Wings & Wheels soars again

BY TIM HOWARD

There was something for motor enthusiasts of just about every kind at the Grafton Aero Club’s Wing & Wheels open day on Sunday.

Crowds focked to their eyes over almost a century worth of vehicles that have carried us around on the road or in the air.

Hundreds took the opportunity to get off the ground with joy fights in recreational fxed wing aircraft or in the Coffs Harbours Precision Helicopters joy fights.

The open day is a magnet for the rev heads enthralled by the technology of the last

“We had more than a metre of water through here for days after the rains last year,” he said.

Mr KIng said the club had improved the drainage at the aerodrome, to help remove water, although he doubted it would make much difference if last year’s rain event repeated.

“When the council closed the food gates, there’s more recent models came equipped with a machine gun.

What was not a joke for potential buyers has been the price hike of around $50,000 as the war in Ukraine has cut off supply of the aircraft.

Very popular with training pilots, the Vixxen has the ability to be deployed with a “ballistic parachute” a device which when activated better take off and cruising speed, but the biggest difference for him was the suspension.

“With the Piper, there’s no give on landing,” he said. “When you hit the runway, it’s bang and you’re down.”

Plane envy

Long-time Lawrence pilot Lee Harrington found himself with a case of plane envy at Wings & Wheels airborne, a powered plane, or tug, which towed them aloft, or using a winch.

The Grafton club has a winch, powered by an 5.8 litre Ford V8 engine which can haul a glider aloft at about 45-50knots or around 95kmh.

He said the winch winds in 1.5km of rope attached to the glider which is hauled in, dragging the glider into the air at an angle of 45°.

He won’t say what he believed the car to be worth now, but it’s safe to say it’s been a wise investment.

Mr Mortimer said the attraction of the Torana, when “my hair was black” was it was so easy to hot it up.

Thankfully he kept the original parts and once the thrills of youth wore off, the Torana was rebuilt to its century when the piston was king.

To an outsider listening to many groups of mainly males yakking about the different characteristics of the displays, it was like hearing a second language.

Aero club president Bob KIng was thrilled at the response to the open day, nowhere for the water to go, so it just flls up like a bath,” he said. fres a parachute from the fuselage which allows the plane, with pilot aboard, to foat gently to the ground. when he spotted a Bristell Classic parked among the aircraft on display.

It was impossible to describe every exhibit on show, but there were a couple of interesting exhibits that were topical.

Mr Kee said his aircraft has a space for the parachute, but he had not ordered it to be installed.

The Czech-built low wing ultra-high and light sport aircraft caught Mr Harrington’s eye immediately and he spent

“The glider has a release switch and drops the tow rope at around 1200ft,” he said.

He said fights could last anywhere from fve minutes factory foor condition.

“It’s been fully registered for the past 53 years,” he said. “All the kids grew up with it.” which was cancelled last year after heavy rain and fooding over months made the venue, South Grafton Aerodrome, a bog.

From Ukraine with love Harvey Bay couple Gayle and Trevor Key few their two-seater Aeropract-32 Vixxen into Grafton on Sunday morning as part of a weekend jaunt around Queensland and NSW.

The plane, which has the couple’s wedding date stencilled on the fuselage as

He said the the plane’s 27knot stall speed was another feature popular with new pilots.

“The only thing that can fy slower than this and stay in the air is a helicopter,” he said.

“It cruises at around 115knots at 7500ft and it’s so easy to fy, it’s a dream.” Have plane, will fy several minutes looking lovingly over its controls.

So what was the attraction?

The answer was surprisingly brief.

“It’s so sleek and very fast,” Mr Harrington said. “I normally fy Cessna’s but this would be a lot more fun.”

Non-powered fying fun Aero club president Bob to fve hours, depending on conditions.

“You need to fnd thermals (columns of rising warm air) so you gain altitude,” he said.

Wheels on the ground Across the runway from the from aircraft a lot of pretty sleek machinery built

The Mortimore family had to wait until they were grown up before they got the experience of buying a new car.

“I bought a Daihatsu Charade, I think, way back, then I got a RAV 4 and a Commodore,” he said.

“This one (the Torana) only comes out for the car its call sign, is a Ukrainian built aircraft very popular with new pilots.

Mr Kee joked the aircraft was much sought after, but

Last year’s foods look to have grounded Lismore pilot Dave Michel when his Maule M4 and the wings of a Skyranger were caught in foodwaters and destroyed.

