A resource for potential future convenors along with a thank you to Claire Rudolph, David Palmer and Andrew McFarlane for steering 'Sky's the Limit' during 2023/2024!

The following videos have been selected by Andrew for focus on during the December 3rd session or for general interest.

Hello Fellow Aviators

This the Captain speaking - I regret to advise that a state of emergency exists because of unforeseen mechanical failure, and it is now mandatory that we land immediately.

Our SOS broadcast has not been answered so it may be some time before we are rescued.

Our final touchdown is on Tuesday 3rd December so bring yourselves, a marvellous plate of yummyness to share, and anything else you may think appropriate.

See you at 1400

Captain out ...


​Andrew McFarlane

​​This month Graeme Greed asked two of his friends to open their hangers for our group to inspect their aircraft. As aircraft hangers are on the airfield, we were required to wear coloured HI-VIS jackets when we visited – so off we went in a conga-line of yellows and oranges to our first destination.

Ed Bishop, from the Gliding Club, has a Jonkers JS3 RES glider. Arguably the ‘Rolls Royce /Ferrari’ of gliders flying today, this aircraft has a wingspan of 18 metres – That span stretches all the way across the hanger opening, and, with its angle changes on the leading edge of the wing and upturned winglets at the tips, it is visually stunning.

Somewhat subdued by the sphincter tightening price tag, we conga-lined to the next hanger where we inspected John Blacklock’s [RAAF callsign “BLOCK”] RV-6. This aircraft is a hand built, fully aerobatic, sophisticated glass cockpit equipped, registered in the experimental category, cruising machine. [The ‘glass cockpit’ information and navigation system price tag is also sphincter tightening. One must expect the expense when dealing with aviation standard equipment, because, unlike toys, this equipment is built to a Mil-Spec standard – not just a cheap [to sell as many as you can] price.

We also inspected the Glider Club’s aerial tow aircraft, and Graeme’s ‘old’ office/workshop.

Because of the Melbourne Cup, the November date is a bye. December’s meeting will be notified closer to the date [Tuesday 3rd]

Some sad news –

David Palmer is very ill. 

He is now unable to continue as a Coordinator for Sky’s the Limit.

​Andrew is also unable to continue next year – so –

MAYDAY – MAYDAY – MAYDAY

We need someone to take over the Coordinator position.

You will have help and assistance if needed.

​If you choose to help, please call Anne Nelson – 0438 447 379 –
or – Andrew McFarlane – 0422 690 390 
​

Andrew McFarlane

Images - Graeme Greed

​Hello Aviators,

On Tuesday 1 October Graeme Greed is showing us his old ‘office’ – plus we are going to inspect [hopefully] a self-launching glider and lots of interesting ‘other stuff’

We will be meeting at the airport.- 1345 for a 1400 start. If you are running late, just give me a call, as you park, and I will come over to show you where we are.

 Andrew – # 0422 690 390

We are meeting at the 4th hanger along from the Aviation Museum – just be aware of people moving around, and remember to keep the gateways clear of cars.

As we are ‘on’ the airfield there is a requirement to wear your HI-VIZ jacket. Graeme has a supply if you need to borrow one.

​
See you next Tuesday

Andrew

Because our original speaker was frantically packing up his house before moving to WA to start the new job - crop spraying - he had to cancel at the last minute.

Sigh!

Fortunately, we had an excellent video from SBS on standby, 'The Airport: Back in the Skies', about how Heathrow Airport recovered its operational mo-jo after the covid hiatus.  The episode we watched dealt with the retraining of airside operations - pilots, air traffic controllers and ground handling. 

Andrew had brought an orange and white striped parachute which was stretched out over the tables for all to inspect.

After the break we had a general discussion about parachutes and watched some amazing videos of parachutists doing barrel rolls just before landing.  If you are interested, you can find most of the videos below and more on YouTube.

We also watched Paratroopers jumping – always a spectacle. One of the segments we watched featured the latest model of the Airborne Soldiers parachute – the T 11 – very square and formidable.

Next month is a field trip to the Benalla airport.  Watch for the details next week.

Andrew McFarlane

Some of the resources used for for Andrew's presentation: 
https://www.dropzone.com/forums/topic/280476-barrell-roll-on-a-canopy/

Graeme had us all on edge for a few minutes during our session on Tuesday 6 August - he had arrived at a point in his story when he was celebrating the first flight of his hand built aeroplane --- BUT - Eleven years before the great day, Graeme had purchased a vintage bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne [cost half a week's wages] to suitably impress a young lady.

Alas, the Lass proved to be on a different plane, so the bottle was carefully cellared awaiting another great moment - and that, it transpired, was the aeroplane’s 'first flight'.
​
Graeme and his Father had, over the years, built several boats. It seems, on launching boats, tradition requires a bottle of champagne to be smashed over the bow for good luck.

OH NO! - Was he going to launch the aircraft as he would a boat!!?? – and - with a Vintage champagne!!??

