Oh where has the time gone. !!...............

[Guest Maj Millard]

Had the absolute pleasure last Friday of once again flying the first production Lightwing Papa-032. She is now owned proudly by regular forumites, Doug and Leslie Evans after a complete recent rebuild and restoration, and now lives at Lakeside Airpark south of Proserpine, in sunny North Queensland.

 

She had been damaged over twelve years ago, after the previous owner had a 3-blade GSC prop throw a blade on her. The resulting descent into less than idea country badly damaged one wing, and she sat for many years under a house, gathering dust..lonely, broken, detected.

 

After Doug and Leslie's recent inaugural long flight down to the Old Station fly-in, the first after the rebuild, he had complained of having to hold considerable input to keep her on the straight and level.

 

After strapping in on Friday I straight away noticed the "'all over the place' original dash had been retained, and got familiar with the old style straight-up broomstick like control stick. But this "first out of the jigs" historic Lightwing just had the right smells and feel, and whispered to me that she just wanted to go flying !...

 

So after warming up the new blue-top 582 we did just that after a straight and uneventful takeoff run, slightly downhill on the long grass runway at Lakeside. She gave a solid and impressive climb, and was beautifully light on the controls as she had always been.

 

In her day (early 80s), the design was so well ahead of it's time, and became only the second certified trainer in this country after the Thruster, which had also been certified just weeks before.

 

032 was then pressed into service by a team supported by the Australian Army, for an historic flight from Australia's most Westerly point to the most Easterly point right across the remote centre, in company with two Pioneer single-seat Flight stars. So far as I am aware this effort has never been repeated, nor was it was without casualties, with one solder loosing his life in a truck rollover, and 032 requiring at least one replacement wing rushed out from Ballina during the long trip.

 

But the trip was achieved, received much national press and TV coverage, and went a long way toward promoting our new and fledgling sport at the time.

 

Once airborne at altitude, it became obvious why she was not flying straight. The left aileron flew a distance below the wing trailing edge and the right above it. This coupled with a need to hold contant right rudder told the story.

 

After landing we made the appropriate adjustments, and a second flight indicated we had been on the money, with her now flying straight, and without constant control imput. I carried out some stalls and high- bank turns at height and she flew again like the classic old Lightwing she was alway ment to be. It is impressive to me just how well these early designs fly, and why they did make very successfully early trainers for many early UL pioneers.

 

On arrival back home I was interested to see just how long it had been since I had ferried 032 from Old Station to Townsville for the original owner. My logbooks showed the last being in August 1998 !.......15 bloody years...where has the time gone ?........thanks to Doug and Leslie for letting me fondle the old girl once again!....................Maj.....Ross Millard

 

 

[skeptic36]

Ahhhhh. A flying story, a refreshing change from politics:augie:

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Yes, couldn't but agree there !!................Maj.....

 

 

[Gforce]

Do LWs fly nicely ? Would you say they make a good tail dragger trainer ?

 

 

[Yenn]

I think she used to be owned by Noel Patrick, an old WW2 kittyhawk pilot and good friend of mine. I hadn't realised she had come back to Old Station.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

GForce, Well call me very biased, but yes I think LWs fly great, and handle very well on the ground, particularly right after touchdown. They don't really don't want to do much but go straight. I don' t recall ever having to put in a boot full of rudder to kick one straight, unlike that needed sometimes in say a Skyfox or even a Thruster.

 

Pat McGrath CFI trained for years up this way in Lightwings for years, and turned out many good pilots a lot of whom are still around flying today. The key really to landing any taildragger successfully is to touch down at the correct speed.

 

Yenn, Yes I believe it was Noel Patrick that sold her at Old Station 15 years ago. And yes she was back at Old Station this year in her new white/orange strip paint job , parked down the bottom with seven other aircraft from the North......I'm sure with any luck she'll be there again next year........Maj...

 

 

[Doug Evans]

ya just getting old there fellow >>>>

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Yes but I can still handle those fancy looking birds !!!!!......................Maj....

 

 

[Gforce]

GForce, Well call me very biased, but yes I think LWs fly great, and handle very well on the ground, particularly right after touchdown. They don't really don't want to do much but go straight. I don' t recall ever having to put in a boot full of rudder to kick one straight, unlike that needed sometimes in say a Skyfox or even a Thruster.Pat McGrath CFI trained for years up this way in Lightwings for years, and turned out many good pilots a lot of whom are still around flying today. The key really to landing any taildragger successfully is to touch down at the correct speed.

Yenn, Yes I believe it was Noel Patrick that sold her at Old Station 15 years ago. And yes she was back at Old Station this year in her new white/orange strip paint job , parked down the bottom with seven other aircraft from the North......I'm sure with any luck she'll be there again next year........Maj...

 

Great stuff - Having just bought a new Highlander a few month ago I need to go both finish my RAA ticket and get some tail drag`n time so have booked the airtime in a lightwing. When the RAA reinstate its rego that is !

