by Graeme Humphreys, images by Jon Davison

The past meets the present as our intrepid SAAA pilot makes the trek down to Temora to view the dazzling displays of vintage planes.

Friday dawned bleak and rain started to fall from a very low overcast at 0615 as I drove past Ewen Maddock Dam on my way to Caloundra Airport to pick up my RV6 and my mate Sandy for our trip to Temora.

Arriving at Caloundra in now heavy rain, I opened the hangar doors and peeked out into the gloom. Not the best start to a flying day but, knowing the weather was much better as close as the Glasshouse Mountains, I hung about and did a daily on my machine until Sandy arrived. Around 0800 the cloud broke a little and the rain eased to a light drizzle so we pushed the baby out, locked the hangar and taxied down to the bowser to top up the tanks.

Wheels off time was 0823 and by the time we were at 300' I could see the peak of Mt Beerwah: a good sign. We tracked over home to let my wife know we were off and then set course for Toowoomba, climbing out to 6500'. Away from the coast, conditions were clear and although we had a slight headwind we were making good time and turned over Toowoomba after just 32 minutes and headed for Moree, a further 158nm down track. South of the border, the base of the overcast above started to descend so we descended with it and ended up at 500 agl 30nm north of Moree with a decreasing visibility in light rain.

BN CEN called all traffic inbound to Moree to advise of deteriorating weather conditions at Moree: thank goodness they are not always accurate. We still had good visibility, so preceded on knowing that Goondiwindi was fine and clear just behind us as an option. We called at 10 nm on CTAF and got the automatic reply, turned on all the lights and overflew the airport and joined downwind for R/W 18. Drift on crosswind looked about 25 deg. A Dash 8 called taxiing and decided to hold on the tarmac till we landed. On final, the windsock was stiff as a board straight down the runway so we stopped quickly and then taxied forward to the taxiway and asked the Dash 8 to enter and backtrack before we tried to taxi crosswind along the taxiway to the terminal and fuel bowser. Being a taildragger, we turned tail to wind and chocked the wheels before retreating to the terminal which, thank goodness, was heated, as by now we were wet and cold.

We waited for an easing of the rain and then refueled ready in case there was a break in the conditions. Suddenly a Piper Colt taxied in, he'd followed the road in from Coonamble and was bound for Redcliffe so we exchanged weather information and he reported that the worst of the weather was right there at Moree. We hoped the rain would be blown north by the strong winds and leave a break to the SW. No such luck. We got a cab to town and found a pub with pea and ham soup for lunch – beauty!

Just before 1500, we sensed a slight brightening in the conditions and hightailed it back to the airport, jumped aboard, airborne at 1508, and hightailed it WSW towards a break. Showers were now heavy but isolated but with good visibility so we maintained 500 agl, below the strong headwinds above, and  below the overcast, and tracked via Coonamble, Narromine and Forbes to Temora, arriving at 1705, a comfortable 30 minutes before last light.

Viewing the results of the efforts of our great Australian pastoralists and graziers over the generations from our highly mobile viewing platform at 500' all the 322nm down from Moree, just reinforces the deep passion I feel for this great country and my fellow Australians. The neatly ploughed fields, the contoured paddocks directing any runoff into the farm dams and the beautiful homesteads are great tributes to those who have plied their trades to develop and improve. We felt lucky to see this country on Friday as it has been subjected to arguably the worst drought on record and here it was, laid out below us, with water from the recent rain pooling in every field we saw. Maybe it is not drought breaking yet but my god it looked good for a start.

Carol and Sam Richards from the RV group met us on arrival: we tied down securely in the strong cold SW wind, put on our baby’s raincoat and hightailed it to the warmth of the Aero Club for a hot cup of tea followed by a few cleansing ales.

After a very nice dinner, a group of guys arrived from Sydney: yes, they had driven. These very bright blokes are in to Ham radio and things electronic and Sandy and I were feeling a little overawed with our only experience being in long distance air to ground HF comms. Around 2200 we all drifted back down to the airport to welcome a Saab 340 full of winners of some Sydney radio competition. Their prize was a return flight to Temora and accommodation for the Museum flying day. The residents of Temora have been told they are from the friendliest town in Oz and they are surely trying to live up to that tag.

Sandy and I retired to our basic caravan accommodation right at the airport and had a cold but otherwise comfortable night. Up next morning for an early morning shower at the good facilities next door, we had breakfast at the Aero Club at 0730 and then went to refuel before the rush. As I removed the raincoat from my RV, I heard a gyro running and realized I had left the Master on for the night (15 hours). The previous night as we tied down, I had actually turned the master back on to get the TTIS from the EIS to fill out the Maintenance Release and had overlooked it in the cold. There was a little power left in the 18ah Odyssey battery but not enough for a start, especially in the cold conditions. Anyhow, I set the engine controls as I always do for start and with Sandy in the seat I gave the prop a flick from behind on the Starboard side and it fired on the second blade: crikey I love these carby engines. I taxied over to the bowser with my little 35 ah Hyundai alternator pumping out 14.7 volts and the Odyssey sucking up every last one of them. After refuelling, it started like a beauty so Sandy and I went and had a look at the town for a couple of minutes to make sure we'd get a normal start on Sunday morning for our return trip to Caloundra.

