Northern Territory's Parachuting History Since 1891

’s y r o t i r r e T Northern y r o t s i H g n Parachuti Since 1891

Christine Collins 1

Northern Territory’s Parachuting History Since 1891 Written and published by Christine Collins Š christine28july@gmail.com First printed 2012 While all efforts have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information in this book, please accept apologies for inaccurate information and contact the author for any changes to be made for subsequent reprints.

Likewise, all efforts have been taken to acknowledge contributors and gain permission for copyright. Please contact the author to rectify any permissions inaccurately sourced.

ISBN 9780646573885

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Acknowledgements Special Thanks goes to all the people who contributed photos and stories. Particular gratitude is paid to those who spent hours being interviewed! Without your input, this book would not have been possible.

Special Acknowledgement

must go the biggest story teller of them all, Trevor Collins (TC). Thank you for your patience in telling stories (when given a few rums!), sharing all of your photos and retelling stories when I forgot the details.

The abbreviations listed below are used throughout the book to acknowledge those who were interviewed.

As Trevor has continuously and actively jumped in the Northern Territory for 35 of the past 50 years, his contribution in extensive and significant to the recording of the history.

Abbreviation

AK AS BP BM CB DM DD DK DO ES GC GF GG GW JY JC JJ LH LA MH PC PA RW RM SB TM TE WM

Other SigniďŹ cant Contributions Rambling On (RO) 1979-1999 and Australian Skydiver Magazine (ASM) 20002011 The countless articles, photos and stories from these magazines have been used to gather information, as well as piece together the timing of events. The many individuals who contributed through the magazines are gratefully acknowledged. Thank you to Susie McLachlan for her support in using these resources.

Archived Club Records Darwin Parachute Club, Parachuting Promotions, NT Northern Territory Parachute Council.

Google Earth 2011 for all satellite maps throughout the book.

Northern Territory Government 2009 NT History grant from the NT Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport, which facilitated the interviews for this book.

Front Cover: Photo by Rodney Benson Used with permission from Dave Benson. Thanks guys!

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Acknowledgements

Contributor Andy Keech Ashley Smith Blake Palmer Brian Murphy Cathy Burrow David Millard Dicky Dreiu Don McKern Doug Booth Eddie Smith Geoff Cowie George Faulkner Gordon Gecele Greg Wright Jimmy Yuncken John Cook John James Lee Hunt Lou Armstrong Michael Holtham Paul Cattonar Phil Allen Ray Withwam Rick Meerkin Sue Brown Tom Maher Tony Edwards Walter Strohmayr

Contents

Introduction Old Meets New

Page 7

1890s

1. Parachutes Over Palmerston

1940s

2. Spitfires and Bombers 3. Bail Outs 4. Modern Bail Outs 5. Special Operations 6. War Strips 7. Batchelor Airstrip 8. Strauss Airstrip 9. DC3s

1960s

10. NT School of Parachuting 11. First Sport Jump 12. Women in the Sport 13. Territory Women in the 60s 14. Early Demos 15. Move to Batchelor 16. Batchelor Memories

1970s

1980s

17. Katherine Commences 18. Katherine Changes Hands 19. First Rel Week 20. Katherine Jumpers 21. Manbulloo Drop Zone 22. The Races 23. Early Student Training 24. Katherine Gorge 25. Gear 26. DZ Wedding 27. Batchelor Moves With the Times 28. Alice Springs DZs 29. Alice Springs Jumping 30. Alice Springs Jumpers 31. Tennant Creek Jumpers 32. Para-Rescue 33. Cyclone Tracy 34. Darwin Recovers 35. Batchelor Rebuilds 36. Batchelor Grows 37. Batchelor Jumpers and Planes 38. Territory Independence 39. Tail Plane Hook Up 40. Lee Hunt 41. Manbulloo Incidents

42. Katherine Rel Week Grows Page 82 43. Annaburroo 84 44. Annaburroo Fun 86 45. Other DZs 87 46. NT Records 88 47. Rel Weeks Continue 89 48. Games and Gunges 90 49. Boobs and Bums 92 50. Air Shows 93 51. Canopy Rel 94 52. RAAF Jumpers 96 53. Roofers 97 54. Interclub Jumping 98 55. 1st Student Square Jump 99 56. Demos, Demos, Demos 100 57. And More Demos 102 58. Night Demos 104 59. Jumpsuits 105 60. Competitions and Champions 106 61. NT Parachute Council 108 62. Media Coverage 109 63. Grose Island 110 64. Alice Springs Jumping 112 65. Planes and Gear 116 66. Cumo’s Near Miss 117 67. Caribou Jumps 118 68. Indonesian Jumpers 120 69. Canopy Wrap 121 70. Batchelor Near Misses 122 71. Kirby Renshaw Slot 123 72. Australia’s First Tandem 124 73. John Cook as CI 125 74. Bali and Lombok 126 75. Flag Jumps 128

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10 12 14 16 18 20 22 23

26 28 30 32 34 36 38

40 46 48 50 52 53 54 56 58 59 60 62 64 66 70 71 72 73 74 76 77 78 79 80 81

1990s

76. Rel Weeks End at Manbulloo 77. Manbulloo Rel Weeks Summary 78. NT Students 79. Alice Springs Winds Down 80. DPC Highlights 81. Batchelor Rel Weeks 1994-1999 82. Daryl Somers 83. A Low Point - 1996 84. Katherine Goes Under 85. First Commercial Operation 86. Top End Weather 87. V8s Come to Town

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130 131 132 134 135 136 138 140 141 142 143 144

Contents

88. DPC Reunion Page 146 89. Rel Week in the New Millennium 148 90. Party Time 150 91. Jump Time 151 92. In the Family 152 93. 21st Century Demos - Special Events 153 94. 21st Century Demos - Shows 156 95. Technology and Jumps 158 96. CRW Resurgence 159 97. Rel Week Milestone 160 98. Celebrities 162 99. Beach Jumps 166 100. Sandbar and Island Jumps 168 101. Australia Day 170 102. Rel Week 2011 171 103. POPs and Pups 172

2012

104. Memory Lane Page 105. 50 Years of Sport Parachuting 106. The Club 107. Looking Back 108. Life Members DPC 109. Looking Forward

References

Interviews and References Photographic Acknowledgements Index

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174 176 177 178 179 180

182 184 186

Contents

2000s

The Northern Territory

6

Old Meets New

JY: We went to Lenny Hunter’s funeral and we were standing there with all these other old fellas and you know how they throw dirt in the grave? This bloke before us slipped in an APF badge off his shoulder! We didn’t know they were jumpers! It was the most enlightening experience – these old boys! And the stories they were telling us were making our hair curl! They were talking about things like the first baton pass – you read about this stuff, but you don’t think you’re going to meet the old boys who did it! And they made them out of wood so they didn’t get an electric shock when they touched it! They were the sort of things that they were thinking then. There was one story about landing on the bow of a ship, and actually missing the ship and landing in the water. Just some of the gear they had – jumping roundies. You could be going backwards into the scrub.

Lenny looked about 80 but he was probably only in his 70s. I got to be mates with him through work. He was down in that dungeon at NT News putting reels on machines, drinking a bottle of Bacardi a day. I didn’t know he was a skydiver at first – he was just an old boy. I’d come into work one day and he asked, “What did you do on the weekend, Jimmy?” So I told him and he went, “Oh, skydiving?” He started telling me a few stories, so I went and had a few beers with him and I ended up back at his joint taking me through all his old log books.

I said, “Mate, have a look at this stuff, mate!” He said “Yeh... F9, Claude Gillard and all the old mates...”

He came down to Batchelor Drop Zone and it just blew him away. When he turned up at the drop zone, he was just smashed. He staggered around the drop zone and people were saying, “Who is this old bloke staggering around?” But slowly everyone started to find out who he was. Come night-time, everyone is sitting down with him having a beer, saying “Lenny come here!” He just sat around the bar and everyone wanted to come and chat to him. He wanted to do a tandem, he was really keen to do it, but didn’t get there.

When he came back to work, he had his jumpsuit and he said, “I’m giving it to you Jimmy!” I said, “Mate!

You can’t give me your jumpsuit!” He said, “No, I want you to have it.” I said, “Alright, look, I’ll take it only if you sign it. So he signed it across the front of it in big letters – “F9, signed Lenny Hunter.” He was just so proud to be found. He had forgotten all about skydiving, left it alone. He had a couple of mates that he still kept in contact with. They gave him a chance to catch up with a few old boys. They made a few phone calls and he caught up with them. It was a good opportunity. That was in the last three years – say 2007?

I wore Lenny’s jumpsuit on the jump we did for him – the old double zipper. It was orange and it had the old APF and Southern Cross Skydivers Badges on it as well. Lenny had 550 jumps and he stopped jumping in 1975. He did a lot of jumps around Alice Springs, Aileron and all that. Look, Lenny loved it!

Jimmy Yuncken wearing Handbrake hands the baton to Jimmy Lenny’s jumpsuit, with Handbrake.

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Introduction

CC: This book is dedicated to Lenny Hunter, a jumper from the Northern Territory who passed away in 2008. The following account demonstrates that there are amazing stories out there just waiting to be told - and they need to be told before they disappear altogether. What I have found while collecting stories from jumpers is that there was a lot of trial and error surrounding early jumping. People learned as they went along, sometimes through amazing and hair-raising experiences. For example, three ‘generations’ of instructors mentioned the ignorance and anxiety felt when they put out students. There was a common ‘hope for the best’ attitude that prevailed. It wasn’t until the APF started to run instructor courses that things began to be more organised and consequently these types of stories disappeared by the mid to late 1970s. So the following recount, as told by Jimmy Yuncken, is a fitting introduction to the NT History of Sport Parachuting. It was the APF symbol that drew the old and the new jumpers together.

Left and right: Examples of how a parachute can be attached to a balloon.

The direction that Professor Burns’ balloon took from the Esplanade to Darwin Harbour.

Below: 1991 NT News report of the 100 year commemoration

by DPC

Club Hotel, Darwin 1890s.

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2. Parachutes Over Palmerston Professor Burns arrived in Palmerston (as Darwin was then called) by steamship in October 1891 after having already survived near-misses while conducting parachuting displays along the Western Australian coast. Parachuting from balloons was popular across the Eastern states of Australia, but was unheard of in the Northern Territory. Palmerston was a small town that had only been in existence for 22 years with only a few thousand residents, but there was a gold rush. Professor Burns probably thought there was a few dollars to be made from the people in the town.

and the Professor, in wholesome dread of coming down in the sea, disconnected the parachute from the balloon. He was then only about 75 feet from the ground, and descending at a great rate, he was almost to the earth before the parachute opened. It only served then to render the fall slightly less severe, and Professor Burns came to the ground with a thud that, to the bystanders, suggested a fatal accident. However, it turned out to be not quite so bad as all that , although the unfortunate parachutist was so badly hurt that he could not rise, and willing hands carried him to the Club Hotel, where Dr O’Flaherty was soon in attendance on him and ordered his removal to the Hospital.”

‘Professor Burns’ may not have been his real name and he may not have been a true professor. The name was more likely used to make it look like he was an experienced parachutist. He was actually an enterprising, young, American man, described as possessing “unbounded nerve, pluck and energy” and although “short in stature, was very strong.”

He carried two balloons on the ship, a gas balloon and a hot air balloon. The display involved inflating the balloon while tethered, then ascending to several hundred feet so the parachute could be released. He would go into freefall while the parachute streamered until opening. His first display was planned for Monday 19th October 1891, with inflation commencing at 8.15am. However, because he was concerned about the wind picking up, he inflated the balloon an hour earlier than planned but did a perfect display jump. The trouble was nobody saw it!

Despite the generosity of the locals, Professor Burns was keen to leave Palmerston. By November, the NT News reported, “It may please our readers to learn that Professor Burns is not so badly hurt as was first thought...”

By the end of November, Professor Burns had embarked on a steamer to Thursday Island. The last news about him stated, “... he had struck a Land of Goshen. The pearlers were all in town for Christmas and he raked in the dimes to a big figure.” The good professor was not heard of again after this.

The NT News described the jump, “The balloon went up from a vacant allotment opposite the Club Hotel. The Professor was hanging to a bar attached to the parachute.

When at a height of many hundred feet, the latter was disconnected, and while it soared gracefully down into Mitchell Street the balloon was carried away by the breeze and deposited out in the harbour about midway between Point Emery and the opposite side of the bay, and has not since been recovered!”

100 Years Commemoration Jumps

TC: “We did the research about the jump in 1891 after someone at work found out about it. I went to the reference library and sure enough, I found all this information about it. I really wanted to do a jump out of a balloon, but no one wanted to do it because they thought they would lose their balloon in the harbour. That’s exactly what happened to the real guy! So instead of using a balloon, we took off from the balloon site at the Cenotaph, opposite Darwin Hotel, using a helicopter. That was the site of his actual jump.

We did about 3 or 4 loads I think.

Luckily, he seemed to be able to endear his audiences with his showmanship and promised to conduct another display the following week. In the meantime, he organised a circus performance. The NT News reported that the professor should probably stick to what he was best at!

A second attempt on Wednesday 28th October was abandoned due to wind. This time, a large crowd had gathered and were disappointed not to see the jump. Finally, on Thursday 29th October, the second display took place.

“Accordingly, at an early hour on Thursday, the balloon was inflated, the parachute attached, and the aeronaut took his place on the bar. At the signal “Let’s go!” the balloon ascended steadily, all the while working towards the water,

When the Professor hurt himself, they ‘conveyed him to the nearby establishment for some drinks prior to taking him to hospital for attention’ sounds just like a typical jumper to me!”

9

1890s

The balloon was recovered but as the Professor’s prognosis was poor, the local residents felt sorry for him and put on their own fundraising concert for him! They also donated the proceeds from their Melbourne Cup betting.

Some of the pilots who parachuted over Darwin.

1942 American Reader’s Digest Story of bail out at Humpty Doo

Brian and Stewart Scoffell built and flew this replica Spitfire to the NT in 2011

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when a Zero aircraft attacked and hit his cockpit at 10,000 feet.” Goldsmith continued the story, “Part of the cover fell in on top of me. Then the controls were shot away and the stick came loose in my hand. The plane was now completely out of control, and I thought the game was up. I was still going at 400 miles an hour straight into the sea. Then my straps broke and I was thrown through the hood into the air. When I went through the hood I lost my vision, and I could see nothing for the next quarter of an hour. I knew that I was falling, so I felt for the ripcord and pulled it. I could hear the planes zooming and blazing away all above me. I was wondering how far I was from the water when I went into it, face forward with my mouth open. The parachute came down on top of me, and I had a hard job disengaging myself from the shroud lines. I felt round and got the dinghy free and blown up and, after getting rid of the parachute, I climbed into the dinghy.”

After be had been in the dinghy for some time.

Goldsmith found that he could see things close to his eyes, and he managed to make out the time. It was then 10.55 am. As there was no land in sight, he drifted in the choppy sea until 4 pm, when a Hudson came over and circled him, evidently taking the bearing of his position.

“That cheered me up,” he said, “but it began to grow dark. I could not see either plane or ship.

I was looking out when I saw a long, yellow sea snake with brown stripes swimming round me.

I was pretty scared and splashed the water hard until it disappeared. I lay down in the dinghy and tried to sleep, but my neck was hurting where it had been cut by the parachute cord and my eyes were also giving me a lot of pain, so I didn’t sleep much. Then, during the night, I felt something scraping along the bottom of the dinghy. I suppose it was a shark. It gave me another fright. Then, just as it was getting light, I heard a hissing noise and thought that the dinghy was going down. I looked over the side and there was a big turtle on the surface blowing.

I beat it off with the paddles.”

At 8 am, Goldsmith, after breakfasting on a fruit drop, sighted a ship ten miles away. He stood up and waved frantically, but the ship did not see him and soon disappeared over the horizon.

“I had just about given up hope,” he said. “I lay down again and went to sleep, not caring much what happened. At 11 am I woke up and heard the sound of engines. A motor boat and a patrol vessel were almost alongside me.

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1940s

2. Spitfires and Bombers

3. Bail Outs

The patrol ship picked me up and brought me home.” Flight Officer Goldsmith spent three days in hospital before rejoining his squadron. He suffered no serious injury.

Decreased Odds Goldsmith was lucky.

There were numerous reports of pilots under parachutes who were then strafed

by Japanese fighter planes and died before they landed.

Lieutenant Pierre Alford was one of the fortunate ones when he was attacked by a Zero. He attempted to dive his plane away from the Zero but it stayed with him until he bailed out at 2,000 feet. As he descended, he saw two Zeros manoeuvring up to shoot him. It was at this moment that Lieutenant Earl Knightley arrived on the scene. He said, “Both aeroplanes attempted to strafe the parachute. I dived on them to prevent them strafing again.”

Others simply were trapped by their aircraft and couldn’t parachute to safety. In 1948, there was a story about Miss Winnie Sargent, of Stapleton Cattle Station in Batchelor. She said that often, while mustering, she found parts of wrecked planes, both Japanese and our own. Frequently she saw parachutists come sailing down from combat. Once she found a Spitfire pilot who was dead. “His parachute had caught on his plane’s wing tip when he jumped. Only his boots remained on his body after he had crashed down through the jungle.”

Some pilots ejected so low that they didn’t survive, or narrowly escaped with their lives. Flying Officer Ross Williams recalled of his jump, “I was by then fast running out of altitude and was too low to try again, so I decided to climb out. However, I was carrying excess weight at the time and got stuck. Then suddenly, after an extra effort, I shot out, fortunately managing to get out on the inside of the spin. I wasted no time pulling the ripcord - I certainly did not count to ten, or even one and my parachute opened just above the trees. I then missed a large vertical dead branch, which I thought might strike me in a vital spot and was suddenly through the tree, dangling from the branches, about 10 feet from the ground.”

There were other pilots who survived the landing but then had to contend with the inhospitable terrain surrounding Darwin until rescue. A news report dated 8th July 1943 reported, “Flight Sergeant Duncan was seen to go down by another Spitfire pilot, who marked his position, but the country in which he fell was so rugged that the red flares he was instructed to light every half hour to guide search parties, could only be seen 300 yards away.” Three parties were involved in the search, and Duncan was finally rescued by a group of soldiers who made the initial stage of the journey by truck through trackless bush and then by foot. It took six days to find Duncan and return him to base.

He was the fifth out of six pilots shot down during the raid to return to the base.

Other pilots were not rescued after their parachute jumps and survived incredible ordeals.

Ross Smith Stagg was one of 13 pilots missing on 2nd May 1943.

Despite search parties, Stagg was not found. He survived the bailout and the dinghy ride to shore, only to then have to fight through mangrove swamps and mud, crocodiles and mosquitoes, starvation and thirst, and swamp foot and delirium for another two weeks before making contact with anyone. He eventually found the foreman of a mine near Rum Jungle who instigated his rescue. 29 years later, the foreman told Stagg that he had reckoned he was a ‘goner’, with no hope of surviving.

Still other pilots survived the parachute ride and were not able to survive the Darwin terrain. A news article from Darwin dated 4th December 1946, reported, “The skull of what is believed to have been a white man has been found about 50 miles from Stapleton Station, near Adelaide River. Other bones and some pieces of Equipment damage or failure also occurred, even after the parachute silk were in the vicinity. The skull was found parachute was deployed. “One pilot’s chute had streamered by four stockmen from Stapleton Station, who were or hadn’t opened in time. Another pilot, in dire stress after out on the annual cattle muster. It is never more than his plane had been spun around after being hit, managed to once a year, and sometimes not for two or three years, get out, only to be blown straight back against the tail plane, that that part of the station is combed. Darwin police where he remained pinned until his chute got torn open, to have begun investigations. The skeleton may be that of drag him clear, seconds before the plane burst into flames.” a RAAF pilot who was forced down during the war.”

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3. Bail Outs AWW 24/2/1945: Typical record of descent. These are some of the questions and answers on a typical form filled in by an airman after bailing out: Nature of flight: Ferry flight Weather: Bad General circumstances: Aircraft on fire. Parachute slightly burnt.

Action prior to jumping: Sent distress signals.

Method of abandoning aircraft: Dived head first.

Difficulties in leaving aircraft: Harness caught in door.

Sensations during descent: Lovely. You beaut.

Landing (Nature of Ground): In sea.

Any special comments by Released chute 10 feet from water. person making descent: When I rose to surface, chute was free.

It was also suggested that the Japanese authorities secretly ‘loaded’ parachutes so that they exploded to prevent safe landings and possible interrogation.

Ye men who soar through Darwin skies And fear no flying thing, Today we pay you tribute Flying a phantom wing.

We‛ve watched you from our gun pits Fly out and meet the foe, When the odds were so great against you That the brave alone could go.

Wireless Air Gunner Kent from Scotland described his feelings: “I was second out. The navigator pushed himself out through the hatch and that was the last I saw of him until next morning. “It was a lovely sensation falling, even before you pull the ripcord. “I didn’t count ‘three,’ but just watched the aircraft fall over above me as I was falling.

Then I gave a heave on the ripcord and it was wonderful to see the parachute open. It took four minutes to reach the ground, and I had to feel the earth to realise I had landed.”

Japanese Parachuting There were some reports of Japanese pilots who parachuted to safety over Darwin, although few parachutes were recovered. There was one account recorded by Wing Commander Clive Caldwell, who reportedly saw the bodies of three of Japanese pilots in the water, 20 miles west of Cape Fourcroy. Two had partially opened parachutes.

Chaplain Carroll poem dedicated to the Batchelor pilots duing WW II.

Below: Parachutists gearing up in Darwin

A 1942 report suggested that use of parachutes was discouraged by the Japanese in command, as air crew would not be rescued if they landed in the sea and fell into enemy hands. On 9th March 1943, a news article reported that two Spitfire pilots had brought down a Japanese twin-engined reconnaissance plane over the Darwin, area the previous day. The engagement took place at high

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1940s

altitude, and McDowell had followed the enemy machine down to sea level. “It was smoking when it winged over and started to fall.” he said.

“The Japanese plane did not attempt to return the fire.” None of the occupants - normally this type of aircraft carries a crew of five or six attempted to parachute out before the plane hit the sea a few miles off the coast near Darwin Harbour.

Freefall It would be expected that the pilots would experience relief as the main emotion in bailout situations as described in the above report, but it is also interesting to note other comments made about freefall, even in such dire circumstances. Stagg described how, at under 200 feet, he put the plane into a dive then pulled it up before diving out. “I counted three, added one for luck and pulled the ripcord. What a marvellous moment it was when the parachute opened immediately, with a sharp clap. There was no sensation of jarring, just wonderful silence and exhilaration... Hanging from that parachute was one of the most memorable experiences of my life, one that I never wanted to end...”

Mirage at Darwin Aviation Heritage Centre

Mirage recovery outside of Darwin

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4. Modern Bail Outs

On 3rd April 1967, Flight Officer JL Ellis of the 76 Squadron Detachment, downed a Mirage four nautical miles north-east of Darwin. Engine failure was caused from a missing circlip in the gearbox drive shaft at preservice. Ejection was carried out between 800 to 1,500 feet at approximately 245 knots. Ellis landed in the sea off Nightcliff and was picked up soon after by helicopter and suffered only minor injuries.

In 1968, the Airborne Platoon from Williamstown parachuted onto the Darwin RAAF Base as part of a four day military exercise, ‘Operation High Jupiter’.

The exercise was to simulate an attack on the base, test defences and demonstrate the skills of those involved.

On 27th April 1972, Flight Lieutenant RL Perry from the 77 Squadron, ejected from a Mirage A3-74, 11 miles from Darwin. Multiple bird strike caused engine failure and he ejected at about 900 feet, at 200 mph. Perry landed in a tree suspended from his harness until rescued by helicopter approximately 15 minutes later. He only sustained superficial injuries.

On 27th May 1985, Flight Officer John Quaife ejected from a RAAF Mirage, 1.5 nautical miles west of Darwin. The compressor stalled and resulted in loss of thrust in the circuit.

Quaife ejected at 1,000 feet, at 200 knots and had only minor injuries. The aircraft was moved

by Chinook helicopter to RAAF Base Tindal for restoration and returned to the Aviation Museum and Heritage Centre of Darwin in 2005, where it is currently on display.

On 14th September 2004, a US F/A-18 fighter jet crashed near Tindal in the Northern Territory. The pilot from the Marine Corps based in Japan, ejected and was picked up about 16km away from the crash site by a RAAF rescue helicopter. The aircraft was participating in exercise ‘Southern Frontier’, centred on the RAAF bases at Darwin and Tindal, and was approaching Tindal for landing when the incident happened. He was unharmed.

1940s

There have been few bail outs in the Northern Territory since the end of World War II. The planes may be faster, the technology more advanced and the parachutes more reliable, but there are a few modern day pilots who are still part of an exclusive club, whichever one it may be!

On 26th April 1984, Flight Lieutenant James Barden and Sub-Lieutenant John Paul Conlon from the Mirage Squadron, Darwin, experienced undercarriage failure on a training mission. They flew the aircraft to a ditching area and safely ejected. The dual seat Mirage crashed into a swamp near Darwin during exercise ‘Pitch Black’.

F-18 Hornet Fighter

Peter (Pygmy) McAndrew describes the recovery of the Mirage. “We got a call early in the night. A Mirage had gone in and we had to report to the ADG’s office with our kits. As is generally the case with knuckle heads, they don’t park their aircraft in the most pleasant of places. This one was parked in Howard Swamp, a couple of miles south of Darwin. We travelled down to the site in a couple of Toyota Landcruisers. We spent most of the hours before midnight helping all and sundry out of bogs. The next day a group of people were brought out from the base to scour through the swamp to finds bits of the plane scattered during the ejection. Can’t remember what we found but we were looking for the canopy and a couple of ejections seats. The following day, a Chinook was flown in to pull the Mirage free from the mud. I think the Mirage was flown back to base under the Chinook.”

Above: News report of 1967 Bail out

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Above: Pell Airstrip 1943, Parachutists ready to board B24 Liberator

Above: Darwin, 1943: Parachutists leaving through the camera hatch of the Liberator Below Left: 4 men from ‘Z Special Unit’ in the ‘Red Light Position’ ready for exit Below Right: The slide for the parachutist is placed in the camera hatch of the Liberator

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The first Australian Army parachute formation was a composite training unit assembled in Laverton, Victoria on 3rd November 1942. The first jump for training staff and 40 students was at Tocumwal on 19th January 1943 using 32 foot silk parachutes from a DC2 aircraft. The First Parachute Battalion was formed in Richmond, NSW on 15th August 1943. It provided advanced training operation exercises, including water jumps and night jumps, and was known as Group 244 RAAF (Army) Z. By December 1943, 770 officers and men had been trained and a total of 8,300 jumps completed. By the time the battalion was disbanded in February 1946, approximately 2,000 men had been trained.

Parachute drops were usually made from DC3 aircraft, so when the Japanese saw one of these planes, they went on the alert for parachuting activity, as well as suspecting that ground troops were receiving supplies. It was thought that a better way to insert a small special group of parachutists would be to drop them out of a bomber. The bomber could fly into a target area, unload bombs and on the way out, drop parachutists for covert operations. Pell Airfield, near Batchelor, was to become the site for these experimental parachute descents. Operations commenced on the 26th December 1943 and jumps were made out of the Liberator B24, ‘Beautiful Betsy’, from the USAF 380th Bombardment Group. The plane was especially converted for the purpose with a metal slide installed, so that the parachutists could exit quickly and easily from the bottom and rear of the bombers. Supplies and arms were also dropped in ‘storepedoes’ from the B24 bomb bay.

Early trials of the slide resulted in numerous twists in the parachutes, so the slide was squared up to stop parachutist rolling as they exited out under the tail. By trial and error, the procedures were perfected, including having the bombaimer spot the parachuting loads.

The first successful operation of the unit was on 13th August 1944 into New Guinea. Subsequently, the RAAF No 200 Flight, Special Duties (200SD), using the modified Liberators, was formed on 15th February 1945.

The objective of Z Special Unit was to penetrate Japanese occupied areas for the Allied Intelligence Bureau, as well as training of personnel. A total of twelve B24s were assigned to 200SD Flight and more than 30 special drops were made into Timor, New Guinea, Borneo, Sarawak and islands to the north of Australia. During World War II, Special Operations Australia (SOA) as it came to be known, was largely funded by the US, utilising British expertise, working jointly as the Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB). SOA operated under the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD), whose operations included those performed by Z Special Unit, M Special Unit and FELO (Far Eastern Liaison Organisation).

Z Special Unit conducted clandestine operations behind enemy lines to directly disrupt war efforts.

Although it consisted of mainly Australian and British personnel, it also engaged people from various allied forces, including Chinese and South Asian resistance fighters. Many of its missions remain secret to this day. Personnel were delivered to missions by submarine, seaplane, or boat, as well as by parachute. A mission typical involved parachuting a single man into the jungle in the dead of night, who then contacted tribesmen and trained them to harass and fight with their primitive weapons, as well as recover weapons from the fallen enemy. One such mission by Z Force involved eight men who parachuted from a Liberator onto a high plateau in Borneo, where the Kelabit people lived. On the night of the parachute jump, Harrison and three Australian companions landed in a swamp.

The warriors met them with white cloth squares tied to the spear ends of their long blowpipes.

They thought this would appease the spirits coming from the skies.

Another famous mission was ‘Operation Jaywick’. In September 1943, eleven Australian and four British personnel departed Exmouth in Western Australia by ship, bound for the harbour in Singapore. They dyed their skin brown and hair black, and wore sarongs to resemble local fisherman. They paddled 50 kilometres to a small island near the harbour and established a base in a cave. One night, they paddled into the harbour and placed mines on several Japanese ships and slipped away unnoticed. Four Japanese ships were consequently sunk or seriously damaged.

When the commotion had died down, the men returned to the mother ship and back to Australia.

M Special Unit secretly gathered intelligence.

Coastwatchers were inserted to report on enemy transport movements and activities over considerable periods of time. One of their operations involved the rescue of John F. Kennedy (later the US president) and crew, after their boat was rammed by an enemy warship in Blackett Strait.

FELO (Far Eastern Liaison Organisation) gathered information and established contacts with people in occupied areas to ascertain the support or resistance needed. They also reported on conditions in occupied areas.

NEFIS (Dutch Intelligence Organisation) was also part of the SRD.

17

1940s

5. Special Operations

Wartime Airstrips

Stapleton Station was originally part of Litchfield National Park

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In 1940, the Stuart Highway was upgraded and several airstrips were constructed along it, in preparation for the influx of RAAF, RAF and USAAF bombers and fighter planes from the south and east. American bombers used Sydney, Brisbane and Batchelor as the major bases for staging flights over the Pacific, including to Ambon, Timor, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. The airstrips around Darwin were planned to allow for the dispersal of aircraft, enable extended patrols as part of coastal surveillance, and support training and maintenance operations. Airstrips south of Darwin were also in close proximity should alternative landing areas be needed. Although the airstrips were abandoned after the war, many of these airstrips are still in use today and those associated with parachuting operations have been outlined here.

Darwin Military Airfield Darwin Civil Aerodrome was built in 1919 for the air race from England to Darwin in 1919. It is where Ross Smith Avenue in Parap is today. When the situation with the Japanese worsened, land for a military airbase was acquired in 1937, which is where the modern airport now stands.

The construction of the airbase, RAAF Station Darwin, continued until 1940 when it was completed sufficiently to house aircraft at the site. The airfield initially came under the command of Wing Commander Charles ‘Moth’ Eaton.

Noonamah Airstrip (Firdan) was constructed as a roadside service point for the airfields and military camps in the area and this site later became Strauss Airfield. The military camp at Noonamah was close to the railway line and became a field depot, which housed a diverse range of military support services. Noonamah comes from the language of the Wagaman Aboriginal people and means ‘plenty of tucker and good things’. The roadhouse and Noonamah pub are constructed on an army foundation slab in the area - for modern day tucker and good things!

Gould Airstrip is the closest airstrip to Batchelor and work commenced on this strip at the same time as Batchelor Airstrip. There were “many hideaway bays with the twisting and turning dispersal taxiways, leading to and connecting the two airstrips.” The airstrip was named after Sergeant W. H. Gould, RAAF wireless air-gunner, who was in a Hudson with 2 Squadron in operations over enemy-held territory. On 21st August 1942, his plane was seen to crash in flames after an attack by a Japanese fighter.

Pell Airfield was named after Major Floyd Pell, who was part of General MacArthur’s air staff. He was the first American to come to Australia to survey the suitability of airfields in Darwin and Port Moresby. He was responsible for selecting Darwin as a staging point for American

operations. Pell was in Darwin when the air strikes occurred on 19th February 1942. He tried to take off in a Kittyhawk from Darwin RAAF Airbase to defend against the Japanese. His aircraft was hit and, although he parachuted out of the aircraft at about 100 feet, he was killed.

Nine US aircraft and eleven RAAF aircraft were destroyed that day. Pell was one of four pilots killed. Only one pilot in the air survived that day.

Pell Airfield encountered two Japanese air raids between 1942 and 1943.

Coomalie Creek was originally named by early surveyors and Coomalie is also a pastoral property in the area. Coomalie Airfield is about 10 km from Batchelor Airfield and was constructed late in 1942. It was the base for RAAF Beaufighters and C-47s (DC3s). The airfield experienced six Japanese attacks between 1942 and 1943.

Manbulloo Station was a large pastoral property in the Katherine area and the name Manbulloo is Aboriginal in origin. Manbulloo Airfield was developed as an alternative to extending the original Katherine Aerodrome. Construction began in April 1942 and the airfield was used by ambulance, salvage and communication units, as well as the American B24 Liberators.

The airstrip was bombed on 22nd March 1942, when nine Japanese bombers dropped 91 bombs.

Two bombs fell on Manbulloo Airstrip, 84 hit Katherine Airstrip and the rest fell around the township. The raid killed one person and injured one person. It was the most southern Japanese bombing raid in the Northern Territory during World War II. The proposed upgrading of the airstrip in 1944 did not occur because the airstrip Carson, commonly known as Tindal Airstrip, was almost complete. Manbulloo ceased being operational in July 1944.

Gorrie Airfield is 10 km north of Larrimah and about 200 km south of Katherine. Gorrie was constructed in 1942. Ninety Sidney Williams huts and ten hangars were based at Gorrie Airfield. By June 1943, about 6,500 personnel were also based there. It functioned as a site for aircraft maintenance, servicing and engineering.

The airstrip was named after the flying officer, P. Gorrie, a pilot with 2nd Squadron, who was killed in action near Menado, Dutch East Indies in 1942.

Aileron was a staging site for troops enroute to the Top End, north of Alice Springs.

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1940s

6. War Strips

Batchelor Airstrip (below) and Gould Airstrip (above right ) during World War II.

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7. Batchelor Airstrip Ten units and forty squadrons were based at Batchelor soon after, with thousands of soldiers camped around the town, undergoing jungle training before deployment.

The first of several air raids on Batchelor occurred on 24th October 1942 at 3.43 am, when 22 bombs were dropped, causing damage to the buildings and infrastructure. Air raids continued through to 12th November 1943. 31 Commonwealth airforce bases and units and 17 USAAAF units were stationed at Batchelor between the end of 1941 and the end of 1945. It would be another 17 years before Batchelor Airstrip would be used for sport parachuting.

Batchelor Airstrip today

21

1940s

General MacArthur and his family were evacuated from the Philippines on 17th March 1942 and landed at Batchelor in one of the Flying Fortresses. They were undertaking an arduous trip to Melbourne, where General MacArthur was to become the Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces in the South-West Pacific. This meant that he had control over all military operations in Northern Australia and the neighbouring South-East Asian countries, as well as Australian, English and Dutch forces in those battle stages.

8. Strauss Airstrip This roadside airstrip about 45km south of Darwin was constructed in 1942. It was 1.6km long, paved with bitumen and had taxiways and sites built to protect and camouflage the aircraft from the regular bombing raids.

It was one of the bases used for fighter aircraft, including Kittyhawks and Spitfires. It was only raided once, in 1942.

On 28th April 1942, the airstrip was occupied by the 8th Squadron, 49th Pursuit Group, USAAF. It was named after Captain Allison W. Strauss from that Squadron, who was killed in combat over Darwin the day before.

From 49th Fighter Group, William N. Hess, tells the story: “Captain Strauss (Squadron Commanding Officer) led his flight – myself and Lieutenant Alford – to the right of the enemy just before they dropped their bombs, and misjudged their speed and distance to the extent that we went in just behind the bomber formation. The Zeros on his tail were also in a position to fire. We both turned into them hoping to at least scare them off. Captain Strauss saw the Zeros, pumped the stick a couple of times, then turned right into a very tight turn. The Zeros started firing. I, having missed the bombers, also turned to assist Captain Strauss, and a second Zero cut in front of me, apparently trying to cut off Captain Strauss from the front. I shot him in the belly and he went down. The first Zero was then shooting and tracers were just missing Captain Strauss’ tail.” A Zero, according to Lieutenant Alford, “came down from behind and high to the left and was firing on my tail from directly

behind. I dove to 17,000 feet. Captain Allison Strauss fell to the guns of the Zero on his tail and crashed to his death near the port of Darwin.”

In 2004, an Anzac Day Cricket Match was held at the Strauss Cricket Ground, which is near the Strauss Airstrip.

Members of Darwin Parachute Club dropped in at the start of the match and were met by the niece of Captain Strauss, who had come from America to commemorate her uncle’s death. She told the story about him and relayed her thanks for the special jump that was done in his honour.

Above: Judy Green from Ohio, niece of Strauss, with DPC members after the jump for the Anzac Day Cricket Match.

70th Anzac Commemoration, 2012

Strauss Airstrip as it appears today

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9. DC3s

DC3s in the NT A DC3 first appeared in the Top End in 1945, when the Commonwealth Government released one from the RAAF. It became necessary to relieve the isolation of the north-west and replace inadequate DH-86s.

The MacRobertson Miller Aviation Company Pty Ltd (MMA) had acquired it to meet the demands of increasing mail, passengers and freight. It began operations in November 1945, after being fitted out to accommodate 21 passengers. Southern states had been using DC3s as passenger planes since 1937 and boasted that a flight from Darwin to Hobart would be considerably faster, now only taking three days!

In September 1947, Sir Keith Smith visited Darwin and commented on how aviation had developed at a such a fast rate during the past twenty years. “Since my brother and I flew out here from England in 1919, the advancement of aviation has been tremendous. It has just gone ahead by leaps and bounds,” he said. “When I arrived here in the Vickers Vimey in 1919, there was no airfield at Darwin and we had to land on a paddock adjacent to the Fannie Bay Gaol. Trees had to be cut down and a track cleared in long grass, and even then, we only had inches to spare when the plane touched down. Today, Darwin has one of the largest and most up-to-date airports in the world.” Sir Keith also said that although he still did a lot of flying, he did this only as a passenger, and considered the Douglas DC3 as his choice for comfort and safety.

MMA

By October 1947, MMA was operating between Katherine, Victoria River, Downs, Wave Hill, Ord River, Argyle, Wyndham and Perth. In 1954, MMA used Batchelor as a staging point between Perth, the Gulf and Channel runs. At this time, Batchelor Airstrip was handed from the defence forces to the Department Civil Aviation (DCA).

Incidentally, its first civilian flight was a DC4 flight carrying officials to the opening of Rum Jungle Mine in Batchelor.

In 1955, MacRobertson Miller Aviation Company (Pty Ltd) merged with Airlines WA Ltd to become MMA. Captain Horrie C. Miller was a pilot who trained in England in 1914 and, after leaving the military, set up commercial operations.

Sir MacPherson Robertson brought the capital to fund the venture, which first operated in South Australia before expanding into Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Subsequent DC3s acquired by MMA used the ‘MM’ registrations. VH-MMA was added on 1st October 1947 and the last aircraft was acquired in 1965. The planes were usually named after rivers in Western Australian, the first letter of the river being the last registration letter. VH-MMA was named after Ashburton River.

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1940s

Jumpers love big aircraft and NT jumpers have had a longstanding love affair with the DC3. It is a magical aircraft and anyone who has jumped from one knows the unique smell and the rumbling sound as it lumbers down the airstrip before finally lifting off the tarmac. VHCAN was used at Manbulloo for a Rel Week and VHMMA has been used in Darwin for several demonstration jumps.

VH-MMA History VH-MMA was first built in California in 22nd May 1943 and arrived at Amberley Airbase, Queensland just under a month later. It was issued for use by No. 34 Squadron.

It was sold to MMA in January 1947 after having flown 4,121 hours. It was then converted and used for passengers until 1969. By then, it had flown 54,619 hours.

It was then registered with Ansett and used for flights to New Guinea until 1974. It was onsold to Papua New Guinea National Airline where it operated until 1976.

From the Essendon ‘Graveyard’, it was then acquired

by Air North in 1983, where it mainly operated between Darwin and the Tiwi Islands. Its final passenger flight was in 1998 before being sold to Hardy Aviation in 1999. The plane was rebuilt and by 2005 it had flown 68,316 hours.

In 2011, VH-MMA commenced major maintenance and will hopefully be available for further jumps in Darwin in the future.

VH-CAN History This DC3 was built in 1944 and used during World War II in the Pacific region. After the war, it went from Manila in the Philippines to Australia, after having been sold to the Commonwealth in 1947. It was registered as VHASD, but it was changed back to VH-CAN in 1950. This aircraft was used for survey work by the Department of Civil Aviation and then by the Department of Transport from 1974. It was the last of the DC3s to be retired from service in 1977. In 1978, it was sold to Paradak (Bruce Towers’ company) for parachuting and was renamed ‘Canobus’.

In 1982, it went to a Queensland company who onsold it to Air North in 1984. It was used for tourist flights but it again changed hands from Top Flight in Sydney, to Winrye, Sydney, to Splitters Creek Airlines and then to Vincent Aviation, New Zealand in 1992. It was registered as ZK-AMY in New Zealand in 1994 and currently operates tourist flights with Pionair.

Both aircraft have been used in the Northern Territory for Rel Weeks and several other memorable jumps over the years. These have included: - 2005 Arafura Games - Mindil Beach demonstration jumps - Casuarina Pool demonstration jumps - Opening of Darwin Water Park - MKT Airshow - Batchelor Airshow - Coomalie Airshow - TC’s 30th year celebration jump - Sandbar jump - Batchelor Rel Week jump - Valentine’s Day jump - Casuarina Beach jumps - Wedding celebration jump - Birthday jump Memorable jumps from a majestic aircraft!

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1940s

9. DC3s

25

Sergio demonstrates landing rolls in Darwin, 1962

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10. NT School of Parachuting

This was the Darwin that Sergio Cattonar arrived to and was to live in for the next six years.

NT School of Parachuting When Sergio arrived in Darwin he set up the NT School of Parachuting. During the earlier part of 1962, Sergio trained about 18 people at his home in Nightcliff. The cost of training was £5 and there was a £5 joining fee.

He purchased four parachutes from America at a cost of almost £60 each, but it ended up being a three month wait for their arrival. In the meantime, the trained group “had dwindled to a solid core of seven or eight.” The ordered gear was likely to have been fore and aft systems with 28 foot modified Cheapos as the main parachutes and 24 foot unmodified reserves.

Above: Take off at Batchelor, 1962 Below: Landing at Batchelor, 1962

Sergio’s Background Sergio was only 15 or 16 when he joined military services as an Italian military parachutist with the First National Association of Italian Paratroopers.