 

 

[Doug Evans]

 

Rigth way up !

 

 

[Doug Evans]

No 002 & oo1

 

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Hey is it just my filthy imagination or does the woman? In the top photo besides the plane look more like a man in drag ..er than a woman...???????..................over and out .....Maj...

 

 

[Riley]

Had the absolute pleasure last Friday of once again flying the first production Lightwing Papa-032. She is now owned proudly by regular forumites, Doug and Leslie Evans after a complete recent rebuild and restoration, and now lives at Lakeside Airpark south of Proserpine, in sunny North Queensland.She had been damaged over twelve years ago, after the previous owner had a 3-blade GSC prop throw a blade on her. The resulting descent into less than idea country badly damaged one wing, and she sat for many years under a house, gathering dust..lonely, broken, detected.

After Doug and Leslie's recent inaugural long flight down to the Old Station fly-in, the first after the rebuild, he had complained of having to hold considerable input to keep her on the straight and level.

 

After strapping in on Friday I straight away noticed the "'all over the place' original dash had been retained, and got familiar with the old style straight-up broomstick like control stick. But this "first out of the jigs" historic Lightwing just had the right smells and feel, and whispered to me that she just wanted to go flying !...

 

So after warming up the new blue-top 582 we did just that after a straight and uneventful takeoff run, slightly downhill on the long grass runway at Lakeside. She gave a solid and impressive climb, and was beautifully light on the controls as she had always been.

 

In her day (early 80s), the design was so well ahead of it's time, and became only the second certified trainer in this country after the Thruster, which had also been certified just weeks before.

 

032 was then pressed into service by a team supported by the Australian Army, for an historic flight from Australia's most Westerly point to the most Easterly point right across the remote centre, in company with two Pioneer single-seat Flight stars. So far as I am aware this effort has never been repeated, nor was it was without casualties, with one solder loosing his life in a truck rollover, and 032 requiring at least one replacement wing rushed out from Ballina during the long trip.

 

But the trip was achieved, received much national press and TV coverage, and went a long way toward promoting our new and fledgling sport at the time.

 

Once airborne at altitude, it became obvious why she was not flying straight. The left aileron flew a distance below the wing trailing edge and the right above it. This coupled with a need to hold contant right rudder told the story.

 

After landing we made the appropriate adjustments, and a second flight indicated we had been on the money, with her now flying straight, and without constant control imput. I carried out some stalls and high- bank turns at height and she flew again like the classic old Lightwing she was alway ment to be. It is impressive to me just how well these early designs fly, and why they did make very successfully early trainers for many early UL pioneers.

 

On arrival back home I was interested to see just how long it had been since I had ferried 032 from Old Station to Townsville for the original owner. My logbooks showed the last being in August 1998 !.......15 bloody years...where has the time gone ?........thanks to Doug and Leslie for letting me fondle the old girl once again!....................Maj.....Ross Millard

Lovely bit of history there Ross and congrats to Leslie & Doug for bringing 032 back to life. About 8 to 10 years ago I purchased a motley assortment of ultralight parts (I was working towards my T300 Thruster Special) from an old geezer in the SW of WA. Amongst the flotsam & jetsam was the majority of Pioneer FlightStar #10-0033 which is the second member of the 'Across the Guts Odyssey' of the three aircraft you make reference to. I subsequently re-built the aircraft and fitted a R503 as the Kawasaki 440 from the historic flight had long before been junked for PRU problems. At that time, the third aircraft of the sortie (again a Kawasaki 440-powered single seater Flight Star Pioneer) was owned, and I believe still being regularily flown by a fellow in Victoria. I have a video disc documentary of the trip from Geraldton in WA to Port McQuarrie in NSW that I'd be happy to make a copy of if the Evans don't already have one. Thanks again for documenting significant history that can easily get forgotten. Cheers Riley

 

 

[flyerme]

Hey guys was talking very loosely with Doug a while ago about having a flyin somwhere (proberbly NSW) fo every one but primarily focused on LIGHTWINGS..As Doug and Lesley have 001 and They may be able to organise 002, I have 004(box back no wing tanks)) and Im sure we could chase up 003(the other box back) and so on ..what do you guys think? wonder if Balina would be the place for such an event..? I d be keen:cheezy grin:..

 

Has anything like this been done? I know there was once a Thruster flyin and the turnout was amazing....

 

 

[Doug Evans]

Lovely bit of history there Ross and congrats to Leslie & Doug for bringing 032 back to life. About 8 to 10 years ago I purchased a motley assortment of ultralight parts (I was working towards my T300 Thruster Special) from an old geezer in the SW of WA. Amongst the flotsam & jetsam was the majority of Pioneer FlightStar #10-0033 which is the second member of the 'Across the Guts Odyssey' of the three aircraft you make reference to. I subsequently re-built the aircraft and fitted a R503 as the Kawasaki 440 from the historic flight had long before been junked for PRU problems. At that time, the third aircraft of the sortie (again a Kawasaki 440-powered single seater Flight Star Pioneer) was owned, and I believe still being regularily flown by a fellow in Victoria. I have a video disc documentary of the trip from Geraldton in WA to Port McQuarrie in NSW that I'd be happy to make a copy of if the Evans don't already have one. Thanks again for documenting significant history that can easily get forgotten. Cheers Riley

Riley

 

I would love to get a copy of the flight if I could as I have not had any luck finding the Doc about the trip .

