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...

1926 The British aviator Alan Cobham arrived at Essendon airport, Victoria, where he was greeted by a crowd estimated at 100,000 people – a significant proportion of Melbourne’s population at the time. Cobham became the first pilot to complete a return trip from England to Australia after departing the River Medway, England, on 30 June 1926 in a de Havilland D.H. 50J aircraft, G-EBFO. Source: Essendon Fields website

1945 The last RAAF non-bombing operational sortie of World War Two was conducted by a No 87 Squadron de Havilland Mosquito. The aircraft took off on 15 August 1945 from the remote red dirt bush airstrip at Coomalie Creek in the Northern Territory, heading to Timor on a photographic reconnaissance. An hour out, the crew ‘two Bills’—William Maitland and William Reedy—received a call; the war was over. Source: Then. Now. Always: Royal Australian Air Force Illustrated History 1921-2021, History and Heritage Branch - Air Force.

1962 While practising for an open day air display, six RAAF airmen of the "Red Sales" aerobatic team were killed when their de Havilland Vampire T.33 jets crashed into the ground on 15 August 1962. The team, from the Central Flying School at East Sale, were performing a low-level barrel roll in a diamond formation of four aircraft when they crashed into the ground about 50 m on the south side of Dutson Road near the bombing range. The accident happened at about 2 pm. The aircraft were travelling at over 300 knots (550 km/hr). On impact, the three leading aircraft immediately exploded, leaving wreckage and debris scattered over approximately half a mile. The fourth aircraft crashed about 600 m further away and was not as badly wrecked because it had levelled out slightly before impact. Six experienced RAAF airmen were killed. They were Flight Lieutenants Reg Jones (30), Alec Young (30), Mike Dunbar (31), Peter Hearnden (28), Marty Burke (28) and Flying Officer Don Gow (27). Source: ADF-Serials

2006 Opposition Senator Kerry O’Brien alleged on 15 August 2006 that the former Minister for Transport and Regional Services, The Hon John Anderson, unduly interfered in the NAS changes of 2003 and 2004 and incorrectly claimed that they were based on the United States National Airspace System. Source: Senate, Debates, 15 August 2006. via aph.gov.au website