Italy had a large contingent of parachutists who were trained to jump into ground combat operations during World War II. He first trained in 1943, when he did ten static line and two freefall jumps before becoming a POW. Sergio’s Italian licence card indicates that he was part of Weapons Association and he maintained his licences at least until 1959. Between 1943 and 1953, Sergio had done 67 jumps, of which 32 were freefall jumps.

Move to Australia Sergio immigrated to Australia in 1953. He had visited the South Australian School of Parachuting in Adelaide but didn’t record any jumps there.

In 1962, he travelled to Darwin with his family for work opportunities and lived at 446 Phoenix Street, Nightcliff. Initially, Sergio set up an Italian restaurant but later worked in a partnership for Linus Motors at Fannie Bay, as well as for a car hire firm.

Darwin Town Hall in the 1960s, now Darwin Entertainment Centre

27

1960s

Darwin in the 1960s.

After the war, people returned to Darwin as soon as they were allowed and Darwin became the fastest growing town in Australia at the time. In 1947, Darwin had a population of about 2,500 but by 1957, the population had quadrupled. As much of Darwin’s housing had been destroyed, there was an acute housing shortage. Rebuilding houses and facilities became a priority. Within a few years, the increase in homes and gardens meant that the suburbs were not recognisable from the war years.

On Australia Day, 26th January 1959, Darwin was granted city status. During the 1960s and 1970s, Darwin experienced an influx of people migrating from Europe, particularly Italian and Greek families, as well as many Dutch and German people. As a result of the war, Darwin still had good roads, particularly the Stuart Highway. There were also excellent communication facilities and a reliable water supply from Manton Dam. There was sewerage and electricity connected to some of the military camps and regular bus and rail services to Central Australia. The aviation industry was booming, with Qantas and Connellan Airways providing regular services.

Right: Jump at Batchelor DZ Below: Map showing Humpty Doo, Fogg Dam and Woolner Station drop zones Humpty Doo

Woolner Station

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Fogg Dam

First Jump The first modern sport parachute jump in the Northern Territory was made at Humpty Doo on the morning of Sunday 8th July 1962, by Sergio himself. The general public were invited to the event, which was described as taking place off the Arnhem Highway, just past the CSIRO village at Humpty Doo, and then a left turn onto a road which lead to a clearing about three quarters of a mile down the road on the left. Four jumps were completed in total; three static line jumps and one freefall from 7,500 feet. Sergio completed the first jump in the Northern Territory on his own, as a static line jump out of a Cessna 172 from 3,500 feet.

The second load had three jumpers on board. Sergio completed his second static line jump, although unfortunately his log book description of the jump reads, “controlled, thrown lines, reserve open, tree landing, 500 yards from the target.” Another jumper, John Svara, who was a jumper from the Yugoslav Army, also did a static line jump. Corporal Dennis Heenan did the only freefall jump. He was a member of the army mine detecting squad from Queensland and had previously made 26 jumps at Camden, near Sydney in New South Wales.

Further Parachuting Operations Sergio went on to do another two jumps at Humpty Doo - one in July, and one in August, which resulted in another tree landing. In October, first jumps were conducted for three students – Jack Comber, Laurie Clyde-Smith and Peter Simmons. The jumps were made from a Dragon Rapide, which was owned by Darwin Air Taxis and flown

by Neville Bell, the owner of the service. The students were accompanied by Sergio, John Svara and Trevor May. Trevor had 92 jumps and worked in the RAAF.

Parachute Packers Certificate, in accordance with the Australian Parachute Federation’s operations, Regulation Section 8.”

First Air Show; First Accuracy Competition In March 1963, the Darwin Aero Club and NT School of Parachuting combined to put on an air show at Batchelor. Three pilots, 20 planes and 15 parachutists took part. The event included joy flights in both aero club planes and on jump loads, aircraft flying competitions of target bombing and spot landing. There were three loads of jumpers, who did freefall jumps from 5,200 feet, including a woman, Carlotta Gael. There was also a parachuting accuracy competition with ‘The NT News Cup’ as the prize. This was won by Romeo Gazzola, with a score of 47 yards. Lynette Bott came second at 56 yards, John Svara was third at 56 yards and George Tyers fourth with 59 yards. The weather was good and a good crowd was reported to have attended. The jumpers thanked the mine management for the use of the picture theatre in Batchelor to pack their parachutes.

First Reported Injury On Sunday 28th April at Batchelor, Carlotta Gael and Mike Whiteman from Tasmania both completed freefall jumps, while 18 other jumpers did static line jumps. They appeared on the front page of the NT News with photos but unfortunately for the wrong reasons. While they were climbing to height, the wind was described as having increased, becoming so gusty that “the stiff wind sent a cloud of dust flying from the On 17th November 1962, another 16 jumps were completed roots in the ground.” Mike broke his ankle upon at Humpty Doo, of which seven would be first time jumpers. landing and Carlotta twisted her ankle on what Sergio did not jump again until 27th December, when he was described as “iron-hard ground.” jumped at Woolner Station. An American jumper from the visiting ship ‘Argo’ also completed a jump from 8,500 First APF Member feet. The news report stated, “During his period of freefall, Sergio became a member of the Australian he did five difficult aerial acrobatics, which were described Parachute Federation for the 1963/64 financial year. His licence card, number E2, was signed by by local parachutists as most spectacular.”

Claude Gillard, Executive Secretary of the APF. 1963 Sergio jumped once more at Woolner Station on 3rd DZ Trial January before moving the operation to Batchelor. Five On 18th August 1963, Sergio jumped into the first time jumpers were reported to have jumped with seven 24 Mile, on the Stuart Highway. The jump was recorded as a trial jump for a new DZ. Maybe experienced jumpers from a height of 1,500 feet.

Sergio was looking for a drop zone that was closer but, as this was the only jump recorded Packing Parachutes On 2nd February 1963, Corporal Trevor May, who was here and jumping operations continued at a Safety Equipment Worker from the RAAF in Darwin, Batchelor afterwards, it may have been deemed wrote a letter certifying that Sergio was “qualified to hold a unsuitable after all.

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1960s

11. First Sport Jump

Below left: 1937, Jean Burns in trouble for jumping Photo: 1938 jump

Above: 1936, Margaret Gilruth goes overseas to jump

Above & right: 1930, Muriel Gilbert misses out!

Below right: 1968, One of the earliest Australian all-women teams

1955

1971

Above: Jumping couple, Faye Glassford and Jim Cox, 1967. Faye started jumping in 1965 Left: World Women’s Record, 1976 - a 19 way

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Northern Territory women commenced parachuting after more than one hundred years of women pushing the boundaries and gradually entering the sport in increasing numbers, as the following summary outlines.

1800s and Early 1900s Equal numbers of men and women had been parachuting for one hundred years before planes were invented, but people still questioned whether women were too emotional to manage stressful situations in aviation.

In 1912, Madame Marie Louise Driancourt, an early aviatrix, answered, “In my view, a well balanced woman of strong will possesses all the qualities necessary. She must therefore succeed and she will succeed, I am sure, if she manages to overcome the obvious ill-will of men. It is necessary that they let her prove to be reliable and if she is presented for some exhibition or demonstration that she does not unfortunately get the response too frequently, “No, we prefer a man!”

1930s The attitudes continued to prevail into the 1930s and women questioned the repressive attitude. “Women are severely handicapped in their efforts to take part in the conduct of the world’s affairs, old prejudices and conventions still hanging about them like shackles. It would seem that, unless a woman confines herself to home interests, blissfully ignoring the affairs of the world and contenting herself solely with running her house to the approval of her husband and bringing her children up correctly (with a few social activities thrown in to break the monotony) she is not worthy of the name ‘woman’.

Despite the expectation of women’s role, there were several examples of women who were successfully parachuting at this time. In 1935, Mrs Alington of America, who was 54 years of age and the mother of six sons “demonstrated her airmindedness by jumping 1,500 feet from a plane with a parachute. She rose to a height of 2,000 feet with her instructor, climbed out and remained poised for five minutes on the fuselage as the machine circled down to 1,500 feet. She then leapt off. This was not a stunt, but merely the first of three descents to qualify her for a parachute certificate.” Also at this time, a stratosphere ascent to an altitude of 10 miles was made by Mrs Piccard, in company with her husband, Professor Jean Piccard.

Jean Burns was the first Australian female to jump from a plane in Australia. Jean made the descent at Essendon Aerodrome on 21st November 1937 from 3,200 feet at 17 years of age. Jean did several jumps at airshows in the 1930s and she highlighted the difficulty for women parachutists at the time. Jean said in a news report, “The hardest part is to climb out onto the ladder with the heavy parachute. The side is so high, and I am so small.” The report goes on to state, “Once on the ladder, Jean steadied herself with one hand while holding the other ready to pull the ripcord after she has jumped and counted three.”

1940s Although there were some female parachutists during World War II, the main association between women and parachutes was either about the lack of silk for stockings because it was being used to make parachutes, or women who were engaged on the home front to sew or pack parachutes. Jean Wake was one of the few women who parachuted in Europe during the war.

1950s Even in 1955, there seemed to be an ingrained attitude about women’s place in the sport. An article on Merle Vincent hoped to “convince Australians that parachuting was a fine sport.” The report positively outlined how the youngest girl in Auckland jumping was a 15 year old schoolgirl, Angela Cummings, and that “girls are just as keen as the men.” However the last question in the article was, “Will you go on with the parachute jumps after you’re married?” Merle’s response was “I’m afraid not. I don’t think I’ll be allowed.”

1960s Female jumpers began to increase in the 1960s.

Equipment, being military surplus, was still difficult for women to operate. Although gear was not exclusively a problem for women, a lack of strength still caused accidents, as happened to Paula Gecele, former wife of Gordon Gecele.

Paula first jumped in 1962 in Sydney and later moved to Darwin. She had a container that was a converted seat pack. To open it, she had to pull the flap from the ripcord and then pull the ripcord straight up. As it was a blast handle, the pole (or centre) had to be drilled out, which meant that the only way to pull it successfully was perfectly straight. Paula had trouble pulling the ripcord.

She was able to drag the ripcord half out and have half a canopy out, but she broke many ribs and vertebrae upon landing.

Another Darwin jumper, Evie, had the same problem at about the same time. She was so little that she couldn’t pull the handle. The gear was so heavy that she couldn’t stand up.

In 1967, Laurie Trotter expressed his views in the ‘Australian Skydiver Magazine’ about the sport being unsuitable for women; or rather women being unsuitable for the sport, due to their lack of skill and ability. Regardless of the persistent attitude towards women, it was more likely that equipment problems was one of the major issues rather than lack of skill. The issues persisted until the late 1970s, when improvements made jumping much easier for both sexes. Women then took up jumping in much greater numbers.

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1960s

12. Women in the Sport

Girls From Left: Sue, unknown, unknown, Kathy, Unknown, Cathy

Carlotta Gael Sue, Cathy, Kathy

From Left: Kathy, Ted, Brian, Sue, Cathy

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13. Territory Women in the 60s First Woman Jumper in the NT When Mrs Lynette Bott, a 21 year old secretary clerk from a Darwin motor firm, jumped on 15th January 1963, she made Northern Territory history by being the first female parachutist in the Northern Territory. She was the only female out of 12 first time jumpers who parachuted at Woolner. After having undergone four weeks training, she was described as having taken to parachuting “like a duck to water.”

Kathryn Henderson, 1962

First Experienced Female Jumper Just two months later, 28 year old Hungarian, Carlotta Gael, jumped at an air show in Batchelor, making her the first experienced female jumper in the Northern Territory. At that time, she had 51 jumps, which was more than nearly anyone else in Darwin and Carlotta was a competent style jumper.

The following comments are by jumpers who knew Kathy in the 1960s.

GG: When she was in South Australia, her family owned a few hotels in Waler, Adelaide.

Her brother used to fly for us all the time. We used to use his plane like a chariot! She never jumped in the Northern Territory but she wrote a book on skydiving.

DK: The Adelaide crew drove over to Newcastle quite a bit. Kathy was very beautiful and a bit regal. (The Adelaide girls were all lovely). I was always in awe of her. Maybe we were both shy.

I only jumped with her once. She and I shared some memorable relative work out of a Cessan 172 at Cessnock on 23rd April 1962.

BM: Kathryn worked in Gove as a pilot in the late 1960s. In 1972, during a flying trip to the NT, Kathy met John Flynn at Nhulunbuy. They married in 1973 and raised five children in the NT. CB: Brian and Sue Murphy knew Kathy best in her days with John.

BM: Kathy married John Flynn, who worked with the public trustee, with the courts. They

1960s

Kathy Flynn (nee Henderson) Kathy was born in 1941 and although she originally lived and jumped in Adelaide, most of her life was spent in the Territory. Kathy was the first woman to compete in the Australian Parachuting Championships in 1962 and the World Parachuting Championships in 1963. She trained in NSW as a nurse and she and her sister, Christine, gained their pilots’ licences in 1968.

married in the Territory. Paula Gecele used to work as a public trustee. I knew Kathy through these connections, but we didn’t make the connection through jumping.

DK: At the Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach, Kathy is celebrated in a book, under glass - as a pioneering parachutist and pilot. She also features in the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame in Alice Springs and was included in an exhibition of 50 Australian women pilots at the Powerhouse Museum in 2000, which then toured NSW. CB: There was certainly an aura around Kathy. I think she would have been proud that a boat was named after her and that her spirit is floating free beneath the skies that she loved.

During her life in the Northern Territory, Kathy was highly active in the local community. In the later years, Kathy lived in Katherine. She passed away in 2007.

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First Rel Work, First Display Jump The first demonstration jump into Darwin was at Fannie Bay Race Course on Saturday 7th December 1963 at about 4pm. It was watched by hundreds of spectators. Carlotta Gael and John Archer were to freefall “hand in hand” for 5 seconds, then separate and fall for a further 10 seconds before opening. Eight other jumpers were also to jump from various heights into the same event.

The first load, called ‘the first stick’ (a term used in World War II), included John Angus, Peter McRitchie, Miss Jan Moran and Ted Barnett doing static line jumps, while George Tyers planned a 5 second delay from 2,900 feet. The second load was to be Jean Louis Roy doing a 10 second delay, followed

by Carlotta and John. Sergio was in the aircraft directing the loads and Mike Whiteman was ground control.

On the day, a strong wind was blowing but the first load was reported to have landed perfectly - although a news photo clearly shows Peter McRitchie being dragged along the race course! While the second load was in the air, the wind dropped. The three jumpers tried to make for a clearing at the end of the race track, outside Waratah Oval. Carlotta made it comfortably, while John landed on the edge of the clearing and his parachute wrapped around a small tree.

Jean Louis didn’t make the landing area at all, and ended up in a tree “suffering slight scratches to his legs as he tumbled to the ground.”

First Baton Pass In February 1964, Noel Comley and John Archer completed the first successful baton pass in the Northern Territory from 7,000 feet. Both jumpers were previously members of the Commando Skydivers in Melbourne and were 23 yearl old RAAF personnel. Noel started jumping in 1961 and had 142 jumps, while John started jumping in 1963 and had 32 jumps.

Other new jumpers in the club at this time included John Angus, John Ward, Martin Pierce, Neville Gliddon and Rolly Ayres.

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First Student Freefall In October 1963, George Thiers, 37, was to become the first person, trained by NT School of Parachuting, to make a freefall jump. He completed a 3 second delay from 2,600 feet.

John Archer, a jumper new to the Territory, and Carlotta did freefall jumps. Carlotta landed 16 yards from the target, which Sergio said was most likely to be an Australian accuracy record for women. Interestingly though, Arnold Liddiard, a static line student who was to do his first freefall a week later, landed only three yards from the target, “to take honours for the day.”

First Student Malfunction In April 1964, five static line students jumped and Peter McRitchie, John Angus and John Archer all performed their first freefall.

However, Peter, who had previously completed 15 static line jumps, had a malfunction on this jump. After freefalling for 6½ seconds with no main parachute open, he deployed his reserve and landed without incident.

He stated afterwards that the malfunction was his fault because he was pulling the ripcord sideways instead of downwards.

1966 There were no records of further jumps until June 1966, when another air show was held at Batchelor.

The report stated, “Most of the morning programme was taken up with the impressive and well planned display of parachute jumping by the paramedics and volunteers from the Civil Defence and Emergency Service Organisation.”

1960s

14. Early Demos

Batchelor DZ

Carlotta landing at Batchelor

Batchelor landing

Dragon Rapide at Batchelor, Sergio far right

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15. Move to Batchelor

George started it off himself and he kept it going.

When I first came to Darwin, Civil Defence supplied the aircraft and they owned 15 rigs. They used to jump once a month as part of their service. George Pappa bought all the rigs. (The Northern Territory Civil Defence Organisation had been a Department of the Army responsibility since 1941.)

When I first came to Darwin, I’d take all the students down to Batchelor. George would supply all the rigs, the trailer, the 4WD, fuel, cartons of coke – it was a pretty lucrative business. As things progressed, we started getting quite a few students. We weren’t Hand over to Manfred The appeal to the public through the newspaper charging much then. We were charging APF fees worked, as 24 prospective jumpers between the ages and I forget, maybe 6 pennies? George Pappa didn’t of 19 and 26 years responded to the news article. By know about the APF. August 1967, 15 people had trained to make their first jump, half of them women. However, changes Eventually, George Pappa bought a couple of planes – to the club had occurred. The training was no longer a Cessna 180 and 182, and I think before the cyclone, in Nightcliff, but was being conducted at the Civil he had a third one. He had a garage. It was open Defence Headquarters. The spokesman for the club 24 hours. He was making money but he didn’t have was now George Faulkner and the club headquarters much time. He used to sell firearms. He used to sell was now at George’s place, at 756 Cummins Road, insurance, petrol. In those days, it would be a week’s Rapid Creek. Sergio was now helping the new Chief wages the money you’d make out of us in coke! Also he put a caravan on site at Batchelor. He was very Instructor, Manfred Purcher, to train the students. generous that way. We used to do training in Aralia Street. He used to live in Aralia Street, Nightcliff.

1968: End of an Era Although Sergio’s last jump in Darwin was 16 February 1964, he was still involved with the NT School of Parachuting until 1968. Gordon Gecele recalled that when he came to Darwin in May 1968, there weren’t very many jumpers and Sergio was still running the operation, although Gordon never jumped with Sergio. During his time in Darwin, Sergio completed 12 jumps, all of which were static line jumps. He had two tree landings and three reserve rides after what he described as very slow openings, two of which were jumps from 1,500 feet. Sergio’s son, Paul, remembers that Sergio experienced a ‘Roman Candle’ (a streamer), which made him very anxious about continuing jumping. Sergio returned to Adelaide but his legacy of the NT School of Parachuting was to continue.

George Pappa Takes Over Gordon Gecele remembers George Pappa as being in the SAS in Western Australia. GG: George carried on the club but not having anyone experienced, we used to just do static lines. I think we did some hop and pops eventually. We did a lot of jumps in the bush - at Jim Jim and Nourlangie. They used to have bike races out there and we’d camp the weekend and do a few jumps.We used to have packing nights at the Darwin Town Hall.

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1960s

Threat of Closure In June 1967, Sergio appealed for new members through the newspaper and stated that the numbers in the club were so low that it may be at risk of closing.

From the 26 members three years ago, now only five members were left. They were Sergio, John Archer, George Pappa with 35 jumps, Bill Palmer, who could freefall; and John Ward, who was in charge of the Civil Defence section of the school. Sergio said that they had a perfect safety record and now had 15 parachutes.

Batchelor Cross Strip

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16. Batchelor Memories

just intrigued. I don’t remember adults being there, just lots of kids.

I can remember George Pappa by name, because he was a stocky, nuggety bloke. He was the one who seemed to do the most of the talking, and I believe he was the organiser of a lot of things at that time. I remember other people’s faces but not their names.

We lived here until the mine closed in about 1970-1971, and we were involved with the parachuting club every weekend. There were no facilities whatsoever – no fences, no roads, nothing. And they used to park the plane up at the Cross Strip, near where the student pit is now. They used to operate everything from there.

Batchelor Fire “It was about 1963 or 1964 in the dry season and us kids from Batchelor used to walk around with boxes of matches lighting fires and we used to have big green branches of gum trees to put the fires out. It was a ‘do and dare’ thing. So one day, we happened to be at the end of the airstrip. I think we were at the rubbish dump and we were working our way back to town.

Because there were no fences, we could walk all the way through, across the airstrip. We said we’d leave the parachute plane, that was parked there, alone.

It was about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. The jumpers must have been over at the hall in town, packing parachutes. So we walked about 100 metres past the plane and started lighting these grass fires and putting them out. But one of them got away – we waited a little bit too long.

The wind was blowing back towards where the aircraft was parked. We tried and we tried to put this fire out and it wasn’t going to work. So the first thing we did, thank Christ, was get on our push bikes and went straight up to the hall where the people were packing parachutes and said, “Listen, we’re the local little hoodlums, this is what we’ve done, you better go and put the fire out or the plane will get burnt!” So they took off and I told my old man after that because if he had found out later, he would have stripped the skin off our arses!”

39

1960s

A Kid’s Perspective BP: I was born in Batchelor and can remember the jumping then, in the early 1960s. I was about 5 years old then. The guys in the parachute plane used to fly over our house in the northern most street on Saturday mornings, so we knew when to get up. We used to get on our push bikes and come down here and watch them all the time. We didn’t really know what was going on but we just watched these people jump out of aeroplanes.

Some would fly down and some would drive down with the gear. They used a 182 – a normal old Cessna. I think they used to go anywhere between 3,000 and 6,000 feet. They used to jump out and say how wonderful it was, that they saw each other in freefall and they did the ‘passing the baton’ thing. That really astounded us, and it probably astounded them as well!

But the one thing I can remember is making money out of these skydivers. Every time they used to jump, they used to tie on a conical-shaped pilot chute. They used to tie it on with string. It was old ex-military gear. And it used to come away – from the aircraft or the pack itself, I’m not sure how they set it all up.

But they would frequently lose pilot chutes and they would frequently lose ripcord handles. So us kids were always there every day and saw this. They’d say, “Righto guys, it’s five shillings if you go up the hill and find that ripcord handle. Or five shillings for the pilot chute.” And they used to pay us! So that was our job on weekends – to come to the drop zone and watch these guys skydive, and get all the bits and pieces that they dropped everywhere.

They had half a dozen rigs or so. At the end of the day or the middle of the afternoon, they’d go over to the local community hall in the centre of Batchelor and they’d pack the parachutes there because it was a beautiful, smoothly finished, concrete pad. They used to use the sides of the hall, the big steel uprights, as the tensioning posts, because they were all round parachutes. They had the four line dividers and all that sort of stuff. They used to flake everything out and put the canopies – Cheapos - into sleeves. It was all fore and aft gear, front mounted reserves. There was always an audience when they were packing. The kids were

Francis Creek, north east of Pine Creek, site of occasional jumps

Katherine North Drop Zone – 15 miles north of Katherine, near the Rural College

Leach Lagoon, south of Katherine on the East side of the Stuart Highway

Old Katherine Airstrip, parallel to Katherine River, near hospital

Maps: Drop zones around Katherine

Manbulloo DZ

Q: What was Manbulloo like?

TC: It was just basically an old World War II airstrip. There was a shed there that used to be the butcher shop in Katherine a World War II Nissan Hut and that was pretty well it. There were no services or anything like that.

Q: And a dirt strip?

TC: No, it was a full on 5,000 foot bitumen strip.

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Mataranka Homestead

George Faulkner’s Story GF: I started jumping in February 1966 in Darwin with Civil Defence. They were military jumps at Batchelor. A guy called John Ward was the instructor then; he worked for the government and we jumped out of a Dragon Rapide.

We also had some Civil Defence jumps out of a DC3 – all static line jumps because we had exercises to do at Stapleton Station. It’s on the other side of Litchfield National Park, now called Wangi Station. We did a mock aircraft rescue – we had to static line in and carry people out on stretchers for five miles right into the falls. There were about 8 or 9 stretchered, so about 18 people who jumped in. Out of all of the people, only George Pappa and his partner, and Alf, my brother, and I made the five miles. It wasn’t easy at the time. I finished with Civil Defence on 1/1/67. That’s the last logged jump that I had with them.

Sergio Cattonar John Ward used to work in conjunction with Sergio Cattonar. Sergio was a tall fellow, an Italian who was an accountant for Fannie Bay Car Sales. He used to despatch himself on a static line. He’d never done a freefall in his life.

He was pretty meticulous. He tried to get a licence from Claude Gillard to train or pack parachutes or whatever, and he wrote a letter, of which Claude sent me a copy. It said how great he was in packing parachutes and whatever, but because he had never done a freefall, Claude wouldn’t give him the necessary qualifications. Serge was quite unhappy about not getting the authority to train.

Claude Gillard: “I was unable to issue Sergio with a B licence and he would require a C licence to be an instructor.”

Starting a Club I joined Darwin Parachute Club with George Pappa, who was mates with Sergio Cattonar. They were doing static line jumps but that wasn’t good enough for me. When I came along, I rented a house and started working for TC Waters. I started a club with Manfred Purcher – we just put an ad in the paper and away we went. Who were the first to come along to the club to criticise? George and Serge! I had a lot of people there, 30 odd. I used a 44 gallon drum and we set up a rope affair off a crane to do landing rolls. We did ok, we didn’t really hurt anyone.

Although I shudder today at what we did.

Purga In 1967, I jumped at Surfer’s Paradise, Cunnamulla, Toowoomba and Purga, which is near Ipswich. I had quite a few jumps at Purga. John Ball and Ian Stewart were two of the experienced instructors at Purga. I did my first jump there on the Olympic on 6/4/1967. When I went to Purga and places like that, I realized that there was more to skydiving than static line jumps. It wasn’t until I came across John Messenger (who is still flying for someone like Virgin) that I knew there was a lot more to the sport. In Surfer’s Paradise, I didn’t jump out of a Gypsy Moth like the other guys did; I jumped out of something

else – call number RIM. The drop zone was at the race track then. I then returned to Batchelor and jumped as a civilian, with my Olympic rig on 2/7/67. It was a butterfly-type canopy – a well made parachute. When the Americans made the Para-Commander, it was built from that design but improved its performance and made it more reliable.

Adelaide I was at Batchelor from then until 10th April 1968 when I jumped at Whyalla, South Australia, at a Nationals with the Spencer Gulf Skydivers. I was working in Adelaide to jump there; I worked two jobs, selling Electrolux and life insurance.

The job at Electrolux gave me the contacts for the life insurance. There was a guy there called Noel Weckert who was a brilliant skydiver. He was a butcher by trade and he was going out with a lovely girl called Sophie Dacko. He was a born handy man and could modify canopies. I left Adelaide to work at Francis Creek, near Pine Creek, an iron ore mine, because it was good money in those days. When I left, Noel was then offered my job with the Electrolux Company, and then offered the same job in Townsville, so he moved there. I also knew Trevor Burns in Adelaide; I jumped his PC in 1968.

Katherine From there, I went to Katherine to start the Katherine Skydivers Club. Manbulloo was just an airstrip and nothing else then. We used to jump at the south end of the airstrip. That’s where Brian had his first jump with an old TU canopy.

You needed a cut lunch to get back. Where the wind took you, was where you went! I wasn’t the best spotter in the world, but we had lots of fun and nobody got that badly hurt.

The APF I have an official APF receipt dated 10/12/70 for $10, so I was a member of the APF since then – member 7:027 for the year ending 31/6/71.

But I didn’t get my instructor’s certificate from the APF. It said “the holder of this licence may carry out parachute training and descents in accordance with the provisions of the APF, Op Regs and as directed by the instruction charter of the Katherine Skydiving Club”, dated 23/7/77.

I got my APF licence from Claude Gillard when I started the Katherine Skydiving Club. I didn’t really know about the APF until I met Claude Gillard down south and that was how I became aware of the APF. I only had 30-40 jumps then, so I didn’t really take it on board straight away.

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1970s

17. Katherine Commences

17. Katherine Commences GF: Having only 30-40 jumps, we didn’t really know about putting students out. We had a couple of broken legs and things. Max King was my original student. We used to jump TU5 and TU7 – they were supposed to be the big sports canopy but they really just had extra slots cut out!

These were way before the PCs etc. At the time Trevor Burns was running the APF. Students I started putting out students quite early on, when I didn’t know a darn thing. I had 101 jumps when I first went to Manbulloo on 13/2/70. It is now Manbulloo Station where they grow all the mangoes. I remember calling Claude Gillard and explaining everything to him!

Walter I was good mates with Walter Strohmayr. I first met Walter through Manfred Purcher when we went to Sydney.

Manfred was an Austrian guy who was Walter Strohmayr’s friend and a terrific jumper. He had hundreds of jumps and was an expert in freefall. There was nothing he couldn’t do. I had quit my job at Port Darwin Motors. He and I went down south looking for Walter in Sydney. The boys were jumping at Camden. It is funny that while I was there I had some jumps in Taree, which I don’t remember – and that’s where I now live! Anyway, we were looking for Walter in Sydney and we found him hobbling on the road with one leg in plaster. He’d had a drunken experience and rammed his car into a light pole. Walter liked his booze then, you see. Walter is a self-taught carpenter and he is the strongest minded man that I have met in my entire life.

He was a good jumper. In Austria, he used to jump for the air force. He landed on a hangar and busted his back, so he has pins in his legs. He walks like a cripple all the time.

He was a good friend. He was working at Francis Creek when he broke his leg at Manbulloo. Because he was such a popular guy at the mine, they kept him on doing all the blasting for the iron ore. He met a working sister in Katherine, Sue, married her and had several children. He now lives in Norman Park, in Brisbane, Queensland. He’s a good man but a quiet man. We used to go to a lot of parties then and get drunk a lot. The best years of my life were in Katherine!

Gordon Gecele I first met Gordon Gecele on 31/12/66 at Taree, on a static line, on the way back from Camden. I did my first freefall there on the 1/1/67. They only thing I have ever been cranky with Gordon Gecele about was when we had a Spencer Gulf dinner one night. I had the hots for a bird called Sandy and he won her off me. I thought I was home and hosed but the bastard had been with her for some time. He came up and told me that he was taking her home and I wasn’t going to get in a punch up over it.

Just ask him about Sandy – that’ll bring a smile to his face!

Gordon actually helped me a lot.

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Purga John Messenger I was flying blind in those days when I was freefalling. I had no idea about control. It wasn’t until I met a guy called John Messenger, a pilot and a skydiver. He showed me the actions with your hands and body and how to flare out – how to move your legs up and cup your hands. We used to practice and I could fly anywhere then. It was just wonderful.

John was from Sydney and he was flying the DC3 that we jumped out of. It was an Ad Astra DC3. Ad Astra was a mining group which used to do all the metallurgy work by aircraft. There was a DC3 and Hudson Bomber stationed at Katherine for a while, flying all around the countryside with a magnetometer. Because Messenger was such a keen skydiver, he took us up for a flight. We got up to 13,000 feet in the Hudson Bomber over Leach Lagoon. We did another jump from 18,000 feet and one from 15,000 feet.

They were a wonderful aircraft because all of the front was Perspex and they were really good to spot out of. The dates of those jumps were 7/4/70 and 9/4/70. Oxygen was a big problem at 18,000 feet because you’d take a breath from the oxygen in the plane before you’d exit, but by the time you’d done your first few hundred feet, you were drunk!

You’d just keep your mouth open and ram the air in. It was quite easy to lose it. It didn’t take long to get to 18,000 feet because they were a powerful aircraft – they have the same engine as a DC3 but half the weight.

Hudson Bomber- perspex at front

17. Katherine Commences Hudson Bomber

so the one leg strap held me up ok. By then, I was getting tired of the work involved and I couldn’t get over the fear from that incident. I had always been a bit apprehensive and always checked that things were right, so when that happened, I quit and went and got my pilot’s licence. Dave Opitz took over after me.

Moving On I am in my 70s now. I have married twice. I married in 1964 and moved to Darwin. She didn’t like Darwin so she left. I married a Darwin girl – Helen, who had six jumps. I used to love a beer but I can’t drink now that I have to take heart drugs.”

“Anyone can jump out of a plane, but it’s the freefall, the rel work, it’s what you can do in freefall, looking round for somebody else. That’s the fun of it all. It was a challenge and it was absolutely wonderful.

You just can’t talk about it to anyone else who has never done it.”

Walter re George WS: “Oh I nearly forgot George. I haven’t got any pictures of him jumping. This photo (below) is one of him in the boat looking for a barramundi. Stubby never too far away!”

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1970s

I don’t think I put the DC3 jump in my log book because we weren’t supposed to do these jumps. I think Messenger and I did the highest jump in Australia without oxygen but we couldn’t do anything about it. There was one DC3 jump I recorded. It was from 14,000 feet on 29/11/70 into Leach Lagoon. I jumped new gear on this jump – called a Super Olympic. It was a modified Olympic, before the Papillion came out. We did a four man star from the DC3. We didn’t record the call sign because they wanted to keep it quiet. They were memorable jumps because of the length of freefall we got.

John was in Broome when he was co-pilot of the DC3.

The electric fan from one of the old motel rooms fell and cracked his skull. He would have died except there just happened to be a neurosurgeon on holidays there. He was able to put a steel plate in his head and he was ok.

Thailand Another memorable jump I did was when I went to the Gulf of Siam (Thailand) and jumped at a place called Hua Hin out of a Caribou. I linked up with a Thai person. Even though he was a reasonable jumper, he had never linked up with anyone before. When we landed, he couldn’t believe it and carried me around like I was number one!

Last Jump 29/1/71 was the date of my last jump at Manbulloo was with Brian Murphy, from a Cessna 180. My last recorded jump was with Geoff Cowie in Darwin on 31/1/77. We had a link up with Dave Opitz. We were cutting it a bit low and I tracked away. Something went wrong. I know I had trouble with the Olympic – a leg strap came undone on me, and it put the breeze up me. It was one of those special leg straps built by the French and somehow it wasn’t clicked down properly.

I was pretty horrified at the time. I could feel the leg strap going and myself sliding out of the other strap. In those days, there was a reserve canopy in front of me and I put my hand right across that,

I didn’t log my jumps for the last two to three years - I got sick of it. I had about 4-500 jumps when I stopped. It’s like my pilot’s licence - I did 400 hours for my pilots licence but it didn’t get me going. I have never had any mals, nor had to use the reserve. I never had any issues with planes.

Walters exits in Austria

Austria: geared up in minus 20 degrees!

Reserve out with main

Custom of hard whacks on the bum from all club members after first manual jump!

Manfred, Richard and Walter at Batchelor

Walter getting organised for a jump

The boys jumping in Darwin the “pregnant duck�Walter jumping at BatchLittle from Manfred, Richard and

Leach Lagoon: Little Sue sitting on the car who became my wife, Big Sue who did one jump and scared the shit out of everyone watching from the ground, and Mr Cool himself!

The boys in Darwin about to jump the Shorts Skyvan

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17. Katherine Commences there. There was no such thing as a social club. It was an interesting bunch of fellas - Australians, Canadians, Austrians, from all over the world.

George Faulkner I first met George Faulkner in Sydney. I then went to the Northern Territory in about 1965 and started jumping at Batchelor first. I jumped up to about 1971. I jumped with many skydivers then – Laurie Trotter was one of them. He had a couple of hundred jumps up so he was very good. I then went to Katherine and formed the skydiving club in Katherine with George Faulkner in 1970.

Moving On I stopped in 1971 when I got married. I left the country in 1971 after I got married. My last jump was at Manbulloo airstrip NT on the 30/5/1971.

The airplane was a Cessna 206 and was a freefall for 30 seconds from 7,000 feet. My parachute was a Para-Commander or something like that. I did about 450 jumps, and had several hospital visits because I did not keep an eye on the ground!

“Jumping I believe has come a long way, very competitive and full of rules. In the earlier days we made the rules as we went along with a few exceptions when needed.”

Walter jumping in Darwin from a Skyvan

Manfred landing at Batchelor

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1970s

Walter Strohmayr’s Story WS: “My Name is Walter Strohmayr, and l’m an old fellow. I did my first jump 29/12/1959 in Graz, Austria.

The plane was a Cessna 170. lt was winter and freezing cold. The parachute was a leftover from World War II. It was an unmodified canopy, with no steering. The wind took care of that! We usually landed somewhere near the airport. It was after World War II when there weren’t so many rules. I was in the air force but this was sport parachuting. Our instructor was very experienced; he had about 20 jumps up his sleeve! He also was the pilot and a doctor in the army. The instructions where very basic, “Stroh, keep an eye on the ground because that’s what’s going to hurt you!”

My first 10 jumps were on a static line from a height of 600 metres. The 11th jump was a manual 3 second freefall from 800 metres. We used to open sometimes very low, just in time to take a deep breath before you hit the ground. I did a few jumps in Innsbruck, Austria. We jumped in the mountains with a doctor when there was an avalanche or something like that. I did a few jumps in Austria.

Move to Australia I came to Australia in 1964 and started jumping at Camden. There wasn’t a club then. It was just a bunch of blokes who got together and hired a plane and jumped

This is in Johnny Pit’s 206. Its early days. Note the front mounted reserves, the Capewells and the helmets. Murph has his leather mount with a stop watch and altimetre on it.

Brian Murphy (left)

Mid 1970s at Batchelor. Left: Brian Murphy, top right: Herbie Kaiserseder, bottom right: Sophie Winiger

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18. Katherine Changes Hands

APF Members - Manbulloo 30.6.77 Trevor Collins 7:101 C885 PI 301 Geoff Cowie 7:102 C864 PI 304 Robert Hopkins 7:107 A1162 Max King 7:070 A1136 Brian Murphy 7:063 D492 PI 30 Jim McHours 7:065 A374 Dave Opitz 7:056 D458 SI76 Dick Ward 1:810 A1101 Louie Wilson 7:110 A1175

Brian Murphy’s Story Brian did his first jump on 15th March 1970 at Manbulloo Airstrip. He jumped from a Cessna 206, using Navy gear, and was put out by George Faulkner. He landed in trees.

Brian tells the story: “I kept landing in trees until jump 7. That’s because we were up the other end, in a little area that wasn’t as big as this house. It wasn’t a big area for Cheapos.

The only people who landed in there were George Faulkner and Boris Garmer because they had PCs.” Brian’s first 12 jumps were at Manbulloo, 15 Mile Farm, Francis Creek, Mataranka and Leach Lagoon. He had jumped from a Cessna 185, 172 and 182, and a Cherokee 6.

He did his first freefall on jump 10 and was doing rel by his 21st jump. His 22nd jump records the “shakiest star in the north!”

On his 24th jump (29/11/1970) he jumped from a DC3 from 23,000 feet over Leach Lagoon. On jump 25, Brian did his first jump on a Mark II PC, resulting finally in being able to land standing up! By the time he had 39 jumps, Brian was putting out students. Over the next few years, Brian jumpes at a variety of jump sites, including into Mataranka Homestead and Mataranka Rodeo, Katherine Gorge, Katherine Show, and various schools and functions.

206 Jumps Brian jumped at each station he worked at. About the owner of Matters Creek in the NT, Brian said, “I’d be in the middle of concreting and he’d say come on! Let’s go jumping! What a pain! I even trained a few

students, finished up there and went to Alice Springs.”

Mowing Paula Gecele told a story about Brian. She was nagging Brian to mow the yard, so he got the mower out and only mowed one strip long enough to pack a parachute!

The Ring Brian Murphy described one memorable jump. When they were jumping early on at Leach Lagoon, Walter Strohmayr lost his ring somewhere in the cracks of the dried up soil. No amount of searching could find it. Several years later after the water had flooded the lagoon and it had receded, they were jumping there again. Brian saw a glint and, sure enough, it was Walter’s ring!

RFO BM: Several of us had shares in a Cessna 182, VH-RFO. I had the biggest share. Jamie Madsen, Fred Lukey, and Jim McHours all had shares. Jamie Madsen’s mate, Fred Lukey, went back to where ever he came from and he lost his share in it. He just walked away and we never found him to give him his share.

Injury Brian broke his left ankle years ago and consequently then favoured landing on his right leg. Because of this, he now needs a right hip replacement.

Dave Opitz Dave was an instructor at Manbulloo for several years.

He took over from George and Walter. His involvement with the APF during the 1970s was important in ensuring the NT had awareness of national standards and procedures.

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Dave Opitz

1970s

WS: I am not sure when George left, but Brian Murphy took over and did a damn good job of it as far as I know. Brian wears boots now – I never saw him wear boots then!

Back l-r: Ron Law, Trevor Collins, Louie Wilson, David McEvoy, Michael Braun, John Fitzner (pilot) Front l-r: Ted Davies (pilot), Vic Balfour, Dave Opitz, Brian Murphy, Gordon Gecele, Geoff Cowie

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19. First Rel Week TC: “We (Geoff Cowie, Trevor Collins, Louie Wilson) went with Brian Murphy to Caloundra Downs. That was when our trailer got in front the car on the trip down. That carton between each stop was a little too much! We drove non-stop. That’s why we started Rel Week – it was more dangerous going down there than it was bringing the guys to the Territory. That’s how it started. Too dangerous!”

RO Ad: Rel Week 13-20 May 1979; Organiser: Lee Hunt Rel Week Instructor: Dave McEvoy Aircraft: Club’s C182 and cross hire of 8 place Beaver will allow formation flying for larger stars and star crest jumps.

BM: Dave McEvoy came up to Katherine for the first Rel Week in May 1977. While he was there a bunch of us did static line ratings. It went on from there after that.”

Dave and others were invited up to the NT to assist the local jumpers improve their relative work skills. It was an inauspicious beginning in May 1977, when ‘Rel Week’ was conducted at Manbulloo using a Cessna 182 ( VH-RFO) and 206 (VH-RCO). Dave flew to the NT at Brian Murphy’s invitation (then CI), accompanied by Ron Law and Peter Barnett. The local jumpers – Brian, Trevor Collins (TC), Mike Braun, Dave Opitz, Geoff Cowie, Gordon Gecele, Louie Wilson, Michael Braun and Vic Balfour completed many 4 ways and attempted a few 10 ways over seven days of that first Rel Week. At the end of the week, they jumped into Katherine Gorge. Little did anyone realize then how big Rel Weeks would become and that Dave and Trevor would still be attending Rel Weeks to the present day!

Brian Murphy’s Log Book records the Rel Week Jumps: Jumping at Manbulloo from 1/5/77 – 8/5/77: 16 jumps with Dave McEvoy C267, Ron Law ASC69, Peter Barnett C564, Mike Braun C845, TC B996, Dave Optiz, John Pfitzner, Ted Davies pilots, Geoff Cowie SCR353, Gordon Gecele E78, Louie Wilson, Michael Braun, Vic Balfour and students using a Cessna 182 VH-RFO and Cessna 206, VH-RCO. Description: lots of 4 ways, a couple of 10 way attempts – one man out in the end, finished with Gorge jump.

This is our dry season and the weather is second to none for jumping. This Rel Week is for anyone who is into freefall. So get away from it all and get with it for a week. Come and see what the Territory has to offer. We guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

There is some great sightseeing for the family, and ‘Barra’ fishing if you’re interested.

Third Rel Week – 1979 By 1979, there were 32 jumpers at the meet.

