Leon Skilling – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB03/06/202306/06/2023

Aviation Heritage Vol. 54 No. 2 (June 2023) Contents Listing

The latest quarterly AHSA journal - Aviation Heritage - has recently been posted to members. The contents of all articles are listed below: Aviation...

1921 Following a meeting of the Air Council on 3 February 1921 at which it was decided to instruct the Air Board to "prepare and submit proposals under existing Acts for the development of the Air Force forthwith, to such a degree as is necessary to enable the immediate establishment of an Air Force", the Australian Air Force was formed on 31 March 1921 by order of the Governor General of Australia. The Australian Air Corps (a temporary Army unit) was disbanded and the AAF immediately took possession of existing aircraft and equipment at Point Cook. The proclamation stated: By His Excellency the Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia; Whereas it is enacted by the Defence Act 1903-1918 that the Governor-General may, subject to the provisions of that Act, raise, maintain, and organize in the manner prescribed, such Permanent and Citizen Forces as he deems necessary for the defence and protection of the Commonwealth and of the several States: And whereas it is desirable that Military Forces, to be called the Australian Air Force, should be raised, maintained, and organized in the manner aforesaid: Now therefore I, Henry William, Baron Forster, the Governor-General aforesaid, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, do hereby order that a Force, to be called the Australian Air Force, be constituted as part of the Australian Military Forces as from the thirty-first day of March, One thousand nine hundred and twenty-one: And I do further order that the said Force be raised, maintained, and organized in the manner prescribed by the Defence Act 1903-1918 and the Regulations made thereunder. Given under my Hand and the Seal of the Commonwealth, at Melbourne, this twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand nine hundred and twenty-one, and in the eleventh year of His Majesty's reign. Source: National Library of Australia, 1921 'ORDER.', Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (National : 1901 - 1973), 31 March, p. 480. , viewed 07 October 1921, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232182172

1929 Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harold Litchfield and Tom McWilliams were still in the air on 31 March 1929, continuing their flight from Richmond, NSW to Wyndham, WA aboard the Fokker F.VIIb/3m G-AUSU "Southern Cross". Ulm recorded the following entries in his log: 1.40 (am): Already beginning to lighten up; good horizon now; altitude 3000 ft., air speed 75 knots, revs. 1575 all three, oil temperature 55, oil pressure 62. 3.35: Weather closing in, looks like rain ahead. 3,45: Thick clouds below ; don't know whether the coast is reached yet or not, but we all think so. 7.20: Dawn about to break, wet and cold. 7.51: Just met large river, either the Ord or the Victoria. 7.58; Looks as though we are approaching Wyndham. 9.15: The last hour has been spent at about 50 ft. in thick rain and very low clouds along a very broken coastline. Looking for Wyndham. 10.30: Looks as though we have found the right entrance at last after hours in the rain at 50 ft. 1.30 p.m.: Still lost in this rainstorm. 3.20: After ten hours lost in low and very severe rain storms we made a forced landing. About an hour and a half prior to this we passed over a mission station and dropped messages. They pointed to Wyndham by a white sign and signalled 150 miles due east. We only had about an hour and a half's petrol left, but flew east for about 50 minutes. Rain, however, forced us right down to the hill tops, so we turned back towards the mission, but could not locate it in the low rain storms. Eventually we landed on the edge of a mangrove swamp. Smithy made a wonderful effort. The Southern Cross is undamaged. The only food on board is seven sandwiches, all about to putrefy. We lit a fire. All were tired out after 28 hours in the air. Mac (M'Williams) rigged a long wave aerial to the aileron king post and listened in. All very deaf, but heard Perth call Darwin re us. Before dark we trudged through about 2½ miles of bad swamp grass to an adjacent hill top, but saw nothing. We returned to the 'bus just before dark in very heavy going. Smithy and Litchfield got in five or six hours' sleep the first night, but Mac and self barely an hour. The mosquitoes and flies make sleep impossible." 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"

1975 Piper PA-28-140 VH-TPT operated by Woodfall Aviation Pty Ltd crashed at 2km NW of Walcha, NSW on 31 March 1975. The pilot had planned to fly from Cessnock to Armidale, but he encountered low cloud along the route. Coffs Harbour Flight Service Unit suggested he divert to Tamworth, and the pilot confirmed he had set a course in that direction. At 1543 hours the pilot advised that he was in the vicinity of an agricultural airstrip and he intended to land. He noticed that the strip had a longitudinal slope and he made a long final approach for an upslope landing with full flap extended. Subsequently the pilot realised that the aircraft would not come to a stop before it reached trees at the end of the strip and he commenced a 'go-around'. The aircraft became airborne and a turn to the right was commenced. While the aircraft was banked about 45 degrees to the right it struck a tree at a height of 42 feet and, following Impact with other trees, it struck the ground in an inverted attitude and a fierce fire broke out. There were 2 fatalities and the aircraft was destroyed. Source: ATSB

1987 Adam Munro (pilot) and Graham Thomas (passenger) set a record for "Speed over a recognised course" (Powered Aeroplanes, C-1e, Landplanes: take off weight 3,000 to 6,000 kg) of 360.77 km/h on 31 Mar 1987. They were flying from Singapore to Hobart in a Piper PA-31 Navajo Panther. Source: FAI Records website, ID=3468

2007 The Australian Government introduced enhanced security measures to limit the amount of liquids, aerosols, and gels that could be taken through the screening point for people who were flying to and from Australia on 31 March 2007. The measures matched those overseas. Source: New Aviation Security Measures for carry-on Baggage at International Airports. via aph.gov.au website