direction was so strong the smoke from the flare swept almost horizontally across the field in front of me, barely leaving the ground. I knew I had to do something, but when the next flare, shot from the towers very-pistol , passed over my descending flight path, I became absolutely stunned by what I was see-ing. Nevertheless, I still kept coming down, all of which resulted in a second red flare being again shot over my flight path, but this one, on hitting the ground, actually started a fire in the dry grass it landed in that immediately resulted in the fire engine speeding from its home on the edge of the field. I could plainly see all of this rapidly unfolding spectacle, even though I was getting so close to the ground and it was then I again realised that I really had to do something and quickly! After locking the slats, I powered up and climbed into a sort of new circuit (for me anyway) and landed without further incident into the new wind direction, to the south west. So what, you might say, but that isn’t the end of the story. Parafield in those days, as most of you know, was an all-over field which was nearly always occupied by some of the greatest personalities you could ever wish to meet and one of those, of the many I encountered, was Jack Buckham. I’m sure that most of you who remember Jack and had contact with him also had fond memories of this man. At the end of the day’s activities most of us would gravitate to the tower to have a chat with whoever was the operator of the day. It was usually Jack or ‘Ned’ Kelly. This time it was Jack and of course the usual gas-bagging discussions that followed were always about aviation and those in it. On this particular afternoon Jack started telling me about his experience with some idiot who was on finals in a Tiger during a strong wind change and `you should have see the drift he was carrying’. He went on to tell me that after he fired a smoke cartridge, this idiot still kept coming down, so he shot up a red very flare, but the idiot still kept coming down. He sent up yet another one and when this didn’t seem to work, his thoughts were that the only way he could stop this idiot, was to shoot another flare, but this time at him! The idiot then seemed to come to his senses and finally went around and landed into wind, he said he was glad he didn’t have to consider doing anything else more drastic, as he was running out of options. Jack, as we all know, is no longer with us, but where ever you might be mate, I will now admit that ‘the idiot’ you were talking about was me, but at the time I wasn’t bloody game enough to tell you. Rod Kopp 10

FROM WALLAROO PRIMARY ……. A Wallaroo Primary School class recently toured the Museum as part of our Publicity Officer’s (John Roberts) burgeoning tour program. In the year-to-date 2,940 visitors to the Museum have been members of organised tours, many of them school tours, generating $6,709 in door revenue. Four students on the recent Wallaroo Primary School tour took the trouble to write and thank us, so thank YOU Kasey, Ethan, Jezril and Mason! It was hard to pick the best effort, but Kasey’s, shown below, was certainly the most colourful: Mike Milln Secretary

To all those celebrating their birthday this month, we wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY and hope you have a great day.

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DON’T FORGET…. 19/20th October PORT FESTIVAL 10th November OPEN COCKPIT DAY 16th November ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING RAFFLE TICKETS to be returned to John Hillier or Reception Desk as soon as possible. MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL .. If you have not done so, please renew immediately or this will be your last Newsletter.l

A WORD FROM THE LIBRARY …... Many of you may have been wondering what we get up to in the Library, here is a short explanation of the work being undertaken to ensure accurate records of all the information and display items that the Museum currenly holds. Mosaic What is it:- A bird, a plane....No! It’s none of that. Mosaic is a computerised data base software programme created for Museums, Arts and Heritage organisations that SAAM has chosen for the use of recording, easy location and recovery of all information on the Museum’s collection of aviation related books, magazines, journals, videos, aircraft, display items and other historical records. The entry of records so far has involved a near mammoth activity over time by a number of members including Neil Laidler and Bill Maloney but now headed by the Librarian, Nigel Daw and his support team. At present, well over 3,500 books together with historical records, magazines and videos have been entered. The next project is for the 900 or more books in the technical library, which have been ably prepared by both Jim Evans and Gerry Lawson, to be entered into this programme. Paul Daw the Curator, has also advised his intention of having all other items within the museum, to be identified and labeled so that the recording of these items can take place within the same data base, ultimately making the location of any item in the Museum an easy matter in the future. Many who have ventured into the Library will have noticed the computers located there. Three of them have writable capacity to the Mosaic data base and are used for the entry of this information only by those with access, while the fourth computer is being set up with this information on a “read only” basis so that members of the Museum may use this for seeking information of entries in the data base. Users of this computer are asked, should they come across any apparent errors in any of these entries, to ad-vise any of the Library `staff’ so that the matter may be looked into and rectified if necessary. Some may find it comfortable to do their own search using this equipment and others may not, if this is the case, any Library `staff’ present at the time will be only too pleased to assist you in this regard. While on the subject of computers, some of you might ask what is happening about the ‘basic computer sessions’ that were being offered earlier this year. Sorry they have been a little long winded coming, but they are coming. We will keep you informed on this one. Article prepared by Rod Kopp assisted by Nigel Daw

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