Alan Trickey’s Cessan 402 from Brisbane and three Cessna 182s were used. 8 ways were consistently being completed. Jumpers attended from Brisbane, Alice Springs, Mt Isa, Adelaide, Darwin and Katherine. 160 sorties and 830 jumps completed. Dave McEvoy was reported to have topped the jump tally with 45 jumps.

Below: Katherine Gorge

Second Rel Week – 1978 BM: The Rel Week of 1978 was much the same as 1977 but with a few more jumpers and a noticeable improvement in the quality of the skydives – successful 4, 5, 8 and 10 ways were completed and an 11 way attempted.

Brian Murphy’s Rel Week jumping at Manbulloo from 15/5/78 – 20/5/78: 17 jumps, with Dave McEvoy, Geoff Holmes, Geoff Cowie, Peter Nobbs, Dave Optiz D458, Trevor, Chook Chandler ADC396 D591, Peter Ellis, Mike Ellis, Lee Hunt, Max King A1136 Pops 1002, Dr Dave Allison, Laurie C914, using a Cessna 206 and Cessna 182.

Description: 4 and 5 ways, successful 10 way cluster on 18th May 1978, successful 8 way, attempted 11, Katherine Gorge Jump on 21st May 1978 – the jump that Doctor Dave had a mal and landed on the cliffs.

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1970s

Accommodation: Katherine Club House Facilities: sleeping area, fully equipped kitchen, showers, toilets, covered concrete packing area, swimming hole, meals available, 6000 foot bitumen strip Water jump: 27th May into Katherine Gorge, with free BBQ at the gorge Registration fees: $30 Jump costs: $5 to 8,500

20. Katherine Jumpers Not long after, I was playing golf one morning and they came and found me at the golf club at lunch time. I said, “Look, I’ve had a beer!” They said, “That’s ok, we’re jumping, so come out.” I said, “Ahh, ok.” So I had a rum and then I went and did my first two jumps at Manbulloo out of a Cessna 182 – Romeo, Foxtrot, Oscar! Max put me out, which was a bit interesting because I know now that Max only had about 40 jumps himself! He was the experienced person on the drop zone. There were a few other people floating around – Brian Murphy was there.

Trevor Collins as a Student TC: I started jumping in 1975, at Manbulloo, near Katherine. I used to take photos. I was doing a lot of photography including weddings and other things, and going to the pubs to take photos. One time, I ran into these blokes in the pub that jumped out of aeroplanes and I asked if I could go up in the aeroplane and take a photo of them as they jumped out of the plane. They said sure but you will have to learn how to wear the parachute and you will actually have to jump with us. And I said, “Not a chance because I’m really, really scared of heights – and I still am!” I said that I’ll just fly a plane up beside them and take the photos as they jumped, and they just laughed a lot.

In those days, any rig was a rig. There was no such thing as a difference between student rigs and other rigs – they were all B4s. And I was really lucky because I had a Cheapo which I think was also called a T9 – that was pretty cool in those days. I had a candy striped one for the first and second jumps. Those first couple of jumps, I landed pretty close – I was 200 metres away from the target on my first jump, 30 metres away on my second and 20 metres on my third, so I was pretty happy about that. I wasn’t a very good student. I did lots of really stupid stuff – probably half it was because none of us really knew what we were doing.

We just jumped out, hung on and hoped it worked!

The blokes were guys like Brian Murphy and Max King.

I worked with Max and we saw each other a bit. I was working for Department of Works in Katherine, building lots of roads and buildings around Katherine at that time.

There were only about 1,500 people in Katherine then. We used to go to the pub, well, quite a lot actually, so I ran into Max quite a lot.

Geoff Cowie GC: Trevor had done two jumps and when he was at every party, full of grog, he was a sky god and everyone went along with it. Trev started about six months before me.

Max eventually convinced me to just come and have a bit of a look and have a practice at how to do it. He made me jump off from halfway up his stairs a few times for a landing roll and he taught me how to do a delta. That was how you jumped in those days. You didn’t do an arch, you did a delta. We did a delta straight of a static line. So I did a couple more practice sessions with Max and he said they’d give me a yell next time they were jumping. I said, “Great!” but I was really glad when he went away and I didn’t think too much more about it.

TC did his last jump September 1978 at Manbulloo, then left for Queensland. That was about when I came up to Darwin. I was spending about one weekend at Manbulloo and one weekend in Darwin. I was living in Darwin and driving to Manbulloo. It was killing me – that’s why I needed Trevor back up here.

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In 1977, we went to Gloucester as a rel work team for the nationals. Dingus and all the desperates were in that team.

We actually got a trophy I think.

20. Katherine Jumpers

Brother Paul’s Jump Brother Paul was born Hampshire, England in the 1930s.

After a stint in the RAF, he joined the priesthood in 1955 where he heard about the bush brothers in Australia. Two days after arriving in Sydney in 1960, Brother Paul went to Bourke where he stayed for the next 16 years before moving Tennant Creek and then to Katherine in the 1970s.

When in his forties, Brother Paul decided to go skydiving at the newly formed club in Katherine. Of his first jump, Brother Paul said, “I have never ever been so terrified and frightened in my life!”

He completed the first five jumps as static line jumps. Brother Paul continues his story, “After that, I was still terrified but I did it because my Father always taught me to finish what I started! So I thought if I am still terrified after my first freefall, then I can, with honour, give it up. But I adored it, I loved it. It was wonderful! All my fear vanished because I knew that it was me, 100% me! If I didn’t pull the ripcord, I’d say, “Hello God!” Brother Paul landed in a cow carcass at the DOA pit which blew up all over him.

The bishop ended up moving him because he was having too much fun. He was partial to a few drinks!

Louie Wilson GC: Louie Wilson started with Trevor and Geoff. He was a Kiwi. He was hairy like Trevor then. He was a mad bloke and we did lots of fun things. We did a lot of demos too. He was good jumper and a funny guy. One night we were at a spring that goes into the Katherine River, drinking and partying as usual. It was the days when cylume sticks were used for night jumps. He cylumed up his old fella and slid down the bank with it all lit up, much to everyone’s amusement!

One time, he spent months making a radio controlled aeroplane, intricately detailed. He taxied it back and forth. It takes off and Louie goes to bring it back. He is watching his controls. By the time he looks up again, it’s too late. The plane hit the deck and smashed into a million pieces!

In the end, booze and drugs got the better of him.

The French Revolution BM: There were a number of French jumpers in Katherine in the late 1960s, early 1970s. There was one bloke who had a beautiful wife called Annie.

He ended up with Sylvia Wolf from Mataranka.

He was staying at Shady Glen Caravan Park under a big PC. There were another two Frenchmen who then took up hang gliding – one of them was killed.

One of the French guys turned up in Darwin but he wasn’t current. He said he wanted to do relative work but they wouldn’t let him do it. They said he could do a hop and pop, because he hadn’t jumped for a couple of years, so they let him do it and he did a set of style!

Flick BM: He was a skydiver from Tennant Creek, Frank Flick, I think. He was the Flickman and had been in Katherine about 18 months. He drank pesticide at the DOA pit after relationship issues.

Jim McHours Jim was a regular jumper who drove road trains for Buntine Roadways. Jim did a radio interview in 2006 where he said he always enjoyed parachuting as it was a great release from the pressures of trucking. He was described as a gentlemen and the holder of many transport history memories of outback NT and the Top End. Jim passed away in 2011.

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1970s

The DOA pit used to be located just outside of Manbulloo Airstrip. It was where all the carcasses of the dead animals from the meatworks were dumped – buffalo, cattle, camels. It was located a bit to the north of Manbulloo.

21. Manbulloo DZ

BM: That’s the old recreation hall from the hospital. (above) We built the packing shed from the old original butcher’s shop from here in town, Ted Collins’ shop. The rails that were used to slide the carcasses along were all still there. There were the trusses and the roof from it. It is a historic site. It’s quite old – it was a Sidney Williams hut. The building is still there. Barry Lane and I went out with his little tractor one week end and we poured the slab at Manbulloo.

He did his first jump there I remember. Diane, his wife, and his kids came out and caught him – he got into terrible trouble. No training...a little bit...just enough!

Brian Murphy was instrumental in the building of the Club facilities, including the packing shed, club house, and toilet block. BM: That water tank has a story – a farmer gave me that. It had no end in it and it was full of copper pipe and stuff. I sold the copper pipe and it was sufficient to buy the steel for the end. I think they gave me the tank stand and all I had to do was weld one leg in somewhere. It was up at the shed. There was a wind sock on top of that.

I used to get Jim McHours (another jumper) with his water truck and pump, to fill it up because there was no water out there.

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22. The Races Timber Creek Races The Timber Creek Races were a yearly event in August and there were regular jumps over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Brian’s log book states on jump 207, that he “mistook the Works Department for the pub on the first jump”!!

BM: TC and I had been working at Manbulloo and had quite a few drinks. We were both on a late Friday arvo jump into Timber Creek Races. We jumped into the pub, as well as the races the next day. It was one of those jumps - we hit each other really hard in freefall and ended up bloody.

GC: That’s where I did my last static line and first freefall at demos.

1970s

TC: We went out to a place called Timber Creek, about eight to ten weeks after my first jump. I had five jumps.

So we were allowed to do demos then! I did my last two static lines and my first freefall into Timber Creek races as demos – into the centre of the track. Murph was my instructor, but I don’t think he was an instructor really – we didn’t know about the APF in those days. I said to Murph in the plane, “So what do I do?” He said, “Just don’t land on the horses or the people – they both get pissed off! Go!” So I went and I was really fast pulling the ripcord!

There was one demo where we landed out. We had a really bad crosswind and I landed miles down the road.

A tourist bus pulled up. I was on the side of the road with my Cheapo all wrapped up and had my helmet and all that stuff on, and they said, “Where did you come from?”

I said, “From just up the road.” They said, “Really?” They actually gave me a lift back to the race track which was a bit of fun. They took lots of photos.

TM: I went there for the first time in about 1984 and I went for about 7 years before I actually saw a race! KSC used to help run the bar and we used to do skydives there as well. We had an awesome time while we were there – we used to do about 10 – 15 jumps over the 2 to 3 days.

TM: We used to do a lot of CRW, a lot of Rel. My first jumps into there were on round parachutes. It was a really social event – the Top End’s equivalent of Birdsville races. Planes flew in from all parts of the Territory, probably about 5000 people used to go. The races were held annually, every September or October.

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Top Left: Vic Balfour walking back to Manbulloo DZ Top Right: Student exit over Manbulloo Left: Geoff Cowie with student Below: All girl load at Manbulloo

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23. Early Student Training

Putting out students GC: I used to put students out at Timber Creek races.

“Dave Opitz said that he couldn’t be bothered jumping anymore and there were all these students. So I did it. I was shitting myself. At that time, I had never seen anyone leave an aeroplane because I was so keen I was always first. So I’m sitting in the aeroplane and I say, “Power off, breaks on! OK, out you get! Go!! Why isn’t this guy open? Open! Open!” And he was getting smaller and smaller. “Oh no, see where he is dead, there’s the road, there’s the...” then woomph – “Ohh, parachute!” Then everyone else in the aircraft is going, “What’s wrong?

What’s wrong?” I put on a brave face and said, “Nothing, nothing at all! “Who’s next?” I nearly shit myself!!

Static Lines TC: In those days, you could get away with murder.

One instructor used to put students out on a static line and throw the static line out after them. He didn’t want to get his hand burnt. He’d just let it go and pulled it in later. You had to hold them - not let them get slack and half hitch around your hand.

GC: One instructor used to get scared shitless. You used to hold the static line in your hand in such a way that it would just slip out of your hand. He would grab it and pull it (shortline), so the pilot chute would come off as they were leaving the strut. We had pilot chutes hit the tail plane of VH-RDT a couple of times and we thought, “Piss off, we will all go in!” You have realize how difficult it was to tell an instructor more experienced than us, not to do it anymore.

Delta BM: I always used to teach students the delta position, which is illegal now but I would rather have students slightly head down than tumbling all over the sky. It used to be one of the early student training jumps, now they are in the frog position and it was very hard to hold that position.

Jamie Madsen BM: Jamie was amazing – Norwegian I think. One day he nearly went in – he opened so low. He landed and got back to the DZ with the ripcord. He walked up to me and said “Brian, I had a hard pull!”

We looked at the metal trapezoid ripcord - he had pulled it out of shape to deploy! We think he a pigtail curl (kink) in the cable in the B4 gear.

APF Arrives TC: There wasn’t a student training table in those days and we didn’t know about the APF for nearly two years after I started jumping – about 19761977. A fellow called Dave Optiz from Darwin came down to Katherine and he said, “What’s your licence number mate?” I said, “What’s a licence? I’ve got a car licence!” He said, “No, no, you have to have an APF licence.” I said, “Well, I don’t have one” and he said I can’t jump. I told him to f*** off! We continued to have a good time but he was a bit funny about it.

It all got more organised after that. He sort of got the APF involved and we all had to get licences and we had to do the required jumps. By that time, I had started to be really involved with jumping. I had done lots of demos and other jumps and had about 200 jumps. I had a ‘D’ licence by about late 1977.

TC with students

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1970s

First Katherine Students The first student to jump at Manbulloo was Kevin (Ferris) Saunders on 15th March 1970. Other students on the same load were R. Huppette and Max King Junior. Max continued to do many more jumps.

On the same day Brother Paul, Kenny Bereford, Brian Murphy, Douglas Collins, Alf Faulkner, Fred Luthy, George Faulkner and Jim McHours also jumped.

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24. Katherine Gorge

TC: The jump into Katherine Gorge – there was one I did in the 1970s where I jumped in the raw and landed on the rocks. I was ok. I got a really good landing but you can see from the photo of the canopies that we were all going backwards. I did a lot of jumps there but only ended up in the water a couple of times.

BM: TC had a cutaway too and ended in the rapids in the raw. That was on a C9. There was me, Geoff, Louie Wilson on the load. I had my jock tied on the lift web but it didn’t matter. It was all too hard to put them on.

Anatomy of a Water Jump RO report, 1979 - Jo-Anne Kielbasa Jump No: 202 Date: 20/5/79 Place: Katherine Gorge, NT, Aircraft: C182 VH GAC, Equipment: Cheapo, altitude: 3,500 feet, Delay: 10 seconds Resume: The evening before the event, I was deliberating about jumping my own gear or borrowing a Darwin Club Cheapo. Eventually the Cheapo won out as I decided that a wet Flyer and a farting dog would be too much to bear on the 2,000 mile drive back to Adelaide.

On the sortie were Dave McEvoy, Dave Opitz (Darwin) and Peter Ellis (Alice Springs). I have to thank both Daves for their confidence in me.

They were confident – that I was a loon and that I was going to die. They told me so several times.

McEvoy just looked at me and shook his head on jump run. As I climbed out, I heard someone say, “Been nice knowing you Jo!” When I let go, I felt naked – no jumpsuit. Then I looked at the ground. Shit! Those rocks look jagged, even from up here. Dump, look up, check canopy – Christ! It’s a reserve! No, you bloody idiot – that’s a Cheapo! Whew!!! Then absolute panic – no steering. Bloody hell, the toggles, which looked suspiciously like duffle coat buttons, had slipped through the rings on the risers. (No wonder so many students had been landing in trees!) There was no time to play Sherlock Holmes. I hauled on the back risers and turned the sluggish Cheapo downwind. Somehow I got past the cliffs and down into the gorge. Over the water at about 100 feet, I undid one side of the front mounted reserve and psyched myself up for the landing. I would use my water safety position that I had remembered from my 11 years of jumping.

Splash! I’d made it. The water was warm. Nothing to worry about – gee I wish the boat would hurry up, there is supposed to be crocs in here! I know the locals reckon they are harmless, but I’d hate to be the one to prove them wrong! The boat arrived.

I didn’t frap, I didn’t drown, I didn’t get eaten by crocs. And I attained the satisfaction of being the first female and second person to have gone into the gorge under Cheapo. Well Dave McEvoy, for next years crazies, let’s take a Cheapo bi-plane into the gorge!

Geoff Cowie (Darwin Club) gave us an excellent briefing on the area, “It’s real tiger country out there! Last year we spent 24 hours looking for a guy who got lost and then there was the time TC landed miles away in rocks by the rapids.” This instilled in me a doubt about the accuracy of my Cheapo – especially when I found that nobody else would jump one.

All geared up and ready to go when anxiety number two occurred! The life jacket completely covered the front mounted reserve. Either reserve or life jacket would have to go. A choice of frapping or drowning. I decided drowning was less painful. With my luck, I’d miss the water completely, break both legs and die of starvation!

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1970s

BM: These jumps started from the third annual Rel Week in 1979. Dr Dave (Ellison) was a Canadian doctor who worked here at Katherine Hospital. He did a jump into the gorge and had a cut away. He ended up way out in no man’s land in Katherine Gorge. We used to have to get out way up the gorge because that was where the spot was in the prevailing winds. He ended up way up on the highlands somewhere, on the rugged land somewhere. I can’t remember where it was or how long it took to get him out. I think someone landed beside him but I can’t remember who that was. It was somewhere in the first gorge. The guys had to climb up the cliffs to get him out – it took a while.

25. Gear

C9 (28’ Cheapo)

Brian Murphy under a Para-Plane This is a para-plane with rings and ropes – no slider. They used to be problems because the rings and ropes used to run around the outside of the canopy and go up through the middle to the pilot chute to slow down the canopy.

It’s what a slider does today. The pilot chute would go out and go way up and then sucked back down by the lines running in the rings around the edge of the canopy and that’s how the canopy opened. That’s why they used to mal a bit, they were pretty dodgy.

TC: The first Para-Plane, I think, was owned by Dave Opitz. It had a lot of mals. Dave took it down south and Bruce Towers showed him how to pack it but it still kept having mals.

Geoff Cowie under a Sierra

Delta 2 Military 35’ Cheapo

TC under a Strato-Star

Para-Commander

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26. DZ Wedding BM: 9/5/1976: Brian records a jump at Manbulloo, his first jump on a Pig, for Geoff and Julie Brown’s wedding.

TC: Geoff Brown and Julie decided to get married one day at the drop zone after we had done a jump, so that’s why we had our jump gear on. Brownie was a bit of a wild bastard and he had his ‘stoned crow’ t-shirt on and his jumpsuit – a big old canvas job.

There is a photo somewhere of them consummating the marriage. We went back to Geoff Cowie’s caravan in the caravan park at Riverview. No one knew that we were going to have the party there. We were going to go to Louie’s but it wasn’t big enough so we just went and took over Geoff ’s place – who wasn’t there at the time! He came home to this full blown party. I can remember us all in the Katherine River in the raw and Geoff Brown consummated the marriage then. A good day!

GC: I came back from Sydney on the Wednesday and I’m in the shower. It was just an open shower and this guy comes up and says, “Congratulations on getting married!”

I said, “Oh no, no, I didn’t get married. I just went to see an old girlfriend in Sydney.”

He said, “No, I went to the wedding party.”

I said, “No it wasn’t me.”

He says, “Geoff, Caravan 14 or whatever number it was.”

“Yeh, that’s me – but I was in Sydney!”

“No, there was a big party!”

“Ahh, big party – skydivers?”

So the next day, I say, “Trevor, what’s this wedding? I didn’t know I got married!”

“We had nowhere else to hold a party so we used your place!”

One time at Manbulloo, Geoff and Julie had a Delta 2 wrap and got snagged in trees.

RO report 1980, Allison C-S, Darwin: We did a nude jump at Manbulloo when Chook got engaged.

(He found the ring in a sherbet packet).

I lost a nipple on the landing - agony!

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1970s

Julie had on a fetching looking pair of shorts, green and yellow striped long socks and a singlet. We found some scrubby flowers on the drop zone at Manbulloo. They got married on the pit. Dave Opitz was best man and Brian Murphy was ‘Father of the Bride’. The bloke marrying them was John Flavell, who was the local guy in charge of administration for the Northern Territory Government.

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27. Batchelor Moves With the Times body and he had a lovely wife! We all wanted to do freefall jumps.” 1973 saw a split in the Club due to these internal problems. The Darwin Parachute Club was lead by Jerry Moussard and the newly formed Ace Parachute Club, was managed by George Pappa.

GG: After the split, we still operated at Batchelor but we did our own thing.

In 1975, The Darwin Parachute Club again started to train students with Jerry Moussard and Gordon Gecele. Between May 1977 and 1978, the Darwin Parachute Club had trained fifty students. Instructor Geoff Cowie arrived in Darwin in July 1978, to continue training students at Batchelor.

Incidents in the 1970s On one occasion, one parachute was missing after jumping had ceased and the club members were already enjoying some ‘coldies’ in the R.I.R. Club’s beer garden. A search was started and Phil Lacy was found hanging upside down in a tree. He had been hanging there for 1¼ hours and the Darwin Parachute Club members feel it must be some sort of record!

Another record was achieved when John Henbury did a stand up on a tree ten metres high.

GG: There was a girl at Batchelor who had a few jumps. I was on the ground and I have never seen anyone survive that low an opening. The tree line at Batchelor was not high. The canopy opened, breathed and touched ground in about half a second. We asked her why afterwards – she had grabbed the wrong thing.

There was another girl on a Sierra. It was streamering and heading for shit ponds at Batchelor but luckily started to flutter and open.

You get some funny calls with students at times. There was one girl I was training who was calm until it was time to get out. She then panicked, screaming. I had to throw her off! Another time, a student froze on the wheel of a 182.

I told the pilot to take the brake off but the student stayed on. He went all way back down the strut and got back in the aircraft - with a static line on! If the static line had popped, it could have gone over the tail plane.

Darwin Parachute and Ace Parachute Club Gordon Gecele was originally from Trieste in Italy and he started jumping in South Australia in 1964 in Whyalla. Noel Weckert was his instructor and Gordon remembers that “in those days you knew all the jumpers if you were a regular jumper – there were meets everywhere. South Australia was probably the best jumping state then.” Gordon’s first jump in Darwin was 30th June 1968 at Batchelor.

Gordon recalls why the more progressive jumpers fell out with George Pappa, “He had different ideas to us. He would put students out and he was on a static line.” At the time, I had about 200 jumps. I’d been jumping in Labertouche and Sydney, Brisbane and there were a lot of French jumpers in Darwin at the Right: Bob Noddyn time - Jerry, some army guys, ‘Big Buffalo’ – that was and Sophie Bob Noddyn. He had the machine gun marks on his

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1970s

NT School of Parachuting was still training students and continued to operate at Batchelor, under the direction of George Pappa.

1969 - First Jump from 15,000 feet

By September 1969, there were significant changes. There were breakaway jumpers at Batchelor who were now part of the Darwin Parachute Club.

The Chief Instructor was Laurie Trotter, who had 590 jumps and had twice been a member of the Australian Parachute Team. He and six other jumpers were lucky enough to jump from Connellan’s Short Skyvan from 15,000 feet. The jumpers included Herb Hoeschle from Canada who had 460 jumps, Bruce Farquhar from New Zealand with 430 jumps, Walter Strohmayr from Austria and Jim Patterson from Canada, both with 170 jumps, Derek Royle from England with 130 jumps and John Ginniff from Melbourne with 80 jumps. At the time, Len Hunter was also said to be forming the Alice Springs Parachute Club. There were plans to combine the 35 jumpers from Darwin with the jumpers from Alice Springs for the first ever NT Championships. The objective of the competition was to select a team for the Australian Championships in Perth for June 1970.

Bond Springs

Aileron

Drop Zones around Alice Springs

Alice Springs Emergency Airport

Stuart’s Well

Vineyards, Alice Springs

Alice Springs Airport 62

28. Alice Springs DZs ES: We jumped at the aero club at Alice Springs Airport in 1968-1969, but that was just for show jumps. We started jumping at Bond Springs in the early 1970s. Some bright spark found out that it was near Alice Springs Emergency Airstrip and they kicked us off there, so we went to what is now Orange Creek Station, Renner’s Rock, before that Henbury Station – it’s on the Hugh River. We got kicked off there and then we went to Aileron, which was our main drop zone. But we also jumped all over the place. We even jumped at Hart’s Range racecourse.

Alice Springs APF Members 1977 P Ellis A Muscat E Smith R Whitwam

RW: I did a jump here one time and I was up there for about eight minutes! I got caught in a thermal under the Patch (a canopy), I think. I was watching them on the ground following me in a ute. There were creek beds and things and I was trying to keep them in sight. My legs were going numb. That happened to me at Alice Springs Airport, which is east-west. There’s the old end of the new airport but there’s also the old airport which runs south.

It’s right on the fence, and there used to be old hangars

B538 C652 E68 D183

there, right on the Old South Road. Now there’s maintenance sheds there. They used that area as the drop zone but that was after my day.

It was OK jumping there – the aircraft coming in could see us, and we could circle. I think about 100km out, they would give us a warning and we could keep circling. We had a lot of holds. About midday, there were about six flights coming in so we just avoided jumping then.

LA: Alice Springs skydivers originated up at Bond Springs, the arsehole of the Earth to go skydiving at. Then Peter Ellis moved it down to Alice Springs Airport. We were the first drop zone to operate from a CAA airport with a tower controlling the jumpers and the aircraft coming in at the same time. It proved to the rest of Australia that jumping could occur in busy controlled airspace and we did it quite successfully for many years. The sport didn’t get to where it is now without people committing to it in those days.

LA: The 1979 demo into Anzac Oval for the Rugby Grand Final was a hairy one. Plenty of high voltage wires, big buildings, big trees, goal posts and strong gusts. Nothing for reserves on this leap but our guts men went in. Mike rode a streamer for 4-5 seconds before it opened.

They all got in under unfavourable conditions, stripped off their jump gear to reveal rugby jumpers underneath, as well as the ball. Another successful demo and a good rage afterwards!

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1970s

The pub at Aileron is gone now, it’s a flash looking hotel now. We used to do the last jump of the day into the front of the pub. We jumped into the grand final over near Anzac Hill. There was wind shear and the chutes were just driven into the ground. I got up and yelled out, “She’s right!” but then fell in a heap. The danger zone is about 100 feet with the turbulence. It’s hard ground here. I was on a square chute and it just collapsed near the ground. I said, “Yeh, I think I’ll knock off until about 2!”

2:375 7:061 7:024 3:191

Eddie Smith doing the ‘peace’ sign with a 10 way load Ray and Eddie

Eddie Smith and Dave Hobbs practise an exit Packing shed at Bond Springs

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29. Alice Springs Jumping This was our first and only attempt to jump from anything larger than the Cessna 182, but it is the beginning of something new for us, even if it did cost us $14 each for the privilege!

Sunday 14th October and Brenton Clarke brought his helicopter over. For the fun of it, we went up in pairs for a hop ‘n pop from 3,000 feet. Most tried for a fast link but had little time or momentum from nil wind and no forward speed. Stomachs met throats on exit, as it was that ‘straight down the well’, sinking feeling, not like the normal, more horizontal exits from regular aircraft.

1970s

October 1979 RO Report: Robyn Wawn, Secretary, Alice Springs Skydivers reports: First Heron jump combined with a demo into Yirara College. Roundies were grounded because of the wind. All we could rake up was 11 Ram-Airs. I ended up coming down on a round anyway through losing my bunny tail. The first circuit dropped six out, including Lee Hunt, who was out first. He looked back to see the next two wedged in the door, shoulder to shoulder! After three attempts, the pair got out and the 6 man ended up a 4 man.

The second circuit dropped five out who also only managed a 4 way so the Alice Springs record is still a 4 man. The club ambition is a 10 man before Christmas.

Eddie Smith, Greg Crow and others on a demo at Bradshaw Primary School, Alice Springs.

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30. Alice Springs Jumpers

Cessnock, 1962

Laurie and Harry DK: Laurie Trotter was a real pioneer and helped many of us along the way. By virtue of his nomadic lifestyle, he managed to take the sport to places that would not have seen it otherwise.

He was a larrikin, a complete Ocker, and a thoroughly decent bloke. You could trust him with your life, and we often did.

He was one of Australia’s pioneer parachutists, and thoroughly deserves being remembered properly. He and Andy Keech did wonders for the swift advancement of sport parachuting in Australia from the late 1950s to the early 1960s.

The Beginnings DK: When I first met Laurie, he was 28, so almost 10 years my senior. Laurie was driving a truck in Wagga and he asked me to help him start a civilian club at Uranquinty. I spent my holidays helping him train recruits and set up a club.

There was good interest from the Army at Kapooka, and the brass also wanted to see how a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump worked. We happily bunged on a HALO demo for them on 30/8/63 at their Kapooka Golf Course, and landed at their feet, right in front of the 19th hole. I had unbuckled already, and so I just stepped out of my gear, said “Good afternoon, gentlemen!” and walked straight in, closely followed by Laurie! They were very impressed with what they saw, especially the pinpoint accuracy and many beers were had all round. We followed that with a couple of jumps at Uranquinty and the Coolamon Show.

Dak Jump DK: Laurie’s typical larrikin behaviour was perhaps best demonstrated the next day at Forest Hill Air Base. Laurie had discovered there was to be an Air Force Week Display jump from a Dakota! (DC3) His plan was simple. We would just line up with the others, and pretend we were part of the deal. We lined up, got our gear checked, and scored ourselves a Dak Drop! Magic! And they provided food and grog afterwards! It might not be quite so easy these days!

Left: Laurie

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First Baton Pass DK: Andy and Laurie were always plotting the next major breakthrough, and finally got it together for the first baton pass! They managed it, even though I had told them that, from my vast knowledge of physics, it couldn’t be done! I think the words went something like this, “If two things leave an aircraft at different times, they will continue to get further and further apart.” Duh! That applies to identical inanimate objects, but apparently not to highly motivated jumpers, as I have happily proved on many occasions!

Australian Parabatic Team AK: Laurie was my instructor when Al, Jay and I started jumping at Camden, NSW in 1959. During 1960, I bought my own parachute and Laurie picked up that I was one of the keen ones. He proposed that we team up and go barn storming together around the state. That was like God asking me to be his right hand man! So, off we went, in new white overalls with a logo on the back, ‘Australian Parabatic Team’.

We won the top two places at the Nationals early in 1961, and on ANZAC day, we pulled off the first baton pass in Australia at Deniliquin, NSW. It was my 50th jump and Laurie’s 106th. We repeated the feat again a few weeks later at Dubbo, NSW, and shortly after that made two baton passes over Quirindi, NSW. At this point we knew we could pull it off at will. I was privileged to have been asked to jump with him as a team.

Accuracy Competition RM: In the early days of sport parachuting in Australia, around the early 1960s when there were only a handful of regular jumpers. There were maybe 20 or so from each state, and most of us would travel around to jump with other clubs on the weekends. The Victorian boys and girls would go to Nhill in West Victoria. They would meet up with the South Australian jumpers who would come across and make a weekend of it. One of the blokes you would always seem to run into was Laurie Trotter. He was a really nice bloke who would be in anything, a tough man with no fear, who worked hard and played even harder. In October 1965, I had just returned from overseas and the 4th Victorian Sport Parachute Championships were soon to be held at Labertouche, Victoria. G.O.D. (Gillard of Doveton) asked me if I would be Meet Director and I agreed - reluctantly. The weather was terrible, strong winds (marginal) with showers. The canopies were PCs, however some were using Lo-Pos and even Cheapos. Of course, if you were coming in close to the target, downwind landings were the only way to go. After the first round of accuracy, Laurie was leading with 1.34 metres.

The weather got worse and two competitors retired with injuries. On Laurie’s second jump, driving in at full speed and getting ready for a fast down wind landing, he realized he was going to drop short, so he lifted his legs and laid out as straight as he could to grab another few inches. His heels hit just before his head...Ouch! Laurie staggered away, happy with his distance. However, it was soon discovered that he had sustained a cracked, or even a broken, rib.

The first-aid bloke strapped him up and the DZSO (Drop Zone Safety Officer) told him that was the end of his day, to which Laurie said, “Bullshit!”

He came storming over to me, smoke coming out of his ears, and said he was jumping no matter what.

“No Laurie, you’re out!” I said as diplomatically as I could, to which Laurie said, “Bullshit!” and a few more descriptive adjectives. “I can win this bloody thing!” “Look Laurie,” said I, “One more hard landing like the last one might see a rib in a lung and you’re dead!” Laurie told me in no uncertain terms that something like a broken rib wasn’t going to stop him jumping. So after some more heated discussion, I said to Laurie that he would need to sign a waiver about jumping at his own risk. “I’ll sign bloody anything!” said Laurie, grabbing a sheet of paper and scribbling something on it. Off he then went to pack for the next jump. Well, Laurie did not win, but he did come second in the accuracy, beaten by Bill Molloy by only seven points. He was still there at the end, still keen and eager. That man was from the ‘Old School’ of Aussies. We may not see his like again.

Military Service AK: Laurie was a unique individual/leader. He fought in Korea in his teens. He was about 16 or 17 when he jumped there. He also fought in Malaya before coming back to Australia. He had been ambushed in Malaya and was the only soldier in his section who could stand up unwounded when the shooting stopped. In my eyes, Laurie was 10 foot tall, even though much of that admiration was earned lying very flat behind a log!

World Meet AK: Laurie was not politically astute or correct.

Communism was not one of his favorite philosophies.

He kept things simple. At the World Meet in 1966 in East Germany (just after the Berlin wall was set up), ‘Laurence of Australia’ stood on the table, raised his beer mug and toasted (sarcastically), “To that fine piece of architecture, west of here!” Everyone was gob smacked. That was true Trotter.

Games AK: Laurie liked his beer. I remember on one air show weekend, Col King and Laurie played a game which involved chugging glasses of beer and sliding across the sodden carpet to snatch up another glass.

It was a relay race of sorts. I was a tee-totaller and

completely mystified as to how they kept score.

Test Jumps ES: He did some really radical jumping. He tested all the new squares that were coming out. There was this one called the ‘Barry Sail’. It had a single skin and it was like a big U shape – a guy in Orange was developing it. He was fearless.

NT Jumping ES: Laurie Trotter arrived in the Northern Territory in May 1965. He jumped in a lot of places across the NT - Alice Springs, Darwin and Tennant Creek. In those days, you had to scratch around for an aeroplane.

First Australian Prosecution GG: We used to do jumps into the beer garden of Batchelor Pub regularly. In 1970-1971, he was the first bloke in Australia to be prosecuted by the Civil Aviation Authorities.

Gordon Gecele recalls, “What had really happened was that he swore at the manager’s son because he was in the way and the son then went to the cops. Laurie was one of two who were grounded for six months and he was also fined $60!”

Overseas Training ES: I first met him in the States - he spent time in Canada too. One time, he needed money so he trained guerrillas in South America to jump, in Guatemala somewhere. He used to be their military instructor and he put these guys out on static line.

Tennant Creek: Last Known Location ES: He was surveying in Tennant Creek. RO 1981, Greg Crow: Looks like I’ll be staying in Tennant Creek a lot longer now that I missed out on going to the ‘ice’ (Antarctica). Oh well, things are looking up in this little town. Laurie Trotter and Dave Tapp graded a nice big strip at the 3-ways pub. I couldn’t think of a better DZ. Apart from dodging DoT (Department of Transport), we usually go to Katherine and Alice Springs for a wild jumping weekend.

Present Day AK: I have made efforts to track down rumors about Laurie and what happened to him. He began retreating from civilization even while I knew him in the very early 1960’s.

He just continually went further into the outback. I never met anyone who could actually speak about his location from firsthand experience. I understand it remains a mystery.

ES: At the end, he turned into an alcoholic. He used to sit around drunk in the corner and people used to think he was hopeless, but I knew that he had done all these amazing things.

Laurie, 1980s in Alice Springs

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1970s

30. Alice Springs Jumpers

30. Alice Springs Jumpers Lenny Hunter RM: I first met Len in late 1961, when his brother Geoff brought him down to the Pakenham DZ, to Southern Cross Skydivers. Most of us in those days were members of the C.M.F. (Citizen Military Forces). He would have been about 18 years old. He was an apprentice electrician and we hit it off straight away. I would have just finished my six static line jumps when Len started and he soon caught up to me. We started jumping together as we learnt the ropes.We more or less did jump for jump.

About this time, Claude Gillard had taken over the APF and was issuing licences. My licence was A24 and Len’s was A28. We both started relative work together and Bill Molloy took a baton off us both, which was a big deal in 1962. We continued to try to do it ourselves, getting to within inches of each other before having to break off to open at 2, 200 feet.

Western Australia As the Christmas holidays approached in 1962, Len and I decided to hitchhike to West Australia to jump over there. Neither of us owned a car so we shipped our rigs to Kalgoorlie by train, where we would pick them up.

After many adventures hitching across the Nullarbor, we arrived in Kalgoorlie, picked up our gear and went into a pub to ‘wet the whistle’, so to speak, and we ran into the Kalgoorlie skydivers.

On the 30th December 1962, Len and I did two baton passes on two consecutive jumps. (The first baton passes in WA?) The DZ was a dry salt lake - Lake Perkolilli. When we returned, we continued jumping together, now doing single and double baton passes together. By now we both had D licences and had become instructors.

Instructor Len was a really nice bloke, a bit quiet, even a bit introverted maybe! Towards the end of 1963, I decided to go overseas to jump and was away nearly two years. In the meantime, Len continued to jump at Pakenham and moved to Labertouche when that DZ opened. Claude had made him Senior Instructor and then Chief Instructer of Southern Cross Skydiving Club and also Labertouche.

Claude tells me at this time he had come out of his shell and was a really good leader. He now held licence number F9.

Before I left, Len married Nina and when I got back, I was godfather to one of his girls. At this time I was getting married myself and did very few jumps. I saw the boys for the Friday night card games.

Move to Alice Springs Len decided it was too cold in Melbourne and wanted to move to a warmer place, so he and Nina and the two girls moved to Alice Springs.

Losing Touch We wrote for a while; he came to Melbourne once and we took the girls to the beach, then nothing - we drifted apart.

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The Lippy Pass ES: In Alice Springs one time, I did a jump with Ray and Lenny, a 3 way from 8,000 feet. We got it by 6,000 feet, so I thought, “What now?” So I did a lippy pass with Ray! I remember landing and this bloke looking at us like we were f***ing p***ters!

Ray Withwam continues the story, “I just chucked Eddie away and I went unstable. It was the last thing I expected!

We got Lenny a few weeks later through another good jumper, Mike Golden. Lenny Hunter listened to the radio at the RSL on Sunday mornings. Goldy writes up this story for the radio about that 3 way star!

Your Shout ES: Lenny was a good drinker. He was Ray’s instructor. I was only 18 years old in 1964 and he was about 24 then.

He would never buy a drink, waiting because he was an instructor. If he heard there was a round to be bought, he would down his current drink in one second. Lenny split up with Nina over the drink and shared a flat with me for a while before moving to Darwin.

Catching Up Again RM: It was 2006 when I renewed my friendship with Claude Gillard. One of the first things I asked was if he knew where Len was, and Claude said he lived in Darwin and had his phone number. He also told me he was not very well. When I rang Len, it was just like old times. We talked for a long time - we laughed together and we cried together.

Reunion at Labertouche RM: In 2007, I organised a reunion of the old Southern Cross Skydivers and jumpers came from all over Australia.

Ray came from Alice Springs. Len came from Darwin and I met him at the airport. He was not well and came off the plane in a wheelchair. He was very good at the reunion mainly because of the care tended him by his brother Geoff, who had come down from Brisbane. When we said goodbye, I hoped it was not for the last time. We made arrangements to meet again at the World Pops Meet at Toogoolawah. After the reunion, Len would ring me at all hours, sometimes 2-3 o’clock in the morning and tell me again how much he loved meeting the old blokes and was looking forward to Pops. Alas it was not to be.

Final Meeting RW: Lenny was 63-4 when he died in 2008.

RM: When I heard of his death, I felt guilty because I had said many times that I would go to Darwin to see him and now I was going to Darwin to see him buried.

I flew in from Melbourne. Geoff and his partner flew in from Brisbane. Ray Whitwam flew in from Alice Springs.

Belinda, one of his daughters, flew in from America. I had the honour to be one of his pall bearers. I think of him a lot and wish I could have done more to help him. So that’s a few of my memories of Len Hunter, a mate of mine.

30. Alice Springs Jumpers Eddie Smith Eddie did his first jump in 1964 at Ipswich with the RAAF. He did about 6 to 8 jumps with Murray Coggin, then returned home to his family’s sheep property. ES: I was going home to lead a normal life but I had too much adrenalin in me, so rounding up sheep and knocking dags off their arses wasn’t getting me going. I went to an airshow in Hughenden and met Coxy ( Jim Cox) and continued jumping.

Jumping around Australia ES: I teamed up with (Dave) Hobbs, and Ambrose (a cane farmer from Ayr). We travelled the land together, jumping. We were called Heckle and Jeckle!”

Vietnam Eddie went to Vietnam and told a story about a canopy that the French jumped into DeBinh Que in 1954. ES: There was some leftover equipment including a T7A, which was the fastest opening static-lined parachute. I was in the plane one day with the SAS boys and I said, “I’m doing my first jump on a T7A!” They said they were going to shake my hand and buy me a beer when we got down to the ground – no one lives through that shit! There was no sleeve and just a little bag for the canopy. The 28 foot canopy was open before you hit the lines.

They were fast and the military had a funny way they packed it.

The Gully Cats Eddie was part of the team ‘The Gully Cats’. That 10 way team went on to be silver medallists at the 1973 Nationals. “We won it just on grit!” They travelled to compete at Pope Valley in 1974.

Alice Springs Eddie moved to Alice Springs in 1974 and did about 1,100+ jumps before stopping in the late 1980s. Eddie still lives in Alice Springs.

1970s

Ambrose, Eddie, Hobbsy, 1968

Eddie with “Gully Cats” stacking up in the jet to the States, 1974

Ray Withwam Ray did his first jump in 1964 at Pakenham and did many subsequent jumps at Labertouche. He moved to the Northern Territory in 1969. In his first year, he jumped at Alice Springs, Bond Springs, Tennant Creek Renner’s Rock, and Aileron. Lenny and Dave Hobbs were on some of these early loads. Ray’s log book reckons the 1st NT Champs were in Tennant Creek in 1970! Ray’s completed a few hundred jumps. His last jump in 1971, was into the pub at Aileron. A fitting finish for a Northern Territory jumper!

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31. Tennant Creek Jumpers ES: Bill Molloy was another good Alice Springs jumper.

One time, we were in Taree on our way to the Nationals when a policeman pulled him up and he gave the most heart breaking Vietnam Vet story I have ever heard. I said, “Jesus, Bill!” He said, “I got off, didn’t I?” He was a great bloke. He did two tours and had a little MG when he got back. In the 1980s, he and I were on the booze – he got killed about two weeks later. He hit the end of the bridge at Tooradin, near the Gold Coast, the approach to the bridge.

Tennant Creek RO report 1980, Speed: We are trying to get a parachute club going in Tennant Creek, got plenty of students and a Senior Instructor from Alice Springs every three weeks.

Sky High Express, Feb 1980: ‘Yours truly’ enroute back to Darwin from Toogoolawah and the Nationals, had the great pleasure of being able to look up Greg Crow and Raelene Kerr in the Tennant. Negotiated Tennant Air for the use of a Partenavia for two 3 way sorties to 10,000 Bill Molloy (centre) 1967

Bill Molloy, 1980s

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feet, with one fare paying observer on each sortie. Flying time 1.3 hours, bill $200, split $25 each person, each flight.

