Melbourne meeting – 26 April 2017

DerekB20/04/201728/04/2017

The next member’s meeting in Melbourne will be held on Wednesday 26 April 2017 at the RAAF Association in Camberwell Road, Camberwell.

1909 The first meeting of the Aerial League of Australia was held at the Hotel Australia in Sydney on 28 April 1909. Members included George A. Taylor, Lawrence Hargrave, and Major Charles Rosenthal. Source: Parnell, N. and Boughton, T., Flypast, A record of aviation in Australia, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1988.

1924 WGCDR Stanley James Goble and FLTLT Ivor Ewing McIntyre continued their around-Australia flight in Fairey IIID A10-3. Goble and McIntyre had slept in the Fairey overnight to ensure floating off with the tide on the morning of 28 April 1924, but although they had anchored some 200 yards from the previous day's high water mark, the night tide was too low, and natives had to be hurriedly called from their beds to help push the seaplane into deeper water. McIntyre used the engine to assist as they pushed and pulled the aircraft around. The port float was strained and was leaking badly. Bound for Broome, they took off from Mission Bay at 10.00 a.m. in a choppy sea with one float half full of water. The engine was running very well, and Broome was reached at 2.45 p.m. The harbour was very exposed, and with a tide of 36 feet was not of much use as a seaplane base. Source: The First Round-Australia Flight, 1924 by Neville Parnell, AHSA Journal, vol 6, no 12, December 1965