But call of the sky was too strong and he began looking around for a replacement to get him back off the ground.

In a remarkably short time he was able to fnd a Piper Pacer, named Peggy Sue, which has been a capable replacement.

“I was very lucky to fnd one so quickly,” he said.

He said the new plane does not have the capabilities of his Maule, which had far

King enjoys his fying without the roar of a piston engine, preferring to soar in his German-built Sleicher K7.

Built in 1965, it has fown 30,000 fights and spent about 10,000 hours in the air.

He likes nothing more than to get trainee pilots into the glider with him, where they’re seated in up front.

“The view is so much better from up there,” he said. “I’m quite happy to sit in the back and take control if necessary.”

Mr King said there were two ways of getting gliders to fy on the ground were attracting plenty of attention from the crowds who focked to South Grafton for the open day shows now.”

But among the many lovingly restored cars that demonstrated the evolution of car design over the past century, was a a mintcondition 1970 GTR Torana, recognised as the best of its kind in Australia.

Waterview car buff Ken Mortimer has owned the car since he bought it in 1970 from long-departed Lismore Holden dealership W Robinson & Son for the princely sum of $2884.

But the car makes it all worthwhile.

At the Torana in Australia

Show in Tamworth 2021 Mr Mortimer picked up two of the most coveted awards: the Best unrestored Torana in Australia and the Leo Pruneau Award for the top overall point score among the show exhibits.

Mr Mortimer said the show was due to be held later this year in Tasmania, but he wouldn’t be going.

“I love Tasmania, it’s a beautiful place, but it’s a bit too far to take the car to show,” he said.

“MAKE me a beautiful word,” once said Bernard Shaw, the self-taught Irish luminary, “for doing things tomorrow, for that surely is a great and blessed invention.”

As a tribute to the first person to win both a Nobel Prize in Literature and an Academy award, I’d like to offer up to the ever-wicked wit from the Emerald Isle who passed away in 1950, the word ‘Delazitra’ (which may have never appeared anywhere before, as it is literally a combination of the Czech words for ‘do’ and ‘tomorrow’).

What defined Shaw, besides his ability to thread thoughts into words with such unrivalled precision, was his knack of identifying gaps, if not easily missed swathes of ‘givens’ that could do with improvement here and there. An example of which was the fact he set aside money in his will to create a new 40-letter alphabet, to help humans better think, or in the least, express themselves more thoroughly.

When it comes to expression, none are more memorable than those who are able to condense their thinking into the sublime sum of one impeccably pitched sentence. The most celebrated seem to embody an elusive mix of wit, flow, wisdom, humour and deep irony. Relatedly, we refer to a person’s time in jail as a prison sentence, and in many ways, the well written sentence ‘captures’ something that is ever transferable, albeit vibrantly retrievable at any time.

Some of my personal favourite one-liners are derived from the German speaking world; a culture that is largely defined by thinking that is superbly tinged with

Nigel Dawe

provocative insight. As such, no practitioner of words more embodied this inclination than the cultural icon, Goethe.

Some examples of his ever-deft expressions are as follows: “If monkeys could reach the point of being bored, they could become human beings.”

Not to mention, “Even a shabby camel can carry the load of many donkeys.”

Little wonder that the English word for ‘wit’ also shares a common lineage with the German word ‘witzig’ which means ‘amusing, funny or entertaining’. Another doyen of German culture was the inter-war luminary, Karl Kraus, who aside from Mark Twain or Oscar Wilde could well be considered the greatest master of sardonic quip. Some of Kraus’ measured pearls include, “You can pack plenty of knowledge into an empty head”; “Life is an effort that deserves a better cause”; “The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people meaner.”

Venturing slightly east, the title of Dean of Snide surely belongs to the Polish WWII concentration camp escapee and eventual diplomat – Stanislaw J Lec. In a book titled Unkempt Thoughts, Lec unleashed lines such as, “The moment of recognizing your own lack of talent is a flash of genius.”; “Some like to understand what they believe in. Others like to believe in what they understand.”; and, “Never saw the branch you’re sitting on, unless they’re trying to hang you from it.”

In the same vein and rather fittingly, the Polish Nobel prize-winning poet Wislawa Szymborska once discerned: “Life, however long, will always be short. Too short for anything to be added.”