Most expensive dive I’ve ever done! Shithouse aeroplane to get out of, with the dives not really working out. Still a lot of fun. My God, they’re a mob of pisspots in that place! Ended up physically unable to get in my car to be in Manbulloo for the last day of jumping there – thanks Greg, you bum! Too busy having a good time. Great buzz getting all that lift off runway 11/29 in order to see Greg negotiate a head busting downwinder and then being able to follow up with a beaut stand up, both of us performing in front of all the passengers boarding a TA-TA Friendship.

Raelene, flying her ‘Black Maria’ was having a hell of a job stopping her canopy from collapsing. Be warned, the turbulence at Tennant Creek is cruel (must be all the hot air in the Sports Club).

ES: Mike (Knocker) Remfrey was 26 stone then. I turned up at Tennant Creek this day and there was Mike. He says, “I might jump.” Bernie Malone had been training him unbeknown to me. “We only had a PC – if that goes wrong, there’s not a reserve in the country that will hold you.” “Yes, there is,” he said, “Yours!” (I had a 22 foot conical). So I took him up in the plane and put him out the door and he turned around with the biggest smile on his face. I yelled out, “Go!!” and the plane is flagging with all the weight out there. He let go of one hand and yells something at me. I yell back, “Go, you bastard!” That was his first jump. Now he’s down to 18 stone. I had to use the regular 24 foot twill as a reserve although I’ve never had to use it. Did he land all right? The bastard was beating me to the accuracy trophy, closest to the target!

We get up to Tennant Creek pub again and I say to my mates, “This bloke will want to jump again and he’s gonna put the pressure on me; don’t be overawed by his size, he’s a big prick.” So he comes up to me and says, “I wanna go jumping.” I say, “You’re too f***ing big, piss off!” “Nobody talks to me that way.” “Well I just did. There’s no canopy that’ll do it.” “What do I need to make a jump?” was his reply. “You’ll need a 32 foot canopy,” I say, “and we haven’t got one.” “I’ll buy one!” “Yeh, all right!” We kept hammering T10s at him. He followed me around like a puppy and I was trying not to look scared. He’s a legend up there. I used to do a lot of work up there and I had some friends who were cheeky bastards. And Knocker was king of them. Anyway, one time, this bloke was giving him shit.

This guy was down and out before he knew what hit him.

Then Terry Williams, a mate of mine said, “Which one of you pricks knocked my mate out?” “I did!” says Knocker, “Wanna try me?” “Yeh, OK sunshine!” Out he went too!

That was Knocker. You were just glad he was on your side!

They would also get a flogging from his old Mum. She was a character too. She made us a meal one day and honestly it was that high, I could only eat the apex of it!

32. Para-Rescue ES: NT Safety Council was a search and rescue operation in the 1960s.

They used to jump in Alice Springs between the war and early 1950s.

They would come back through The Gap and Alice Springs Airfield.

Below: 1962 Bottom left: 1978 Bottom right: 1966 Right: 1978

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1970s

After attempts since 1962 to establish a para-rescue service, the NT Fire Brigade Airborne Division began in 1978. Discussion began between Peter Holtham and SubStation Officer Dennis Baker, who was a former British Army member with the 42nd Commando Regiment. They wanted a specialist squad to fly to an incident or location to begin primary support until ground crews arrived. The squad was to be trained in rescue techniques, first aid, map reading, survival techniques and parachuting. The ground crew would be trained in 4 wheel driving, as well as how to extricate parachutes from trees! By the end of 1978, four members had undergone training with the Darwin Parachute Club - Peter Holtham, Dennis Baker, Dennis King and Stephen Lawrence. They had done six jumps, after which they were awarded their ‘wings’. The wings were ex-RAF wings from England, with the crown cut off, supplied by Peter Holtham. Unfortunately, the division only lasted a year before being taken over by the NT Police Airwing in 1979.

TC: “Peter used to be a character. He was a real worry jumping. He should never have jumped but because he was the chief he did. He was ex-British military. He was a nice guy but a typical Pom!”

33. Cyclone Tracy

By 1974, Darwin was home to about 48,000 people, about half of the Territory’s total then.

There were about 12,000 dwellings, none of which were cyclone coded. Cyclone Tracy made a direct hit on Darwin on Christmas Eve of 1974.

The whole town was demolished and most people were evacuated. Only tradesmen or those working in essential services were allowed to stay in Darwin.

Everyone who remained had to have a permit to be there. By January 1975, there were no more than 10,000 people in Darwin. The ocean liner, ‘Patris’ was docked at the wharf to provide accommodation for up to 900 workers. “Tracy Village” was set up for construction workers; 1,700 demountable dwellings and caravans were brought to Darwin and located on house sites. Hotels and hostels were fully utilised; and where possible, short term repairs were undertaken to make damaged houses habitable. In May 1975, contracts were let to four firms to construct 2,000 homes. In September 1975, still not one new house had been completed. It took several more years for Darwin to be restored to its former self, although buildings now had to be built to a stringent cyclone code.

GG: George Pappa had a pretty good business – the planes, property near Batchelor, insurance. It was ironic that when the cyclone came, he didn’t have insurance! His house was blown away. He went to get his kids and he was hanging onto the gas pipeline. He had a gun collection worth a lot of money. The cyclone blew his shirt off, where he had keys in his pocket, so he couldn’t get in to save it.

After Cyclone Tracy, the Ace Parachute Club disbanded when George Pappa left and went to Western Australia.

He owed a lot of money. He gave it to solicitor and the solicitor took off with ½ million dollars.

Jumping in Darwin did slow down during this time, although with new people coming in, it wasn’t long before operations resumed.

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Many tradesmen came from interstate to assist in the rebuilding of the city after Tracy. As much of the work force were from the southern states and not used to the humidity, the consumption of canned beer increased dramatically.

This resulted in many empty beer cans littering work sites around Darwin. There were no recycling programmes, so beer cans piled up and became a problem.

The Beer Can Regatta helped to use the cans and was so successful that it has been run every year since 1974. Jumpers first jumped into it in 1979.

1979 Beer Can Regatta Demo RO report 1979, Greg & Raelene Crow: “It was a long spot but we all landed right on target, except Lee Hunt who landed knee deep in the the water in front of 2,500 people.�

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1970s

34. Darwin Recovers

Above & Below: Placing dongas at Batchelor DZ, early 1980s

Roof being replaced in 2006

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35. Batchelor Rebuilds

Batchelor Buildings TC: We obtained the dongas that were still at Batchelor when they were used after Cyclone Tracy. The Darwin Reconstruction Commission had many surplus dongas and gave them to sports clubs and we ended up with three or four of them. There were a few guys who had a lot of input in the building at the DZ. They were Rob Oakley, Anthony Oakley and also Wayne McLaughlin. Robbie in particular put a lot of effort into getting this club running.

Wardy was clearing with his 950 loader out the back of the DZ and we found this green leafy plant of interest. He used his loader blade to go round and round it and then someone yelled out, “Whose plant is this?” It was sitting out in the middle of this 10 metre cleared area. One of the

jumpers came out wrapped in a towel, tore it out of the ground and stomped off. That was the day we moved. We took the glider’s donga out to the front, where it was sold. Ray Perry put the roof on the kitchen. He then jumped and landed on it to christen it! The brick wall (at the front of the black & white photo opposite) is the BBQ. They are Lee Hunt’s mud bricks.

RO report 1994: There has been lots of action around the DZ...with a new packing shed (great creeper area), a new bar (well and truly broken in) and the palm garden is looking fantastic.

In 1995, an agreement with the NT Government was signed for construction of an office/training block.

The next major building project occurred in 2006 when the NT Government provided $37,000 for the roof around the bar to be replaced and a new slab to be poured.

ASM report 2006: The most hilarious part of the process was the removal of the old roofing. Handbrake and Jimmy Yuncken had been working around a family of wasps. After a few stings, they donned protective clothing, being jumpsuits, and old spring loaded pilot chutes, modified to stick their head through as beekeeper nets!

Batchelor DZ early 1980s

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1970s

The Original Batchelor Drop Zone GG: We used to use the Batchelor Cross Strip, which is the dirt strip, not the main one. We only used the main one if we had a lot of people but most times we just operated from the Cross Strip.

TC: The drop zone was on the side of the Cross Strip then.

At the Cross Strip, there was a lean-to but it got a bit hard to pack there.

LA: There was a tin roof just held up by some galvanized steel poles cemented into the gravel. And that was all. We decided that it was a good idea not to pack in the dirt, so we had a working bee and cemented it.

GG: There were loops of steel in the old concrete slab. They were for packing the roundies. The new gravel pit near the cross strip was put in on 18th August, 1972. It’s still used by students today. We got the gravel from the Department of Works. They used it for culverts then. I found it when I was working for Civil Defence. There might not be as much there now but it was a hell of a lot better than the hard ground on the runway!

36. Batchelor Grows After George Pappa left, Mike Braun took over. He did his ratings in Katherine with Dave McEvoy and was Chief Instructor in the late 1970s to early 1980s. He was nicknamed ‘Kamikaze’. He now lives in Humpty Doo. RO report 1977 - Mike Braun: “Since the instructor course was held in Katherine in May 1977, Darwin Parachute Club has trained approximately twenty students. This is not many I admit, but during the cyclone we lost most of our gear and we had to reorganise. The club now has six main chutes and four reserves. We used to have two instructors in Darwin but Vic Balfour left for Adelaide in October, leaving only me. Fortunately Katherine Skydiving Club is coming to Batchelor pretty regularly with their Cessna 182. We’re using a Cherokee 6. Three weeks ago, we had a formation load over Katherine, dropping eight people. We had a 7 man star, with one man a little low. The only bird on the load was Diane Huxley, who was on holidays here from Western Australia. Seven out of the eight had square canopies. Geoff Cowie still had to jump his Sierra because he hasn’t received his Strato-Flyer yet. Gordon Gecele had one of the first Strato-Flyers in Australia, which he bought from an American in Gatton, just before the World Meet. The wet season has started in the NT and two weeks ago we got washed out. We only lost one jumping day last wet season.”

Darwin Parachute Club, 1972: Back L - R: George Pappa, unknown, Brian Murphy, unknown, Herbie Keiserseder, unknown, Max King, next six unknown.

Front L-R: unknown, Dave Opitz, Gordon Gecele, Bluey 2 unknown, Vic Balfour, unknown.

Evan Slocum

Alan James

First Records of APF Members of Darwin Parachute Club 1977 Vic Balfour 7:074 Mike Braun 7:095

S Chandler 7:083 L Donnet 7:051 Gordon Gecele 4:043 R Hendricson 7:078 D Huxley 7:080 H Kaiserseder 7:073 R Noddyn 8:109 M O’Donohue 7:060 C Richardson 7:116 D Savage 3:416 W VanWyk 1:714 M Vogeli 7:077 S Winiger 8:065

D546 I303 C845 PI305 A1181 B521 E78 C753 B1001 B891 C811 B930 A1200 C315 C701 A1023 C513

Chook Chandler, Bill Harrigan, Christa

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37. Batchelor Jumpers and Planes

Jimmy O’Shira

Chook Chandler

Above: George Pappa’s plane crashed in 1971 Planes, 1970s - early 1980s GG: In the 1970s, before the cyclone, there was a Cessna 206 crash, where a girl was killed. The plane was behind us for a demo but it had turned back. We didn’t know where they were. Another bloke, who was in the airforce, was also hurt.

They had to open him up a second time.

During March 1974, the Club’s Cessna 182 crash-landed on takeoff at the Batchelor airstrip.

The pilot and one passenger were killed. Wendy Mitchell and Ross Millard survived, although both were badly injured.

Towards the end of 1974, the Club’s Cessna 210 made a forced landing in the scrub. The plane was a write-off but the pilot, Tony Spall, was unhurt. All the jumpers were out but the engine cut out when coming in to land. “Again the engine refused to start and I could do nothing more than switch off everything and prepare for a crash. By this time, I was just above the tall trees and very quickly would be going into them.”

Other pilots at the time included, Phil Tucker who lost an aircraft, Tony Small, a pilot from Western Australia, and John Gabriel who made the plane go into a nose dive when a student froze on the wheel!

GG: We used to jump at Batchelor in the heat.

Sometimes we would put the kids in the plane and fly around just to cool down! We once took the Beaver, VH-WOG, to Mudginberri with Gus Trippe, who lived on East Point Road. It is still in Kununurra on floats. Gus died some years ago. His son, Rick Trippe, sells real estate in Darwin. They say the Beaver can carry two or three heifers, two 44 gallon drums, or eight baggy-arsed skydivers!

There was one time we were in a Cessna 206 when the engine stopped. We all jumped out somewhere in the bush around Noonamah. It was only that the fuel had run out in one tank and had to be switched to the other tank.

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1970s

Some of the Regular Jumpers, 1970s - early 1980s Jimmy O’Shira is still in Darwin and manages a company to do with demountable housing.

Bill Harry was a jumper who still lives in Mandorah.

Evan Slocum was in Katherine until recently.

TC: Kel Williams was the lead guitarist for Yothu Yindi.

They used to play at Batchelor on a Saturday night. One time, his wife was only a couple of feet away from a prop when she was pulled out of the way. She had no idea.

John Heaps was from Jabiru. He was a good jumper who did a lot of jumps.

Woody, Geoff Cowie, Phil Allen and TC did a lot of CRW together.

Phil Whatmore did his first jump at Batchelor – Gordon Gecele took him up.

Herb Herschell was a Canadian jumper who now lives at Daly River.

GG: There was Lionel, who was SAS and Bob Noddyn who was from Belgium, I think was in the Foreign Legion.

He had machine gun bullet wounds in his torso. Anyway he is in the Caribbean now.

BM: Sylvia Wolf was around then. Bob Morrison went to build her a pool and married her. She has just married again. She lives with my daughter. Sylvia is into tourism and borrowed one million dollars to fix Mataranka.

GG: There was Michael O’Donohue who was a chemist.

TC still has his sled. Once he gave me a couple of pills and we drove down to Sydney nonstop! He was into anything.

He got his helicopter licence in Perth.

Other jumpers included George Tyse, Murray Cossons and Michael Voegeli.

Doug Booth: Doug started jumping in Nelson, New Zealand and came to Darwin in 1978. He left in 1993 and went to Indonesia, then to Somalia with ‘Care International’ for 11 years, then to East Africa in early 1990s with UNICEF for 15 years, followed by a short stint in Pakistan.

Doug was part of the East Africa Skydiving Club, with Harold Trent, Chairman of the IPC Safety Committee.

Doug said, “We used to have some great boogies. I came back to Darwin in 2009. My son trained in East Africa and continued here. TC has a lot of stories but he was at the responsible level, whereas we were at the irresponsible level!” Doug still jumps, “I just love being in the sky.”

38. Territory Independence restrictions. We thought there would be big restrictions on the air space around Mindil Beach. Pete Lonnon and Drew Innes, I think, were on the ground and couldn’t jump, but they could hear us and see us. They were spewing because they used to operate the tandems on the beach there. We flew in just as the fireworks started. We descended to about 1,000 feet and we were doing orbits at that height. The fireworks were going off right outside the windows! You could hear the impact when they were detonating. We stayed there for nearly the entire show.

Of course, I didn’t have a camera!

The Esplanade Now JC: One of my best memories was the demo into the Glenti on the Esplanade in Darwin. You can’t jump there now – it’s all overgrown. We couldn’t jump there then!

Trevor’s demos were always cool.

From 1825 to 1863, the Northern Territory was part of New South Wales, and from 1863 to 1911, it was part of South Australia. On 1st January 1911, the Northern Territory was separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control. On 1st July 1978, the Northern Territory became self-governing.

There was a demo on the Esplanade in Darwin for the occasion. Michael Braun broke his arm on this jump.

GC: He went to shake hands with the Chief Minister, but he couldn’t because his arm was broken.

TC: Territory Day is known for it’s fireworks. One Territory Day, we were flying back from Batchelor after a flag jump there for Territory Day. There was Poolie, Deb, Byron and me. We timed it so we got back to have a look at Mindil Beach. When we called the tower, they said no

Mike Braun on the Territory Day demo

GC: This was after Darwin had been blown apart by Cyclone Tracy and before everything had grown back again. This is the jump for Territory Independence Day. To the right is the old Darwin Hotel. The photo is taken on the Esplanade where the cenotaph is now.

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39. Tail Plane Hook Up Sky High Express, student report, 1980: On Sunday, I had an unusual experience after I had left the Beaver, when Dave told me to get ready to jump. I thought to myself, “Don’t forget to count,” but as usual, I forgot again. When I got out, I concentrated on my arch and then all of a sudden, I thought, “Shit, what a hard opening!” I realized that I was hanging from the tail end of the plane. I was thrown around a bit until I got stable (???). I then tried to release the canopy from the tail which was impossible and I wasn’t sure whether to go for my reserve or not, so I was looking for Dave to find out what I should do. He signalled to pull my reserve (SOS), which I did. It was a good feeling to see the canopy above me. To tell you all the truth, I was pretty scared and the motive is what goes up must come down. I thank our pilot, Bob Miller, for controlling the Beaver, a great job. It could have gone a lot worse.

RO Report: Bob Miller, white winged weekend warrior, jump pilot extraordinaire, having fallen victim to an aeroplane eating parachute, has taken to wearing his Slim Pack a little more often.

GC: The instructor was short-lining the static lines. That’s when we decided that he wasn’t putting any more students out. The student was hanging off the end and luckily we had the Pigmees. He was telling him to pull the yellow handle, otherwise he would’ve been bagged.

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Bob Miller’s account of the incident could not be reproduced here owing to the censorship laws!

40. Lee Hunt

Lee Hunt was the main driver of Katherine Skydiving Club throughout the 1980s and although other members helped considerably with Rel Weeks over the years, Lee was the one who was there throughout the whole time. He had put so much into the club over the years, training students, organising Rel Weeks and running the operations, that in the end, he burnt out. As with small clubs, the lack of volunteers to do all the work, meant that it was left to a small few and this was what happened to Lee. He still loves the jumping but nowadays runs the model aircraft club in Katherine. Following are some of Lee’s stories.

Creepers A lot of things started up here – creepers were absolutely Lee Hunt’s idea. LH: It all started because I’m a mechanic by trade – I’d been rolling around on creepers on my back under cars. I thought, “Hey, why don’t turn around the other way and roll around on our fronts? We took them down to the nationals – we had GT stripes on them.

We had Arthur Sawtell, Jimmy O’Shira as part of the 4 way team, ‘Time Out’. They said, “What the f*** is this?” I said, “You roll round on them to practise the dirt dives.” And they said, “Oh right, that’s not a good idea.” But of course it was and it all changed.

Rules That was back in the days when there weren’t so many rules, when you could have a bit more freedom. We have lots of rules today because we have to look after idiots all the time, because they can’t look after themselves. In those days, everyone looked after themselves. That was life.

Lee’s History I started jumping in September 1977, the day after my birthday. My birthday was on the Friday and I jumped on the Saturday. I jumped in Katherine and Dave Opitz put me out. That year I went down to Labertouche and jumped down there. By the time Christmas came around, it’s in the records that I did my 45th jump at Gloucester at the Nationals. I hooked up with an English skydiving team and jumped with them. We drove all around the countryside.

Getting the Club Going Again When I came back, there was nobody at Katherine Club, except for me, Max King and Ted Davies. TC had gone to Queensland, Geoff Cowie had gone to Darwin and Brian Murphy had gone to Mt Isa. All we had was the aeroplane, a bitumen strip and a club house, but no jumpers. I got on to Chook Chandler. He was just a young bloke from Darwin. He came down here and was going out with Ted Davies’ daughter. Chook said, “I’ll help you.” So that’s how we kept the club going. If it hadn’t have been for him, the club basically would have fallen apart. Brian (and others) loaned the plane to us – VH-RFO. We just kept the club going.

Students We started training students. Claude Gillard got onto us and said, “Hey, why don’t you become an instructor?” I said, “Why?” He said, “You’re supposed to!” I said, “We’re safe. I remember the way I got taught and we trained safely.” Anyway, we all got together, Mike Braun and others came down from Darwin, and I got an instructor’s rating.

Rel Week Characters There were some interesting characters that came to Rel Weeks. There was one guy who sold arms – a British arms salesman who sold them all round the world. He disappeared off the map. Then there was a deep sea diver – he was the guy that used to work for Oceaneering International, Flemming Dreiager. He was a tall Danish guy who used to fly in with another guy from Europe. He was the one who organised all the kids.

He got them together to hold an ice-cream raid. He took Evan Slocum hostage, loaded up the car with all the ice-cream, took it down the end of the strip where he and the kids ate all the ice-cream!

Manbulloo Incidents We all make terrible blunders, although most people may not talk about them. Most of us have luckily pulled through, whereas some people are just plain unlucky. Following are incidents that occurred in Manbulloo during the 1970s and 1980s.

TC’s First Reserve Ride Logbook, 1976: “Manbulloo, jump 17. Reserve pull. Unstable exit and delay. Could not see main ripcord. Hard landing.”

TC: I was unstable and when I did get stable, I thought I had to start to count, even though I had already been in freefall while I was unstable.

So I eventually pulled my reserve and threw it out. It opened, and quite soon after I hit the ground. I’ve walked back in with all the gear on me, and Murphy was just shaking his head when he got down. He just undid my front, undid the sides (because we just used to tie the sides on of the reserve by hand) and threw it on the ground. We hadn’t taken anything else off. I was standing there gob-smacked. He snapped another one on, tied down the sides and said, “We’re going back to do that again.”

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41. Manbulloo Incidents And we did. The next jump was jump 18 and it says “3 metres from the target, hop ‘n pop. Saw ripcord OK. (Thank God for that!) Good fun under canopy. Hit the pit.” There was a load going and Murph kicked a couple of people off, so I could go again. That’s what taught me.

Pilot Chute in Tow GW: It was a boring incident really! On my rig, there was one leg strap that was longer than the other and I used to tuck it in. I was on an 8 way training jump at Manbulloo for the 1988 NT Championships. The leg strap came out and wrapped around the pilot chute of the main canopy, causing a pilot chute in tow. I deployed the reserve and it wrapped with the main. I looked up and just saw a tangled mess. I tried two or three times to bring the reserve in and throw it out again. I had two cells inflated and thought, “That’ll do!”

I was spinning violently anticlockwise and was horizontal, level with the parachutes, if you can imagine that.

The NT News reported Greg as saying, “Everything was in slow motion ... I just relaxed and blew out.” I landed first on my left ankle and left elbow. My elbow hit an anthill, which caused it to break through the skin. I also broke my pelvis, knee, ankle and ribs, cracked vertebrae and had extensive bruising but I stayed conscious throughout the whole jump.

I remember rolling over and looking up at the canopies still in the air. I thought, “That hurt!”

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Greg Wright at 1983 Rel Week Wing Walking TM: The 1938 Rapide Electra from Western Australia was a highlight at the 1988 Rel Week. Us inexperienced jumpers couldn’t get on a load, so we got Ray Palmer to organise a wing walking jump for us. The plane was VHHID and the bloke who owned it was an exVietnam vet with thousands of hours and he was still a bit radical. What really should have happened is we should have climbed all over the fuselage, but he didn’t want us to do that, so he let us climb out onto the wing. The main thing he told us not to do was stand on the aileron. As we started climbing out, members of the Australian Skydiving Team and Ray Palmer were right out on the tip. As we started putting our hands over the leading edge of the plane, the plane started to rock. Then it started to spiral out of control. There would have been about five people outside of it by then – me (Tom Maher), Ray Palmer, John Godfrey and Peter Vaughan from Tasmania – he hung on the whole time because he was frightened he was going to hit the tail. I remember looking at the pilot playing games and looking at Ray. We all had to get off the wing because we were falling towards the prop. We had to walk backwards up the wing and we weren’t supposed to touch the ailerons. Well, I thought bugger the ailerons, we just have to get off the wing! There were people trapped inside as well. That was at about 14,000 feet but the plane didn’t stabilise until about 8,000 feet. When we opened, we did a bit of CRW afterwards. As soon as we let go, we cranked our parachutes open because we didn’t know what height we were at, with the plane spiralling out of control. It was a crowd pleaser, that’s for sure. There were no wing walking attempts after that!

1970s

Wrist Hook-Up GC: There was a story about a guy in the 1970s who was dragged around by his wrist on a static line. He was a French guy, who was permanently maimed by it. Instead of being pulled in, the static line was left out while all the other students jumped. This guy piled out of the airplane and the static line actually flicked and did a half hitch around his wrist, and ended up dragging him behind the plane.

Little Mez was the pilot and he ended up breaking the little sample jar that you press up under the wing to check for water in the fuel. It was the only thing he could think of doing. In those days you didn’t have a knife. So he smashed the jar, took his seat belt off and he half flew the plane and half knelt down to get the static line. He sawed through it with the broken jar. The guy was spinning furiously out the back and he told me that he was just about to pass out from the G forces. The static line released and he was able to pull out his reserve. The plane was a Cessan 206 and the pilot had no rig on. He actually had to get out of his seat. He knew if he landed the plane, he was going to kill this guy, that’s for sure.

I saw the jumper years later, looked down and saw he had a permanently disfigured arm and hand. It never got fixed up properly. I asked what happened and he said he had a skydiving accident. I turned to Gordon Gecele and said, “This is the guy you told me about, isn’t it?” He is still in Darwin somewhere.

Second Rel Week, 1978

Third Rel Week 1979: Dave Opitz, unknown, Melissa, John Dyer, Mike Braun, Chooky, Louie Wilson, Mongrel Guts, Crow, Twiggy, McEvoy, TC, John Cornwall, Irish Dickhead, Max and June King

Fourth Rel Week, 1980

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42. Katherine Rel Week Grows

RO report: 1980, GC: Well, I’ve survived another one of them. If they keep getting better every year at the present rate, someone is going to overload their pleasure nodes and disappear in a puff of bulldust. What am I talking about? Katherine Rel Week – that’s what!

We had about 50 jumpers plus friends from all states except Tassie (hint for next year), with USA and New Zealand represented. Even though we were plagued with aeroplane problems and rain, we were only a few descents short of 1,000 for the week.

As usual, the Southerners found our ground a little hard and air a little thin, and quite a few were seen limping around after dumping in. PA (Parachutes Australia) sent us their latest answer to ragged openings and hard landings, called ‘Project X’ and it performed quite well.

The week started with some rough rel, but under the guidance of Dave McEvoy and Peter Nobbs, things settled down and SCRs (Star Crest Ratings) were being earned all round. Unfortunately, due to the loss of the Cessna 402 for a few days, we were not able to better the NT record of a 14 way. I must mention here the valiant effort of the Cessna 206 pilot, taking seven up to keep the big stars flying.

Night jumps were a success with a 6 man being the biggest formation, but we now have a few more jumpers who have completed their solo night jumps and are keen to get into rel. Alan Trickey was seen showing the NT guys a new way of chopping firewood but we all decided our way is cheaper, even if it isn’t quite as spectacular.

Claude Gillard blessed us with his presence and spent a lot of time explaining the operation of the APF and the job it does for us. He also puts on a great song and dance routine, accompanied by Eddie Smith and Alan Trickey.

(Next time you meet him, ask him to show you his belly dance routine!) Unfortunately, Claude won’t forget his trip up here for a while, as our bad Murtha Earth rose up and smite him a little hard, breaking his leg. Even though there were rumours of an assassination attempt, no further attempts have been made and he is quite well in Katherine Hospital, hassling the nurses for a set of crutches.

First NT Championships RO Report 1980, GC: Friday morning brought the start of the NT Championships and due to aircraft hassles and lack of time, only 4 man rel and an accuracy comp were held. We had seven teams enter the 4 man rel and after a tough battle, the results were: 1st DaVinci’s Disciples (NT) 2nd Screwballs (Qld, WA, USA) 3rd Lumberjacks (Qld) The all girl team ‘Knickers’, did very well and slipped into 5th place.

The accuracy comp was a bit of an eye opener.

The pit conforms with 1975 NT standards. It is 6 metres, approximately round, with a few soft bits.

After the sun set, we painted the disc with the innards from a cylume stick, and the comp went on. What few complaints and queries there were, were well handled by our hard working chief judge, Paddy McHugh.

Results were: 1st Peter Nobbs (Qld) 2nd Geoff Holmes (Qld) 3rd Dave McEvoy (Qld) NT Accuracy Champ: John Dyer The best quote I heard all week was from Eric Fenz (USA), who said, commenting on the drop zone, “Here we are in the middle of nowhere, with a little piece of heaven!” And on that note, I must sign off, but not before I thank: the ladies for providing the tucker for us all, the pilots, the jumpers and friends, who came to make this a successful week.

Claude Gillard: There I was, unconscious, and all I could hear were my own screams.

“But you don’t jump,” to Gillard.

“How do you think I got this? Picking peas?”

Gillard pointing to his broken leg.

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The 4th Rel Week 1980 LH: Reviving Katherine Skydiving Club - that’s why the Rel Weeks continued. Chook and myself got onto McEvoy to come up again. We just had VH-RFO, I think. There were three before that – 1977, 1978 and 1979. 1977 was the year just before I started. By the time the second one started, Chook and I were there.

We then got the next one going. McEvoy brought up a heap of people – Geoff Holmes and others. It just got bigger and bigger after that.

Humpty Doo

Fogg Dam

Annaburroo

TC & Geoff

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RO report 1981: New centre for NT; Trevor Collins (TC) and Geoff Cowie now operate at Annaburroo DZ, one hour from Darwin. The DZ has a 3,000 foot strip and a pub and caravan park a mile away. (Bound to be a few mis-spots!)

May 1981 was the first Annaburroo jump. Greg Ross took seven in a Cessna 206 and we did the first 7 man into Bark Hut Inn.

open. So I had to let it go and snap the bar shut, then I was able to hook it up. Just as I hooked it up, I saw there was a lot of green and not a lot of blue, so I let him go and he pulled.

I think I pulled about 800 feet but a Parafoil doesn’t open real fast. I wasn’t under canopy long and the people on the ground could hear me ‘talking’ quite a lot! That was a bit interesting!

The Story Behind Annaburroo DZ GC: TC was in Rocky and I was having a fall out with the guys in Batchelor. The problem was with a guy called Neville. He used to prime up Mike Braun and poor old Colonel Klunk just got involved in it all.

TC: So I came back up and we bought the bible society Cessna 182 - VH-KRH, which was a bit of a laugh. We changed its religion! It was a very big change of religion for that little plane!

We didn’t have inflight doors in those days. We looked around a lot and we set up a drop zone at the Bark Hut, which is on the Arnhem Highway, halfway to Jabiru. It was pretty wild because there was an old short strip there.

Geoff and I got out with a grader and a backhoe and knocked down all the anthills off the strip. We deildrinned the whole lot. We didn’t use any safety stuff then – if I stood too long, I’d never have a white ant problem! So we set that drop zone up and we jumped there for a couple of years.

The fuel shed was a garden shed - the one that went to Batchelor, until it got blown away in a microburst. We used to work under the trees and we had some pretty good times there too. We did lots of formation loads. We did the first 3 stack in the NT on 21/1/82. We did one of the first canopy diamond formations in Australia. The main people who jumped with us then were Louie Wilson, Phil Allen, Glen Burr, Cathy Hannant, Woody, Dougie Booth – a whole bunch of really nice people.

Fatality JC: Unfortunately, we had a fatality at Annaburroo and that made things go a bit quiet for a while.

Yvonne was a small girl, really petite. Confusion with yellow handles and yellow toggles. It was changed after that. There wasn’t much we could have done at the time.

The Leg Strap TC: While we were at the Bark Hut, we had a guy who undid his leg straps in the aeroplane because they were feeling a bit tight. When he got out, he had forgotten to do them up again. We were doing a three way. In those days, we used to be efficient and did ‘B’ rels with two students rather than one! We’d do the old three way, side body, wedge, three way.

I was diving – I was above him and I was looking at what was going on and I could see one leg strap flapping behind him. I thought “Bloody hell, that doesn’t look good!” So I got down there and signalled to him that his leg strap was undone. He looked at me and sort of went, “O-oh!” and was obviously worried about it. So I side-bodied him and was trying to do up the leg strap but I couldn’t do it.

Then I realized that it was a quick eject and the bar was

Canopy Wrap TC: Another day, we did the canopy diamond and I was on the top. In those days, there was no such thing as CRW canopies. I had a Parafoil, Geoff had a Unit or something like that, Phil had a Cruisair. When I went to turn the formation back to the drop zone because I was on the top, we had a wrap. Phil and I ended up really wrapped and he was hanging underneath me. I was telling him to get off and he said he really didn’t want to go because he felt it was a bit low.

So then we had to work out how to land it. We went downwind for a while and I had to turn it around. I couldn’t reach the steering toggles because Phil’s canopy was wrapped around my body, head and everything. I eventually used the front risers to turn us into wind along the runway and we smacked in pretty hard.

It was funny because we were in the spear grass and we crawled towards each other and gave each other a hug – thank Christ we were alive! Nothing happened for a few minutes. I think the rest of the drop zone thought we had gone in. Then all these heads started to appear through the spear grass and when they realised that we were alive, they were all relieved. We opened the bar!

Below: the actual wrap

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43. Annaburroo

44. Annaburroo Fun Beer Garden Jump PA: My best memory of the NT was jumping into the beer garden at Annaburroo pub. We talked about it the whole time we jumped there. Every Saturday night after a few beers, we talked about that jump. The beer garden was so small. You could fit a picnic table in it and there was a bit of lawn around it. That’s it. You could put a jumper in there but not a parachute.

JC: Eventually, the very last weekend, we got drunk that Saturday night and talked about doing it. The next day Phil says, “Cookie, you coming with me?” And he did it!

On a Pegasus. It might even have been a Strato-Star?

PA: The deal was they’d buy the beer if I did it. I think we put mattresses out so I wouldn’t break my leg.

Above: Phil Allen

Then there was a big club weekend. I’d never met TC. I did two or three static lines, a few weeks apart. I turned up and I had TC for my last static line. I think it was about my sixth or seventh jump. We’d had a really big night and TC took me up in the morning because I was keen to do freefall. I did a perfect Stage 3. TC went home and they took me for another jump. It was a Stage 4. After about 67 seconds on my back looking at the plane, I didn’t think that was quite right. I didn’t know it but I had a horseshoe mal on a PC! CASA’s Christmas Picnic JC: Sometimes, I’d climb out of VH-KRH as we skimmed across Annaburroo Billabong. I figured it was not a problem if I fell off because of all the water. Anyway, one time when I climbed out, CASA was having a Christmas picnic on the banks of the billabong. We came whistling across the water. I climbed out and in again.

One of guys said they saw this happen and I said, “No, we don’t do stuff like that!” He said, “We were having our Christmas party on the bank, mate!” I went, “Oh-Oh! We were having a problem with the engine!” They said, “No, it climbed really well after that!” They waved their finger at us and said, “Don’t do that again!” So we didn’t after that.

Coke Can Accuracy JC: I was jumping a Strato-Star and someone put a coke can out in front of the landing area, instead of the usual ice coffee carton. I was doing an accuracy approach and I never used to wear shoes, being a Territorian. I stomped this coke can and smashed my heel.

John Cook’s Recollections I had only just driven into Darwin from Melbourne with Chris Harry and saw a car with goggles hanging off the mirror. And that was Mike Braun. We went out to Batchelor the next day.

I was working at a bar at Ja-Ja when I did my first jump course there with Mike Braun. There were four coppers watching it. I was serving beers while I was doing my first jump course. There was nothing wrong with the course. Mike Braun was just a bit unusual. I never had much to do with him, but I was very happy with my first jump training.

There was a demo once where Mike tried to jump into a skating rink with skates on. As soon as I heard this story, I knew he was a bit out there!

I worked at Mudginberri. I think I did one or two at Darwin Parachute Club. I realized by then that Trevor had a drop zone a lot closer to me. I had rung Mike Braun and said I was coming back for another jump.

He said, “I will put you back on static line and I’m not real sure about anything.” Whereas TC said, “You’ll be right. Come on out and we’ll look after you.” So I went to Annaburroo.

Annaburroo Airstrip Arnhem Highway

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45. Other DZs

Groote Eylandt DB: In the early 1980s, we used to have a club on Groote Eylandt - Peter Barnett and myself. Peter was a surveyor in 1978. We used to do demo jumps then, onto the beach, into the Alyangula Club. I did the first jump in there and caught my canopy on the front of the bar and it pulled up at the bar! I was working for John Holland at the time, on the construction of the school.

Kununurra TC: We’ve done demos at Kununurra as well as student training from the 1980s to the present day. We’ve jumped in an airshow there too.

Maningrida GG: I did five jumps there in the early 1980s. The locals went crazy. They thought the Gods had come down and they stayed away!

Gove DB: We used to go over to Gove (Nhulunbuy) and do demo jumps there. We used to do demos into the stock cars, night demos on a Saturday night. It was during the Annaburroo times and I remember Geoff Cowie was involved. I worked over there for a while and I remember flying back one time with Alan James, Bill Harry and a few others.

Red Centre Around Jabiru GC: I got a call from Cooinda one day. They were flooded RO report 1982, Alan Bennett: On 4/10/82, in and didn’t have any power, and had all these people we called in at Ayer’s Rock (Uluru) on the way staying there. Trevor and I put pliers, screwdrivers, circuit home. As soon as we got there, we got the breakers and all this gear down our jumpsuits and jumped Nav ready. Eight of us jumped from 10,000 in. There were all these local Aboriginals sitting round a feet. We had two cameramen on the load. The tree drinking hot beer and we yelled, “Get out of the way!” other six made a 6 way as planned, nice and We landed and got straight out of our gear. Because it was early, and boogied it down to 3,500 feet. The getting near dark and we didn’t want to get stuck there, we landing area, designated by the Senior Park got someone to see the manager and organise a boat for us Ranger, was between the Rock and the Olgas, so we could get out there. The boys are packing parachutes, a kilometre or two out from the climb. We and I’m in there fixing up the generator. We rushed out just had DoA (Department of Aviation) approval as the guys are finishing packing. The five Aboriginal guys and the Alice Springs Tower knew of the jump are still standing there, just looking at us. They haven’t beforehand. The load was Graeme Shea, Russ had a drink, they are just blown away. We got in the boat Murray, Rory Pritchett, Alan Bennett, Helen to Muirella Park, where Bob had landed and flew us back Grant and Jane Clifton. Cameras were Dave to Annaburroo, where we proceeded to drink too much Boulter and Erwin Chandla. whisky!

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1980s

Above: Drew and Ashley at a recent jump on Groote

GC: The ERA Rangers gave us a classroom to teach students. All the roofers and Paddy McHugh were there. It was wet season and we couldn’t drive, so we flew all the students from Jabiru to Jim Jim (now called Cooinda). The door of the plane was in one plane and TC had all the students in the Cessna 206, saying “Right, nobody fall out!”

RO report 1979, Colin Streeter: Muirella Park, near Cooinda. When in Darwin, we journeyed bush with the club for a weekend at Muirella Park, on the edge of Arnhemland.

Jumps were fun and flying over the Arnhem escarpment confirmed my thought that the Top End is not for cross-country flying. Real tiger country, which improves spotting no end!

46. NT Records

Nude Jump TC: Duncan Brown went low but it still looks complete.

It is the largest formation to this day. We got it early and held it for ages. It was a Twin Otter load and we had a full load of 26. (It depended on the series of the Otter as to whether you could take 22, 24 or 26.) We used to fly them up from Aero Pelican in Newcastle. Sally Bushell, Donna, Cookie and Maryanne were all on it. Maryanne docked on APF Website - Official Record - Largest Freefall John Robbins balls on break off, with a big smile, seeming Formation (Night) 24 way formation, Manbulloo Airstrip, to say to him, Are you going to pull now, baby?”

It wasn’t a big deal then – we just went up and did it. I was near Katherine, NT; 2040 hours, 10th May 1990.

Lee Hunt, Max Wallace, Thomas Frey, Monica Green, Paul in the door and it was cold as. It was when there were no Osborne, Jeff Barbone, Duncan Brown, John Cook, Mark doors. All the boys got the door and the girls were being Kenning, Rick Weisse, Ray Perry, Steve Haines, Richard girls.

Drieu, Ed White, Peter Keegan, Sally Bushell, Peter JC: At the same meet as the nudie, was also a 24 night Vaughan, Steve Whalan, Ralph Ford, John McMahon, jump in 1989. It was pretty scary. There was Osborne and Brad Turner, Mick Larkin, John James, Greg Wright. four or five girls. That hasn’t been beaten for more than 20 years – that was a nice jump. I actually landed out at Aircraft: Twin Otter, VH-KZP Katherine, nude, at night...

JC: A memorable jump that is still a record today was the nudie. It was a bit of a highlight. There were two people who had black dots in People magazine (over parts not to be seen). I was one of them!

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47. Rel Weeks Continue TC: One of the other big things in my skydiving career has been Rel Weeks. Once Rel Week started, there were guys like Lee Hunt, Chook Chandler, Evan Slocum and Greg Wright in Katherine who have been instrumental – we worked really hard to build Rel Week up from the late 1970s. I’m sure they had no idea that it would be as big as it is today.

Rel Week stayed at Katherine until 1994, when it moved to Batchelor, so there were about 15 years of Rel Weeks at Manbulloo. We had a whole variety of aeroplanes – everything from the DC3, Twin Otters, Nomad, Shorts, Skyvan, and one year when the Shorts blew up, we even had Cessna 402s. In the early days, we had a Chieftain that Tony Duckworth used to fly.

The first load of the morning used to be an 11 or 12 stack canopy formation that we would actually land. Paul Osborne and myself used to be at the top because we very quickly worked out that, if shit was going to happen, it was better to be at the top than at the bottom. Hugh Gregory used to be always at or near the bottom.

There’s not many Rel Weeks that Paul has missed. Dave McEvoy, Paul and myself went to the early Rel Weeks and are still going to Rel Weeks now. Chook Chandler and a few others went to about 15-20 Rel Weeks before they recently stopped. And then there are people like Tom Maher who started later and have been to a lot since the mid-1980s. Paul Flipo would have been at the second or third one, I think. He, Paddy McHugh and Phil Hindley were there in a lot of the early Rel Weeks.

First night demo in the NT: RO Report 1980: John Dyer, John Cornwall, Twiggy, Alan James, Di and Dave Opitz and Robbo (Wickham). Hear tell they upset the Governor General by cutting his speech off.

1980s

JC: It was 18,000 feet in the DC3 – the power went out in Manbulloo and no one knew where we were. The base went off, and everyone else followed but no one really saw each other until break-off. That was the late 1980s. We also set a nude CRW load that night.

We landed out as well on the road.

There was another Katherine night jump from the DC3, a high one, a 24 way. I didn’t have many jumps – about 250 jumps and it was about 1984.

I went up to Chris Bramhill and said I hadn’t done a night jump before. He said, “Sorry, I forgot.” I said, “Lee Hunt was in charge, nothing to do with you, bros!” TC: “And I was ASO!” So we went out and did a 4 way.

The funny thing was this guy from Melbourne. The 24 way went and there was a go around and I’m base for a 4 way. I am going, “Ready, Set...” when this big guy from Melbourne yells, “I’ve lost my teeth!” So I dragged him out and away we went! I landed in a tree. We were the last on the load and we nearly made it to the back landing area but I got some branches in my canopy. It was pretty good for 250 jumps!

