R.I.P. the 'Woodstock Hilton'...................UL history.

[Guest Maj Millard]

Found out today that the great bar out at Starke Field near Townsville, christened by it's originator the late Bill Starke as the 'Woodstock Hilton' is no more.

 

The ravergers of time and the local termites were responsible for it's final collapse, even though it was situated under cover of the main hangar.

 

 

This fine bar, was well known for many years throughout the North and Northwest, as a place to relax after a hard days flying, where you could throw $5 in the pot and enjoy Bill Starkes' excellent homebrew for as long as you could stand!!.

 

If a coffee or a cuppa were more your style between flights, then that was always available also. Many students training in the hot sun with Bill or Pat McGrath, also found the cool bar a great place to enjoy a break between lessons. :thumb_up:

 

The 'come and get it' throphy resided on the bar on more that one occasion, and Middo, Rod Hewwit Cook, Lee Ungerman or Billy Knight, and many other notable aviators could be found leaning on the bar on occasions during their visits to the North, during their annual 'flight school inspection tours . The local seafood and prawns would always take a hit when they were in town.

 

 

It was well known by local Army Blackhawk pilots training with night-vision goggles in the nearby Army training areas. Often mid evening with Bills' blessing, they would drop in on the empty runway, blow grass everywhere and saunder up to the bar for a coffee break .:thumb_up:

 

Bill could never convince them to 'accidentially' leave one of their impressive night-vision goggles behind, even though he tried real hard.

 

During the big Easter fly-ins at Starke in the 90s (then called 'Ace Base") which most of the pilots in the area attended, the "Woodstock Hilton" in the evening was a hive of activity and stories, and rivalled any good country bar on a Saturday night in the bush :1st: :rilla:

 

After all it was the home of the famed "Desert Dwellers". A name given to local flyers by those of the more Northern tribes who frequented the rich rain forrests, the area around Woodstock being fairly brown in comparison...........................................................................................Maj...