Now Graeme is an Aviator and an Engineer and a man of good common sense - so there was absolutely no chance of any smashing happening - the bottle was carefully opened - and consumed. Graeme claims it was the best champagne he has ever tasted
 
We all relaxed - [sailor or aviator, champagne is for drinking.]
 
Sadly, after several years and flying around Australia [at one stage landing on the grassed edge between Perth CBD and the Swan River] he decided to sell his hand built pride and joy.
 
SIGH!
 
Graeme commenced his working life as an Aircraft Engineer with the Gliding Club in Benalla. Except for a short time when he was rebuilding and restoring historic aircraft at the wonderful engineering facility in Wangaratta, Graeme has been the Maintenance Engineer at the Gliding Club, so he is totally qualified to build an aeroplane.

Can you imagine the patience needed - the precision required - the persistence and the persistence and the persistence etc.etc. that must be a constant - and the workmanship standard, with zero compromise, maintained throughout the build over the years of construction??

We enjoyed a fascinating talk with accompanying photos, which, I felt, left us with a new appreciation of just how complex aircraft can be [no matter their size] and how dedicated Aircraft Engineers are, with our eternal gratitude, to keeping our skies safe.

​Andrew McFarlane

​In July, Benalla local Helen Price spoke about her two and half years working as an air hostess for Airlines of South Australia based in Adelaide. Apart from flying within the state, charters came up sometimes outside the state. As it was the early 1960s and the time of British led atomic bomb tests in the state, Maralinga was a popular destination for the airline.

David Palmer   ​

During the Second World War – English Prime Minister Churchill spoke in Parliament on the 20th of August 1940 paying tribute to the RAF after the ‘Battle for Britain’. He said - “Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few”.

That sentiment was echoed again in 1982 during the Falkland Islands War.

We watched a selection of historical videos that covered the air war during that conflict – Thank You Youtube.

We followed the British Sea-Harrier (known to the opposition by the name ‘the Black Death’) as they dominated the sky against a very determined and brave enemy.

We also followed the longest bombing raid ever conducted – how the bombers [after leaving England to fly half around the world] were refuelled in flight - and how the refuelling aircraft were themselves refuelled in flight to stay with the bombers.

Staying with Jet-fighter aircraft, we also looked at an amazing basic training/combat aircraft - the L39 Albatross from AERO in the Czech Republic. Because of the low manufacturing costs, this aircraft is also produced in a civilian version – it is cheap and enormous fun to fly. These aircraft are in private ownership all over the world. There are many flying in Australia.

(Cheap is a relative term – should you be slightly daunted with your present mortgage repayments, cheap is properly not a word that immediately comes to mind.)

Next month Graeme Greed is taking us on a life journey through his aviation career.  Graeme has built his own aircraft and is encouraging us to ask lots of questions.

​Andrew McFarlane

This month we get to look at the air battle for the British Falklands. There are very interesting videos available [youtube] that show the story from the British point of view.

We will see the thinking behind the longest bomber operation ever conducted, and get a view of the aircraft-carrier based defense of the British forces.
​
We also get to have a look at the L39 - WARNING - you could possibly be left with a deep longing, and a desperate need to get one of these aircraft for yourself.

Our starting point - The Imperial War Museums website page 'Falklands Conflict - Episode 3 - In the Air' .

Andrew McFarlane

Local Helen Price was due to talk about her early working life as an air hostess based in Adelaide at our May session. Unfortunately, Helen was laid low by illness but will talk to us probably in July.

We persevered with the sessions’ theme of the working life of air hostesses in the 60’s and 70’s, watching the second episode of the ‘Come Fly With Me’ series currently available on SBS on Demand.   Drawing extensively on video footage from the 60’s on, in the episode narrator Justine Clarke catches up with air hostesses, pilots, and stewards of the 60’s and 70’s, including some known as ‘old boilers’ who sought equality.  Their reminiscences resonated with class members as we watched this absorbing account of changes over the time in the working lives of air hostesses, flight attendants and pilots and the planes in which they flew.

The program dealt with many aspects of being an air hostess, not least being how many social issues of the 1960s and 1970s were aired and often at least partially solved in fast moving aluminium tubes at 30,000 or 40,000ft.

David Palmer and Bev Lee

In June we get to look at the air battle for the British Falklands. There are very interesting videos available [youtube] that show the story from the British point of view. 

​We will see the thinking behind the longest bomber operation ever conducted, and get a view of the aircraft-carrier based defense of the British forces. 

We also get to have a look at the L39 - WARNING - you could possibly be left with a deep longing, and a desperate need to get one of these aircraft for yourself.

See you on June 4th 1400/1600.

Andrew McFarlane

As our April speaker was unable to make it, the session became a presentation by the group's members of their experiences of building and flying various aeroplanes. Both Graeme Greed and Brent Bailey had built and flown their own aircraft, with Graeme in particular undertaking long flights to Western Australia and north Queensland.

Some memorable flights were recalled with David saying he was required to research and write a number of Tasmanian farm stories for his newspaper employer and chose to fly a Cessna 172 in one hop from Benalla to a farm in north eastern Tasmania.