1980 6 way Girls Record: Jennie Dalby (Darwin), Robyn Brown (Darwin), Raelene Kerr (Tennant Creek), Kim Barton (Katherine), Sandy Duncan (Alice Springs), Robyn Wawn (Alice Springs).

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Performances

A ‘Moon’ Stack

Drinking Races

Kamikaze game

Eating Races

Lancaster Bombers

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48. Games and Gunges

Games TC: We played lots of games including Lancaster Bombers, Moon Stacks, packing races, Kamikaze (where you shake the beer and see if it blew your ear off!), snorting Smarty accuracy, hot buttered chook, TC and his f***ing dog, eating games and drinking games. RO report 1983 Rel Week: Other Rel Week highlights include ‘The case of the missing eyebrow’, birthday cream pies at 12,000 feet for Paul Osborne and Kathy Jeff ries’ birthdays, the packing race where Paul Osborne was the fastest and Jim McCormack and his iron were the slowest! NB: All packers had to jump their rigs the next day without a mal.

TC: Paul Osborne’s birthday was always at Rel Week in May – he got the shits when we changed Rel Week to July!

Gunging Gunging was a common practice, mostly for the 100th jump. Many a jumper was initiated with various evil smelling concoctions of cooking oil, rotten vegetables, tomato sauce, sump oil and other unmentionable ingredients. The ‘best’ brews festered for a couple of days. It wasn’t really something to be relished and many jumpers put up good fights to avoid it, but eventually all succumbed. The gunge recipes seemed to get worse over the years and the practice was finally outlawed in the mid-1990s.

RO report 1990: “The next loads saw Wendy Schottler, Warren Langford and Ross Gillespie do their 100th jumps. The trio received a triple gunging.”

Boobs and Bums Another practice unique to jumpers in farewelling jump aircraft, is to ‘moon’ it upon departure. For guys, anything below the belt is fine, whereas girls usually choose a boob display over bums. All in all, the ‘bare’ message being sent in this fashion is one of “thanks for the good jumps, have a good trip and see you next time.” No matter how hungover, it is compulsory to take part in this send-off of goodwill.

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1980s

Cartons RO report 1983 Rel Week: The NT system of buying a case of beer for any reasonable excuse (eg brain lock, mal, bad spot, tree landing etc) worked extremely well. 160 cases of beer were consumed in the week and Robert Dayago had the dubious privilege of being the first person to shout a total of six cases ( for which he bought a seventh!)

49. Boobs and Bums

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50. Air shows

1981 Airshow Batchelor Airshow: That’s when I jumped out of the Victor. It was supposed to be on fire and I delayed and I thought I was really cool. Then when I actually opened, it didn’t open!

Batchelor Air Shows TC: There were two big air shows that DPC ran in 1981 and 1991. At the 1981 airshow, I did a jump out of a Victor – Victor lawnmower vintage – and Bob Miller was flying for me. We bolted a black smoke trail to the back of the plane. The idea was that someone had stolen the plane and miraculously got to 2,000 feet when it caught fire because the pilot didn’t know what he was doing. I ‘bailed out’ and delayed quite a bit but I forgot that I had the Parafoil on, which opens really, really slowly! When it didn’t open at all, I got off it and opened my reserve. That got the crowd really appreciative! I wasn’t under the reserve very long!

There was a discussion with TEASA (Top End Aerial Sports Association), which was pretty active then. The ablutions block was built and the government wanted to spend a few dollars promoting it. We organised government sponsorship to pay for fuel for another air show in 1991 and we flew all the war birds to Batchelor. Guido Zuccoli had a lot of war birds in Darwin and Toowoomba – a Trojan, a Harvard and a bunch of others planes. Other pilots came up and we had the Caribou locally, the DC3 and a few other things. It was a good day with about 4,000 people there on the day, which is pretty good for Batchelor. The club made good money at the bar.

Ron Beech, who is now a boss in CASA, came down to personally deliver to me the letter of approval to do the show, which was great because it would have been illegal otherwise. We were doing the briefing for the pilots as the show ran for two lots of two hours. It was a pretty cool show.

We started the briefing but Ron said he couldn’t see Guido.

I said, “Ah, he’s about somewhere.” Guido had been out practising a low level pylon flying and as I started to do the briefing at the shed at Batchelor, I saw out of the corner of my left eye, Guido inverted going down the strip at about 10 feet. At about that point, Ron Beech said it was about time for him to go and have a beer, so he didn’t see Guido! We never saw the CASA guys after that.

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Guido TC: I first met Guido at work because he was a bridge builder with steel construction and I was doing my road works job. He built Katherine River Bridge. We got along well.

He was non-assuming, he just went out there and did what he had to do. He got the guys to bring the Trojan in because Paul Weymouth was at VRD (Victoria River Downs) then and he had a Trojan. They ran their choppers out of VRD and Tony Duckworth was there at that time as well, flying Bells and Robbos.

The day of the air show went a treat. Rodney (a red headed jumper who went under on an overdose, a lovely guy) was on a motor bike, pretending to be a wild beast. There were two chopper pilots who used to fly with us down there and they operated a mustering business as well, at the end of where the Batchelor Farm is. Rodney rushed out to the middle of the airstrip and the choppers, flown by Clinton and another guy, hoed him down. Even Rodney got scared when the rotor blades got close while he was hiding under a tree!

Above: Jump into RAAF Airshow, Darwin

1980s

1991 Airshow

Axis performing canopy rotations

17 canopy stack at Manbulloo

RO 1980: NT CRW record: Chook, Geoff Cowie, Lou Wilson managed the first three man canopy stack.

Louie Wilson and Chook Chandler in a bi-plane

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The NT 14 Plane RO report 1983, Paul Flipo: The Katherine Rel Week - that annual venue for top parties and quality skydives, has now made its mark in the CRW field. With the strong interest in CRW in the Territory, and a lack of the talent available both local and visiting, it was apparent that the Australian record was within our grasp.

On Thursday afternoon, 19th May 1983, the Nav and Cessna 185 took 16 hopefuls up for our first attempt at the record. The plan was to build an 8 plane and then dock biplanes on it. Problems abounded - from unstable exits to collapsing canopies and confusion over slots, and the stack only built to eleven. A thorough debrief led to a few minor changes and on Friday we went up to try it again. Things went much better with the initial eight building smoothly and flying beautifully.

The next stack, in order of entry was Paul Osborne, Ray Perry, Wayne Fowler, Chris Bramhill, Spiro, Greg Wright, Wayne Lipke, Chris Lee, Ian Lawrence, Bill Harry, Paul Flipo plus 3 others. (All were jumping Pegasus or 228s.)

Another 12 plane was built the next day.

Special mention must go to Ian Lawrence, Paul Osborne, Glen Burr and Phil Allen for their ideas and advice and further to Paul for his very nice piloting, judges Bernie Chandler, Christa Harry and camera, Evan Slocum.

JJ: All the C R W in those days – it was rough and ready. Robbo used to make up front riser pulleys and handles – it was real barnstorming stuff. We used to go over to Dick Skinner’s hangar.

Sometimes they’d split and we’d braid them up again. That went on from what we did with CRW in the early days at Annaburroo with Rob Oakley and those guys. We didn’t have any specialised gear then, we just went and did it.

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1980s

51. Canopy Rel

52. RAAF Jumpers

4 way team - Air-rated: From top clockwise: Robin Poole jumping with Jeffo, Alex and Dan Short, (all RAAF boys) 1980 RAAF Boys from Tindal The RAAF has produced many good jumpers since Manbulloo commenced.

In the 1980s, they include Matt Shanley (Shambles) George Thorogood, Mick Lyon, Drew Innes and LLoyd Coefield (Coey).

Drew Innes

1980s RAAF Boys at Lee Point PA: Everybody who worked at Lee Point in the 1980s was a skydiver. There was Stubbsy, me, Glen, Dead Loss (Greg Ross), Harry. We were all working at this remote outstation. We didn’t go to work very often because we’d go skydiving and cover for each other. We used to do a bit of midweek jumping. Dr John would organise a plane.

There have been a lot of people come through Darwin. Some of the other guys used to throw dope around the RAAF base. There were guard dogs patrolling the RAAF base and the guys thought that if the dogs ate the dope, then we could get back onto the base!

1990 RAAF Boys Manbulloo report: Tindal has been our main flow of students. Gary ‘Hog’ Hodges recently did his 100th jump, after only 5 months in the sport, with an 8 point random skydive. Nick Lines did his 100th with his first triplane with PT and John McMahon. Simon ‘Rocky’ Rockcliffe did his 200th.

RO, 1990: In the 1990s, jumpers from Tindal included Jeffo, Alex and Dan Short, members of the team ‘Air-Rated’ that jumped at Batchelor.

2000 onwards Ashley Smith was posted to Tindal and travelled to Batchelor most weekends until he left the RAAF. He also conducted tandem jumps at Tindal, with TC acting as his Chief Instructor. Ashley moved to Darwin in 2002 and started his own business, Top End Tandems.

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Phil Allen and Glen Burr Greg Ross

53. Roofers

Dicky Dreiu tells the story: DD: “It was just after the world meet in 1981; we did roofing around Katherine – the Tindal Airforce Base. There was me, Ray Perry, Paddy McHugh, Ian Swinbourne, Bobby Cantrill, Jay Lazarus and Tim. We got a job with Billabong (Geoff Bingham) at Pagewood in Sydney and with Mike Carre, building a cigarette factory.

The other boys Ray Perry, Chris Bramhill and Paddy McHugh were there. While we were there, Mike Carre got a contract to build at the Tindal Airforce Base. We were contracted for two buildings, the squadron headquarters and the avionics buildings.

Ray Perry worked on the avionics buidling and I did the squadron headquarters. We were here for about a year and a half doing that. We did a couple of Katherine Rel Weeks while we were here. We did a couple of illegal jumps in Katherine that we weren’t supposed to do, into parties at the caravan park. We got in trouble over them. When the job finished, I went travelling around Australia. I went to Batchelor for a while, about a month, then to Karratha and Exmouth.

JJ: In 1981, ERA mining was being built (near Jabiru) and I was involved for twelve months on the construction of that. There were also people like Paddy McHugh, Dicky Dreiu - all the roofers. It was great because every two or three weekends you’d hear a chopper arrive and Paddy McHugh would yell, “Come on, let’s go!” So we’d grab our rigs and race out to the airport and out we’d go and jump in. Those guys were really influential guys at Rel Weeks. They taught us a lot of stuff. Big stuff, you know? Dragged us up from small to big jump people!

RO report 1980: - Paddy McHugh recently in Darwin giving the locals a lesson in raging.

- Paddy McHugh recently in Brisbane giving the locals a lesson in raging.

- Also now working in the Territory: Geoff Bingham, Stuey McNee and Andy Ski.

Mudginberri Airstrip, near Jabiru

Jay Lazarus at Rel Week

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Ray Perry at Rel Week

1980s

Roofers, who were also jumpers, Front of congo line: Dicky Dreiu, came to the Territory in the 1980s 3rd Jay Lazarus, 6th Bob Cantrill, for building contracts. They worked last Ray Perry. at Tindal Air Force Base, as well as roofing projects in Jabiru and Mudginberri. They jumped at Yellow Waters, Cooinda.

Their motivation in coming to Katherine may have in part, had something to do with being part of Rel Week at Manbulloo. In doing so, these guys brought a high level of experience and fun to jumping while they were here.

54. Inter-Club Jumping Murphy, Francoise and Diane Opitz (a security officer around town now). We flew down in a Cherokee 6 to Katherine – and they had a Cessna 182. It just happened that we came together at the same time and we did a formation and everyone got in! Sometimes you plan and nothing happens but this time, it all worked out!

Full Moon Jumps TM: About every two months for about three years, we used to do full moon jumps. One time, we started jumping at sunset and just as the sun rose, I did my 500th jump. We had flares on the strip but it was like daylight anyway. We were doing all sorts of jumps – CRW, Rel. We also used to have night accuracy comps at Rel Weeks which always had great outcomes. We also did night rel.

Air Meeting The Katherine Mob: TC: One time, the guys flew down from Darwin and we were in the air doing a sortie. We heard their call sign coming in and we met up at 10 or 12,000 feet and we did a formation load – them from Darwin and us from Manbulloo did about a 10 way! It was just like saying “Gidday” in freefall to everyone that we hadn’t seen for weeks!

The Darwin Mob: GG: There was Lou Armstrong, Gordon, Brian

Club Merger TC: There was discussion about going back to DPC and amalgamating. The Darwin Parachute Club guys asked us at Annaburroo if we would go back as they weren’t really doing much at all because we had taken a lot of the business. We did go back there and took the plane back and I started there as Chief Instructor in about 1983. I was CI there until early 2000s. Cookie did a couple of years and Ray O’Leary did short stints in there. I was also CI for Katherine during some of the time as well.

JC: I was at Ja-Ja, so Annaburroo was good for me because it was closer. I really liked jumping there. It was simple with Geoff Cowie and TC. I’ve got to give them credit – it was a fun operation at Annaburroo. I’m in the middle of nowhere and I’d get a message through, “Cookie, don’t come this Saturday.” They looked after us like that, so I didn’t waste driving 300km. It was a great drop zone being right next to the pub!! It was great being able to say “Our drop zone is the pub!” When we went back to Batchelor, it was OK though.

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GC: Bob Miller was Australia’s first ever square jump. It was made on 12/10/1980, and I got out and did CRW with him!

TC: Some of the early stuff we did at Annaburroo involved putting students out on PCs. We actually bought some of the very first Pigmees as well and we were putting students out on those. Dave Smith sent me up a Comet and we jumped the canopy until they rang us up and said can you please send it back? But while we had it, we were jumping at a place called Dun-in-Mirrie on Grose Island, west of Darwin. We also used to jump there a lot. It’s a pretty small island when you’ve got a round parachute. The strip was about 3,500 feet long and the island was only about 50 foot longer than the strip! Geoff and I put the Comet into a Pigmee and we jumped it on a static line out of a Partnavia.

Q: For students or for you? A: For ourselves.

Q: Why? A: Well, Claude Gillard said that everyone was going to die if you ever tried to put a square on a static line.

But we just sort of did our own stuff. We did lots of jumps just testing it and it worked fine. There were a couple of line twists but no big deal. Initially Geoff and I would put each other out on it and I think a couple of other people jumped it – I think Phil and Cathy may have done a couple of jumps on it. Eventually we trained up a fellow called Bob Miller who used to fly us a lot. He used to fly a Beaver and Cessna 182s all the time. He was our first student on a square because we figured that if we put a pilot out on a square, he’d know what to do. We told Jim what to do and all that. We did those jumps on Grose Island. I’ve talked to a lot of people about it. We did the first student square jump pretty well. There were other people who were experimenting at the same time but we actually applied to DoT (Department of Transport) and formally asked for it to be approved. Funnily enough, it was Dave McEvoy’s brother, John, who got the application in South Australia and he sent it to a bloke in Melbourne, called Gillard!

I got this really nasty letter back saying to stop immediately because people were going to die if we kept trying to put them out on static line with square parachutes! We just took it politely and put the letter in the bin.

Q: So does that mean you kept doing it?

A: Perhaps, what are the Statutes of Limitations?!

Q: So did you end up giving the Comet back and that was the end of that? A: No, we had 228s by then and from then on, we started to use them. There was an interim step though. We had another thing called an Argosy that Joe Chitty and those guys built.

Q: What’s that? A: It’s like a big old roundie, like a T10. Claude thought they were the duck’s nuts but they were slow. They did the job and landed softly so they looked after people. But then we transitioned to Sierras, which were a little, super duper, mini PC, 20 foot across. We jumped them for a while at Bark Hut and Batchelor. Then we started to use squares. We used to use the orange coloured batons as ground control, for left and right and when to flare.

Q: And that was successful? A: Yes, people on roundies would walk around the outside of the pit anyway and all we had to add was when to flare.

Q: Were there more injuries when you started using squares? A: No, after the Sierras, it was a blessing.

Q: People were thumping in on Sierras? A: Yes, I remember one bloke who was lying on the Cross Strip at Batchelor and I was saying “Get up! Run round your canopy!” He replied, “I can’t, both my ankles are broken!” I said, “Ok, just lay there!”

Bob Miller on the left

“...We have been instructed to advise you that the exercise is illegal and should cease immediately.

Your cooperation in this regard is anticipated...”

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1980s

55. First Student Square Jump

Mindil Beach Demo

Cookie and TC using a chopper for a demo into the Gardens for the NTFL final.

TC: We always jumped in team colours – socks and jerseys of each team.

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56. Demos, Demos, Demos TC: We used to do a lot of demos and it did really help with club recruitment and retention. We didn’t charge a lot then, just covered our costs. Not like demos today. Some people want to make a fortune out of demos.

I was always of the opinion that membership that came from demos, more than compensated for what it cost to do the jump.

Darwin Sailing Club

1980s

TC: John Hardy used to own the DC3 and he was also the president of the Darwin Sailing Club. He used to offer the DC3 to do the Sailing Club Open Day demo at the end of the cyclone season. Once we had a cyclone go through Darwin in the morning and I rang up the Sailing Club at lunchtime and asked if it was still OK to do the jump. The cyclone had gone, the wind had dropped a bit, so we may as well jump. They thought we were a bit odd!

There was another jump when George Washington was flying – an absolute gentleman – I think he had about 25,000 hours flying Daks. We used to fly parallel to the shoreline at 4,000 feet. At the Sailing Club, we’d pitch out a whole load – between 25 and 30 jumpers. When we landed, they would say that the bar was open. After the first couple of years, they worked out that it wasn’t as economical as they thought. One year, there was a little old lady on this island bar, away from the main bar where we usually got our beer. That’s where we all found ourselves while we were packing. She just kept giving us beer because we were “those nice people from the parachute club!” I was still there when it was knock-off time about 8pm, when they closed the bar. The management told the little old lady to clear the till. She said, “No worries!” But there was hardly any money in it. She said, “No worries!” The management said, “But there’s hardly any beer either!” The little old lady said, “No, no, all those lovely girls and boys from the parachute club really helped out!” We weren’t very popular for a few years after that. We had to sort of serve our penance!

GC: We didn’t need any reason to jump. We just jumped!

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Casuarina Pool Demo TC: We did DC3 loads, landing at Casuarina Pool. It was a small area for 20 people or so. We had 7 cells canopies – 228s and canopies like that. Today, people would laugh at a landing area like that. There were several jumps into Casuarina Pool and they were all scary! We started jumping into Casuarina Pool with a Cessna because we all thought it was a bit tight. Then one year, one of the jumpers said, “Stuff it chief, let’s go!” and I agreed. So we did a low run in the DC3 quite successfully. The next year we took VH-CAN to height. On run-in, I had a big smoke canister on so everyone on the ground could see us. I was spotting as usual. I called power and as I thought everyone was ready to go, I pulled the pin on the smoke canister. The jumpers were still hanging round the door and I said, “Look guys, it’s time to go!” Just as they were starting to get out the door, the smoke canister went off and because the front windows was open, it got the venturi through it and all the orange smoke went straight up through the fuselage and the pilots got it all. George was really cool though. The Casuarina Pool jump just kept getting tighter and tighter because they just kept building things around the pool. I can remember that one day, Doug Booth hit the side of the wading pool and went into the side of it and into the crowd. This woman just stood up and said, “Who do I sue?” So we stopped doing big ones there after that.

We went back to Cessnas for demos.

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You’re allowed one mistake Q: Wasn’t there was a DC3 load that was really badly spotted?

TC: Yeh, yeh, I’ll own up, it was me who spotted. You’re allowed one stuff up right? This was a more recent jump in respect of the DC3 loads. What happened was we were doing a double demo out of the DC3. There was a full load – about 30 jumpers. There were a whole bunch of inexperienced people who weren’t qualified to jump into the opening of the Water Park at Leanyer. They were going to get out at Casuarina Beach and there were about ten to twelve of us doing the hard core one. Anyway, I thought that they were going to do a pack up, so I pulled power and they all ran out the door! I looked back up the aeroplane to everyone left and said, “Oops, that looked a bit short to me!” It’s funny now – no one got hurt. They landed in various places between the beach and Darwin Hospital! There was about a dozen, I think, that I sprayed through the bush but we went round and did the second demo. It was perfect, except for Poolie, who nearly took a couple of kids’ heads off. He surfed the pool!

Left: Casuarina Pool, Darwin Above and Right: Demo for opening of Darwin Casino

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1980s

57. And More Demos

58. Night Demos Pyrotechnics Extraordinaire GC: There was a night jump for the army: Trevor got smart and bought all the flares. They were so big that we had to make up big steel canisters on steel chains to accommodate them. Everything else we had put them in had holes burnt in them. They used to hang off us with a chain from our ‘D’ clips – clips on our belts. We hung onto them in freefall and the plan was to light them and lower them down. That was all right in the daytime because you can see everything really easily but at night you can’t see a frigging thing! So we lower these things down and we were out over the Harbour. It was an outdoor ball and the deal was to say on the ground that there was an aeroplane in trouble and we can see it. With that, Bob Miller had been just gliding in and then puts a big mob of power on at height.

We’ve also got these flood lights bolted to the struts of the plane shining up onto the wings, which instantly blinded him! We jumped out of the thing and they could actually see us leaving because it was so bright. There were flares on the aeroplane and we lit them, then we fired our flares off and landed right in the middle of this ball at Larrakeyah Base, where everyone was dressed in tuxedos and all that.

The army was so impressed that they virtually walked over, paid us on the spot and it was really big bucks. The guy said, “That’s the most professional display I’ve ever seen anywhere and I want our boys to do that stuff.”

They wouldn’t let us go into the crowd because we weren’t properly dressed. They said, “No you can’t go over there.” So all the people got up from their tables and came over to talk to us!” They were bringing us drinks. There was Lee Hunt, Chook Chandler, TC and me on the demo. Chooky picks his flare up with his parachute - say no more!

Speedway Track Demo in Gove at night: GC: We fly over it – there’s the speedway, no worries, she’ll be right! So we take off. Guess what they don’t have at Gove, other than in the township? Lights!

Nothing, there is absolutely nothing except this pin point of light way down there, and that’s where we have got to go! And there are no lights anywhere else! It was a case of get in or go in!

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JJ: It was 1982 and on my last jump of Katherine Rel Week, I had my canopy collapse as I was coming in to land after a DC3 load, on a really thermally day. I spudded in from about 200 feet. It was a shit canopy, a 228, which had a history of doing funny things. There was a student in front of me who started ‘S’-ing in front of me and I yelled, “Just head over to the side!” But he couldn’t hear me because he had a helmet on. My canopy just collapsed, two cells reopened and I smashed into the ground something terrible. I broke two vertebrae in my back, broke a bone in my wrist, I was in hospital for four weeks. I was able to get up after two and a half weeks and do some physiotherapy but I got deep vein thrombosis, so ended up in hospital for another three weeks or so. I had a big jumpsuit in those days, which they had to cut off me when I had the accident.

When I returned to jumping, I didn’t have a jumpsuit so just wore jeans and a jacket, so I believe I was one of the first people to go jump in a skinny jumpsuit. From that point on, everyone started to move to skinny jumpsuits. I jumped for years like that. When I started team flying, I got a set of overalls and Mum sewed a couple of bells on the arms and legs. From there, I went to a black slick suit from Cathy (Chook Chandler’s wife) in New Zealand.

Below: Noel Lowrie at Rel Week - note jumpsuit with vents to ensure maximun inflation.

1980s

59. Jumpsuits

GC, Mid 1980s: Look how big out jumpsuits were! Made out of plastic and we’d blow up like a balloon!

RO Report 1988 - Rel Week: This year, there was a better overall pace to the skydives - the day of the slick and spandex suits has arrived for general skydiving and not just for those in teams.

Tighter jumpsuits in late 1980s.

Darwin Speedway – Saloon Car Championships Great day demo, we did a 6 way, 2 manoeuvres. Corny was on it. TC and Geoff did the last night demo into the speedway no one else would go, they all pulled out, the wusses! That’s where the Soccer Oval on Bagot Road is now. That’s why the oval has mounds around the outside, so people could watch the speedway.

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Time Out 4 Way Rel Team

Time Out PA: I left the Territory with the team, Time Out. I left Darwin to go to the World Cup at Toogoolawah.

Straight after that, I was going to join Time Out. I was meant to go back to Darwin as my job was still there. We did a three month training camp and then the Nationals at Corowa. I didn’t feel like driving back to Darwin, so I just stayed at Corowa. My boss rang me up about six months later to see it I was coming back.

At the world meet, we came equal third and came fourth on a count back option. We used to win the Nationals. There weren’t that many teams then.

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60. Competitions and Champions Axis DB: There’s been no teams from the NT for years. In 1982-1983, there was Axis. There were five in the team - Robbie Oakley, Phil Allen, Glen Burr, Shelley Spriggs and myself. Shelley was the reserve and we were supposed to go to overseas to Yugoslavia, on the coast, for the Adriatic Cup. I dropped out because we had to get our own funding together. I was in partnership with Geoff Cowie at the time and we had just started a business. We started Castle Contracting so I didn’t have enough money to finance the team. The others went and won it. I think we also went to the Nationals one year and came second. Chookie Norsworthy stepped in about then, I think, as a reserve.

Shelley Spriggs just climb up the lines, get up the canopy to where the knot is and just undo the knot! It can’t be that hard when you’re at 10 grand!” So I started climbing up the lines. It was pretty hard work. I got about halfway up and the canopy started to fall a bit quicker but it was still OK. But then it just went to shit. It really went to shit!!

Very freaky – I recommend you don’t climb up the lines!

JC: He was climbing up the lines like a little monkey! And then you chopped!

PA: In the end, they brought out a modification on the steering lines.

Axis CRW Team

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1980s

JC: Axis was a great team in the Territory but they’d get up early and we’d have to get up early too. When they had mals, we’d have to go and get all the bits and pieces. So Phil changed it one day.

We were all having beers and he had been experimenting with drag bags. They were weird looking things. It was a bag with a pilot chute sewn onto it. The pilot chute didn’t inflate so they were a bad idea!

PA: I have this picture of looking at the old packing shed at Batchelor with some sort of line over malfunction. It was a line over but it was still a full canopy – it wasn’t going anywhere. That was a packing mal. There was the reserve swinging, not inflating, lines still stowed on the diaper.

JC: I thought, “Oh my God, Phil, what are you going to do?”

He timed it perfectly. He waited until it swung behind him and chopped, then it inflated, and he landed not long after.

PA: I used to do a few of them back then. I had about 15 to 20 chops then. The bridle would get knotted up instead of sliding down. I was sick of chopping, so that’s why I did an inflight transfer. I was at 10,000 feet and I had done a lot of CRW jumps by then. It happened again and I thought, “Ok I’ll fix it. I’ll

61. NT Parachute Council National Representation There are records for the NTPC before 1977, although the NTPC may have been operating prior to this. However, since 1977 the council has been active, and it involved jumpers from Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs.

The first APF delegates on record in 1977, were Dave Opitz from Katherine and Tony Muscat from Alice Springs, representing 43 NT jumpers.

By 1978, Geoff Cowie, (representing Katherine) had replaced Tony and Steve (Chook) Chandler represented Darwin, later replaced in the same year by Dave Optiz.

GC: “I was on the board of the APF when we first became directors.

I used to go to Melbourne. I did it because we didn’t have any representation here.”

The council began implementing decisions that affected the operations of all drop zones in the NT. A discipline board was formed in 1977, chaired by Mike Braun. In 1978 the council determined that fullfaced helmets were banned due to limited vision and helmets had to be worn until ‘D’ Licence.

By 1983, the APF delegates were Trevor Collins and Bernie Fernandez. Trevor has represented the NT as a delegate from this time to the current day.

TC: It’s funny – I never thought that I would get too involved with that side of things but because of the politics that were happening at the time between Darwin and when Geoff and I set up Parachuting Promotions in the early 1980s, it became apparent that to have a voice, you had to be involved in the council. So we became strongly involved in it. I did my first APF board meetings in the early 1980s, when we were still at the Royal Vic Aero Club. It was interesting because I took to it. I saw it as a way that I could contribute to make things better for people and the sport and hopefully go along. It was bloody funny though - all the board members had suits, ties and the lot – and we would front in jeans and t-shirts!

We formed an APF Management Committee in the early to mid 1990s and I was involved in that. APTAC (Australian Parachute Team Advancement Company) was formed. Phil Hindley was instrumental in forming APTAC and it was a way to raise money for teams. It was really successful. People paid for life membership as a donation to APTAC. I was on the Management Committee until about 2008. I’m still one of the NT reps currently. Over the years, I’ve held various jobs as part of the Management Committee – HBOM (Honorary Board of Management) and I was Chairman of the Board for about seven years as well. It was a time when there

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was major change for the federation. One of the biggest challenges was insurance. Dave Smith and the insurance brokers were able to broker some breakthrough insurance cover in early 2001. There were some tumultuous times.

The business of the sport was also changing dramatically. Clubs weren’t clubs anymore. They were becoming major commercial organisations and the devolvement of tandem operations meant that any action that the APF was involved in might affect the income of an organisation, so we had to be very conscious of how we managed those issues.

Coaching and Development In 1979, the NTPC was successful in applying for funding from the then Department of Transport, to run the first instructors course in the NT, with Dave Opitz as the Instructor Examiner.

During the 1980s, and to a lesser degree the 1990s, the council applied for many more grants and was successful nearly every year in accessing funding from the NT Government.

The funds were instrumental in supporting the development and training of teams, instructors and skydiving events. The grants also seemed to have a flow on effect. The funds supported improved quality of jumps and competition, which then enabled teams of high quality to further access funds to represent the Territory at national and international levels. The grants specifically supported travel to the NT Championships and National Championships each year, which was significant, considering the remoteness of jumpers and expense of airfares during the 1980s.

Funds were also forthcoming for coaching and training, particularly the travel and payment of Rel Week coaches. It also included support for an Australian Women’s Record Seminar.

There were significant grants allocated to teams for travel. These included for Axis to Yugoslavia and the World Cup in Queensland, to Cathy Hannant to attend the World Style and Accuracy Championships and the Chengdu Style and Accuracy Championships, and for teams to travel to the Indonesian Championships.

Grants have also supported infrastructure development including the sinking of a bore at Manbulloo and building projects at Batchelor.

Although grants are still available, by the end of the 1990s funding arrangements had tightened.

Considerably less funding was available to support Territorian skydiving.

portrayed skydiving. At the beginning of the decade (as per previous years), skydiving events were seen as novelty items which were reported on page 3 of the newspaper, or if it was of general interest, it was reported in the local Freefall Photography news section, around pages Jumpers love to geek at cameras and have 14, 15 or 16. A particularly always recorded their jumps. Photography newsworthy item or a negative in the early 1960s were either exit shots report was still positioned on Above: 1963 news report from the plane, ground shots of parachutes, page 1. or very grainy freefall shots from the ground By the mid-1980s, skydiving news shifted to the sports pages of using a zoom lens. the NT News. This indicated a general acceptance of skydiving Throughout the 1970s, photography and as a sport and as regular, reportable sporting events. At the same video equipment was bulky and heavy, time, features appeared in editorials. Between the mid to end operated only by those with both good of the 1980s, the articles were larger in size and the quality of photography and freefall skill. photos improved. Newsworthy items were no longer just reports, Or cameras may have been very simple - but included information, first hand experience descriptions, LA: I used to jump with a little instamatic editorials and human interest stories. camera which I’d pull out of my jumpsuit When David Hancock (Bluebaker) came to the Territory in the while I was flying my roundie down to the 1980s, with a background in media journalism, as well as freefall ground. photography, he markedly improved the perception of skydiving By comparison, the development in digital in the media. His professional articles and photos appeared technology today has resulted in many in newspapers and magazines nationally and internationally, jumpers using cameras for nearly every putting NT skydiving on the map. jump. The ability to capture and manipulate By the late 1990s, jumping had slowed and newspaper reports skydiving footage has become easier. were back to page 3.

However, the use of skydiving images is still In the 21st century, television coverage and digital media has at the discretion of media outlets. again increased, due to the widespread use of lightweight digital Media Reports cameras producing good quality images. For example, during Sergio Cattonar understood the power of the 2009 Rel Week, media coverage included Channel Nine the media to establish the skydiving club in News Reports, live interviews with ABC Radio, an ABC TV the Northern Territory and communicate a documentary and an positive message about parachuting to the online NT Tourism general public. documentary.

Although skydiving has always had media Such positive media exposure, the 1980s was a busy time for ensures that a positive skydiving and therefore was constantly in image of the sport the media. During this decade, there was a is currently being subtle shift in the way the media accepted and maintained.

David Hancock, 1987 Wayne McLachlan, 2003

Tracey Lane, 2012

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1980s

62. Media Coverage

Dum-in-Mirrie

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63. Grose Island

One time we were coming back from Dum-in-Mirrie in VH-WOG to get a whole heap of food for everyone and we had an engine failure. Some people got out.

Trevor and I were going to jump, except Christine (Geoff ’s wife) was in the back. We were putting our gear on and Chris said, “What about me, darling?” TC and I looked at each other and said, “Bugger! We had better stay!”

TC: Geoff said, “You go Trev and I’ll get her,” but Bob Miller, the pilot, said, “No one is going!” There was the ground! We dragged the arse of the plane over the fence at Delissaville.

GC: The trouble was, we didn’t have enough aeroplanes.

When the Beaver had shit itself, we got picked up by an Air North Cessna 402. The pilot was refusing to take off but we convinced him. We knew that if we didn’t all go up the front, we would crash into the fence. He says, “Is everybody seated?” We go, “Yeh everybody is seated!” He takes off and turns round to tell us we’re

airborne and we’re all right behind him. “Oh shit!” he says. “We knew you wouldn’t get off and then we showed him all the parachutes we’d stuck in the wing lockers!”

We came back to Grose Island in a Baron, but didn’t have enough room for the food. The only other aeroplane we had,was the Victor. I didn’t actually have a pilot’s licence then, although I had a learner’s licence. Bob Miller says, “Oh Geoff, you can fly it, you’ll be right.”

So I’m in the Victor loaded absolutely full of food.

I couldn’t see anything, it’s getting dark and Bob says, “Just say these things.” He wrote down all the things I had to say. So off I go and I’m just flying along. I’ve got no idea where Dum-in-Mirrie is.

The guy on the radio says, “Foxtrot Mike Alpha, just wish to advise that you are heading in the wrong direction!” I’m thinking, “Shit, Bob didn’t give me anything to say when I’m going in the wrong direction!” I’m looking in my book and thinking, “What am I going to say to this guy?” Then Bob gets on the radio and says, “I’ve got him on my radio. He seems to be having a radio problem and he is going to turn right now!” “Oh shit, I’d better turn right now!” I did my first ever night landing and my first ever nav ex!

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1980s

Dum-in-Mirrie GC: We were looking for airstrips around Darwin and there was nowhere. We found Fogg Dam but I think we had air space problems there. We did a jump at Grose Island in 1979 – I think that’s the first time we went there. I was jumping there while TC was in Queensland.

Max, who lived on the island and accommodated the jumpers over the years, passed away in 2010.

64. Alice Springs Jumping

August 1980 Alice Springs Instructors Course RO Report, LA: August was a month and a half to remember for our club here in Alice, especially for Robin Wawn, Mike Ellis and myself (Lou Armstrong) who all sat for our ‘B’ Class Instructor ratings, and for Daryl Gray who went for his Jumpmaster rating. All of us were quite impressed with the correspondence and guidance received from Claude Gillard (El Presidente) and Louie Johnston (Director Instructors). It is reassuring to know that we’re part of a team that sets such a high standard of training and safety throughout Australia, of which co-operation and communication play an important role.

To set up an examination panel here in Alice Springs, we had to fly in two Senior Instructors from Darwin. They were Geoff Cowie from Parachuting Promotions and Mike Braun from the Darwin Parachute Club.

By mid-afternoon on Sunday, the examinations were complete and the examiners seemed happy enough. Geoff and Mike Braun got a bit of canopy rel, while Peter Ellis did an intentional cut away on Slim’s gear, getting his newly

packed Strato-Star reserve out nice and cleanly. Faster than the Strat main canopy, he reckons, but handles really well and opens super fast (much to Slim’s pleasure).

To wind up the weekend, we had an outrageous ‘fancy dress’ party.

Everyone’s spirits were high, one way or another, with everyone dressed for the occasion. Geoff, Mike Braun and Neville Thomas were on the midnight flight back to Darwin, so the whole party, still in fancy dress, trekked out to the airport to see them off.

Something that innocent bystanders and airport officials won’t forget in a hurry! More students now, and better and bigger dives.

GC: We were doing classes in Alice Springs. Lou Armstrong took over. At the time, we were Chief Instructors of the entire NT! On one trip, we came directly from a fancy dress party to Alice Springs Airport. Robyn Wawn lit a fire - in the departure lounge! There was talk about not letting us on the plane. That’s when we decided to keep coming back!

1981 RO report 1981: Just a bit of a rave about the jumping scene here in the centre of Oz. Although isolated, Alice Springs is not a hick-town in the desert, but a green and colourful oasis nestled between the spectacular MacDonnell Ranges in the north and the picturesque Mount Nancy to the north. The friendly easy-going atmosphere brings time to a standstill.

Our drop zone is a mere ten minutes drive from town and located right on the Alice Springs Airport, which handles anything up to Boeing 727s and USAF Starlifters. The control tower looks after us though. We are lucky enough to lease a section of the old Department of Transport building at the western boundary of the airport. Full facilities include showers, toilets, lounge and an equipment room. A hop, step and a jump away is a large grassed packing area, which borders onto the aircraft taxiway. The ‘pit’ is out in wide open space and completely free from hazards. The club is non-commercial and has about forty members, thirty of whom are active jumpers. A Cessna 182 does us fine, although we do have the use of a Cessna 206 and, for special occasions, a four engined, 16 place Heron. Peter Ellis is our Chief Instructor who, with Mike Ellis and Lou Armstrong as instructors and Daryl Gray as jumpmaster, keep the ball rolling and standards high.

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64. Alice Springs Jumping Denis Haligan, Wendy Rose and Geoff Holmes, jumping over Uluru, Cover RO, April 1980

1980s

Ayers Rock is only a short flight away to the west and has now good facilities for jumpers - a sealed runway, clear drop zone and a bar and restaurant nearby. Our next trip out there is planned for winter. Some of the stations nearby often invite us out for jump-ins when they have something happening.

Great fun way to see different parts of the country.

RO report 1981: Since 1979, the club has really got its act together and is heading in the right direction. We are over the three month trial period from DoT (Department of Transport) for using Alice Springs Airport as our DZ. No major incidents to give them cause to reneg and we have been babying the DZ arrangement along by the book. Twenty of us use the DoT social club facilities. It’s also our packing area, with everything laid on - TV, pool, BBQ, bar, pool tables, toilets, air conditioning, a recreation room and lock up storage. Mike Goodwin arrived and now lives here. He has organised an accuracy pit. A vast area is cleared for jets around the DZ and there are no trees to speak of, all a ten minute drive from town.

Recent demos have included the Apex Camel Cup with Mike Ellis, Mike Goodwin and Eddie Smith as our demo team.

Drop zone at Alice Springs Airport

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64. Alice Springs Jumping

1982 The fourth NT Championships were held from 26/9 to 3/10/1982. RO reports: 1st place 8 way team was ‘Desert Heads and Sand Dunes’ from six teams; 1st 4 way team was ‘Time Out’ from 13 teams; 1st in Style went to Steve Chandler and 1st in Accuracy to Gary Myors with a score 0:00 cm, from 23 other competitors.

Tony Edwards Steps in In a bid to save the Club from extinction, Peter Degroute enlisted Tony Edwards, aircraft owner and Chief Instructor of the Twin City Skydivers in Albury, to act as chief instructor of the club. This enabled student training to take place and also provided the club with an aircraft.

Travelling to Meets LA: We had the NT Champs in Alice Springs in 1982. We had little Cessnas all the way from Perth and the Beaver came down from Darwin. It was a bit hard core then, sitting on the cold aluminium floor of a Cessna from one side of the country to the other, just to get to Alice Springs. People wouldn’t even consider doing it today. There was a lot of camaraderie and friendship that developed from it. We would do likewise.

There used to be a big meet in Wickham and we’d fly all the way from Alice Springs for it. We had a ball. Then we’d sit on rigs all day looking at the scenery flying back again.

From 1984 until 1987, Tony and fellow instructors, Herb Kaiserseder and Jim Phyllis, regularly flew to Alice Springs at about two monthly intervals to conduct student training for the club. TE: While Accelerated Freefall (AFF) training was available, we elected to remain with static line training in Alice Springs. The basis for this was that the initial training was limited to weekend visits and the club had insufficient AFF instructors to cater for the numbers of students typically enrolled. The main stalwarts of the club at the time were Peter Degroute, John Ayres, Rip, Erwin Chandler and Ray O’Leary.

My original intention in 1984 was only to serve as a temporary Chief Instructor to keep the club going until a suitably qualified instructor could be recruited to relocate to the Alice. This, however, didn’t happen until 1987, when Senior Instructor, Lou Armstrong, moved to Alice Springs and agreed to take over the role.

Jim Knox Jim Knox was Chief Instructor in 1982 but left Alice Springs to take up residence in Western Australia. The Alice Springs Sport Parachute Club, which had about eight active experienced members, then found itself without a chief instructor. The activities of the club were further compromised when Brian Ether, a long term member of the club and owner of the Cessna 182 that was used by the club, elected to sell the aircraft.

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64. Alice Springs Jumping

TE: During the 1980s, there were three tragic incidents.

An observer, lying on the floor of the parachuting aircraft, snagged the ripcord of the parachute he was wearing, resulting in him being pulled out through the side of the aircraft on approach to landing. The pilot fortunately was able to land the badly damaged aircraft. Tragically, the observer suffered permanent long term injuries.

Another accident occurred when one of the club’s experienced parachutist lost height awareness on a night jump and was killed. There was also a female student who died on her first static line jump. During the exit, she grabbed and clung onto the pilot chute as the parachute was trying to deploy. She failed to release it or enact emergency procedures during the descent.

Legal Action GC: I stopped mid-1980s when I had maybe 1,200 jumps. The thing that convinced me to give it up was when that kid got hurt in Alice, the guy from Tasmania who dragged out of the aeroplane and hit the tail plane and became a vegetable. He t-boned the tail plane on the runway while landing. I wasn’t even there. I wasn’t Chief Instructor at the time, but I got hauled in, not as an expert witness, but I was the one who appeared to have finances out of all the jumpers in the Territory. I had my own business and a wife and child when I got hauled into this. I thought, “No.” TC: I ended up as expert witness on it. Colin Holt was the expert witness for the prosecution and I was on the crown side. The judge said, “You blokes need to go and sort it out.

I don’t want to have an argument about it here in court.” I took Holty out and showed him how this young bloke was lying down on the floor of the aircraft and how it could pull the pin, the ripcord.

I actually demonstrated it happening in VH-KRH. So when it got back to court, he couldn’t say that it definitely couldn’t happen that way.

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1980s

1987 RO report 1987: Lou Armstrong writes a formal application to TC to be CI of Arid Zone Skydivers Inc. Alice Springs Skydiving is still at Alice Springs Airport.

