A visit to Bankstown 1970

[pmccarthy]

 

 

 

 

 

[Student Pilot]

Mustang at Illawarra hangar mebe? They had a drogue towing contract I think, was it Craig Breedlove that pranged IVI when the canopy came off? The hangar with the Tiger looks a bit like Marshals? That was opposite and along one from hangar 17 of Air Ags. Lottsa stuff in there from a couple of Spits, a 109G and an Oscar, used to have a Lockheed 12 parked out the front in the early 80's. Ceres looks a bit out of place there.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

It was Sid Marshal's hangar, I had forgotten. You can see the 109 tail I think. It was Ray Whitebread who died when the canopy came off IVI.

 

I seem to remember a mustang with Jack Brabham Aviation but it must have been a different one.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

It might be the Mustang that used to fly over me as I operated a Michigan front end loader at Moorbank. Despite the loader having no muffler (no wonder I'm deaf) I could easily hear the aircraft pass over at about 1000'.

 

 

[onetrack]

Old K - What were you doing, operating a Michigan loader at Moorebank in 1970? I was at Casula in 1970, doing an Engineers course at SME, along Moorebank Rd, but I don't remember ever hearing or seeing a Mustang in the air.

 

Maybe we were too busy making earthmover noise, and building Bailey bridges, and floating MK3 ACCO's across the Georges River on pontoons, to take any notice of Mustangs flying overhead?? 

 

Pmccarthy - Re VH-IVI - the pilots name was Ray Whitbread, not Whitebread. It appears the previous owner of IVI had a different opinion as to what caused Whitbreads crash - and it wasn't the canopy becoming detached - in his opinion, it was Whitbread who had released the canopy, trying to get out.

 

After all, many thousands of Mustangs were built and flown under combat conditions and detachment of the canopy was not something that was a known Mustang problem, nor even mentioned in anything I've ever read about them.

 

Page 5 of the interesting article below, gives the previous owners opinion about what really happened to IVI and Ray Whitbread.

 

http://www.saam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/SAAM-Profiles-Mustang-CA-18-Mk-21-A68119-VH-IVI-v11-3Jul16.pdf

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Old K - What were you doing, operating a Michigan loader at Moorebank in 1970?...

I worked on my uncle's dairy farm, which was more like a feedlot and involved lots of machinery. 

 

I used the proceeds to purchase a 650 Triumph from Brian Collins MC in Parramatta. As soon as it was delivered, I wheeled it onto Newbridge Road in peak hour traffic and learned how to ride a two wheeler. I had never even ridden a bicycle.

 

 

[DenisPC9]

I used the proceeds to purchase a 650 Triumph from Brian Collins MC in Parramatta. As soon as it was delivered, I wheeled it onto Newbridge Road in peak hour traffic and learned how to ride a two wheeler. I had never even ridden a bicycle.

Those were the days ;-)

 

My first foray on 2 wheels (motorised) was a mate's Beesa Bantam in our backyard in a small country town. 2 weeks later a 2nd hand Triumph Trophy came up for sale. I was 18 but there were a few fairy moments ;-)

 

 

[Boongala]

I learned to fly at Navair Flying School at Bankstown in 1970. I remember the Mustangs, operated by Illawarra on the navy target towing contact at Nowra. There was an Airshow at Bankstown around July or August 1970 the two Mustangs and one other (can’t remember the type) had a low level pylon race around the perimeter of the aerodrome, imagine that happening today!

 

 

[old man emu]

In the interests of promoting aviation, the airport lease-holders have worked the magic disappearing trick at Bankstown.

 

Navair - gone

 

Chieftain - gone

 

Illawarra - gone

 

Clamback & Hennessy - gone

 

Australian Air Props - gone

 

Air Ag - hanging on by its fingertips

 

Aviation Welding - surviving on outside work

 

 

[facthunter]

Because the People who purchase Aerodromes don't give a stuff about Aviation. Just MONEY and don't care if all those businesses have to go elsewhere or close forever. The governments of the Time are at fault there. Nev

 

 

[planedriver]

Dick Smith was spot-on when he said some time ago that Bankstown was becoming an aviation ghost town.

 

Sad but true.

 

So much for privatisation

 

Such is the power for the almighty dollar.

 

 

[old man emu]

Actually, it is the lease arrangement with the Federal Government. These companies do not "own" the airports.

 

One of the reasons for the maintenance facilities closing down is that the owner/operators are getting well past retirement age. Most of these blokes did their apprenticeships with QANTAS in the 1960's-70's. At that time they learned how to do things from scratch. There are very few young people undertaking apprenticeships in aircraft maintenance.

 

The other reason for these closures is that the companies have included in the leases that should a tenant cease business, the company resumes the building the tenant was occupying, even if the tenant had erected the building years before the company got the lease from the Government. So for many the buildings which represented their retirement fund are worthless, and the tenant's lifetime work is valueless.

 

The next old beggar you see might just be the bloke who kept aviation going for the previous 50 years.

 

 

[planedriver]

Certainly the case with Clamback & Hennesy.

 

If they are seen at traffic lights holding a bucket, I hope everyone makes a donation.

 

That's a sad situation after putting most of your life into something.