Percival Proctor – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB06/03/202303/06/2023

Aviation Heritage Vol. 54 No. 1 (March 2023) Contents Listing

The latest quarterly edition (March 2023) of the AHSA journal – Aviation Heritage – has recently been posted to members. The full contents are...

1924 WGCDR Stanley Goble and FLTLT Ivor McIntyre continued their around-Australia flight in Fairey IIID A10-3 on Saturday 17 May 1924 (journey day 42, flying day 19). At Ceduna, Mr. Betts (agent for Vacuum Oil), Mr. Norman (schoolmaster) and Mr. Reid (manager of Betts and Co.) helped the refuelling in the morning, carrying petrol half a mile over the mud-bank. The Fairey took off at 11:45 am and after three-quarters of an hour ran into drizzling rain. Rain and sea mist continued all the way to Port Lincoln, where the landing was made at 2:25 pm. They stayed overnight at the local hotel, relishing the hot baths which were provided. Source: The First Round-Australia Flight, 1924 by Neville Parnell, AHSA Journal, vol 6, no 12, December 1965 and NAA: A9376, 92, Round Australia seaplane flight 1924 - Wing Commander Goble and Flight Lieutenant McIntyre

1928 Reverend John Flynn’s vision to provide a mantle of safety for those living in remote areas of Australia took off on the morning of 17 May 1928 when the inaugural flight of the Aerial Medical Service departed from Cloncurry to retrieve two patients. Dr Kenyon St Vincent Welch and Pilot Arthur Affleck took off in a single engine de Haviland DH.50 biplane named Victory. The first pilot, Arthur Affleck, had no navigational aids, no radio and only had a compass. He navigated by landmarks such as fences, rivers, riverbeds, dirt roads or just wheel tracks and telegraph lines. If the plane went down, there was no way to call for help. This flight marked the beginning of one of the world’s first aeromedical services, the Royal Flying Doctor Service. In its inaugural year, the Aerial Medical Service (which changed its name to the Royal Flying Doctor Service) flew 50 flights to 26 destinations and treated 225 patients. Source: Royal Flying Doctor Service

1953 Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 VX762 operated by 850 Sqn RAN collided in mid-air with a DH-82A Tiger Moth at Forest Hill Airport, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales on 17 May 1953. VX762 was one of a formation of six RAN Sea Furies which had taken off from Forest Hill aerodrome, Wagga, for local flying and to return to their base at Nowra. Soon afterwards, at about 10:20 hours, they returned over the aerodrome at low altitude where the leader collided with a civil DH.82A Tiger Moth which had just taken off on local flying practice. The DH.82A Tiger Moth crashed on the aerodrome, the pilot escaping serious injury. The Sea Fury crashed two miles away and the pilot, Lieutenant Commander Reginald Albert Wild DFC, RAN - was killed. He was, at the time, the commanding officer of 850 Squadron, Royal Australian Navy. Sources: ADF-Serials; aviation-safety.net website

1967 Dassault Mirage IIIO(A) A3-77 operated by 2 OCU RAAF crashed into the sea off Newcastle, NSW on 17 May 1967. The aircraft was engaged in training exercises at 4.20pm when it entered a dive and crashed into the sea about 80 kilometres north-east of Newcastle, NSW. 3 Squadron CO Wing Commander Vance Drummond killed. Neither his body nor the aircraft was recovered. Sources: ADF-Serials; aviation-safety.net website

1985 The first two RAAF McDonnel-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet aircraft A21-102 and A21-102 were ferried to Australia in a record-breaking non-stop trans-Pacific flight on 17 May 1985. The 12,360 km (7,680 miles) flight from US Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, to RAAF Williamtown took fifteen hours and was made possible by in-flight refuelling from USAF KC-10 tankers. Each Hornet was refuelled seven times from the accompanying KC-10 tanker as the group headed towards Hawaii from California. South of Hawaii another KC-10 flew out to meet them and refuelled the first tanker. After passing Hawaii, the Hornets were each refuelled another eight times before the epic flight was completed. The flight was led by No 2 Operational Conversion Unit (2OCU) Commanding Officer, Wing Commander Brian Robinson flying the lead aircraft and Squadron Leader Laurie Evans flying the second aircraft. Source: Aircraft of the RAAF, RAAF History & Heritage/Big Sky Publishing, 2021