RO 49: Bernie Chandler is recuperating in Darwin after badly breaking a leg while jumping in Alice Springs RO 51: Graeme Shea, Allan Bennett, Helen Grant, Jane Clifton, Roy Pritchett and Russ Mullay recently put together a 6 way over Ayres Rock.

RO 52: John McEvoy turned up at NT Champs at Alice Springs. Mike Ellis (ex Alice Springs) featured on national TV recently in a show called ‘The Territorians’.

65. Planes and Gear VH-KRH Forced Landing PA: We were going to height to do a jump. Anyway, we ran out of fuel and this pilot, who is a friend of ours, didn’t happen to tell us that we were about to run out of fuel. It didn’t happen to be high enough for us to get out of the aeroplane. And he also didn’t tell us that we were about to crash into the lake. He stuffed up the approach. Came in way too early to land. Came in way too fast. It was a hard landing that ripped off the nose gear. We were young and tough – we were fine. We just spent a couple of hours waiting for the helicopters to come and get us.

Strut Hanging Gone Wrong TC: One day, my reserve pin popped on the strut when we were upside down! I used to hang on the wing. I’d be last out at ten grand and I’d hang on the wing and Chris Ward, the pilot, would keel the aeroplane over. As the plane started to dive away, I’d let go. I’d stay in freefall with the plane.

We had done it a few times. A couple of times, I got stuck up under the wing. It just depended if the plane was going the right way and I’d stay there. This time, I’d got out and I was just hanging on and the plane was going around. All of a sudden, BANG! I thought, “What the f***’s gone on?”

I didn’t know. I was stopped. I looked up and there was canopy. I didn’t recognise that it wasn’t my canopy until I reached up to get the steering toggles. They were red and then I realized that it was my reserve, at 10,000 feet.

Wardy and I thought it happened from what we were doing, but as it turned out, it wasn’t. I sent the loop to get tested.

The loop had been sewn and it had a weak point where it had been double-bar tacked, where the loop goes through and is finger trapped back in. I have still the report about it.

We thought the jump may have exacerbated the problem but I don’t think it did. The lucky thing was that because the plane was pretty well inverted when the reserve fired, it missed the tailplane as it went past. CASA tested the loop because they had all the equipment to do it. They worked out that it would have failed eventually. I think PA sewed the loops differently after that. Wardy and I stopped doing those jumps for a while too! That was when Wardy was flying the first time, before he went to Western Australia.

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Parachute Disintegration GC: I won an Australia-wide competition selling rigs.

Whoever sold the most rigs got a brand new parachute from Parachutes Australia. So I go up and do a demo at East Point with the new parachute. Dave Opitz was on the ground and Trevor was on the load. I opened and Trev is there waving and I’m looking down thinking, “Yeh, it was a bit of a long spot!” Trevor is still waving his arms like crazy. I’m thinking, “Yeh Trev, good demo, we’ll make it!” He comes up really close under canopy and shouts, ”Cut away, cut away!” I shout back, “Who?” He shouts, “You!” I’m thinking, “Bullshit! Look how far out to sea we are! I’m not going to cut away. What for?” Trevor was in front of me by then and I turned a little bit to get away from him and the parachute went ‘shungck!’ “Holy shit!” I let the cable go – all was OK, no worries. So what’s going on here? Then I looked down and thought, “I’m not going to make it if I cut away. I’ve only got a round reserve. I’ll keep going.” I noticed that I was going down really fast.

I had heard about these things called in flight transfers.

So I am coming hurtling in on this demo and I’m just above the crowd, when I fire off the reserve. It comes out and the first thing it does is hit me in the feet. “Oh noo!”

Anyway, I’m kicking it out of the way and I’m sailing past all the people. Then, finally, it comes out and I chop the main away and virtually just landed straight away.

Dave Opitz comes over and he’s doing his nut, screaming at me, “You’re bloody banned! I’ll take your licence away!”

I said, “Dave, Dave, before you say anything else, go and have a look at the parachute!” “I’ve seen your parachute – there’s nothing wrong with it.” He reaches down and it was like pulling a bit of tissue. All the white material could be pulled apart. Underneath the canopy was all colours which was OK, but the top and sides were white and Trevor could see it coming apart on top, but I couldn’t. So Dave said, “All right then, you’re not grounded anymore, but you’re not doing any demos like that again!” I was terrified but the people loved it!

66. Cumo’s Near Miss TC: It was 1985 and we were still using fore and aft gear.

Steve Cummins was going up to do a 10 second delay and I think Mike Braun was putting him out. He ended up with a bag lock on the main. It was in front mounted reserve times and when he threw his reserve out, he threw it into a Mae West malfunction (line over). The photo of the reserve actually shows the Mae West. It means that he had very little canopy out.

big metal garbage bin that was there. You could even see his knee depressions in the ground and the reserve hanging out.

Bill Harry and I went to find him. In fact, I had to convince Bill to jump in the car because Bill thought that Steve was dead. I said, “Come on, Bill!” We used to operate at the Cross Strip at Batchelor and it looked like he had gone in, in town. So we raced across the strip in my HR and out through the back, where the drop zone is now. We drove around until we saw the canopy in the street. We thought, “He has gone in because he couldn’t have survived with just the reserve out.” But when he got near the ground, he was trying to get the main out and he couldn’t. Anyway, we pulled up looking for the body and there was no one in the harness. I was looking around and Cumo came up and tapped me on the back and I shit myself.

I said to Michael, “Cumo is going for another load.” Michael said, “No, no, this load is full!”

And I said, “Get out of the aeroplane!” because I remember when I had a mal, Brian Murphy walked up to me, unclipped the front mounted reserve, clipped on another one and said to get in the plane, we’re going for another jump! So I unloaded the plane, took Cumo up and he did a really good delay. He jumped for a long time after that actually.

1980s

He wasn’t injured at all – that’s him standing there in the photo. I drove him back to the drop zone and Mike Braun was Chief Instructor and I was Senior Instructor then too.

It took us a while to work out what had actually happened, but when you look at the photo, you can see that what saved his life. As he was heading for the deck, because some of the lines were out of the bag and because it was a big old T10, the lines and the bag had snagged on the cross arm of the power pole. It only just caught the cross arm by about a foot and snagged on the insulators. He just had enough line stretch to not hit the ground. He was so lucky because as he swung through, he missed the trailer and a Right: Cumo at left displaying his reserve.

Born to be Alive, Sky High Express: An incredible sequence of events last Sunday resulted in the luckiest escape seen on any drop zone in a long time. Look at the freak events which occurred step by step.

1. Unable to find a floating ripcord, not entirely unusual for a student 2. Reserve Mae West; the apex was through the lines and a modification – how could it get like that?

3. Jumping fore/aft gear with 35 ft Cheapo meant that cut away was not used. How fortunate, he still had a canopy ... in reserve (excuse the pun) 4. Coming down so close to power lines is hair raising enough – what a freak he landed close enough to get snagged yet avoid getting burnt.

5. He missed a steel box trailer by inches.

6. The lines snagged far enough up to pull him up only inches from the ground.

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67. Caribou Jumps

1980s

TC: Linda Corbould would organise the Caribou and I’d organise the loads. We did a few loads over a couple of years.

We did some at Coonawarra, Berrimah and some on the field as well, which was a bit funny because I had no authority to do anything but I just sort of mixed in. I didn’t stand out at all in my red jumpsuit among the camouflage equipment!

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68. Indonesian Jumpers

Above: The Indonesians listen carefully to Chris Bramhill.

The Indonesians were well known at the Katherine Rel Weeks as well as other competitions around Australia. Robbie, Jasmine, Alfred, Christian and Theo Mandagi regularly visited Australia to jump.

John James recounts how it all started: “We went to Indonesia in 1982 and represented Australia in 4 way rel work and CRW. It was at Bagore, about 70km out of Jakarta. We went over on spec and met Robbie Mandagi, the ‘165 skydiver’ because they were all 165 cm tall! There was myself, John Cook, John Heap and Cathy Hannant and we found ourselves representing Australia! All the Asian countries were there and we marched out as part of the teams.

President Soharto came and addressed us all. He did a jump - a hop ‘n pop boy. I’ve got a photo of Alan in the tent, surrounded by all the Indonesian generals and President Soharto. We won most of the events but they only let us win a ‘couple’ as part of protocol.

We invited them to Rel Week the following year.

We met Skip, who was an ex-pat from America jumping there. He brought the first tandem rig over and Louie was the first tandem passenger on the first jump in Australia. They were all sons of generals.

We asked everyone in that group what they did for a living and they said that they were arms dealers.

RO report 1984: The Indonesians, part Army and part civilian, each did nearly forty jumps, with more to follow on their way home via Batchelor DZ. I know Robbie and Jasmine Mandagi, Boyke, Sudiman and the others all had a great time. We enjoyed having them and we look forward to their next visit. Probably the most spectacular CRW jump was a 4 stack videoed by Phil Allen. You haven’t seen a stack collapse until you’ve seen the coverage of this one. The Indonesian Consulate was even there to witness the wrap and resultant three cut aways. Nice one guys!

“There was a big group of Indonesians at Rel Week.

I can remember Jasmine doing bipole 16 ways with Chris Bramhill and Jasmine flying into the last backin slot – Whack!”

JC: The cook at that Rel Week was a shearer’s cook. So you’ve got twenty Indonesians and I’m try to help them a bit at the drop zone. They cooked up a feed at the DZ. They’re Muslims and can’t eat that shit and they said, “Just cook us some rice.” So the big shearer’s cook said, “Oh, orright. I’ll just cook ‘em some rice.” Twenty minutes later, he says the rice is ready. He says, “It was a bit boring so I spiced it up with some ham through it!” The Indonesians asked if they could borrow a car and go into town. The funniest thing was they would never stay at Manbulloo after that.

Robbie, Alfred and Chris were killed in 1986 when their Piper Navajo crashed minutes after take-off, during a training session near Tangerang, 30km southwest of Jakarta. All eleven skydivers on board were killed in the accident, including three other Indonesian skydivers, four foreign skydivers and their pilot.

Jasmine Mandagi, who survived her husband Robbie, continues to jump. Theo, Robbie’s brother, also continued to jump until 2004 when he was killed in a parachuting accident. Theo had just completed a successful 103 way jump from a C-130 organised

by B.J. Worth on the 59th year of Indonesian Independence.

Neither parachute was deployed.

Theo’s wife, Sri Tjiptowati Sugiandono (Utji), was the first civilian Indonesian woman to jump from a DC3 in 1971, when she was a 20 year old university student. She made 15 freefall jumps despite her military family’s trepidation. In 2006, Utji was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Skydiving by the National Sports Committee, on behalf of the all Mandagi family.

Theo and Utji had two children, Pingkan and Petra who have also become competent skydivers in their own right and regularly win competitions around the country. Pingkan joined the Training and Education Parachuting Air Force Federation at 17, trained using AFF and had 1,800 jumps by 2011. She continues to jump, as does her husband, Budiman Muhammed, and they now have two young children. The Mandagi legacy continues.

Pingkan Mandagi

120

JJ: It was Father’s Day, 1987. We were jumping at Batchelor; four of us were going up to do a rotations jump. I was jumping a Fury. There were three others on the jump – one was a South African in Darwin on a holiday visa, there was John Cook, and the last one was Linda Corbould. It was last light and we were going up for the last load of the day. We jumped in the plane and as we were going down the runway, I looked down at my old Racer and realised that Ray O’Leary had borrowed my hook knife and I didn’t have it. It wasn’t compulsory to have it then but it was sensible.

We got out at 8,500 feet, and all linked up, no problems.

Linda did a rotation off first, then John did a rotation. We hadn’t realised that John had borrowed a canopy which wasn’t suited to his weight with our canopies. He went to do his rotation and his canopy stalled. He came flying back through and his legs just missed my head and he went right through my lines. I was second in the stack. In a microsecond, three of us were wrapped - Cookie, myself and the South African fellow. It was 1, 2, 3. I was in the middle, the South African guy was on my right and Cookie on my left. We were wrapped and spinning. We all looked at each other and the South African fellow cut away. Off he went. Cookie said, “I’m off!” Off he went. I was left with the canopies all over me. I cut away – nothing! Everything was still there! By that time, I had three canopies still spinning, pulling big Gs. The lines of the three canopies were coming down, twisting behind my neck in a bunch, forcing my head down. If I had

a hook knife, I could have tried to do something, as I had enough height. I was still at about 6,000 feet. On my way down I just tried to untwist myself a bit, which wasn’t successful. I tried to get lines off but it was all just too tight. The Gs meant I could hardly lift my arms up. That’s how fast I was spinning.

At about 3,500 feet, I thought I’d just try and get my reserve out anyway. I had nothing to lose.

I pulled my reserve and nothing happened. All the lines were holding the reserve pilot chute in.

I leaned over and grabbed the pilot chute, pulled it out a bit and let it go. It still just sat there flopping around because the lines were holding the reserve canopy in. So then I reached out and pulled the reserve pilot chute again, the bridle and then got to the canopy. I threw that out a bit but still nothing really happened. I ended up pulling most of the canopy and lines out and tried to throw it out into open air.

As the canopy was coming out, it started to snake up into the other lines. I had about two or three attempts and ended up pulling it back in as soon as I saw it snaking into the other lines. Finally, I got it out and it opened. That was at about two and a half thousand feet. I said, “Thank God for that!”

It opened for probably five seconds and then just wrapped with everything else (laughs) and basically that’s how I went the rest of the way, spinning. As I was going down, I was looking to see where I was going to hit. I was hoping that I was going to hit one of the trees, north of Batchelor, which was along the road to old Rum Jungle Mine.

I missed the trees but as I was going through them, I said to myself, “Relax, just relax.” I just let my body go totally loose and I smashed into the ground but hit right down one side. I was spinning and hit virtually in a perfect PLF, except I didn’t hit with my feet. The whole impact was distributed over one side of my body.

It didn’t knock me out. I lay there and I knew I was badly injured because I couldn’t breathe. I said, “Holy shit, I’m alive!” One of my lungs had burst on impact. The only other injury was bent cartilage around my ribs where I hit a stump.

Nothing else, nothing broken, no blood, not a cut.

Linda was spiralling next to me for part of the time but couldn’t keep up with my spinning. She was yelling, “Get your reserve out!” I yelled back, “I’m trying to!” She landed next to me and asked me how I was. I said I thought I was pretty badly injured, I couldn’t breathe. (continued next page)

121

1980s

69. Canopy Wrap

70. Batchelor Near Misses (Canopy Wrap continued) TC and Alan, my brother who was the pilot that day, came in a car. We got an ambulance and off I went to hospital.

That night they cracked my rib cage open and put a half inch water pipe in there to drain all the air off the surface of my lung to let it reinflate. I was back skydiving three weeks later. I was a very lucky bastard! I never jumped again without a hook knife, I can tell you!

My partner, Sarah, was on the ground, pregnant with our first child watching it through the telemeters. Mum was also there watching. She said, “Are they supposed to be going that fast?” All Sarah could think of was that it was Father’s Day and the child was not likely to have a Father.

In hindsight, I could possibly have gotten out of it with a hook knife. It would have been hard work.

The Star Picket Award TC: This was an award given in the 1980s for someone who landed on, or deserved to land on, a star picket. Colin Haines was the first to get it. He was the one whose leg strap I did up in freefall.

Mystery Tours TC: The main place we used to go mystery touring was the stromatolites off the main road between Batchelor and Darwin. There were these beautiful caves that used to be underwater, it was all seabed millions of years ago, all submarine caves, so you can see all the little animals. We used to go in there with lights on and when you shine the torch on the walls, you can see all the small hermit crab-type things and other microscopic sea life. It shines like quartz in torch light. There’s a big boom gate across it now so you can’t go in. It’s on the drop zone side of Crater Lake turnoff, to the left. The only other place where stromatolites are found in Australia, is in Western Australia. That was always a favourite mystery tour place.

The HR used to lead a few mystery tours. We used to have a lot of fun. One night, Peaches had a croc jump out at him. He was going across a crossing to see how deep it was and I don’t think his feet touched the ground again until he was on dry land again! This was out in the boonies.

Another time, Crazy Carl and Dan had a Landrover and everyone was hanging off it. It went round the corner and Carl’s girlfriend at the time, fell off and hit her head. They were really lucky because Kaz, a nurse, was in the car. The girl was bleeding from the head, from the ears – it was a pretty nasty one. They got the car going and got back to town to get the cops and the ambulance, but it then took forever to find them again. They reckon that if Kaz hadn’t had stayed with her and kept her lucid and conscious and kept her airway open, she would have died.

There was a day mystery tour once with me, Normy, Wendy and Dave Witter. I was sitting in the Kombi in the middle between the two seats on an esky. We were going

backwards and Dave backed into a big magnetic termite mound. I got thrown backwards and one of the picks from his plumbing business stood up in the back of the Kombi.

I went backwards and it came up between up between my arm and my chest as I fell. Normie said, “Bloody lucky there, Chief!” I had blood everywhere though. It’s all on video. That’s the day where I’m standing at the back of the Kombi saying, “It’s all a f*** and we’ll try again tomorrow!”

F***! No Christmas Presents!

TC: Cathy Hannant was on the load. I put a student out on static line, so it was the mid 1980s. Because we had leg strap throwaways then, I pushed the orange knob of the throwaway right into the pouch so the static line couldn’t catch on it. On this jump, I had forgotten to pull it back out. We went out and did this load, a 3 or 4 way, which went well until break off. I went to pull but couldn’t find it because it was securely tucked away. Eventually, I pulled the shiny bit (reserve handle), but I kept going! I thought, “What’s going on?” I was looking around for a pilot chute and canopy. I had all the handles in my hand. I started punching the reserve pack tray and I’ve looked down. It was 24th December and I’ve thought, “Oh f***, no Christmas presents!” I kept punching the back of the rig and didn’t think to go back to the main. I finally got opening shock.

I looked up, grabbed the steering toggles and then looked down and saw it was time to flare. I’ve flared and landed.

Unbeknown to me, the whole drop zone was on its feet and headed to pick up the bounce. I landed pretty well spot on the edge of the student pit, so if I had bounced I would have bounced on target! By the time they got to me, I hadn’t moved, as I was still overwhelmed by it all. Rob Tilling said, “Jesus, Chief! That was pretty close!” From back at the packing shed, they had seen me go through the trees in freefall. He said, “I’ll go and find your free bag.” I said, “Don’t worry about it.” I walked a few feet and just picked it up. They realised then how close it was. We then opened the bar (yet again!)

The reason it delayed was because there was a problem with the early Talons. The reserve pilot chute would jump sideways in the pack tray and lock in, so instead of coming out as it was supposed to, it would curve over and stay in the pack tray. It had already happened in America, but no one had told us. So they changed the size of the base of the pilot chute to be bigger.

122

TC: Steve Renshaw (Taddy) was part of a team training for a four way comp. His reserve popped in the ‘V’ of the aircraft, which was a similar incident to Kirby from Western Australia, hence named the ‘Kirby/Renshaw slot’. In photos of Taddy’s incident, you can see all the severed lines of the reserve. That’s his body imprint on the leading edge of the wing, where he has dented it back to the main spar. His reserve went over the wing and dragged him with it. He got jammed there for a bit. He was wearing a Classifier and it had a metal plate in the flap where the reserve pins were. That was the thing that saved his life - it stopped him from snapping his neck on the wing. Because the reserve had opened, it yawed the plane right over, and because the plane went upside down, he was pulled through the gap and missed the tail. We think he must have been really close to hitting the main tail fin.

The other guys went past him in freefall because he had all the canopy dragging, so he was going slower. But then, under canopy, he caught up with them and went past them. They thought he had bounced but he was doing a spinner. That has saved so many people – because they are spinning and clip the ground on an angle rather than hitting vertically. The main was still in the container and he came to in freefall after being knocked out, and saw the shredded reserve. He reached around and grabbed the bunny tail, grabbed the bag, pulled the lines off the bag and hand deployed the main canopy, which was a square. He thought, “Thank God for that!” As it started to open, it looked really good but when he went through the wing, we think his cut away pad had been torn off with the cables.

It was never found. Just as he thought all was OK, it cut away. One steering toggle of the main tangled with the reserve which started the spin. That’s what saved his life.

It was just enough inflation of the main spinning to get him down. He hit and skipped about ten feet on the drop zone at the student pit, right beside the edge of the trees.

He then bounced into a tree backwards and was lying against the tree, when Vic found him. Vic thought he was dead and walked up tentatively. Just as he got near him, Taddy let out this unearthly belch. He had obviously been really badly winded. Then he started to breathe. They kept him in hospital for three days but he was fine. He was another one who walked back onto the drop zone and I said, “Gidday, Taddy, let’s go for a jump!” He said, “No, I’m right.” And I said, “Let’s go for a jump, mate!” So I took him for a jump – Brian Murphy had taught me well.

I got into big trouble from CASA because I just filled the dent in the plane with styrofoam and gaffer-taped it up, so it looked like a normal wing. It was me, Wardy and Geoff who flew it back to Darwin. The worst that could have happened was the wing could have fallen off, so we all had rigs on when we flew back.

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1980s

71. Kirby / Renshaw Slot

72. Australia’s First Tandem LA: It was illegal! Skip brought a tandem rig over from Indonesia in 1983. He and Robbie Mandagi actually stayed at my place in Leanyer, Darwin, and they had all this gear stacked in the lounge room. Robbie said to me, “Have a look at this!” He pulled this rig out and I said, “My God, it’s a huge rig! What the hell is it?” He said, “It’s called a tandem rig.” I said, “Really? I’ve heard of it. What does it do?” “It takes two people up.” “Really!” This was in the days when there was no drogue, only a bunnytail.

TC: I did a jump with Skip as well at Batchelor, but Skip wouldn’t let me pull until two and a half, so I was shitting myself!

LA: That night was a Friday night and we were going to fly down in the DC3 the next morning. Skip said, “Why don’t I take you on a jump with it tomorrow?” I was like, “No way, I’m not getting on the front of that! I will not do it!”

I slept on it overnight and in the morning, I thought it was a pretty good opportunity and Skip has a lot of jumps. So I said, “Yeh, I’ll take you up on the offer.” I remember clearly walking up to the door with no rig on and Skip hooking me up. There was no drogue, so nobody could stay with it. I remember seeing Paul Osborne on that load, who was the most experienced. He was in a head down dive trying to keep up with it. I was thinking, “We are going so fast! When Skip pulls the ripcord on this thing, it’s gonna hurt big time!” But it didn’t. The rigs were designed for way past terminal velocity and they opened very slowly and smoothly. It was a very comfortable experience. It was great!

TC: I remember some bloke called Rick Collins rang me up as ASO (Area Safety Officer) and I got into the shit, big time! He said it’s really unsafe and I said, “Sorry, I’ve done one too so...” He ripped it up me! It would have been within a year or two of the Booth visit to the Mt Isa conference, when he brought a tandem rig over and the first official ratings were given.

LA: I remember coming down under canopy with Skip at Manbulloo and the Australian Army was on the ground doing exercises. Their armoured vehicles were all around the place and we gave them a hell of a surprise because I didn’t even see them until we were about to flare and land. They were well camouflaged.

TC: You’d be landing under canopy and people would pop up everywhere. You’d land beside them and go, “Gidday mate!” And they’d stay at their gun and pretend you were not there.

DB: Lou brought a tandem rig over and did tandems. Paul and I followed that load out. It came from Darwin in a DC3.

It was a non-drogue tandem and the instructor’s name was Skip and I can remember Osborne and I head down in front of Skip. I reckon we were the first head down in Australia following a non-drogue tandem!!

124

73. John Cook as CI Stop ringing me every weekend!

You don’t have to report in!” About a month later, he rang me and said, “You can report in occasionally!”

We had a great little team then, so I could be in the classroom and we had three of the instructors living at Batchelor so they could start the students off on a Saturday morning.

We were also a four way team.

There was only one in Australia. The next weekend, TC turned up and I had a bit of money. I was cashed up from working out bush, working on Johnny’s farm. I said, “How about we go halves in a tandem rig, mate?” He came back the next week and said he’d had a talk with Geoff and said, “Yes we will.” So we got a tandem rig and that was pretty good in those days. I was pretty impressed – he went and saw Osborne, jumped in his car with Al. TC got his rating on his fourth tandem jump, after a chop with Alison. He got quizzed a bit, “What were you chopping for?” “Because it was spiralling mate!” TC came back up and I got my rating five jumps later. So I was AFF and tandem rated then!

I remember TC, Donna and I sitting down drinking a bottle of rum and working out how to target women. We used to target the university girls during their Orientation Week. All of a sudden, there were all these university girls at the drop zone in their little outfits and our population of males on the drop zone increased by about 100%! We realized that in the 1990s.

There was just TC and I as instructors. I always loved Geoff Cowie. Occasionally, he would come and babysit me. He was also a great instructor. TC would train the students, do the static line course and then say, “They’re yours!” I’d do the AFF and then we’d jump them together.

We were a little club and I remember that six was the best we did in one day. We’d do fun jumps from VH-KRH, in between the student loads. We just worked as hard as we could. Within a year or two, we were pretty lucky to have developed a good crew of instructors. They included Donna, Sally Bushell, Stubbsy, Rob Tilling. There were a few interesting ones along the way.

By then Trevor had left me alone to do a lot of the training, which was really good for a young Instructor B. I can remember Trevor saying, “You’re going really good mate.

125

1980s

JC: I was only in Darwin for three years. Once Trevor and I got rolling with AFF, we then got busy with tandems. I remember being pretty nervous as a young jumper. Paul Osborne came up and a bunch of us got our tandem ratings. It was around about the time when Trevor got a tandem rig.

Our four way team was me, Stubbsy, Donna and Johnny James. Chris Ward was the pilot. Sally Bushell started out with the team but went on a team with JJ. We would be doing the instructing. TC would be looking after demos in Darwin. I had TC’s trust to run the DZ. I think we were lucky to have a couple of lady instructors.

126

74. Bali and Lombok TC: We did the Bali Boogie in 1989 and Lombok in 1991. I think we did something like 12,000 jumps in 12 days in Bali from Stretch C130s and Casas. The C130s fit 180 people and there were 750 jumpers from all over, including Americans, as well as many Europeans.

Both Bali and Lombok were American organised. A lot of NT jumpers went to both of them. At Bali, we were jumping on the main airport at Denpasar and there were three C130s flying. There were some interesting jumps. Barry Lewis will never be allowed on the tailgate of a C130 again! They just walked out and went too early and landed among the jets on the tarmac, instead of landing on the other side of the airport. It went down really badly with the Indonesians and the whole operation got shut down. Harry O, an American, was spotting and I was crowd control on the load. They were doing a 10 way or something. There is a hinge where the tail gate opens. I called them back to the hinge, but they just went straight to the gate and exited! We couldn’t get out and stop them fast enough.

I said, “Come to the hinge,” but they just kept going.

Everyone was worried about getting out over the water on the other side, because it was pretty narrow.

We didn’t do lots of big formations. I think 82 was the biggest we did. It probably could have been bigger but the Indonesians all insisted on being on it.

Robin O’Neil We were being paid in American dollars and were getting US$70 per jump in 1989 doing tandems into Denpasar at the main airport. So I used to lurk off the spotting and go and do the tandems! I found this little Indonesian guy from the army who was a packer and he was sitting there, watching me intently. I said, “You like?” He said, “I pack!” He packed for me and

1980s

I was load mastering as well as spotting and doing tandems with Graham Hill from Sydney Skydivers.

He and I used to always get the cheap end, as far as tandems were concerned. BJ Worth would always stroll up and there would always be some little spunk waiting who was about 5 foot tall and drop dead gorgeous, whereas Hilly and I would always have some ugly 6 foot 6 tourist to hang off the front of us. We never seemed to get the good lookers that the Americans did! Lombok was also good. Paul Osborne worked with us at Lombok as well.

I was paying him US$5 per pack. He was in heaven.

I would land and he would run around and be off to pack. Robin complained about being short paid one day. He had accidently been given US$1 instead of a five because they are all the same size. He complained to Ray Ferrell, the packer, “Cheap skate!” The next day he paid Robin in Rupiah! He had done 7 or 8 jumps so there was about $US500 worth and it was all in rupiah! It was a big bag of money and Ray said in his American accent, “Goddamn count every one because they’re all there!” It was so funny watching Robin walk out with this big bag of rupiah!

Tutors from Bali We met John Robbins at the 1989 Bali Boogie and Lee decided to invite them to Rel Week as tutors, so four guys came. They were the guys that were on the Seoul Olympics jump. It was a hot skydive. They came to Rel Week with those rigs.

127

128

75. Early Flag Jumps TC: I’ve always enjoyed showing the public what we can do. I’ve done some big flag jumps over the years. I started jumping with the Australian flag – being patriotic.

I did Australian flag jumps in the 1980s but my first big flag jump was a pennantshaped one, into Gardens Oval at night, for the first Arafura Games. It would probably not be legal now. We had Arafura colours and we built it out of whatever material we found. I just stuffed it into a big bag and threw it out with a big chunk of diver’s lead on the bottom of it. The crowd was impressed. At the time, I think it really spun people out because Garden’s Oval was not as big as the stadium at Marrara.

of airspeed. Once I could feel a bit of drag on the drogue, I pulled the release and it opened – I think it was pretty low. All the other guys looked pretty cool because they did a four way and opened lower than me. Anyway I got out, lived and landed, so it was pretty cool.

Then this bloke called Benson came along and thought he had invented it, but we had been doing them for years. What he did do really well though, was big flags with light material – taffeta and nylon – and he had purpose built equipment. I did the first jumps into the V8s with Dave in 1998. He never liked the idea that I had been doing them for a long time before! Dave and his son, Rod did many flag jumps into the V8s each year until 2010.

They also jumped flags into the Finke Desert Race and other significant Territory events. Rod’s spectacular photography has done much to promote Territory jumping over these years.

1980s

Initially, we were trying to jump flags in freefall and that was really hard work. So I figured - why not jump with them and deploy them when we were open? I was keen on accuracy in those days and owned a Para-Foil. So it wasn’t any big deal to have a flag and a bit of lead under it. The first really big flag I jumped was the Australian Flag in 1988 for the Bicentennial. It went out nationally on TV. It was at the Casino on Australia Day. There were events all around Australia but that was the only publicity from Darwin. It had national coverage.

We did a jump at Garden’s Oval from 4,000 feet and it would have been late 1980s because I was doing tandems then and I wore the tandem rig. I put a shit load of diver’s weights on the bottom of this big Foster’s flag, which was probably about 7-800 square feet. It was at least 15–20 kg of lead and the flag was real flag material, not lightweight material, so it was really bulky. I had it in one of the really old square containers that used to be on your back – it was as dodgy as could be and I wore it on the front. I was spotting and then I climbed out at 4,000 feet. There was Cookie, Donna, Stubbsie and I forget who the fourth one was - they were going to do a four way and I was peaking a bit because I had to throw the drogue. Cookie leaned out and said, “Not f***en scared are you, Chief?” I replied, “No worries, Cookie!” I let go and pitched the drogue. I could feel the drogue being really lazy and I got a bit

129

76. Rel Weeks End at Manbulloo

1993 was the last Rel Week in Katherine and a decision was made to transfer Rel Week to Batchelor for the 1994 Rel Week. Numbers of club members in Katherine had dwindled substantially and Darwin had a much stronger club to continue the Rel Week tradition. It also meant that interstate jumpers could now fly commercially to Darwin and be at the drop zone in an hour!

JC: One time, I was rear float, when I had about 40 or 50 jumps, and Chris Bramhill would put his right leg into me .... he was just a nice bloke. There was Paul Osborne who would look after us. And Ray Palmer was really good then. Palmer really looked after the babies. There was Leonie Ivanins who was the best at looking after the ‘B’ rellers for several years and Ray took them from there. Palmer just looked after all that mob and passed on such enthusiasm. In 1985 – 1990ish, they were the big players. Paul Osborne was there since the early 1980s.

Rel Week 1987

130

77. Manbulloo Rel Weeks Summary Year

Planes

Tutors

1977

182 & 206

1978

182 & 206

Dave McEvoy, Ron Law, Peter 4 ways, attempted 10 way, 9 in Barnett

Highlights

1979

3 x 182s Beaver

Dave McEvoy, Peter Nobbs, Geoff Noticeable improvement in jumps - 4, 5, 8, 10 way Holmes successful, 11 way attempted Dave McEvoy

Consistent successful 8 ways

206 & 402

Dave McEvoy, Peter Nobbs

14 way – NT Record

1982

182 & Navaho

1983

182 & Navaho

Ian Lawrence, Paul Osborne, Vere Side-by-side at night by Greg Wright and Glen Oakey Burr

1984

DC3: VH-CAN John James (CRW) Others un- Twin Beech tail stall Twin Beech 4 known Consistent 4, 8, 12, 16 rel jumps Cessnas 14 visiting Indonesians jumpers

1981

182 & Navaho

1985

Greg Hill, Ian Swinbourne, Greg Most 12 ways successful Giles (USA)

Chris Bramhill, Paul Osborne, 21 formation record, 12 ways, 14 plane CRW, Paul Flipo (CRW), Digger Flood, Night Accuracy with 30 participants: 1st-Russell Leonie Ivanins (students) Lee, 2nd-Gun, 3rd-Robbie Mandagi

DC3: VH-CAN

1986

Unknown

Unknown

DC3: VH-CAN + Chris Bramhill, Paul Osborne, 10th Rel Week 16, 20, 24 Rel jumps 42 way attempt in-flight door Paul Flipo (CRW), Digger Flood, with 38 achieved, 12 way NT girl record Leonie Ivanins (students)

1987

DC3: VH-CAN + Chris Bramhill, Paul Osborne, Unknown in-flight door Paul Flipo (CRW), Digger Flood, Leonie Ivanins (students)

1988

Twin Otter Lock- Paul Osborne, Chris Bramhill, heed Electra Ray Palmer, Peter Bambach, Brent Cameron (CRW), Leonie Ivanins (students)

Smaller loads: 6, 8, 12 ways with more sequential Spandex jumpsuits 4 x 16 way scrambles teams, achieving 3 points Larger ways later in week, including 24 way

1989

Twin Otter

Unknown

Unknown

1991

Casa

1992

Shorts 360 2x 402s

Paul Osborne, John Stewart, 1,000th jump for Greg Wright, Peter Redshaw, Chook Norsworthy, Ray Palmer, John McMahon, 1,500th for Mark Brody, 4,000th Rob Paley for Steve Whalan was a 9 way turned 9 points, Steve completed one hour of freefall time in the week, 30 way attempt, Night Accuracy, ‘Tree trimming’ pilot

1990

Twin Otter

1993

US tutors, Paul Osborne, Ray Peter Vaughan organised nude 24 way, 23 in 24 Palmer, Steve Whalan, Rob Paley, night dive record 20 Otter loads in one day 24 way Steve Haines for Rick Weisse 1,000th jump – canopy collision on opening “Fat” load

Nomads

3000

Not mentioned

Peter Vaughan’s 3,000th jump

Unknown

Unknown

Number of people

Number of jumps

2750

225

2500 2250

200

2000

175

1750

150

1500

125

1250

100

1000 750

75

500

50

250 0 1980

25 1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

0 1980

1993

131

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1990s

1980

78. NT Students Air Cadets at Batchelor 801 Darwin, 802 Palmerston and 803 Katherine are the Air Cadet squadrons in the NT. Cadets of both sexes can join when they are 13 and can participate in a range of air sports and military pursuits until they are 19.

TC: The cadet jumping was strong for quite a few years in the 1990s and 2000s. We used to do a special deal with the cadets. The first jump was a static line because of the restriction in their manual. They had to do six or seven freefalls to get their wings. Craig MacPherson and I were working together and said that we needed to put these kids through AFF. He said that they needed to do the freefall for their badge. I said they were getting their freefall but he said there were people hanging onto them. So what we agreed was that if they got a release on Stage 3, they’d get their wings and Stage 1 had to be done on tandem, so they could practise dummy pulls. It ended up being very successful. Cookie and I did most of it and they were great students. What happened then was the national people wouldn’t approve us doing that, so Craig and I sat down and wrote a national manual for the cadets. We had just gotten a brand new student rig at Batchelor and they were having a national RAAF Air Cadets conference. I wandered into their conference with the rig and showed them how the rig worked, including the FXC (automatic opener). They were impressed, and Craig and I were able to finalise the manual. That was what is now in place nationally. There was a problem with cadets down south. A guy was killed at Bridgewater and a girl was badly hurt in Tasmania, so it was stopped for a long time. I don’t think it ever really started again after that.

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Cadet Corporal Melody Jackson, 1995 report: Once again I sat in the aircraft as it climbed to 10,000 feet. This time I was ready to jump, not at all scared or nervous, just excited at the thought of falling 6,000 feet in 35 seconds and preparing for the 3-5 minute canopy ride. The jump and landing gave me an incredible feeling. The landing was smooth although I landed on my bottom, but nevertheless, I still landed!

78. NT Students

From Ass to Class: Alice Spring Tandems LA: TC gave me my tandem rating one Rel Week and I started a tandem operation in Alice Springs for the first time down there, got it going. I approached the NT Tourism Commission to promote it to visitors. They said they needed to know more about it, so I said “Come out and do a jump!” I picked them up in the little Mitsubishi eight-seater. I took this girl out there, did the training, took her up, did the jump, landed and took her back to town. They said they were so impressed by the operation, as well as the experience itself, that they waived the accreditation process that tour operators normally go through and promoted us on their website straight away.

Soon after, they had a conference in Alice Springs for the Tourism Commission and they brought all these directors from different parts of the world. The different tour operators were allocated ten minute presentations but, because skydiving was a bit different from the others, they let the presentation roll into half an hour.

After that, they had us posted as a highlight in all their worldwide networks. That all came from APF members knowing what they were doing and doing it well enough to impress people such as the NT Tourism Commission.

There was a big difference between the ‘blue skies, black death’ mentality of skydivers in the 1980s and a more professional image of skydiving for the public in the 1990s. ‘Blue skies, black death’ was great for jumpers, but it was not appropriate for the general public.

There was an evolutionary process, where people took it from the days where we had a ball and got away with blue murder, to mainstream. Being more professional opened it up to the world.

Mining Students TC: In the early 1990s, gold was going off at the mine, Cosmo-Howley, near Hayes Creek. It was a bit of a boom time with jumping because there were lots of young blokes, with lots of money in their pockets and nothing to do on weekends. Donna, Cookie, TC and Ray O’Leary did lots of training with these guys. We were as busy as. We even had a t-shirt at one stage, called the ‘Cosmonauts’ because that was the mine that these guys worked at. It’s likely to be the same story with Inpex in Darwin.

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1990s

Lou Armstrong with tandem passenger

Pine Gap Jumpers LA: In Alice Springs, we used to train people from Pine Gap. An older guy came out and he was a military high-ranking officer from Pine Gap. He had a lot to do with security and he put himself on a first jump course. He only did the one jump and never came back. He had actually come out to check that we were all right. They had to screen us because they had a lot of young guys that wanted to come out. Before that, he had to do a jump and satisfy their requirements. Then the young guys came out and jumped. I stayed in touch with some of them for years and visited them in the States, years later. They would come out in groups of six or so. We trained quite a few of them, but they all moved on after one or two years. A couple continued jumping backing in the States.

79. Alice Springs Winds Down

1992: RO report: Ray O’Leary became CI of ‘Centre Freefall’ and leased the old clubhouse, situated at the western end of the airport on the Old South Road, for three years, and a Cessna 182 for a year. The operation was mobile by the middle of October 1992. Cookie brought his tandem rig down from Darwin on the way to the Grand Prix and did a couple of jumps to start the ball rolling. Geoff Blundell and myself (Ray O’Leary) acquired a Vector Tandem, then Ralph Ford turned up and we got stuck into AFF and tandem.

12 months later: RO report: It’s been twelve months since Geoff and I gave Alice Springs another start. It has been challenging to say the least. The hot weather has returned with 390 yesterday and a predicted 410 today. This means early starts before the winds and the ‘willy-willys’ play havoc from mid-morning to late afternoon. Building up a remote drop zone with secondhand equipment keeps my rigging skills current; we are mainly using 7 cells, with 9 cells just beginning to make a show. There are quite a few bush jumpers from the resorts and communities.

1995: RO report, Milton Kirkman (pictured) and Tony Schreck: Alice Springs Skydivers are back in the air again after a long eight months without a plane.

We are now jumping again at our new DZ, 25km north of Alice Springs, at Bond Springs Airfield. Any CI out there looking for a DZ with blue skies 360 days a year, please call us! TC acted as CI at this time.

Post 1995: Unfortunately, there seems to have been no more action in Alice. There have been various tandem masters fly in - fly out, with temporary operations, but there has been no substantial operation for many years.

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Alice Springs Jumpers GC: Croc was a bit of a character and did his first jump in Alice Springs. So did Ray O’Leary – both those guys stayed in the sport for a number of years.

There was Greg Crow and his brother, one of the brother recently passed away. There was Sandy Duncan; Robyn Wawn was already jumping when in Alice Springs. She was a die-hard actually and a jumpmaster. She and I used to help out. Peter Ellis, Peter De Groote and Slim Rosier started in Alice Springs. Gary Rosier is still in Alice Springs, although Slim passed away a few years ago. Eddie Smith was always the stalwart. He’s been around longer than anyone. I hold him in high regard, have a lot of respect for him. There was John Cornell and an American-Irish guy, named John, as well. He did an intentional cutaway just to see what a reserve ride was like.

Remembering ‘Rip’ TC: He was a good bloke who had an accident in Alice Springs.

It was a night jump and they all dumped really low. When Rip went in, it took a while for everyone to walk back so they all opened where the spot was.

Remembering Tony Muscat GG: Tony Muscat used to work for Commonwealth before Peter Herden took over from him. He died in 2002, in a motorised flying glider at Renner Springs.

ES: The wind came up, he hit turbulence, went down and hit a tree. It was a dead tree and didn’t bend. The glider wasn’t badly damaged.

GG: I’d get out first and he was a brick – I didn’t get near him but Peter Ellis touched him! He took early retirement. Kathy Silvestri met Tony in the States in 1976. They both ordered Wonderhogs and Tony returned to Australia with his rig before Kathy, so it is believed that his was the first rig with 3 rings in Australia.

Tony used to give me all his old rigs and stuff when he was jumping. He stopped jumping in the early 1980s. I actually hung onto his gear for ages because they were museum pieces.

80. DPC Highlights

Water Jumps at Lake Bennett in the 1990s.

1990s

Christmas Party at Batchelor, 1990 RO report 1990, Sally Bushell: What would we like for Christmas? An aircraft with a ramp would be nice, so that’s what we got - a Casa! 14,000 feet in 15 minutes and perfect weather. The last load of the day was a 24 way for Donna’s 24th birthday. We hope to see the Casa more often. However, the problem we now face is to decide whether we’d like to jump the DC3 or the Casa on the Australia Day demos. Mmmm - life’s a bitch!

1993 NT Champs: With more than 50 jumpers, 76 sorties were flown using three aircraft and over 400 descents were made without incident.

RO report, 1994: TC celebrated his birthday this year by doing 41 jumps in a day, benefiting the NT Blind Athletes Association. Cookie finished off the day by taking one of the athletes on a tandem into Marrara Stadium. TC had finished his jumps by 1pm and was crashed out well before his 7 year old son, Byron, that night!