But about halfway he started to feel extreme pressure on his bladder. That led to poor judgement because he ended up landing in a paddock next to the farm airstrip. No damage was sustained.

Our speaker on May 7 will be Helen Price, a private pilot and former air hostess in South Australia. We will also show a 45-minute segment of a TV show called Come Fly With Me which highlights the role played by flight attendants.
​

David Palmer

Glider pilot and glider administrator Vivienne Drew spoke to our March meeting.

A member of the Gliding Club of Victoria since 1989, Viv quickly won the Leigh Simpson trophy as the most outstanding trainee.

In the 2024 Australia Day honours list, she won an Order of Australia medal for her service to gliding administration. In particular, she was president of the Victorian Soaring Association from 2018 to 2022 and is active in programs which encourage young people and particularly women to become involved in gliding and aviation generally.  

Our next meeting on Tuesday April 2 at 2pm, will host David Scott, principal of Paton Helicopters, registered at Maindample near Mansfield. One of their helicopters has been on standby with a roster of pilots, at the Benalla airfield, during this fire season.

​David Palmer

At our first meeting for the year, model aeroplane model maker and Sky's the Limit member Roly Gaumann spoke about his experience in making and flying model aeroplanes. He spoke of the transition from now expensive and difficult to source balsa wood as a basic construction material, to using alternative materials and much superior glues.

Following a cuppa, we adjourned to Roly's studio in the old SEC building, to competitively identify 20 gliders and powered aeroplane models, dating from WWI to modern times. The winner correctly identified 17 models and Roly gave him a box of chocolates for his effort.

​Roly is in studio residence most days and invited visitors who wish to see his collection to call his number listed on a board near the building's entrance.

David Palmer​

​​Our speaker in December was Bruce Cowan, a Benalla based glider pilot, who spoke about early pilots and attempts to make heavier than air machines stay airborne. He started with early optimists who flung themselves off high towers with minimal winged attachments and often fatal results. Then he progressed with more successful kite and glider pilots, who were often successful in Germany; then later with the Wright brothers and their dubiously acknowledged success, as the first successful powered aeroplane pilots with their Wright flyer.

​At the end of our first year we can look back on Richard de Crespigny giving Qantas a serve for its lack of customer service, Wangaratta airport’s superb aircraft restoration and Benalla’s own artfully presented aviation museum, and more.

Our initiating convenor, Claire Rudolph, is handing over the reins completely next year, with Andrew McFarlane joining me as co-convenor. We hope that Claire will come along and contribute  to our meetings next year and thank her for her role in making 'The Sky's the Limit' a reality. 

Our next speaker at 2pm on Tuesday December 5 will be Bruce Cowan of Lake Mokoan. He will talk about the history of flight with audio visual assistance. A member of the Gliding Club of Victoria, on November 10, Bruce flew 373km at an average speed of 115km/hr in three hours and 50 minutes, over a triangular course north east of Benalla. His outward leg was just west of the Albury control zone.
​
David Palmer

There will be no session on Cup Day, however we will meet again on Tuesday 5th December.  Details will be included in the December Newsletter.

​David Palmer

Our speaker on Tuesday 3 October at 2pm is retired Qantas pilot Richard de Crespigny. Richard is famous for successfully piloting an Airbus 380, Qantas flight QF32, when it suffered a catastrophic uncontained engine failure just a few minutes after departing Singapore in November 2010. The crew managed to bring the airplane back to Singapore for a successful landing. Richard wrote a book QF32 and Its Aftermath about that & FLY! The Elements of Resilience. Before Qantas he flew for 11 years with the RAAF.

David Palmer

'Matt and Karen Henderson had a Dream’

Leaving the world of high finance to build and establish an aircraft museum requires serious vision, and money [lots of it], and enthusiasm [lots of it], and courage [lots of it], and resilience and perseverance – you have guessed it [lots of it], and amazing research skills, collecting ability, patience [years] and commitment. 

The museum hanger was specially built and decorated for the aircraft on display [most of the display is airworthy and flies regularly]. The display does change depending on the flying program. The result is amazing.

We had just come in from the ‘Drome Cafe’ [where everything was delicious] and pondered on the changes, here, over the years – The first landing in 1919 –commercial regional airlines in the 1930’s - #7 Operational Training Unit B-24 LIBERATOR’S during WW11 – the largest aerodrome in the southern hemisphere in 1942, and the largest base that the RAAF have ever operated.

As a group we have many and varied aviation experiences and stories, so to stand in this very clean and well- lit hanger, immersed within aviation history, was amazing, and to visit the secret bunker and see how things worked there – well, history is alive and now.

In 1964 one of our members started skydiving. One of his favourite aircraft was the DOMINIE RAPIDE [DeHAVILLAND 89] - and there it was – in the hanger looking like new – super excited!

To everyone reading this–make the effort and go and visit – the Drome Cafe is very good and the history here is something to experience.
​

Andrew McFarlane