 

 

 

[Doug Evans]

Yes should get on too Lightwing at Balina too may be have some thing like that .....0032 would make the Trip .

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

That would be brilliant Riley, Doug and I were just talking about that doco last night.I saw it years ago (on TV I think ?) , but Doug or Leslie never have. I remember it being very interesting to watch. I don't know if Howie even has a copy. Great that the Flightstars are still around. I flew a Kawasaki 440 powered one in the states and it was a great little plane, and the 440 quite impressive for the power it produced.

 

We only have so much history in this sport, and we have to highlight what we do have. It may be time to get an article going in the Magazine to highlight this impressive feat, especially if we can get photos of all the aircraft that still exist. You've made my day mate, and certain justified the effort I took yesterday to start this post.....

 

Flyerme, Great idea mate, I'd be happy to help and I'm sure Howie and Nick would come on board. Ballina would be the obvious choice or even at Old Station one year at Raglan. Howie was a regular attendee there with his latest aircraft in the past. It may be less restrictive flying wise as Ballina has RPT with ASIC requirements etc etc...But yes a 'go' from me for sure........Maj...

 

 

[Riley]

RileyI would love to get a copy of the flight if I could as I have not had any luck finding the Doc about the trip .

Doug. You have a PM. cheers Riley

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Just did some Googling and found that Maj Don McNaught (the flying Scotsman) had a long aviation history in the Australian Army ,and now flys Nanchangs for a company called Blackjet in the Gold Coast area. Anybody know him at all ?? ....also that the other two pilots flying the Flightstars were Tony Overstead and Mike Arnold..................Maj...

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Don McNaught by the way was the pilot of Lightwing 032 on its 7000 Klm flight across Australia...........Maj...:

 

 

[Marty_d]

Yes but I can still handle those fancy looking birds !!!!!......................Maj....

"Handle those fancy looking birds"... "Fondle the old girl once again"...

 

Are we still talking planes??

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Speaking of "Where has all the time gone. . . ." does anyone remember a guy called Aden Wickes, who was a Qantas 747 captain, and quite a character too. . . who organised a trip for three Thrusters ( single seat models ) up the Queensland coast many years ago ? This documentary was shown on UK TV, and caused an immediate upsurge in enquiries for "Ultralight" and Microlight flying lessons ! ! The video shows that one of the three thrusters didn't make it, as it crashed whilst landing on water at the start of the journey ( obviously, it had some floats attached ! )

 

I still have a copy of the old VHS video of this programme, . . . I just need to find a VHS playing appliance to have another look at it ! This video spurred my younger Brother Raymond to go out and buy a trike, which he crashed in a severe crosswind in 1995 and swerved into a 5ft deep Oilseed Rape crop, and ended up inverted with a sand ballast trapping him in the trike with the engine still running. . . he lost his nerve and never flew again regrettably. . .,. . .but that's just by the by. . .

 

Phil

 

 

[Phil Perry]

"Handle those fancy looking birds"... "Fondle the old girl once again"...Are we still talking planes??

Marty. . . .are you SURE you don't require therapy ?

 

(!) Phil

 

 

[flyerme]

Speaking of "Where has all the time gone. . . ." does anyone remember a guy called Aden Wickes, who was a Qantas 747 captain, and quite a character too. . . who organised a trip for three Thrusters ( single seat models ) up the Queensland coast many years ago ? This documentary was shown on UK TV, and caused an immediate upsurge in enquiries for "Ultralight" and Microlight flying lessons ! ! The video shows that one of the three thrusters didn't make it, as it crashed whilst landing on water at the start of the journey ( obviously, it had some floats attached ! )I still have a copy of the old VHS video of this programme, . . . I just need to find a VHS playing appliance to have another look at it ! This video spurred my younger Brother Raymond to go out and buy a trike, which he crashed in a severe crosswind in 1995 and swerved into a 5ft deep Oilseed Rape crop, and ended up inverted with a sand ballast trapping him in the trike with the engine still running. . . he lost his nerve and never flew again regrettably. . .,. . .but that's just by the by. . .

 

Phil[/quote

 

I have a copy saved to PC ("ON A WING AND A PRAYER") AND THE OTHER THRUSTER DOCCO ("BLOODY BLOODY)

[Guest Maj Millard]

Yes I have a copy also on DVD, quite good viewing. The crash of the one on floats was just off the Pallendra beach at Townsville Nth Qld. It's obvious that all those early efforts spurned people to become UL pilots at the time, both here in Australia and elsewhere......................Maj...