1999: First BASE jump in the NT by Duncan Blanford and Femke Kaag, who were both fined for the jump.

Clockwise from left: Jack, Pete, Bones, Peaches, Deb, redy, Shane, Norm, Mouse, Blake; Centre: TC

1996: 94 Registered DPC Members, including 19 girls. DB: “In the early 90s, there’d be 50 jumpers here. You couldn’t get on a load.”

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Above: Phil’s 11,000th jump at the 1996 Rel Week The 21st Rel Week in 1997 was held at Batchelor. There were 170 jumpers in attendance and the Twin Otter and Porter were the jump ships of choice that year. Highlights of the meet included TC completing his 4,400th jump on the 22nd anniversary of his jumping career. TC was now the main organiser of the Rel Weeks, as well as being the DZSO, since the move to Batchelor. The women completed a 16 way NT women’s record at this Rel Week, breaking the previous record that was set at the 10th Rel Week.

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81. Batchelor Rel Weeks 1994-1999 Planes Nomads Cessnas

1995 1996

Twin Otter Twin Otter

1997

Twin Otter Beaver

1998

Twin Otter Beaver Skybox

1999

Tutors Ray Palmer, Paul Smith, Pete Bambach, Fiona McEachern, Kim Hardwick, Greg Sitkowski Unknown Ray Palmer, Fiona McEachern, Paul Smith, Orla Bannon, Roz Tomkins (for anything but normal flying!), Pete Lonnon and Sue Flyger (for students) Fiona McEachern, Stretch

Highlights

Fiona McEachern, Stretch

Unknown

Stretch, Fiona McEachern, Dee, Carly, Light Speed team – Paul Smith, Jonny Mac, Jonno Garlic, Paul Cohen

Unknown

120 jumpers 63,000 jumps experience on Phil’s 11,000th jump – a 20 way; Lockie – 2 point 20 way; Drew Innes 100th jump 21st Rel Week 16 way NT Women’s record, TC’s 4,400th jump and 22 year anniversary, Rex Pilgrim’s 1,000th, Craig Morris’ 5,000th; Joomby’s 1,000th; 170 jumpers Johnny Mac and the octopus entanglement, A bag lock on video from 14,000 to 5,000 feet, Steve Miles had 2 mals in 2 jumps, 2,900 jumps made in total with no injuries

19th Rel Week - 1995: Several Kununurra based skydivers made the trip to Batchelor for Rel Week, where skydivers also practise partying relative to other skydiving weeks and recovering relative to other hangovers!

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1990s

Year 1994

138

82. “Hey Hey !” Daryl Somers As we were coming in for jump run, Cookie had Daryl on the front and Greg Ross was flying.

We got clearance above the lunchtime jets!

Daryl actually conveyed that back to the studio.

I was right outside, and Cookie and Daryl got out. As we were getting out, Greg was trying to slow it up because I had pulled the power early. We couldn’t exit until the studio came back from an ad break and we were getting deeper and getting slower. We were all getting worried. It actually worked beautifully because as they came back from the ad break, they said, “And Daryl is about to...” Then there was static, which was really the Cessna 182 stalling! It literally threw us all off, but no one saw that! It was a beautiful shoot and everything went really well. We drank lots of alcohol later! I think it was about 40 grand all up for that one shoot - not a lot in our pockets, but just in getting the ABC outside broadcast. It was cutting edge technology at the time.

JC: Daryl Somers is the nicest man in the world.

When we landed after the real jump, my Mum had come along and she had just had surgery for bowel cancer. I asked Daryl if he had a moment to talk to her and he spent twenty minutes chatting to her, telling her how great her son is.

That’s my favourite memory. Also missing the drogue throw and having to have another go at it! It was about five to seven seconds away from exit. Daryl was a pleasure to work with. On the real jump, we had a jet going round and TC’s telling Dead Loss, “OK, you got power off in 37 seconds over the top,” and Dead Loss is looking at the jet about a mile out saying, “What the f*** am I going to do?” Meanwhile, TC is saying, “There is a 737 wanting to have a look at us,” and the 737 was going around us! They were saying that if they had a hold, they may as well look at the jump! It just worked out magic. We had a really good day.

We pulled power off and we were waiting for the cut back from the ad break at the studio.

We were all out and I’m watching us go out past Cullen Bay. There was a bit of humour being thrown about in the plane. I was surprised at how quick witted they were. I’d move my hands while I was talking and they’d say that’s our secret to how Dickie works.” So I’d move my hands and Daryl would be talking.

TC: When I docked on you guys, all you saw on TV was part of my jumpsuit and the commentator said, “There’s the hand of God!”

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1990s

TC: The TV jumps probably rate better than the demos to me because of the challenge in choreographing them, and working with the TV people who often don’t understand what we can do for them. It’s been great being able to work with the media to put those shows together and get the sport in the public eye in a positive way. Some of the early high profile work included the Daryl Somers ‘Hey Hey, It’s Saturday’ show.

We were filming the ‘You’ll Never Never Know If You Never Never Go!’ commercials. Part of the script was that Daryl would jump into Kakadu. We were doing the shoot, which took a couple of days because we did all the flight lines over the city as Daryl’s stand-ins, which were Pete Lonnon, Dave Witter or myself, in the chopper. I think Tim Joyce may have flown it being brought up specially for it. I was spotting through a hole in the floor, which was weird, and we had to get all sorts of approvals about where we could and couldn’t land, but we had to adjust the shots to the freefall. There were choppers in formation and Daryl would climb out on the skid and say, “You’ll never never know if you never never goooooo!” We did about six shoots of it where we took off and landed at the Casino.

What had to happen was it had to look like Daryl on the skid, so the choppers were at the airport with all the fancy camera work going on. So we were out at the airport and in the breaks, Daryl, Byron (my son who was about 6 years old) and I along with a couple of other guys were throwing Frisbees. Byron said, “Hey, Mr Hey Hey, why do you just pretend to jump out of the planes?” Daryl said to me, “Well that’s it TC, I’ll have to do a jump now!” I said, “No worries, Das, get back to me.” Pam Barnes, his producer, rang back, quite quickly actually, within a couple of weeks, and said, “Is it possible for us to do a live to air drop for the show?” I said, “It’s never been done anywhere that I know about, but we’ll give it a shot!”

I went and saw the Channel 9 guys here in Darwin and they had these new mini transmitters that we could try. We set it all up and I think the jump on the day cost about $40,000, which was a lot of money back then. No one knew, but we went and did a dry run the day before, just to make sure Daryl wouldn’t chicken out. The jump went well but Daryl said, “I won’t do that in shorts again, my crotch is hurting like mad!”

The next day, we set it all up again and all of us were wired with cameras and audio so we could all talk to each other.

Cookie didn’t have audio but he had hearing. Pete, Dave Witter and I had both and we were also connected live to the studio in Melbourne. They used to shoot it on a Friday night and broadcast on the Saturday, so when they say it was ‘shot live’, it was actually shot live the day before.

I had spent a lot of time liaising with the RAAF and everyone to ensure the live shot would work. We gave a five minute call as rehearsed, but the RAAF said, “We’ve got a jet inbound at the same time.” I asked for priority, knowing that we wouldn’t get it.

83. A Low Point: 1996

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1991 RO report, Ray O’Leary: Things have been quiet for a couple of months after Rel Week 1991. As we only have one resident Instructor (CI/Rigger/Caretaker - Ray O’Leary), we have to bring additional staff from DPC to assist. Sally Bushell, Lou Armstrong and Robyn Phillips have been travelling the 660km round trip whenever possible, enabling our AFF students to progress.

Recently, there have been two excellent ‘bush runs’ for demos at Kununurra and Kalkaringi (Wave Hill Cricket Match), round trip distances of 1,000km and 800km respectively. Evan Slocum (also an accredited cricket umpire) impressed the players and the crowd by landing exactly at his umpire position, stepping out of his gear and calling, “Play ball!”

1998 Even though Katherine Skydiving Club was waning throughout the 1990s, the Katherine Floods in January 1998 was a defining time. Lee Hunt, the backbone of the Club throughout the 1980s and 1990s, had stopped jumping. During the floods, all his photos and log books were literally washed away. With them, this era of skydiving was gone.

1992 RO report: July saw DPC combine with Katherine for the 500km trip to the Kununurra Airshow.

1996 There were only five members registered with Katherine Skydivers and the club was nonoperational. Jumpers would travel to Darwin for jumping.

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1990s

84. Katherine Goes Under

85. First Commercial Operation

Pete’s Parachuting was a commercial tandem operation that operated from 1996 until 2001, at Mindil Beach. The operation was granted special air space to operate. Being in the centre of Darwin, with an office near the Darwin Casino and tapping into tourist advertising, made this operation very successful.

Drew Innes and Locky Thiely were key tandem masters that supported the business. In 2001, Pete did a tandem load in front of a severe storm front, with dire consequences.

NT News Report: Tourist injured A parachutist was forced to land in Darwin Harbour and a Japanese tourist was injured after a tandem jump went wrong yesterday. Three parachutists were blown off course after they tried to land at Darwin High School oval during a squall about 9.30am. Pete’s Parachuting owner, Pete Lonnon, and a female Japanese tourist landed 700 metres from the beach, in grassland at Mandorah. The tourist, aged in her mid-20s, hit her head as they landed and was later treated for mild concussion and suspected spinal injuries. A parachutist who was taking video footage of the tourist’s tandem jump was forced to land in the sea.

Cameraman Brad Delekta, 26, said as soon as he opened his chute, he knew he was in trouble. “I was about 2,000 feet lower than Pete and I elected to land as close to shore as I could,’’ Mr Delekta said. “I knew I was going to land in the water, so I just unzipped everything.’’ Mr Delekta shed his parachute and $5,000 in camera gear and landed in the water about 100 metres off Cullen Bay. He was stung by a box jellyfish as he drifted for 30 minutes, before being rescued by the Mandorah Sea Cat ferry, about 10am.

Sea Cat skipper, Darryl Withnall, said a person at Cullen Bay saw the parachutist fall into the sea 1.5km west of the

Bay and contacted him by mobile phone. “We did two runs along the sandbar and found him about 1km from where he landed,’’ Mr Withnall said.

Three other boats from the Cullen Bay Marina were put on standby, as Water Police, a Defence Maritime Service boat and rig tender vessel, searched for the parachutists. Mr Lonnon said his decision to steer them over to Mandorah had saved them. But he said it was a freak accident because the squall had hit so quickly. Mr Lonnon said it was the worst moment of his twenty year career as a professional parachutist and seven years operating his business in the NT. NT News Report: Diving in ill fortune It was scary enough that skydiver/cameraman Brad Delekta, 26, had to land in Darwin Harbour 100 metres off Cullen Bay on Thursday, after being blown off course during a freakish squall. But, while in the water, Brad met a 40cm long angry squid that didn’t like him dropping in on its territory.

“This squid came up to me and started squirting ink all over me,’’ Brad said. And if that wasn’t enough, a box jellyfish stung him under his arm for good measure.

Pete’s ceased the operation not long after this and moved to Western Australia to start a new commercial venture there.

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86. Top End Weather

Sunset Jumps BP: I started jumping in Dale River with Clive Smith in 1978. I was in the army when I started jumping. Some of the military jumps were very spectacular but one of the most beautiful jumps I have done was in Alice Springs with my brother, Dean, in 1982. There was about six of us who co-chartered an aircraft for the NT Champs. We had organised to do a 4 way and Dean and I were opposite each other in this 4 way. I can’t remember who the other two were. We could only get to 7,500 feet because it was

Top End Weather A saga of a day at the DZ - 3/2/80: weather, rain and low cloud. Alan James, John James, Mike Braun, Wayne H and Cathy decided to go for a burn around Cameron Downs and bogged Allan’s ute. Fetched the tractor, pulled out the ute and bogged the tractor. Fetched the D4 and pulled out the tractor and bogged the D4!

Finally found the D8 (or D9?) and pulled out the D4. Got back to the DZ at 7.30pm in fine weather – all sorties finished. Last sortie into Cameron Downs: Twiggy, Corny, John D, Mike B. The Shed In the early 2000s, a microburst totally destroyed the Batchelor fuel shed (that came from Annaburroo). A microburst is a is a very localised column of sinking air, producing damaging winds, that can knock over fully grown trees. It lasted only a couple of minutes.

A Microburst

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1990s

Cloud Jumps BP: I love flying around the clouds up here - in the wet season, the build up, or even afterwards, just getting out at 10,000 feet and flying around the clouds for a while, just completely fly on the edge of it, half in, half out, all the way down. You have to pick your time and place and have your outs! I’ve done it here in the build up, when there’s lightning flashing, and there’s nothing like being alongside a cloud at 8,000 feet and watching the lightning go whistling past. It doesn’t touch you, but you can smell the ozone. It’s pretty scary - you shouldn’t really be there. I didn’t design it, but it just happened one day and I thought, “I’m not going to do that again!” Sometimes in a sport like skydiving, you don’t realize the situations that you can get yourself into.

too black. The pilot wouldn’t go any further. So we pulled out a 4 way and as it came out it was like somebody had turned a light on. We were doing formations and my brother was pointing at me, over my shoulder and he kept pointing and I went, “What?” He was saying, “Have a look behind you!” So I looked behind me and there was this dirty great big moon, an orange moon, coming up! And I said, “Look at that!” and pointed over his shoulder. And there was the sun setting. They were both exactly the same colour at the same point. It was just perfectly balanced. I think the other guys were West Australians and we looked down at the airstrip.

It was perfectly black. The only thing we could see were the blue runway lights. So we had a combination of sunset, moonrise and blue lights on the ground. It was beautiful. It’s something you don’t even plan, you have to be there to see it and it was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen. It really was.

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87. V8s Come to Town

Pip Borman TC: I’m not sure why I got the slot. It was a jump organised by Dave Benson and I think he had done one with Pip before, at Avalon. That’s how it started. I went out early in the morning to talk to Pip and have a good look at the aeroplane, which was a Zivko Edge 540. It was nothing to do with jumping. I just like aeroplanes. We only did it the one year at the V8s. He flew up and formated on us. I had a Shell flag that year, which he knew. He put on his smoke and spiralled around me. It was pretty close – we weren’t more than 50 metres from each other and he was pulling a lot of G going around. It looked really good with a cigar of smoke, with me coming down the middle of it. I think we did three or four jumps over the two days and it went really well.

In the air, the theory was that he would stay about 20 feet above me so there was no chance of collision, but you don’t tell people the secrets of how you do tricks!

On the last day, on the last pass, the pair of us were going hard. I was spiralling and he was spiralling with me. I put my arm out to signal that I had to come in to land and he came round about 20 feet away. He tipped his helmet and I tipped him before I came in to land.

RIP Pip - lost in an aircraft accident, 2009.

Top End Tandems Ashley Smith’s first jump was at Dale River, WA in 1988, and he continued his jumping at Kambalda.

He now has several thousand jumps and has an Instructor A with Tandem, and AFF endorsements.

He enjoys wingsuit jumps and gained a BMI rating at the 2005 Batchelor Boogie.

Ashley came to the Northern Territory with the airforce. “I did tandems in Darwin, after doing them in Temora and Kambalda, then at Tindal on the base.”

I saw an opportunity in Darwin when Pete left and knew that another operator may start operations in Darwin location quite quickly. I thought it would be a great spot, but I didn’t want to be Pete’s partner.

‘Top End Tandems’ commenced at Lee Point Beach in 2002. It appeals to a different market than previously. “We’ve got a good team now. I note Drew Innes’ opinion a lot, based upon his experience with Pete’s Parachuting.”

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2000s

V8s arrived in Darwin in 1998 and have raced at Hidden Valley every year since then. The flag jumps were organised by David Benson from 1998 to 2010. Following is the story of one of the early flag jumps.

1 Ginnette Kenney, 2 Tom Maher, 3 Unknown, 4 Shawn, 5, Ashley Smith, 6 Kirk, 7 Dan Short, 8 Blake Palmer, 9 ?, 10 Brinky. 11 Rob Tilling, 12 Ali Bates, 13 Chook Chandler, 14, 15 Dick Skinner, 16, Justin Wallwork, 17 Dave Witter, 18 Chook Chandler, 19 Ray Perry, 20 Kimberley, 21 Greg Wright, 22 Loose Bruce, 23 Dicky Dreiu, 24, 25 PT, 26 PT’s Missus, 27 ?, 28 Paul, 29 Bones, 30 Deb, 31 Warren Collins, 32 Bill Harrie, 33 Paul Osborne, 34 Handbrake, 35 Wendy, 36 Croc, 37 Kathy hannant, 38, Mouse, 39 Jimmy O’Shira, 40 Blue, 41 Peaches, 42 Trevor Collins Not in photo: Brian Murphy, Lee Hunt, Chris & Judith Ward, Dick Skinner, Kellie Fraser, Geoff and Christine Cowie, Rob Tilling, Jacka, Rosco, Twiggy, Mark McGavin, Marty, Smurf, Christine Collins.

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Darwin Parachute Club organised an informal reunion of jumpers in 2004. Following are the reminiscences written by some of those who attended.

Peaches: 1st jump 3/12/83, Batchelor. Yahoo!

Paul Osborne: 1st Jump, February 1974, Christchurch NZ. No, I’m not a Kiwi! 15 or so consecutive Rel Weeks at Katherine. The older we get, the greater we were! F118 Lee Hunt: This is a great night! 50 years - f***, I’m a great bloke! First jump – 1977, Katherine – RFO. Just on the way – 1,000 jumps.

Greg Wright: Started 1977, Batchelor is just up the road. I have had a ball jumping. I hit the ground hard 1000+. Thanks for the good times.

Cathy Hannant: 1st jump - July 1978. Jumped and had a great time from 1980 – 1985, along Stuart Highway.

Jump numbers – 2,000. Significant moments – Annaburoo; Batchelor merger after the split; Cyclone Max and Gretel.

Ross Beveridge: (Rosco) First jump December 1983. This was where it all started. 4,000 jumps.

Peter Twigg: (Twiggy) First jump 1978. 700-ish jumps mostly in Batchelor. Bought 300 acres of Cameron Downs. Got my first f*** at a skydiving party??

John James: ( JJ) Started jumping 1979; 18 consecutive Rel Weeks. Best times: Katherine DC3, Rel Weeks.

Best Jump: 4 point 24 way jewel. 1984, I lived in Batchelor area for 18 years. Saw the first tandem in Australia, via Indonesia. 1983 – 2 bad accidents, 1982 & 1983. Many near misses, looking back to great times tonight.

Loose Bruce: First jump 13/3/1988. First student jump 13/10/1988. Inspired by Janet Culhane (Mouse) who said, “You should go jumping!” Came up through the ranks and became the president in charge of VISE for 2 years. Lots of memories left behind and totally glad to be back. Live fast, land soft and always leave good memories. Kimberley: To all, I have seen on video (done by the ‘Bush Pigs’), the amount of years visiting NT and driving past the drop zone, then meeting ‘Loose Bruce’ at a bar some years ago and ending up back here to do my first jump – to all thank you from the so-called tour guide. P.S. I’m the one who is stuck with Bruce now!

Ray Perry: Visitor to Batchelor on a number of occasions and can’t remember a bad one!! Thanks for the friendly hospitality.

Duncan: 1st jump, New Plymouth, NZ, 1983. 12 years jumping in Katherine and Batchelor. Great times, great memories. Rel Week were the best ever boogies.

Ginette Kenney: Started jumping 1982 in Alberta, Canada. Lived in Batchelor 1990 -1995. It’s great to see so many OLD faces. Well done! Last jump was a double mal here – spun in near the Cross Strip. Ouch!

Paul Thomas: (PT) First jump – November 1981. An affiliation of comparative people my same ugliness! A time when every time you looked up at the clouds, you remember ‘The Time’! 1,500 – 2,000 jumps.

Kellie Fraser: First jump 1980-ish. On and off and on. A1964 – E644 L-R: Tom Maher, Geoff Cowie (obsured), Chris Cowie, L-R: Rob Tilling, Bones, Blake Palmer, Dave Witter, Marty, Brian Murphy Loose Bruce

L-R: Twiggy, Dave Witter, Wendy Schottler, Rob Tilling

Above: Peaches and Cathy tie the knot in 2009, after meeting again at the 2004 reunion.

Left: L-R: Ash Smith, Chris & Judith Ward, Jacka, Sue Retallick, Jimmy O’Shira, Mark McGavin

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2000s

88. DPC Reunion

Year 2000

Planes Skyvan

Tutors Fiona, Stretch, Roger Mulkey

2001 2002

Caravan Caravan

Fiona, Stretch Fiona, Stretch

2003 2005

Caravan Cresco

2007 2009

2011

Highlights Back tracks, skyball jumps, big way head down jumps, flocking jumps, wing suit jumps

Fiona, Stretch Fiona, Stretch, Earth Leakage, Greg & Elaine Cox 2 x Caravans Fiona, Stretch, Dingo & Adam Long, Buck, Crikey, Pony, Greg & Elaine Cox Caravan Fiona, Stretch, Hayden Galvin, Earth Leakage Caravan Stretch, Michael Vaughan, Dingo, Pony, Hayden

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25 years since Rel Week started Hilly and Louie introduce Buwa awards Freefly, atmonauti, flocking Phil Irlam’s chopper joy flights 130 jumpers; 160 sorties; 2,700 jumps Daily 15 way track jumps; POPS record 30 years since Rel Week started;, 225 loads, 3,600 jumps, SOS Record 2-way over 80s record, Wayne McLachlan’s 13,000th jump, Robbo’s 3,700th jump

By 2003, it was decided that Rel Week should become a biennial event. Numbers attending had been in decline due to a number of factors at the time, including rising fuel costs which affected ferrying costs, rising travel costs for visiting jumpers, a smaller number of club jumpers and a significant number of other boogies that had now sprung up around the country. Many jumpers could only attend one big meet per year and as Toogoolawah conducted the Equinox Boogie on even years, NT Rel Weeks were now to be held on odd years – so it would be a two year wait until the next Rel Week in 2005. This seemed to be a good decision, as 2005 Rel Week was as popular as ever. The wait seemed to ensure people knew what great weather and parties they were missing out on!

In 2007, to mark the 30 years since Rel Weeks started, the NT presented Dave with a monstrous set of mounted buffalo horns, which now hang proudly at Toogoolawah drop zone. It was quite funny to see the horns being loaded into the full Caravan at the end of the 2007 Rel Week, for their long trip back to Queensland!

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89. Rel Weeks in the New Millennium

90. Party Time

ASM report 2000: “The annual migration north to Batchelor proved to be the perfect winter solution for your average skydiver; avoiding the cold southern blues was a treat in itself and the Darwin Parachute Club hospitality was a delight, but it was experiencing the good old-fashioned boogie with a capital ‘F’ for fun that was the highlight of Rel Week. This boogie is not commercialised, it’s not about early starts, competitions or maximum jump numbers, rather it’s more about friendship, having fun and fun jumping.”

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92. In the Family I had about 200 cartons of booze up on the back of this Toyota and I tied it down with rope, and I lost it! That night, all the Gods were there, I’m still in the dog house and TC wasn’t talking to me yet. I’m trying to be real civil and say ”How ya going?’ He wouldn’t talk to me. I said, “How do you think I feel? I’ve got to live with me every day!” And that was the ice breaker. He was so cranky with me because I had just stuffed the whole booze supply for Rel Week and I wasn’t taking it seriously enough.

TC: What happened was that he actually stuffed up someone else’s beer supply. Ours was fine!

MH: I’ll never forget that day. Earth Leakage were there – they actually got a photo and Macca came up and told me that TC was fuming.

Head Tattoo I came home from Equinox one year with Michael Holtham is Peter Holtham’s son. EFS tattooed on the back of my head and Peter trained as search and rescue parachutist Mum’s onto me to get a haircut. My Mum in the 1970s. Father and son are nothing is on to me every time I see her. She says “Michael you need to get a haircut.” alike, as the following stories illustrate!

Branding It’s really intense. It’s a serious burn. And Handbrake’s Conversion MH: It was my first conversion. I shut it people say can you brand me harder? down right over the top at about 4,000 feet and one side didn’t open. Everyone is going Sister Clubs - The Buffalo Horns and Two Galahs (See page 158) “Oh no – an intentional cut away!” Mate, Dave McEvoy had organised the gift of the ‘Two Galahs and Deer I tell you - there was nothing intentional Antlers’ to present for Darwin Parachute Club at the 30th Rel Week and about it! I come back down and Sue Flyger there was an accompanying story explaining its origins. I asked Macca, walked me in, and TC was looking at me and “Can you read this story again?” Macca read it and it nearly made me cry. says, “What the f*** was that?” I had two in It was pretty special. Mate, he had tears in his eyes when he was reading the air and I just wanted to see if the other it. It made me cry and I don’t really cry. We gave Toogoolawah a crusty one worked. And there was Macca and TC old pair of buffalo horns! They weren’t just a pair that we found in the and all these skygods standing there going, back paddock though, we did put a bit of effort into them too.

“Who the f*** was that?” I’ll never forget TC rereads the story ‘The Brief History of Two Galahs’. MH: I think it’s that one. You should have seen the look on just amazing. Those two galahs are special. So, what are we going to do his face. You should see the look on his face with the trophy? The buffalo horns that we presented to Toogoolawah now! (laughs) Yeh, I love TC, but he was Skydiving Club are right at the corner of their bar, a Territory symbol.

When we did that, we thought it was a good idea. But there is such a lot proper cranky with me that day! of work in their gift to us. I was so touched.

The Booze Spill MH: Nearly as cranky as the day I spilt all Banned from the DZ the booze over the runway. He said’ For f***’s You know what meant so much to me? The time I was banned from the DZ. We’ve always been mates, so when TC said, “You branded sake, Handbrake!”

TC: You know what pissed me off about someone’s daughter, set fire to the drop zone that day? Nothing other than I didn’t have - you’re not allowed back, Handbrake. You’re it on film! It’s all forgiven. I wished it were a troublemaker and I’m sick of your shit.” on film so you could see it happen in slow That really affected me. motion and I’m going “Oh no!” Christine, my TC: Shit happens. It worked too, eh? partner, and I, had eye contact through the Special Jump whole process. I think it was Al McVinish One of skydiving’s saddest moments. who said, “What are you going to do, TC?” RO Report, 2001: Handbrake made a solitary I said, “Nothing, he knows exactly what will jump into East Point Reserve, where the NT wake for Robin Poole was being held. It was happen.”

MH: And he’s up me, and all the big kids great to meet the old jumpers who came out are around him, and I was trying to be nice to remember their friend and past member to TC, and he said, “Don’t even talk to me!” of DPC. Onya Handbrake!

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93. 21st Century Demos: Special Events

Arafura Games

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Australia Day 26th January has long been celebrated in the Territory. In the sticky, humid climate of the wet season, club members get together to jump, regardless of the rain, heat, wind, clouds or cyclone. For the past 30 years, it has involved a flag demo into Batchelor School, as well as an accuracy competition onto a Darwin beach. The event is publicised by the Australia Day Council, who also provide medals for the competition winners. Presentations of club awards are conducted at Parliament House about a month later. It is one of the few occasions that jumpers dress up to attend the function.

ASM Report 2006, Sharni McAulay: You would assume that 18 jumpers would look out of place in that situation, but we scrubbed up. Handbrake put on some shoes and we were a credit to all skydivers, until Kim fell in the gutter on her way home and sprained both ankles!

The Old Ghan The old railway that ran between Adelaide and Darwin was originally called the Great Northern Railway. It opened in 1878 and linked the inland of Australia, but it wasn’t until 1929 that it actually reached Alice Springs. There was a gap from Alice Springs to 600kms south of Darwin, when the railway began again at a staging camp called Birdum.

During World War II, the railway was used extensively to ferry soldiers first to Alice Springs, then by (dirt) road transport, to rejoin the train line again. The trains were also used to evacuate citizens south after the bombing of Darwin. The track, nicknamed the ‘Ghan’ was last used in 1980.

The New Ghan As the old railway ran through the most desolate country which was sometimes eroded by floods, the train could be stopped for several days at a time. The new Ghan railway was built to improve reliability. It wasn’t until 2004 that the railway finally linked south to north. It only took 126 years to complete!

Ghan Demo The inaugural trip from Adelaide to Darwin was completed on 17th January 2004. The demo included jumping the Australian, NT, South Australian and Aboriginal flags, and heralded the arrival of the train, which could be seen coming into Darwin from the air. Not long after the jumpers landed, the train arrived for the first of many trips with passenger and freight from then on.

small flag and I was coming in on approach. I thought, “I might see if I can get a bit of ground effect off the top of the stadium.” I remember seeing Steve Whalan land on top of the Stadium in Sydney, so that was foremost in my mind. As I came back around the stadium lights on the airport side, I got a nice bit of lift. I flew along the top of the stadium roof at about 20 feet and it felt really nice. I got to the centre of the stadium and buried it, pulled right toggle and dragged my bum over the edge of the roof. I reckon that I probably missed it by a couple of feet. I whistled in and there was this little fairy wandering on the edge of the field. She looked up, saw me and got a bit agitated! Got a bit unfairylike! I came in and landed.

I shouted the crew a couple of cartons. Later, we went up to the member’s bar and were talking to them. They said, “Who was that crazy guy who scared the daylights out of us?” I said, “What are you talking about?” because I had no idea that where I had gone over the leading edge of the stadium was right in front of the member’s bar!

They saw my backside go past them about 20 feet away!

Arafura Games 2005 We took a DC3 load of jumpers into the opening of the Games. Ten jumpers from DPC luxuriated in the space of the DC3 and, after circling the lumbering big VH-MMA around the stadium, we all jumped into the stadium.

RO report 2005, Kim Hedley: The ‘piece de resistance’ was the Opening Ceremony of the Arafura Games in May. There was not a soul on the load who was not peaking to the max.

The Arafura Games The Arafura Games takes its name from the Arafura Sea After a beat up in the DC3 over the stadium and is a large sporting competition that involves mainly at 500 feet, we climbed to 4,000 feet and all Australian, Pacific and South-East Asian athletes from jumped into the stadium, full of thousands of onlookers, as part of the opening ceremony, as a about 20 different sports. prelude to the Asian Games. About half of us Arafura Games 1999 TC: The opening of the games were always night demos. had streamers too! What an honour and what It was a good night and conditions were perfect. I had a a blast!

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94. 21st Century Demos: Shows The spotter was supposed to be Michael Braun and they were jumping from something like a Cherokee 6, but he mis-spotted the load. I think Cathy Hannant was on it and landed on the greyhound track next door. One of the other crew landed on the main part of the airport. No one got hurt but they sprayed the load!

There was a demo that we did not long after that. Ray Palmer rang me up for a demo for the forerunner of the Crusty Demons, where blokes do all these bike jumps. They dumped all this dirt on the oval at Darwin Show Grounds. We did the load and the deal was that I had radio Royal Darwin Show: 60th Anniversary in 2011 TC: I did my first show demo about 1982-1983, but I with the ground, from the plane, and on me. We think they had been doing them for quite a while before were to be the precursor to the main event. They that. The first one that I really remember was when Geoff were letting off fireworks and I was to call up and I were on the outer because we were at Annaburroo – and say no more fireworks by 1,500 feet. I called about 1981-1982. We decided to go and have a look at the them up and they said, “Oh sorry TC, we’ve just demo anyway. The commentator was going, “Ladies and let a full barrage go!” I was hanging at about gentlemen, Darwin Parachute Club is about to parachute...” 1,200 feet and all these big fireworks are going It was at night and it was very quiet for a long time. Then off right below my feet. Cookie was on that load a couple of parachutes appeared on the oval and there was too. Once they stopped firing, we started landing – it was pretty close! nothing else. I think it was a total cluster f***!

GC: Since 1978, the Fred’s Pass Show is held at Fred’s Pass Reserve, about 30 km south of Darwin and it is very much a country show. The first jump into Fred’s Pass Show was in 1979. TC: Since I came back from Queensland I have done most of them since then. Darwin Parachute Club members have jumped into the show, and the demo is considered a good challenge for jumpers with limited demo experience.

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Darwin Show 1963 News Report: Although the Show Society agreed to a display jump by the club, the Department of Works would not agree to an arrangement where the power line would be switched off at a moment’s notice if it looked like a parachutist might land on it. The Department of Works stated that they thought the proposal had too many risks associated with it. As well as possible electrocution, they said that if the line was damaged, then Manton Dam, all of the show site and surrounding areas would be without power until it was repaired, which would be an inconvenient and expensive business.

95. Technology and Jumps

TC on wheel with night flares, about to exit Balloons and Wingsuits RO Report, July 2008: Glenn Singleman and Heather Swann made a high altitude wingsuit jump from a balloon launched at Yulara. The jump was conducted from a height of 37,000 feet and they were attempting to set a wingsuit distance record. At that height, they would be able to catch the winter jetstream to assist their flight from west to east. It was the technology that facilitated the jump but it was also the failure of technology that made the dream of the furthest unpowered human flight to slip from their grasp for the time being.

Pyrotechnics and Night Demos Flares nowadays are much more sophisticated than in the past, as their ignition is controlled electonically. They still burn hot and brightly, so are a great crowd pleaser, but have been known to destroy a canopy or two over the years!

CRW Resurgence ASM report 2008: We recently arranged for Coops, Tom Begic and Robbie McMillan to come and share their knowledge of CRW and canopy piloting. Thanks to Jimmy and Handbrake for chauffeuring them to the DZ. We believe that at some stages during the trip from Darwin to Batchelor (only 100km), they didn’t think they were ever going to make it. But after 36 hours of crocs, fireworks and Jimmy’s old Holden, they arrived safe and sound to be greeted by an enthusiastic group of club members ready to learn new tricks. Two planes were running over a four day weekend and gave everyone plenty of opportunity to soak up the knowledge on offer. The local crew dogs, Kim Hedley and Tom Maher, had lots of fun over the weekend, with more and more club members getting current on our crew canopies. We ended the long weekend with a sunset 5 way stack - a beautiful sight from the air and ground.

News Report: Sweaty palms, heavy breathing and a massive rush of adrenaline running through the veins can only mean one thing - skydiving. And members of the Top End’s Darwin Parachute Club would have to be some of the wildest and wackiest cloud surfers in the country. Their expertise was put to the test during a Canopy Relative Work (CRW) training camp recently, with jumpers from CRW’s national team, ‘Crimson Mist’ in the NT to show them the ropes. The three-day event taught them canopy and handling skills, and most learnt how to do three, four and five stacks for the first time - meaning attaching themselves to another person’s parachute while in the air. Territorian, Kim Hedley, who has jumped out of a plane more than 1,100 times, said the CRW training was ‘awesome’. “It really put me out of my comfort zone, especially the stacks,’’ she said. “It’s really quite an awesome thing and involves lots of team work. It was great to have some of the Australian champions up to teach us how to do it. The CRW champs included Matt Berans, Mitch McMartin, Cam Cooper and Tom Begic.”

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A Landmark in 2009 – 30th Rel Week 2009 marked an important milestone for arguably the most significant skydiving event that occurs in the Northern Territory – the Territory Rel Week. 2009 was reported to be the most successful NT boogie in recent years – two Caravans, 170 skydivers, great skydives and memorable antics. ASM, issue 47, reported that in 2009, there were 225 loads and 3,600 jumps completed. Apart from a few mals and incidents over the week, there were predominantly loads of high quality skydives of all types – flat, vertical, birdman, CRW, atmonauti, tracking, novelty, ‘B’ Rels, student, tandems and lots of others – which got better and better as the week progressed. Rel Week always marks the significant achievements of individuals in these various disciplines and 2009 also saw the accomplishment of the SOS jumpers (skydivers over sixty), who marked the event with the successful NT record 11 way SOS jump. The average age of these guys was 65 and there was probably a good chance that they were novice jumpers around the time that Rel Week started. Yet here they still were, jumping and loving it all these years later. Take note, novice skydivers of today – this is a sport that gets into your blood and it is hard to stop once you get started!

The success of the 2009 and every other Rel Week was no accident. Ever since its inception, it has been a small band of hard-working club members that have pulled it together, doing everything from refuelling, driving the pickup car, cleaning the dunnies, to working behind the bar until closing time. The nocturnal pursuits of the Territorians are also legendary and the locals are only too happy to also put in the extra hours training novices at night as well as during the day! And just when you think that it is impossible for your body to take any more of the indulgences, there is the mid-week break, chilling out at Litchfield Park, feeding crocodiles, or catching crabs with Handbrake. It’s a formula that hasn’t changed because just like the Territory hospitality, it is just right already.

Each year, the instructors ensure that the quality of the skydives are maintained. After all, that is the core reason

why we all attend (except for the southern states, which may need to thaw out mid-winter!) For many years, Fiona McEachern and Stretch (Mark Szulmayer) have organised the relative work jumps for all levels of experience; they have created safe yet constantly challenging slots for big loads, where no one can be complacent.

Although video has helped enormously with critiquing jumps these days, the instructors don’t miss anything in the air anyway. If you think you got away with something, you probably didn’t! 2009 also saw Hayden Galvin as the Birdman instructor, and Pony and Dingo as the freefly tutors.

The presentation of the ‘Two Galahs’ in 2009 from David McEvoy to TC, was in recognition of the 30 Rel Weeks since the first Rel Week in 1977. It not only represents the relationship between Queensland and NT jumpers and drop zones, but also the personal connections that these two guys have had through Rel Weeks since 1977. Not only have they attended each other’s meets over the years, but they have stayed abreast of the incredible changes to the sport during this time and have had a huge amount of input into the running of the sport at local and national levels.

Brief History of the Two Galahs and Deer Antlers The deer antlers came from a second hand shop in Moore. The deer was a descendant of the six deers given to the new state of Queensland by Queen Victoria in 1873. The deers were released at Cressbrook Station at Toogoolawah. Deer antlers became the official symbol of the Esk Shire Council.

The two galahs belonged to Norma Stevens of 15 Wynnum Road, Norman Park, the location of the Rambler’s parachute shop. Norma passed away in 2005. The galahs were pets of the Steven’s family for many years and when the galahs died (more than 40 years ago) the family had them both preserved.

Norma had no descendents and the galahs went with Norma’s house when the Public Trustee sold it. The galahs were donated to the cause when the motion was moved to reciprocate the Darwin Parachute Club’s beautiful gift of the prized buffalo horns to the Toogoolawah Skydivers’ Club.

An old jumper friend of the Ramblers, named Ken, mounted the antlers and galahs on bush timbers off his property. He hand-carved the timber into a map of Queensland, polished the antlers, touched up the galahs and created for the Darwin Parachute Club, the gift of the ‘Two Galahs and Deer Antler’ trophy, representing the bond of skydiving and friendship between the sister clubs of Darwin and Toogoolawah.

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98. Celebrities come all the way out from the States to meet your man. You now need to get in this aeroplane, but you won’t be getting out of it on the ground.

You’re going to have to jump from it.” They all squealed and carried on. Eventually they got organised and off we went. I got choppered out with the producers to Emma Gorge, where we were doing the drop.

TC: I was working in Nhulunbuy when I got a call from We had set it up to do two loads of six. The girls this guy in the States and he said, “We can fly a C130 had to put on these pink overalls on, so they just down from Singapore and put all the girls in it and away decided to take all their clothes off in front of you go!” everyone and that went down a treat with the I said, “Good onya! So you’ll pay for all that?” jumpers. There was this little blondie - I think “Oh Yehr?” she was the one who ended up marrying Jack – I said, “Well it will probably cost you half a million US.” she had no worries about showing them her fun And he said, “Oh, you’re that far from Singapore!” And puppies. Anyway the first load went over and that was when our dollar was worth about half of the US everything went a treat. The girls landed and dollar. Anyway, we got it all back to something sensible we were getting them out of their harnesses and and I worked it out with Al McVinish. We flew a Caravan overalls because we had to get them out of the up with all the crew in it – Archie, Wayno, McEvoy and shot as quickly as we could. We saw Blondie others. It was a pretty good crew. pull off her overalls and top and walk around the I had done three different trips to Kununurra to set up and place – that was pretty impressive. She was one scout for a suitable site. We finally picked Emma Gorge, of those Penthouse types. After they landed, which was really pretty. They did spend a lot of money on they tried to grope all the tandem masters. The the jump. It was in the middle of the wet season so there jumpers were told to deliberately turn away and was lots of water around. By the time we came to do the not be affectionate! jump, it was good.

For the second load, we raced down to Emma Anyway we were stowed away in the back blocks while the Gorge, packed all the rigs, threw the rigs in the girls came to town. We did an incognito visit to the pub. chopper and ran everyone back to Kununurra for It was funny because they wanted the girls to wear their the second load. It took the best part of the day. evening wear on the jump. I said to the organisers, “Yeh, The second load got out and they did the filming. you can do that – but after the first five seconds it is going The sunset was coming as they met their man, to turn into an ‘R’ rated show!” They finally realised that ‘Outback Jack’. The timing worked out well. wouldn’t be the best thing.

Chas Gutman was one of the tandem masters The next morning, we all mustered at the pub early. No and apparently his girl had a US$10,000 boob one had jump t-shirts on or was allowed to talk about it. job. Halfway up to height, she asked him if he We watched these ‘11 out of 10’ girls wander in, in their could hang on to them because she was worried evening dresses, with full make-up on. We’d already set about them getting cold! He thought that up at the airport the day before, and they wandered into wouldn’t be a bad idea. the hangar. The MC comes out and says, “Ladies, you’ve

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TC: I have loved bringing the guys up from Brisbane because they are the best – Wayne, Macca and Archie and those guys – to come up and help me with the jobs – as well as Drew, Ash and Coey from Darwin.

With those guys, it’s all no nonsense and they do a great job. We’ve done ‘Outback Jack’, ‘Outback Jack Dutch’ and ‘The Amazing Race’.

98. Celebrities The Amazing Race: Leg 9, 2006 The Batchelor Airstrip was the second of two ‘yields’ hidden on the race. The ‘roadblock’ for this leg of the race saw one member of each team having to choose a plane and do a 12,000 foot tandem skydive. The instructor then hands over their next clue. This leg’s ‘detour’ offered teams the choice of ‘wet’ or ‘dry’. In ‘wet’, teams drove ten km to a swimming hole called Buley Rockhole, then hiked and swam two km down a river ‘infested with spiders and poisonous plants’ to receive their next clue. In ‘dry’, teams drove 10 kms on-road, then another ten km off-road to a rock formation, known as ‘The Lost City’. Once there, teams had to select a didgeridoo and follow the sound of music in the air to locate a nearby Aborigine. Then, they had to find an Aboriginal musician with a matching didgeridoo and each team member had to play the didgeridoo to receive the next clue.”

Outback Jack Dutch TC: A couple of years later, we were asked to do Outback Jack - Dutch, on a budget. It was a lot different.

We just chucked the sheilas in the aeroplane and went. I actually had to GPS the spot. We had no more than an hours set up but it all worked out. Those girls went over the horizon thinking they were going to a five star resort, but they were going into rough country!

ASM report 2007 - Ashley Smith: A Dutch version of Outback Jack, with an Aussie ‘Jack’ was recently filmed in a secret location near Kununurra, Western Australia. The 11 girls made their entrance to the dry, dusty location via tandem jumps. It was an amusing day for the jump crew, watching the prima donna dolls dressed in their best evening dresses, makeup and jewellery, converting to overalls and boots for the jump, then back to their high heels for ‘Jack’s arrival. Jack was to make his grand entrance from the hills at sunset, meet and greet, then lead the ladies to their campsite, two km away. The girls, who thought they were to be meeting a Prince at a European castle, quickly realised things weren’t quite as they imagined - no porters for their bags, no mirrors and a two km walk through a foot of bull dust. The show wasn’t aired in Australia, unfortunately.

