AHSA Monthly Meeting 16 Sep 2020 (Derek Buckmaster: The Wirraway “Newspaper War”)

DerekB16/09/202027/12/2022

Derek Buckmaster gave a presentation on The Wirraway “Newspaper War”.

The AHSA September monthly meeting was held online via Zoom. A recording of the meeting is included below (click the image below to view the video):

1929 After a forced landing west of Wyndham, WA, Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harold Litchfield and Tom McWilliams were stranded for a fifth day on 4 April 1929. Ulm recorded the following in his log: "Daylight. Awful march up Darlinghurst hill. Light a fire, stoking in half-hour shifts. The heat is unmerciful and we are really starving, keeping alive on a cup-and-a-half of gruel per day. We tried to rev up the generator again this evening and are planning to take off the generator. Mac is nearly out to it to-day, but is still working. All are feeling gnawing hunger pains. Smithy's super energy is wonderful, but even his unusual strength is failing. I have started to pile up rocks on which to lift the right wheel on which to turn the generator. The flies take at least half our energy and then at the sundown we commence to fight skeeters all night. To date Mac and I have not averaged more than two hours sleep per night and Smithy and Litchfield about four hour. Oh, for a meal! Received a radio message, again tonight, VIS Broome and 2FC give us best news always. Up the hill to-morrow as Chater is to search near Port George mission. Sleep is impossible with these skeeters." The Western Australian Airways DH.50 flown by James Woods searched in the Drysdale River mission area and the second WAA DH.50 flown by Eric Chater searched near Port George IV Presbyterian mission station without any sighting of the Southern Cross. The DH.61 "Canberra" flown by Les Holden had been fitted with an extra fuel tank of 70 gallons capacity. This aircraft was funded by the Sydney Citizens Southern Cross Rescue Fund and Holden was accompanied by a crew including I.S.W. Stannage, wireless operator; Dr G.R. Hamilton, medical doctor; and F.R. Mitchell, mechanic. Rain had caused the runways at Mascot to become "swampy" and an attempt to take-off with a full load of fuel and supplies was not possible. So the partially-fuelled aircraft flew from Mascot to Richmond on 4 April. At Richmond it was to be fully fuelled and loaded with supplies. Preparation of the RAAF Wackett Widgeon II amphibian aircraft at Richmond continued and Wing-Commander Lawrence Wackett expected to depart on the following day. This forced landing and its consequences became known as the "Coffee Royal" affair. Sources: Parnell, N. and Boughton, T., Flypast, A Record of Aviation in Australia, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1988; Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld), Mon 15 Apr 1929, Page 9, "LIEUTENANT ULM'S LOG"

1957 Three Neptune maritime patrol aircraft from No 11 Squadron RAAF arrived back at Richmond, New South Wales on 4 April 1957 after completing Operation Westbound — the first round-the-world flight by the RAAF. The aircraft had departed on 20 February. The focus of Operation Westbound was to "test mobility and navigation" for the aircraft and crews, and to represent the Australian Armed Forces at the celebrations for the independence of Ghana. The Australian Minister for Air, the hon F.M. Osborne, was carried in one of the Neptunes from Karachi, as he was the representative of Australia at the celebrations, and became the first official representative at such an occasion to be carried in an RAAF aircraft. The route of Operation Westbound was from Richmond (NSW) to Darwin (NT), then up to Changi (Singapore), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Karachi(Pakistan), Aden (Yemen), Entebbe (Uganda), then to Accra, Ghana for eight days. After Accra, the aircraft flew on to Dakar (Senegal), Casablanca (Mauritania), then on to the Azores (Portugal), Bermuda, Jacksonville (USA), Corpus Christie (USA), Burbank (USA), Lockheed's head offices, then to Alameda (USA), Honolulu (USA), Canton Island (Kirbati), Nandi (Fiji), and then back to Richmond (NSWS) on 4 April. The aircraft stayed in the US for a week to allow Mr Osborne to attend meetings, and due to engine troubles on a Neptune in Hawaii. Upon return, after events such as high winds in Uganda, the celebrations in Ghana, a collapsed valve on A89-312 in the Azores, necessitating an engine replacement, a runaway prop on A89-311 after takeoff in Bermuda, the visits to the Burbank factory, with demonstrations from and F-104 and C-130, and an earthquke in San Francisco, the aircraft were met with an escort of four Gloster meteors for a flyover of Sydney before returning to Richmond, where they were greeted with suitable fanfare. Sources: AWM; RAAF; Wilson, Stewart, Catalina, Neptune And Orion In Australian Service, Aerospace Publications, 1991.

2007 ATSB released its detailed investigation report into the Lockhart River crash on 4 April 2007. It stated that the accident was almost certainly the result of controlled flight into terrain, that is, an airworthy aircraft under the control of the flight crew was flown unintentionally into terrain, probably with no prior awareness by the crew of the aircraft’s proximity to terrain. The investigation report identified a range of contributing and other safety factors relating to the crew of the aircraft, Transair's processes, regulatory oversight of Transair by CASA, and RNAV (GNSS) approach design and chart presentation. It also detailed safety action taken by various agencies to address the identified safety issues. The crash was also examined in an inquest by the Queensland Coroner with both CASA and the ATSB assisting the Coroner. The coronial inquest provided a forum for detailed and objective consideration of CASA’s oversight of Transair (see 18 August 2007 entry). Source: ATSB, Aviation Safety Investigation Report AE-2005-01977, 7 May 2005. via aph.gov.au website