1000 was start time for the Museum flying display so we joined the queue in a large car park full of buses. All during the air show, the airport remains open to normal operations and all traffic (arriving, departing and air show) sorts out its separation without ATC so it shows the level of professionalism of all crews.

First aircraft to fire up was the Ryan trainer, polished aluminium of course: one of the first monocoque constructed aircraft built. It has no elect system so had to be hand swung. The pilot was a QF 767 pilot on weekdays and he made a number of passes over the N-S strip before making a very nice landing in the 18-20kt crosswind.

Next up was a Wirraway from the Southern Knights, a group of four from Victoria that do the air show circuit. He gave a very good display and, of course, the sound of a radial really had everyone’s heads turning.

Then the P&W 1830 of the Boomerang came to life and I could feel a slight adrenaline rush as that

oh so familiar pulse of the 14 cylinder twin row radial filled the air. This aircraft and the Wirraway are both Australian variants of the American T6 Texan trainer but the Boomerang was fitted with the most powerful engine which promoted it from the T6 trainer to a fighter. The sound of the scream coming from the outboard gun ports gave this aircraft its own very distinctive sound during its very agile flying display.

As the Boomerang taxied in, a V12 burst into life and the P40 Kittyhawk moved off to enter and backtrack R/W 36. This type was operated for the RAAF by men like the late Bobby Gibbs DFC who all loved this aircraft for its performance, wide undercarriage track and lack of bad manners.

Next up, the Mk8 Spitfire took to the air after the air raid siren was sounded and it was displayed for its performance and the beautiful shape of that efficient elliptical wing with the big Merlin purring under the cowl up front and the rather narrow track of the undercarriage while it is on the ground.

Then the scream of turbines filled the air as the Gloster Meteor's jets fired up and it taxied past the Aero Club for the long R/W 23, 2040 metres and almost into wind. As we watched, it accelerated a long way down the runway, got airborne and then disappeared behind the trees before reappearing again a couple of miles away: the temperature was a quite cool 16degC. I'd like to see it on a hot day! These early generation pure jet engines certainly didn't like hot or high.

Next the Canberra bomber started up - now this was different. The engines are started with a cap of explosives fired into the engine to rotate the compressors to give hot high pressure air for the combustion chambers. A very different way of doing things but it meant that the engines could be started without the need for a ground power unit. It too taxied for R/W 23 where it showed its long take-off run and apparent struggle into the air. Once the Canberra was airborne, the Meteor came in to formate on it and the two of them made a real spectacle as they roared down R/W 36 at a couple of hundred feet. On completion of their display, they returned to dispersal and shut down and the crowd showed their appreciation as the pilots left their cockpits for the day.

It was now 1440 and all eyes strained to the north as a small black speck slightly above the horizon began to grow in size, no sound, just this black shape now, down around 200' and fast. In a moment it was clearly an F 111 from Amberley. Abeam the crowd, it banked hard right with full afterburner and flew a teardrop for a pass to the north. Abeam the crowd again and it rolled into an 85 degree bank max rate 360 degree turn left, followed by a slow dirty pass back to the south and, finally, a dump and burn run as it headed for the heavens on its way back to Amberley.

After that we all retired to the bar at the Aero Club to pay some taxes to cover the F 111's fuel bill. Following a good session of stories, exaggerations and out and out lies, a great meal was served followed by a cleansing ale and we rolled into our sleeping bags for the night with our fingers crossed that the SW wind would stay for another 15 hours for our trip home in the morning.

Well, we had a good ride home. Initially we planned via Forbes, Coonabarabran, Narrabri to Moree for fuel and then Toowomba and home to Caloundra.

We departed Temora at 8.22 Sunday, set 23/23 and climbed out to the 5500 cloud base looking for that elusive tailwind which we would need to go non-stop to Caloundra. No such luck, so we climbed through the cloud layer into clear air and sunshine

Approaching Moree we made a fuel recalculation and, expecting a better tailwind on the new track of 035, we could see we could make Caloundra with reserves intact. We started descent at 52nm/15 minutes out and touched down at 1138, just 3h16m after take-off with a total burn of 118 litres, including the short local flight on Saturday morning. That left us with 24 litres for our 45 minutes fixed reserve. Now is that neat or what? That makes it the longest leg I have flown, at 560 nm in my aircraft and at an average g/s of 172 kts: no wonder I love this thing. I was so much of a high I forgot to cancel my SAR but some mates reassured the powers that be that we had arrived safe and well and there is no need for further action as I have already slapped my wrist and severely chastised myself.

After arrival at Caloundra, we refuelled ready for the next time and I raced around to Pelican Waters for our Sports Aircraft Association of Australia (SAAA Chapter 22) meeting where our group of home builders inspected Tony's RV7 project and admired the great progress he is making. Sports Aviation must surely be the greatest hobby of all time and I must admit I look forward to enjoying it for many years to come.