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Celebrity Tandems: Cathy Freeman AS: Cathy was nervous, a nice person though, but a bit of pressure for both of us. The Prime Minister and Adam Gilchrist were on the beach watching as well, so we had to stand up. It was good in the end!

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Right: TC’s 30th year jumping was celebrated with a jump from a DC3 onto Mindil Beach

Club jumps at Lee Point Beach (above) and Nightcliff Beach (left).

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99. Beach Jumps Darwin beaches hold a special attraction for jumping and have been the site for many memorable jumps over many years.

Casuarina Beach - There doesn’t always need to be a reason for the jumps. In the local DPC newsletter of 1994, Monica Green says: “We regularly start our weekend off with a Friday afternoon sunset jump onto Casuarina Beach.”

Mindil Beach has been the site of Pete’s Parachuting, but also jumps into Mindil Beach Markets and the opening of the Casino. Trevor Collins celebrated 30 years in the sport with a DC3 load onto this beach. (see back cover)

The Sailing Club Beach has been the site of several demos to launch the beginning of the sailing season.

The Trailer Boat Club Beach is just next door and has been the site of several demos for birthdays and celebrations. It is where Cathy Freeman landed and shook the PM’s hand.

Nightcliff Beach was the site of a Valentine’s Day Jump.

The NT News, 2009 reported: “A Territory couple marked Valentine’s Day by unconventionally taking a 12,000 feet jump from a plane. Caleb and Amy Gotts were among more than 30 to take the plunge yesterday. A large crowd gathered to watch the spectacular sight, late in the afternoon.

The group took the plunge from Hardy Aviations’ vintage World War II Douglas Dakota DC3. Ms Gotts, 28, of Bees Creek, said her first jump was a thrill. “That was sweet. I would definitely recommend it for any couples on Valentine’s Day.’’

East Point Reserve overlooks Darwin Harbour. This is where the ‘Rocksitter’s Club’ meet. TC: That demo was a bit on and off because the boss was an Austrian guy called Pete Erismann. It started in 1974 but he left Darwin for a while. He took some great photos of us – with no inflight door, no parachute. He would just hang out and take photos. Some of them are still at the Beachfront Hotel in Darwin.

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Lee Point Beach has been the regular jump site for Top End Tandems. Special jumps there have included Bruce Tower’s tandem. Chris Ward, a long time pilot, also did a tandem at Lee Point for his birthday. Tracey Lane celebrated her 30th birthday with a DC3 load here.

Land at the south end of the sand bar at low tide

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Sand Bar Jump, 2005 ASM report 2005, TC: The sand bar jump came from the jockey club, through Handbrake. He rang me up one day to see if we could do it. We did a few Cessna loads that went quite well. We did a few helicopter jumps. There used to be a heli-pad at the Medina Hotel at the Waterfront. One of the Hell’s Angels flew us.

They were funny jumps because we would arrive when the tide was starting to come back in and everyone else had been out there for about four or five hours drinking. We would be stone cold sober and put our rigs straight away onto the barge or boat so they were safe, then join the party. Absolutely every time, we’d end up in rescues because everyone was so smashed. There’d be tables and chairs floating past and people getting caught out in the rush of the incoming tide. We’d help get everyone on the boats and we’d be the last on, being the most sober. There’s a lot of chairs and tables floating around in Darwin Harbour somewhere! We’d all end up back at Shennigans to continue partying.

Sand Bar Jump, 2009 ASM report 2009, Donna-Lee Ferguson: November in the Top End gets pretty steamy. One stinkingly hot morning, the entire Darwin Parachute Club boarded the beautiful silver DC3. The inside of the DC3 was stifling and soon the effects of heat exhaustion were beginning to become apparent as we streamed with sweat.

At last, some backfiring, clouds of smoke and a welcome breath of avgas-laden air. Up, up and away! Through the open cargo door, we watched Darwin sliding beneath us as the old bird crawled up towards the beaches.

The roar of the engines and the buzz in the plane made an atmosphere of euphoria - Yahoo! Then the city was gone and we were out over the harbour.

Our landing area was to be a low tide sandbar, just offshore. If we missed the sandbar, we would drown. If we survived and managed to inflate our life jackets, the sea was swarming with deadly box jellyfish. Assuming we avoided being stung (and writhing in pain for a couple of days before expiring), there still had to be a couple of hungry crocodiles waiting to despatch us somewhat more quickly, not to mention the ruthless sharks... yes, let’s not talk about the sharks. TC, our load organiser, cleared the aisles so he could thumb navigation directions to the pilots and despatch us efficiently. So the old Dak spilled out humans. The view for a jumper falling away from this most beautiful plane and then turning over to admire the bluest of seas surrounding this tiny golden sandbar was extraordinary. All 26 skydivers found the sandbar. A tour boat just happened to be waiting with friends, partners and kids for a three hour harbour cruise. Then, in true Territory style, the party continued for the rest of the weekend.

Tiwi Islands TC: We have done the Tiwi Islands Aussie Rules Grand Final demo on and off since the 1990s - since the footy over there has become higher profile. It’s the biggest movement of light aircraft in Australia in a given amount of time, in a day. Fortunately for us, when it comes time to jump at the start of the game, most of the people are at the field. There are 40 odd aeroplanes sitting at this little remote airfield. It’s quite a sight to watch teams such as Pumaralli, Imalu and Tapalinga play; and the community spirit that gets behind them. An unique experience!

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100. Sand Bar and Island Jumps

101. Australia Day

170

102. Rel Week 2011

2000s

2011 Rel Week Highlights: Tutors: Stretch, Dingo, Pony, Hayden, Michael Vaughan NT Record: 2 way Over 80s jump.

Aircraft: Caravan Highlights: • 7 jumpers received their star crest • Speed Star competition with 77 competitors, with co-ordination and medals by POPs Australia.

• Koppel kindly pruned the top of a palm tree on the way in for us.

• Handbrake won the ‘nail your privates to the fooseball table’ competition over Canadian Rob, but lost the ‘how many bottle of water can you suspend from your private parts’ to him.

• Wayne McLachlan’s 13,000th jump • Stephen Case, Jaitre Campion, Phil Kemper’s 800th jump, Robbo’s 3,700th jump

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Roger

Back L-R: Peter Hannaford, Elvon King, John Kinton, Norm Hocking, Gordon Truner, Geoff Gordon, Don Biggins, Roger Clifton. Front L-R: Ross Stockings, Les Facer, Steve Pandelus 172

103. POPS and Pups

Oldest tandem

2011 Records Roger Clifton is currently the Territory’s oldest active jumper. In April 2011, Roger was one of only two Australians who participated in the successful SOS record in the States. A successful 55 way was completed at Lake Elsinore by jumpers from seven countries using a Skyvan and two Twin Otters.

ASM report, 2007: Jim Brierley is the oldest person to jump in the NT to date, when he attended the 2011 Rel Week, aged 87 years. Jim jumped during World War II, and recommenced jumping in 1983 at Labertouche, Victoria. He is still an active jumper at Tooradin, Victoria and has about 3,000 jumps. Memorable jumps that Jim has done include a high altitude jump at Pakenham, a jump into the MCG on the eve of the AFL Grand Final, a 4 way in Canada with other over-seventies creating a world record, a roundie jump into the Hazelwood Power Station Cooling Pond, a night jump for his Night Star Crest from 12,000 feet and all docked by 9,000 feet, and his 80th birthday jump at Toogoolawah’s Equinox Boogie with 80 other jumpers who kindly agreed to jump with him.

Isabel Palmer became the youngest person so far to make a jump in the NT, at the 2011 Rel Week. Whereas Jim was born in 1924, Isabel was born in 2000. By comparison Isabel now has one tandem jump to her credit, although Isabel’s Father, Blake, is a long time Territory jumper and she has been associated with jumpers all her life. Isabel described her jump, “The first time I ever saw someone do a tandem, I knew straight away that I wanted to do it. It was the most exhilarating, scary, exciting, thrilling thing I have done in my life and I know that some day I’ll do it again.”

Ian Robertson, Top POP Australia #3, World Top POP #6 , at 2011 Rel Week

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Jim and Isabel

2000s

The Parachutists Over Phorty Society (POPS) is a club for skydivers over the age of forty.

The first POPS was founded in 1966 in the USA and has spread to many countries around the world. POPS hold regular meets in their own countries, and every two years holds a World Meet. World Meets have taken place in Australia, USA, Spain, Jordan, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland. The 2008 World Meet took place at Toogoolawah, Queensland.

POPS competitions include accuracy, formation skydiving and the unique ‘Hit and Rock’ competition. SOS stands for Skydivers over Sixty, JOS - Jumpers Over Seventy and JOES - Jumpers Over Eighty.

NT POPS Record 2007 Two attempts, and coaching by Fiona and Stretch, enabled the NT POPS record to be set at nine. The jumpers on this successful load were Roger Clifton, Alistair Bates, Tom Maher and Kellie Fraser all from the NT, and Stretch, Jonathon Orr, Peter Hannaford, Ian Robertson and Guy Taylor from interstate.

NT SOS Record 2009 ASM report 2009, Adrienne Hannaford: The highlight of the 2009 Rel Week was the 11 way NT SOS record and the manner in which it came about. There were a few changes from the initial attempt and it was ironic the way it finally came to fruition. I think if you do the sums, the age total is 718 years (average 65) and total number of jumps is 14,324. I hope these guys get the recognition they deserve, as they all performed so well to make this a reality and were so pleased with the outcome.

Oldest Tandem The oldest tandem on record was Ralph Sehly, who did a tandem jump with John Cook at Batchelor, for Father’s Day in 1990. He was 86 years old.

1. Lemonade Tree and Pineapple for Floyd

2. Hibiscus for Roz

3. Carambola Tree for Pooley

4. Creaming Soda and Little Pineapple for Fran

5. Kiwi’s tree 6. Fiona’s garden 174

104. Memory Lane 1. - 4.

5.

6.

The most difficult part of the sport is losing special people that have been such good friends to us. In order to remember these jumpers, a memorial garden at Batchelor DZ has been planted over the years to commemorate them.

Gay Steele Gay was the first fatality in the NT in 1970.

Gay was jumping with Aces Parachute Club that weekend but normally jumped with Darwin Parachute Club. Although there is not a plant in the Batchelor garden for her, she has been commemorated through the Gay Steele Memorial Accuracy Competition. Brian Murphy won the first competition in 1971.

1. Floyd Floyd was of his own mind, which is fine. It was either do it Floydies way, or whatever! He was a bloody good bloke.

Once he had a bit more experience, he used to get cranky, sometimes a bit prickly. Therefore we planted the pineapple for him, but there is also a lemonade tree to sweeten him up! The lemonade tree fruited in 2012.

2. Roz (Tequila Fairy) She was named the Tequila Fairy at a rel week in the early 1990s. Rozy came up with the plane and she was a top freestyler. She was a regular little mischief girl! After hours, Fiona, TC and a few others were dragged into the tequila world. She loved tequila. It was then lick, sip, suck!

Towards the end of the night, it was just throw it down!

She was a great girl.

3. Robin Poole (Poolie) Pooley got the club humming when he came to Darwin about 1996-1997. He was a live wire and it was always go-go-go. He used to say, “Wad up?” Nothing was ever a problem, he was a lovely guy and popular with the kids.

Pooley’s tree is a five star pointer (a Carambola tree).

5. Kiwi The Manbulloo night accuracy comp was in memory of Kiwi. He used to clean up with the night accuracy. Kiwi’s real name was John Andrew Hooya Henderson. He was born in New Zealand and was part Maori. He was an adopted kid and his father was the head of the Fire and Rescue Service of the NT for five or six years. When he was overseas, he met Max Wallace and came back and did his first jump course in Katherine. He became really keen, got through his training and was a fun, proactive skydiver.

TM: He went to the States in the early 1990s and he rang me up, telling me after a hard night’s partying, that he was one of the happiest three million people in the world and to tell everyone that! He also said that if anything ever happened to him, to give everyone flowers. Three days later, the Twin Otter crashed at Perris Valley and he was on that plane.

There was a memorial at Manbulloo for Kiwi – as well as one at Batchelor. One of things he did before he left Australia, was plant a Boab tree at Manbulloo drop zone. His reasoning was that he wanted an obstruction in the landing area for everyone, forever! There used to be a plaque on it until recently, when someone tried to knock it off, so now Kelly Fraser has it. We’re going to put it on the tree at Batchelor. The Boab tree has been getting bigger and bigger over time and would be a good obstruction now! He’s buried on the north island of New Zealand, somewhere on the southwest coast.

6. Fiona’s Garden Fiona was such a special person to the Territory and all who attended Rel Weeks that her memorial is a whole garden. DPC members planted the garden in time for the 2011 Batchelor Rel Week, so Fiona could watch over us all during our jumps at that meet, and from then on.

A beautiful garden for a beautiful lady, so badly missed.

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2012

4. Fran Byron and TC dug a hole in the line of the jumpers who are no longer with us and gave her the creaming soda tree because “she was pretty cool.” There’s also an ornamental pineapple, not of the prickly sort! She did some interesting jumps in her life, she creamed and probably soda-ed.

105. 50 Years of Sport Parachuting Year

NT School of Parachuting

1962

Sergio Cattonar

Ace School of Parachuting

Darwin Parachute Club

Parachuting Promotions

Commercial Operations

Katherine Skydivers Club

Alice Springs Skydiving Club

1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968

Manfred Purcher

1969 1970

Laurie Trotter George Pappa

1971 1972 1973

Walter Stohmayr George Faulkner George Pappa

Brian Murphy Jerry Moussard

1974 1975 1976 1977 1978

Dave Opitz Michael Braun

1979 1980

Lee Hunt

1981

Trevor Collins Geoff Cowie

1982 1983

Geoff Cowie Mike Ellis Jim Knox

Trevor Collins

1984

Tony Edwards

1985 1986 1987

Trevor Colllins

(for Lou Armstrong, Arid Zone Skydivers)

1988 1989 1990 1991

Ray O’Leary

1992

Ray O’Leary, (Centre Freefall)

1993 1994

John Cook

1995

Trevor Collins

Trevor Collins

1996 1997

Pete’s Parachuting

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Top End Tandems

2003 2004

Terry King

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

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106. The Club Running DPC Darwin Parachute Club is just that - a club. In the 21st century, it is the only permanent DZ in the Territory and one of only two clubs left in Australia, Hillman Farm being the other. The introduction of tandem jumps in previous years has radically changed the face of jumping eveywhere.

Tandem jumping is big business. With business, comes a manager who manages staff, operations, infrastructure, equipment and safety and aims to create profit through efficient service. Clubs are almost the opposite.

DPC is run entirely by volunteers who take on the same responsibilities but without the profit and sometimes without the expertise. It is purely a love job.

Leadership Managing the safety of jumpers (both in the air and on the ground) is an onerous task, especially with the type of jumpers in the Territory! The role of the Chief Instructor requires a special type of leader. It is one who can manage people but also enforce regulations. The role requires someone who is abreast of new developments but with a degree of flexibility with those who ‘push the envelope’. It is a person who is aware of legal ramifications and knows how to manage events that go ‘pear shaped’. It is also someone who needs to be a team player and rely and encourage the strengths of its members. As part of a non-profit organisation (a club), it is a big ask. No wonder Chief Instructors are a dying breed!

Trevor Collins was Chief Instructor of DPC for more than 20 years, broken only by a stint of a couple of years by John Cook. In 2004, TC handed the reigns over to Terry King. Terry arrived in the NT in 2003 from Western Australia, after running the operation at Hillman Farm.

Terry ran Darwin Parachute Club from 2003 until 2011, when he then left the Territory. As found in ASM, 2008: “A very special thank you to Terry from all the team at DPC for all the hard work he put in over the past four years! You will be missed old mate.”

And the gratitude extends to all NT CIs since 1962.

Volunteers To all the presidents, secretaries, treasurers, public officers, bar managers, gear officers and committee members, as well as the club members who have worked behind the scenes over the past 50 years, NT jumpers also sincerely thank you! Without you, there would be no club!

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2012

Maybe that’s part of the reason why Rel Weeks have been so successful over the years - the underlying motivation is about love of the sport. And in the Territory, the general attitude is more about having a good time and being with good friends in the air and not about money. DPC is unique in this respect.

107. Looking Back

Rel Weeks Memories RO report 1991, Steve Whalan: In my 21 years in skydiving, Rel Week was the best nine days I’ve ever spent.

RO report 1993, Peter Keegan: Being from the East Coast maybe makes you notice it more, but the atmosphere and character of the NT is so different from anywhere else. It just feels free.

Best Jumping Memories JC: Being a student at my first Rel Week, my first jump, TC letting me sleep in his big tent with his wife and another student while Trevor slept out the front. I slept in Trevor’s little bed. I only had a bike then and no camping gear.

They made me feel welcome!

Just jumping at Batchelor. The vibes, the sunset loads, the crew that was there, it got me in, the people. Things like doing CRW because we figured you weren’t allowed to jump drinking but if you built a four stack, you could then pull the puppy out!! It was just the Territory lifestyle!

Students Memories GF: I started putting out students quite early on, when I didn’t know a darn thing...

Gear Memories BM: I had my own gear – the old TC B4 – the old round canopy with slots cut out the back, T4, the T7 was the really hotted up one! You still had to pull down on the risers to steer the thing. They weren’t much of a parachute...

Moments in Time BP: It was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen. It really was...

Mixed Emotions MH: It was one of skydiving’s saddest moments...

Isabel Palmer: It was one of the most exhilarating, scary, exciting, thrilling things I have done in my life...

JC: “Not f***en scared are you?..”

Laurie Trotter: “I can win this bloody thing!”

TC: “I was just standing there gob-smacked.” Murph said, “We’re going back up to do that again...”

178

John Cook, Donna Cook Ran the club with enthusiasm and had great ideas to encourage people to jump, for training, as well as retaining jumpers.

Trevor Collins Chief Instructor above and beyond. Always there to oversee the club, nurture up and coming jumpers and sort any issues that arise. Has organised too many club demos to count, has represented the NT at countless local, Territory and national meetings. The backbone of skydiving in the Territory.

Doer Buwer - Robert MacLannan Little strutting Robbie! One time at Batchelor, the whole night had been a little bit tense because the meatworkers from Menaling were at the drop zone and were starting to get noisy.

Handbrake and I were saying to this guy, “Look mate, you need to take it easy. You need to go home because you’ve overdone it a bit.” We eventually walked out with him, very closely, arm in arm. Then Robbie Mac sprints up out of the dark and starts saying, “You blokes...!” Handbrake and I have looked over our shoulders at each other and realised what was going to happen! This bloke has gone to take a swing at Robbie Mac and Handbrake blocked it. Robbie Mac has gone, “I wonder what that was about?” So we spent a bit of scuffle time with this bloke.

Deb Holt Recognised as a tireless club worker, especially with the Treasurer’s role. Deb got the books under control and has kept them that way for the past ten years.

Tony Spall - Dedicated pilot for DPC from 1970 to 1974. Flew VH-BWM, survived Batchelor Cessna 210 crash. Life member of both Darwin and Katherine clubs.

Chris Ward Has flown jump aircraft longer than any other pilot. First flew for the club in the 1980s and returned to fly jumpers again in the 2000s.

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2012

108. Life Members DPC

The Future of the Jumping in the NT Territorians are nomadic - many only stay a short time before moving on. Yet sport parachuting has stayed in the Territory. It has grown, changed, ebbed and flowed and morphed in new and exciting ways. The developments in the past 50 years have been astounding. Despite the changes, and the difficulties in maintaining a club, skydiving in some shape or form will continue into the future in the NT. Watch this space... the blue space!

In the Future: TC: If I’m standing, I’ll jump! If I’m like Towers – if I’m sitting down - I’ll probably still jump!

I just love it and love to see the smiles on people’s faces who I’m able to jump with and help make it happen for them.

180

TC: Final Words!

Advice to new jumpers Don’t break the rule!

Advice to old jumpers Don’t break the rule either!

What’s the rule?

Don’t f*** up!!

181

2012

109. Looking Forward

Interviews and References Contributor Andy Keech Ashley Smith Blake Palmer Brian Murphy Cathy Burrow Claude Gillard Dicky Dreiu Tony Edwards Don McKern Doug Booth Eddie Smith Geoff Cowie

Yarns 66, 67 163 37, 141 33, 47, 49, 51, 52, 55, 57 33 41 97 114, 115 33, 66 77, 87, 107, 135 63, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71 50, 51, 53, 55, 59, 65, 78, 79, 81, 83, 85, 87, 99, 104, 105, 108, 111, 116, 132 George Faulkner 41-43 Gordon Gecele 33, 39, 61, 67, 72, 75, 77, 87, 98, 135 Greg Wright 81 Jimmy Yuncton 7 John Cook 85, 86, 89, 98, 107, 125, 130, 139, 178 John James 89, 97, 105, 121, 122 Lee Hunt 80, 83 Lou Armstrong 63, 109, 112, 113, 124, 133 Michael Holtham 152 Paula Gecele 30 Paul Cattonar 27 Phil Allen 86, 96, 106, 107, 116 Rambling On 31, 49, 57, 59, 65, 67, 70, 73, 75, 76, / Australia 79, 83, 85, 87, 88, 91, 95, 96, 97, 105, Skydiving 112, 120, 134, 135, 141, 155, 158, Magazine 164, 169, 171, 173, 177, 178 Ray Withwam 63, 68, 69 Rick Meerkin 67, 68 Sue Brown 33 Tom Maher 53, 81, 98 Tony Edwards 114, 115 Trevor Collins 9, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 71, 75, 77, 78, 80, 81, 85, 89, 91, 93, 98, 99, 101, 102, 103, 108, 115, 116, 117, 119, 122, 123, 124, 127, 129, 132, 133, 139, 145, 152, 155, 157, 158, 163, 164, 169, 175, 178, 179, 180, 181 Walter Strohmayr 45-46

1. Parachutes Over Palmerston NT Times & Gazette: 16, 23, 30, October, 6 November 1891 2.Spitfires and Bombers Army News (Darwin), 2 December 1942 Aviation Historical Society of the NT (2005). Darwin’s Air War 1942-1945 An Illustrated History. AHSNT The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931-1954), 10 May 1943 Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885-1954), 2 September 1948 3. Bail Outs http://www.aerothentic.com/historical/articles/darwin_defenders.htm Grant, Spitfires Over Darwin 1943 No. 1 Fighter Wing, TechWrite Solutions, 2003 Smith Stagg, Ross. Caterpillar Club Survivor - Lost in the Top End, 1943. Printed 2007 The Advertiser, 10 May 1943 The Australian Women’s Weekly, 24 February 1945 The Courier-Mail, 13 May 1942 The Courier-Mail, 4 December 1946 The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 March 1943 Western Mail, 2 September 1948 4. Modern Bail Outs http://www.airliners.net/search/photo. search?regsearch=A3-105 http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Country-By-Country/ Australia.htm NT News, 4 April 1967 NT News, 14 September 2004 The Drum Magazine (April 2010). http://www.pfes.nt.gov. au/~/media/Files/Forms_Licences_Permits_Publications/ Triservice/Drum_magazine/drum-april-2010.ashx 5. Special Operations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Jaywick http://littledarwin.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/territorysfighting-editor-big-jim.html http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/08/20/2989314. htm?site=darwin Johnson, W.W. (1984) Ripcord Australia.. ACPA 6. War Strips Conservation Commission of the NT, (1992) Signs of History, WWII Historic Sites.

Darwin City Council, (2002). World War II Tours, 17&18 February 2002 Running Sheet. http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/ The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848-1954), 16 September 1944 7. Batchelor Airstrip Barrie, D.R. (1982) The Heart of Rum Jungle. Self Published Jackson, R. (1997). The Broken Eight, History of 2/14th Australian Field Regiment, Clipper Press.

8. Strauss Airstrip Aviation Historical Society of the NT (2005). Darwin’s Air War 1942-1945 An Illustrated History. AHSNT

182

Interviews and References

10. NT School of Parachuting Barter L.F., From Wartime Camp to Garden Suburb A Short History of Nightcliff and Rapid Creek. Historical Society of the NT, 1994 11. First Sport Jump NT News, 3 July 1962 NT News, 10 July 1962 NT News, 13 September 1962 NT News, 23 October 1962 NT News, 17 November 1962 NT News, 3 January 1963 NT News, 5 March 1963 NT News, 30 April 1963 12. Jumping Women in the 60s http://www.earlyaviators.com/edrianco.htm The Advertiser (Adelaide), 1 December 1937 The Australian Women’s Weekly , Saturday 29 January 1938 The Australian Women’s Weekly , Saturday 5 February 1949 The Australian Women’s Weekly, 11 May 1955 The West Australian (Perth), 1 January 1935 13. Territory Women in the 60s NT News, 15 January 1963 NT News, 12 March 1963 14. Early Demos NT News, 31 October 1963 NT News, 10 December 1963 NT News, 18 February 1964 NT News, 13 April 1964 NT News, 30 June 1966 16. Move to Batchelor NT News, 19 June 1967 NT News, 14 July 1967 NT News, 20 July 1967 20. Katherine Jumpers ABC Radio, June 2006. Yarns from the Wild Top End - Jim McHours.

ABC Radio, November 2011. Brother Paul

33. Cyclone Tracy http://www.ntlib.nt.gov.au/tracy/basic/1974.html 34. Darwin Recovers http://www.beercanregatta.org.au/history 37. Batchelor Jumpers and Planes Spall, L. (1990). Our Darwin: 1956 to Tracy.

Hesperian Press, Australia.

41. Manbulloo Incidents NT News, August 1988 66. Cumo’s Near Miss Sky High Express, September 1985 68. Indonesian Jumpers http://www.suaramanado.com/berita/manado/ hiburan/2011/9/2639/kembang-di-langit-manado http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2006/07/05/ sri-tjiptowati-soebiandono-falling-love-theomandagi-and-free-fall.html http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2007/07/03/ pinkan-mandagi-addicted-skydiving.html 78. NT Students Australian Military News, October 1995 85. First Commercial Operation NT News, 15 March 2002 NT News, 17 March 2002 93. 21st Century Demos: Special Events http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/ghan.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghan 94. 21st Century Demos: Shows NT News, 11 July 1963 98. Celebrities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Race_9 99. Beach Jumps NT News, 15 February 2009 103. POPs and Pups http://www.90percent.it/images/stories/web34_11. pdf

27. Batchelor Moves With the Times NT News, 8 September 1969 32. Para-Rescue NT Police, Fire & Emergency Services Magazine, The Drum, April 2010

183

References

9. DC3s http://www.raafawa.org.au/museum/history/mma/index.html http://www.aussieairliners.org/dc-3/vh-can/vhcan.html Northern Standard (Darwin), 12 September 1947 Northern Standard (Darwin), 7 October 1954 The Argus (Melbourne), 31 August 1937 The Argus (Melbourne), 31 October 1937 The West Australian, 12 April 1947

Photographic Acknowledgements Contributor

Pages

Brian Scoffell

10

Ashley Smith

Cathy Hannant Chris Harrington Clive Hyde Dan Short

David Benson

87, 145, 165, 179

2-3, 49, 77, 84, 85, 86, 96, 106, 107, 112, 113, 114, 115, 133, 147, 171 93, 132

1, 66, 58, 60, 73, 86, 92, 94, 195, 104, 107, 118, 124, 125, 131 96

Front Cover

Don McKern

31, 66

Geoff Cowie

36, 54, 55, 73, 78, 79, 94, 99, 110, 111

Eddie Smith

Hayden Galvin

156, 180-1

37, 152

Paul Cattonar

26, 27, 28, 36, 38

Lou Armstrong

133

5. Special Operations Johnson, W.W. (1984) Ripcord Australia.. ACPA (originally sourced from Point Cook RAAF Museum, Victoria)

Rambling On / Australian Skydiver Magazine

7, 74, 75, 88, 113, 120, 134, 135, 152, 158

Rebecca Fauntleroy

160, 161

Tom Maher

52, 71, 76, 97, 98, 105, 109, 125, 130, 159

Trevor Collins (or photos possessed but source unknown)

4, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 80, 81, 82, 90, 91, 92, 93, 100, 101, 102, 103, 106, 109, 115, 116, 117, 119, 122, 123, 126, 127, 128, 129, 133, 132, 133, 137, 138, 141, 142, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 152, 153, 155, 156, 157 158, 159, 160, 162, 164, 166 167, 168, 169, 171, 173, 175 176, 177, 179, 180, 181, 182-3, 184-5, 186-7, Back Cover

Ray Withwam

Steve Fitchett Tracey Lane

Walter Strohmayr

3. Bail Outs Australian War Memorial: MWA:0033 Barrier Miner, 8 July 1943 The Canberra Times, 10 May 1943; 4. Modern Bail Outs http://www.airliners.net/search/photo. search?regsearch=A3-105 NT News, April 1967 Radschool Association Magazine (Vol22, 2008). http://www. austradesecure.com/radschool/Vol22/PDF/Page19.pdf www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/15/1094927577862.html;

64, 65, 67, 69, 70

Kelly Brennan

Australian War Memorial: P00446.002 Public Domain Barton, B. (1942). The Fighters at Humpty Doo. Published in Readers Digest, USA. Caterpillar Club: www.museumoftechnology.org.uk http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caterpillar_Club_-_ awers.jpg

6. War Strips http://mappery.com/Darwin-Area-Fighter-Guide-Map http://m.wikitravel.org/en/Litchfield_National_Park http://www.ozatwar.com/ntmap03.jpg

63, 64, 69

171

111

43, 44, 45

Page 6 NT Map - http://en.travelnt.com/advice/maps/northernterritory.aspx 1. Parachutes Over Palmerston http://www.beckislemuseum.co.uk - Dolly Shepherd, Pickering Gala, July 26, 1911 http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/DutchCourage/adventure. html irst published in The Independent, (New York) v.54, May 29, 1902 Club Hotel Darwin, (189?). Northern Territory Library: William C. J. Tracey Collection. PH0001/0034 http://hdl.handle. net/10070/26684 NT News:, 17 October 1991 2.Spitfires and Bombers

7. Batchelor Airstrip Barrie, D.R. (1982) The Heart of Rum Jungle. Self Published.

Jackson, R. (1997). The Broken Eight, History of 2/14th Australian Field Regiment, Clipper Press.

9. DC3s Northern Standard (Darwin, NT), 7 October 1954 10. NT School of Parachuting Darwin Town Hall, (196?). Northern Territory Library: Flack, Lex. PH0419/0005 http://hdl.handle.net/10070/31777 11. First Sport Jump NT News, 3 July 1962, NT News, 10 July 1962 12. Jumping Women in the 60s The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), 17 August 1936 The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA) 1 December 1937 The Australian Women’s Weekly, 29 January 1938 The Australian Women’s Weekly, 14 August 1968 The Australian Women’s Weekly, 11 May 1955 The Australian Women’s Weekly, 13 September 1967 The Australian Women’s Weekly, 8 December 1971 The Register News-Pictorial (Adelaide), 17 March 1930 The Register News-Pictorial (Adelaide), 21 March 1930 Unknown Newspaper, 1976, “Enquirer Team of Women Skydivers Sets a New World Record.”

13. Territory women in the 60s NT News, 12 March, 1963 The Australian Women’s Weekly, 15 August 1962

184

Photographic Acknowledgements 16. Move to Batchelor NT News, 10 December, 1963 17. Katherine Commences http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Avro-lancaster-front.jpg www.truthforever.com 22. The Races www.theage.com.au 27. Batchelor Moves With the Times NT News, 8 September, 1969 32. Para-Rescue NT News, 18 May, 1966, NT News, 13 September, 1962 NT Police, Fire & Emergency Services Magazine, The Drum, April 2010 33. Cyclone Tracy http://www.ema.gov.au/www/ema/schools.nsf/Page/Learn_ AboutCyclones_InMyBackyard_InMyBackyard http://www.enjoy-darwin.com/cyclone-tracy-pictures.html 36.Batchelor Grows Spall, L. (1990). Our Darwin: 1956 to Tracy. Hesperian Press, Australia.

37. Batchelor Jumpers and Planes Spall, L. (1990). Our Darwin: 1956 to Tracy. Hesperian Press, Australia.

46. NT Records NT News, 18 August 1990

78. NT Students Australian Military News, October 1995 79. Alice Springs Winds Down Trophy Presentation - Tony Muscat, (1979).

Northern Territory Library: Marylyn Nichols Collection, PH0384/0236 http://hdl.handle. net/10070/32729 80. DPC Highlights NT News 16 April 1994 NT News 29 April 1994 NT News 1999 81. Batchelor Rel Weeks 1994-1999 NT News 15 July 1996 NT News 4 September 1997 83. A Low Point - 1996 NT News 16 August 1996, NT News 2 September 1996, NT News 8 September 1996, NT News 9 September 1996, NT News 10 September 1996 NT News 11 September 1985, NT News, 17 September 1985 85. First Commercial Operation NT News 1 September 1996 NT News 15 March 2002 87. V8s come to Town NT News 23 May 2000 95. Technology and Jumps http://www.aircraftpilots.com/tutorials/meteorology/ section4.html

47. Rel Weeks Continue Adapted from Australian Post, 7 May 1988

98. Celebrities http://www.leakedcelebphotos.info/amazing-race2012-logo.html/ NT News 2 July 2009

50. Air Shows NT News, 11 July 1981

100. Sand Bar and Island Jumps NT News 30 November 2008

60. Competitions and Champions NT News, 12 July 1983

101. Australia Day NT News 28 January 1988 NT News 28 January 2001

62. The Media NT News, 30 April 1963, NT News, 15 August 1986 68. Indonesian Jumpers The Jakarta Post, Jakarta 7 March 2007 69. Canopy Wrap NT News, 8 September 1987

103. POPS and Pups http://www.apf.asn.au/Home/What-Members-areup-to/What-Members-are-up-to/default.aspx 104. Memory Lane NT News, 6 May 1992

70. Batchelor Near Misses NT News, 8 September 1985

185

References

14. Early Demos NT News, 17 November, 1962, NT News, 10 December, 1963 NT News, 13 April, 1964, NT News, 1967

Index 30th Rel Week 161 41 jumps 135 Ace Parachute Club 72 Aileron 7, 63 Air Cadets 132 Air Meeting 98 Air shows 93 Alford 12, 22 Alice Springs Airport 63, 113, 115 Alice Springs Skydivers 65 Amazing Race 164 Annaburroo 85, 86, 87, 95, 98, 143, 157 APF 7, 29, 37, 41, 42, 47, 53, 55, 63, 76, 83, 88, 108, 133 Arafura Games 24, 129, 153, 155 Ash Smith 145 Australia Day 129, 135, 155, 170 Axis 94, 107, 108 B17 Flying Fortress bombers 21 bail outs 15 Bali 127 balloon 8, 9, 105 Bark Hut 85 base jump 135 Batchelor Airfield 21 Batchelor Drop Zone 7, 75 Batchelor Rel Weeks 137 Beer Can Regatta 73 Bill Molloy 70 Bond Springs 63, 64, 134 Boobs and Bums 91, 92 Brad Delekta 142 Brian Murphy 43, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 55, 58, 59, 76, 98, 117, 146, 175, 176 Brother Paul 51, 55 Bruce Towers 24, 58 Buffalo Horns 152 C130 127, 163 Carlotta Gael 29, 32, 33, 35 Casa 86, 116, 131, 135 Casuarina Beach 24, 167 Casuarina Pool 24, 102, 103 Cathy Freeman 165, 167 Cathy Hannant 85, 108, 120, 122, 147, 157 Celebrities 5, 163, 164, 165 Chief Instructor 37, 61, 76, 98, 115, 117, 177, 179 Chook Chandler 49, 80, 89, 94, 104, 105, 146 Civil Defence 35, 37, 41 Claude Gillard 7, 29, 41, 80, 83, 112

Cloud Jumps 143 Club 8, 9, 11, 22, 29, 41, 49, 52, 57, 61, 70, 71, 72, 76, 77, 80, 83, 86, 87, 98, 101, 108, 112, 141, 150, 157, 158, 161, 167, 169, 175, 176, 177, 179, 180 Club Merger 98 Cooinda 87, 97 CRW 53, 77, 81, 85, 94, 95, 98, 99, 107, 120, 131, 158, 159, 161, 178 Cyclone Tracey 72, 75 Darwin Parachute Club 22, 41, 61, 71, 76, 86, 98, 112, 150, 157, 158, 161, 169, 175, 176, 177, 179 Darwin Sailing Club 101 Darwin School of Parachuting 7, 176 Darwin Show 157 Daryl 112, 139 Dave Benson 145 Dave McEvoy 49, 57, 76, 83, 131 Dave Opitz 43, 47, 48, 49, 55, 57, 58, 59, 76, 80, 82, 89, 108, 116, 176 DC3 23, 24, 41, 42, 43, 47, 89, 93, 101, 102, 103, 105, 124, 131, 135, 147, 155, 166, 167, 169 DPC Reunion 147 Drew Innes 78, 96, 137 Dum-in-Mirrie 111 East Point Reserve 167 Eddie Smith 64, 83, 113, 134 Fiona 137, 148, 161, 173, 174, 175 First Baton Pass 35 First Display Jump 35 First Katherine Students 55 First Rel Work 35 First Tandem 124 Flag Jumps 129 Floyd 174, 175 Fran 174, 175 Fred’s Pass Show 157 Full Moon Jumps 98 Games 24, 91, 129, 153, 155 Gay Steele 175 General MacArthur 21 Geoff Brown 59

186

Geoff Cowie 43, 47, 48, 49, 50, 54, 57, 58, 59, 76, 77, 80, 85, 94, 98, 107, 108, 112, 125, 176 George Faulkner 37, 41, 45, 47, 55, 176 George Pappa 37, 41, 72, 76, 176 Ghan 155 Glenn and Heather Singleman 158 Goldsmith 11, 12 Gordon Gecele 31, 37, 42, 46, 48, 49, 61, 76, 77 Gove 33, 87, 104 grants 108 Greg Wright 81, 88, 89, 95, 131, 146, 147 Groote Eylandt 87 Grose Island 111 Guido 93 Gunges 91 Handbrake 75, 146, 152, 155, 161, 169, 171, 179 Ian Robertson 173 Indonesian 108, 120, 127 Isabel Palmer 173 Jabiru 77, 85, 87, 97 Japanese 11, 12, 13, 17, 142 Jerry Moussard 176 Jimmy Yuncken 7, 75 John Cook 88, 120, 121, 125, 176, 177, 178, 179 John James 88, 120, 122, 131, 143, 147 jumpsuits 75, 87, 105, 131 Katherine Gorge 47, 49, 57 Katherine Skydiver’s Club 80, 141 Kathryn Henderson 33 Kirby Renshaw Slot 123 Kiwi 51, 147, 174, 175 KRH 85, 86, 115, 116 Kununurra 53, 77, 87, 137, 141, 163, 164 Laurie Trotter 31, 45, 61, 176 Lee Hunt 49, 65, 73, 75, 80, 88, 89, 104, 141, 146, 147, 176 Lee Point Beach 145, 166, 167 Lenny Hunter 7, 68, 186 Life Members 179 Linda Corbouldt 119 Lombok 127 Lou Armstrong 98, 112, 115, 133, 141

Index Rel Week 23, 24, 49, 80, 81, 82, 83, 89, 91, 95, 105, 108, 109, 120, 127, 130, 131, 136, 137, 141, 147, 148, 149, 150, 161, 171, 173, 175, 178 RFO 47, 49, 80, 83 Robbie Mandagi 120, 124, 131 Robin O’Neil 127 Robyn Wawn 65, 89, 112, 134 Rocksitters 167 Roger Clifton 172, 173 roofers 87, 97 Roz 137, 174, 175 Sailing Club 101, 167 Sand Bar 169 Special Operations Australia 17 Speedway 104, 105 Spitfires 11, 22 Stagg 12 Stapleton 12, 41 Star Picket Award 122 Static Lines 55 Steve Cummins 117 Strauss 22 Stretch 127, 137, 148, 161, 171, 173 Sunset Jumps 143 Taddy 123 Tail Plane Hook Up 79 tandem 7, 120, 124, 125, 129, 132, 133, 134, 135, 142, 147, 163, 164, 167, 173, 177 TC 9, 24, 41, 49, 50, 53, 55, 57, 58, 59, 75, 77, 80, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, 91, 98, 100, 101, 104, 105, 111, 115, 122, 124, 125, 127, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 139, 146, 152, 157, 161, 163, 164, 166, 169, 175, 177 Tennant Creek 51, 70, 89 Territory Day 78 Terry King 176, 177 Timber Creek Races 53 Time Out 80, 106, 114 Tindal 15, 96, 97, 145 Tiwi Islands 24, 169 Tony Edwards 114, 176, 182 Tony Muscat 134

187

Top End Tandems 176 Trailer Boat Club 167 Trevor Collins 47, 48, 49, 50, 85, 108, 176, 177, 179 Two Galahs and Deer Antlers 161 Uluru 113 V8’s 145 VH-CAN 23, 24, 131 VH-MMA 23, 24 VH-RFO 49 VH-WOG 111 Volunteers 177 Walter Strohmayr 42, 45, 61 Weather 13, 143 women 31, 33, 35, 37, 125, 136 Woolner Station 29 Wrist Hook-Up 81 Zeros 12, 22 Z Special Unit 17

Index

Louie Wilson 47, 48, 49, 51, 57, 82, 94 Lynette Bott 29, 33 Manbulloo 23, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 59, 70, 80, 81, 87, 88, 89, 94, 96, 98, 108, 124, 130, 131, 175 Manfred Purcher 37, 176 Media 109 Michael Holtham 152 Mike Braun 49, 76, 78, 82, 85, 86, 108, 112, 117, 143 Mindil Beach 24, 78, 100, 166, 167 Mining 133 Mirage 15 Mudginberri 77, 86, 97 Muirella Park 87 Mystery Tours 122 Nightcliff Beach 167 night demo 89, 105 night jump 88, 89, 134, 173 NT Champs 114, 115, 135, 143 NT Fire Brigade Airborne Division 71 NT Parachute Council 108 NT School of Parachuting 27, 29, 35, 37, 61 NT Women 137 Outback Jack 163, 164 Para-plane 58 Paula Gecele 31, 33, 47 Paul Flipo 89, 95, 131 Paul Osborne 88, 89, 91, 95, 124, 125, 130, 131, 146, 147 Paul Smith 137 Pell Airfield 17 Pete Lonnon 78, 137, 139, 142 Peter Holtham 71, 152 Pete’s Parachuting 167, 176 Phil Allen 77, 85, 86, 95, 107, 120 Photography 109 Pine Gap 133 Pip Borman 145 Pooley 152, 174, 175 POPS 173 Professor Burns 9 Pyrotechnics 104, 158 RAAF 11, 12, 15, 17, 23, 29, 35, 96, 132, 139 Rapide Electra 81 Ray O’Leary 98, 121, 133, 134, 141, 176 Ray Palmer 81, 130, 131, 137, 157 Record 30, 88, 89, 108, 131, 171, 173