Old Station Fly In

G'day. Can anyone give one person a lift to Raglan or back on the Queen's Birthday w/e? I'm at Moranbah but can find own way to Mackay.

Cheers, Grant. ph 07 49416511

It has been gently raining up here in Central Qld and forecast to continue to Friday. That poses a bit of a problem as the strip could be too wet. So far I think it will be OK but I will be phoning ahead to see if the strip is open on Friday. George and Leonie's phone is 0749346562, in case anyone else is interested.

An upgrade on Old Station.

Leonie tells me that it may still be able to go ahead, and a decision will be made tomorrow.

The organising team have been hard at work, but today was too wet for much to be done and the strip is very wet.

The latest on the Old Station fly in and air display is as I heard on the radio this a.m. It is all go. The strip will probably dry out well today and the organisers are not anticipating any problems, so for those who are in Central Qld it promises to be a great weekend. The strip will be closed between 12 and 2 on Sunday while the show is in progress.

Thanks for the update Ian.

Gordon

Report on Old Station.

By Saturday the airstrip had dried out nicely, the dust was settled and the countryside was looking a much nicer shade of green.

There was a steady stream of aircraft arriving all day Saturday with the warbirds being there when I arrived, 3 Yaks and a Trojan as usual boring big holes in the sky. What an impressive sound the Trojan makes at take off, rather like a monstrous Harley for all you bike officianado's. the oldest plane would have to be lovely old D.H. Dragon which is privately owned and used just as a Cessna would be, but much more stylishly.

I was parked up next to Phil our Long Tall Texan, I assume the name is more to do with his Texan plane than his size or heritage. Nice to meet you Phil. The plane looks good but I didn't get around to taking him up on the offer of a flight.

The most common type of aircraft would have been the Jabiru so for all you knockers there are a lot of people with bad taste. there were all sorts from the 4 seater down to the most basic model and then there were several other aircraft with Jab engines. they seem to be a rare success story in Australian aviation.

Cessna, Piper and Beech were represented, but in most cases the RAA type of A/c look tidier and better cared for.

I was particularly taken with a Sia Marchetti which had been rebuilt in the USA and bought from the deceased estate. It was a beautiful machine, sleek, thin wings and a wonderful paint job and I am still drooling, but if I can't afford that there was a nice Sonex. I shall have to have a look at their specs. From photos I have seen it looks odd but in the flesh it looks as if there would be a lot of lift from the fuselage.

There must have been around 120 aircraft, although I didnt count and have not heard the oficial figure.

Saturday night was as usual music and other entertainment into the wee small hours. Much too loud for a grumpy old man like me so it was early to bed

Sunday brought more arrivals before the airshow, which was 2 hours of flying display by all the warbirds, the Dragon who can fly really slow, an ag plane with a wing span more like a glider but impressive dumping ability, all topped of by the usual impressive display by the Roulettes who unfortunately couldn't land because the strip was a bit soft.

All in all a very good weekend. Pics to follow if I can find out how to put them in the forum.

Acknowledge

Thanks for that bit of information Ian. Co-incidently ,I heard the ABC (Macca's) coverage of it on Sunday morning on the radio. A few people i know were there, & it sounded as if it was a pretty big affair. Didn't do any damage to the reputation of the movement as far as I could determine. Cheers ..Nev...

If you heard Macca you would have heard about the Hills Hoists flying. Gyro's.

I am told that he had to be advised what the little yellow plane rocketing into the sky was. Sorry I didn't hear it but I was in the plane. Held it down to 100k right opposite him and then about a 2g pull until I was back to 70k. Informed estimates said I was going up at 1500' min and I know it didn't take long to get to 1000'. Good fun and safe.

Ian it was a good show, I only attended on Sunday due to the death of a very dear and close friend of mine who was in fact to accompany me to Old Station but as fate would have it this didn't occur.

Only 38yrs of age and exercising at the time which has brought home to me that one must live for the moment and cram as much into this very short journey of ours on this earth before it all comes to an end.

Anyway Sunday was a magic day with plenty of action and planes to see.

Though I missed you I'm sure that we will catch up one day at Smokey Creek.

There were some very nice aircraft at the show but one particular plane that stirred the blood with it's sneak attack on the crowd, was the Sabre, know wonder the enemy was caught off guard with those things as you didn't hear it coming until it was about all gone.

When you did hear it it sounded like what a fighter jet should sound like,

all grunt and speed and looked so slippery too.

Anyway I didn't hear one knocker there and I would say all who attended got there money's worth.

Great day in all and I can only imagine the whole weekend there would have been the same good time for all as I had on Sunday.

Regards,

Rick

Thanks Ian and Rick for your reports . I heard Macca's show on the radio . A bit of a surprise as I don't usually listen to his program , a good bit of radio though I thought . Look live the Old Station Fly In , one day I may get up there .

Dave C

Thanks for the reports and sorry to hear about your friend Rick.

I was looking forward to getting there, but the weather beat me.

Jack and I were to go Friday and back Monday in a Jab from Cooma, but when we saw the forecast 45 knot winds and severe turbulence for Friday, we had to abort. The system that hammered Newcastle stretched a long way inland. I would have had to go to Birdsville to get around it.

Oh well - there's always next year.

Ross

What Sabre? I thought it was a Mig but impressive.

These early deaths are becoming all too prevalent. A good bushwalking frien nof mine died recently, he was 52 and fit as a mallee bull, very health aware and had just returned from NZ where he hd done some of the long walks. At least I can't die young.

As usual there was at least 1 knocker and he earbashed me until I asked what he flew and he didn't.

There won't be a show next year as they have gone biannual and Leonie said on the radio this am that it all depended on relief from the drought to continue. She also said the aircraft tally including the Roulettes was 250, which surprised me.

Sorry Ian I must not only be deaf but blind also I was thinking of the blue Sabre over the other side of the strip when I did the post but hell who cares whatever it was it went like a scalded cat and sounded like a symphony orchestra playing.

Regards,

Rick

We can't be right all the time only 99.99999% of the time.