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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Mar 27, 2009 17:58:37 GMT -5
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Post by johnfromoz on Mar 29, 2009 22:34:07 GMT -5
An interesting read throughout, but especially the last part (flying in to Adelaide, where I live). His comments about the hospitable hospital and the local wines, and his remarks about Rolf Harris, gave him plenty of credibility! I thought Dame Edna's often tasteless creator came along much later. ;D The Blue Streak ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Streak_missile) program he mentions transporting parts for lasted between 1955 and 1960 and centred on the Woomera Rocket Range, in the South Australian outback. Adelaide's West Beach airport, YPAD, (now Adelaide International) opened in 1955, as did the new RAAF base at YPED (Edinburgh). Before that the city airfield was Parafield (YPPF) which despite historical value is going to be turned into a housing estate. The RAAF used a couple of wartime fields, the nearest probably being Mallala, now a car racing circuit but in the early fifties home to the City of Adelaide Squadron Mustangs. The RAAF operated three Bristol Freighters between YPED and Woomera in support of various projects. Apart from the missile range, the UK atomic tests also saw interesting traffic through Edinburgh and Woomera - a selection of V-bombers and numerous four-prop RAF transports among them. I grew up used to the sight of Vulcans, Canberras and Meteors overhead. |
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Post by chrisd on Apr 8, 2009 3:19:07 GMT -5
Hi all,
Very interested in the above thread. I was posted to Woomera by the RAF between 1964 & 1966 & for some time was the only armourer there. Unmanned Canberras & Meteors were being used as targets & there was a big junk pile on the airfield when I arrived. I was involved with Jindvik drones & the RAAF used them as targets when their Mirages with Matra missiles arrived. As the RAF khaki was such crap we were allowed to buy & wear RAAF uniforms & I appeared in an RAAF recruiting film whilst in uniform! I watched a couple of Blue Streak launches & was involved with the Black Knight launches. To test the range radar 2 hollow metal spheres about 2ft dia. attached to a concrete 'bomb' were dropped from an RAAF Canberra before the launch & then 2 afterwards. If the radar tracked all 4 then the data from the launch was OK. I did hear later that these spheres were found in the outback & were thought to be extra terrestrial!!! Our aircraft were 3 Alouette helicopters ( although one went back to France after a heavy autorotation landing) and an Otter. We used to go chase kangaroos off the airfield with the Alouettes - that was fun! Some visitors I remember were 4 RAAF Sabres. As the only armourer there I was responsible for all things connected with weapons, flares, ejection seats, small arms, etc. The Jindviks had 4 flares under the jet pipe at the tail so the Matra missiles had a heat source to fix on. Wing tip cameras recorded near misses. Oh Well - Happy days. ChrisD
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Post by johnfromoz on Apr 8, 2009 18:27:37 GMT -5
Chris, there's still a Jindivik at the Classic Jets Fighter Museum, Parafield (YPPF) just north of Adelaide. I believe it's a hybrid of two variants - they have the nose section with the air intake on the wall nearby last I saw. They also have a Bloodhound SAM, and of course a number of regular aircraft - Mirage III, Avon Sabre, Sea Venom, Meteor and a WW2 Lockheed Lightning among them.  YPPF is rather historical in itself, but at present it looks like being sold for property developers. There's also a Blue Steel (entirely different to "Blue Streak") casing at the Port Adelaide aviation museum. I believe one fell off a Vulcan near Kangaroo Island once - fortunately a "dummy round" but it did get the press excited. |
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Post by chrisd on Apr 12, 2009 3:56:38 GMT -5
Hi John,
Thanks for your photo of the Jindivik. If my memory serves me correctly ours had a red painted tube on each wingtip with 2 fish eye lens- 1 looking up & the other down. Saw some photos of a Matra missile which cut the Jindys flap in half - so about 6ft from the lens! The 2 white tubes sticking out from the rear fuselage are the flares which was my area - although I thought there were 4 in a faired housing under the jetpipe - but I could be wrong - it was a few years ago! The Jindivik had the same system for take off & landing as the Me163 rocket fighter. The skid you can see in the photo & there should be a 3 wheeled trolley to which the Jindy was held onto by 2 bomb release units. The front one allowed the aircraft to assume a nose up position when operated & the the 2nd released it at the correct flying speed. Worked very well. Only 1 failure I saw which was when the aircraft twisted after the front release operated & the 2nd one couldn,t realease to allow the aircraft to fly. They don,t fly well with a trolley attached!! I don,t know Parafield - I only stayed 2 days at Edinburgh Field when I arrived - but I do have fond memories of Adelaide which we visited a few times.
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Post by johnfromoz on Apr 13, 2009 19:03:04 GMT -5
Hi Chris. That Jindavik is, on the museum's own admission, a hybrid. I think it should have the large intake above the nose. So maybe they only had two flare dispensers when they got it into display condition, or maybe there were variations.
Parafield YPPF is very near Edinburgh - in fact departures from 03L need to be careful they don't intrude into RAAF airspace, and cause a mild panic ("Crikey, blokes, we got a bandit. Whose turn is it? I'm off til Thursday.")
Edinburgh dates from about 1955. Parafield goes back to 1926, and was the main city airport until the new YPAD was built 1955-56. In its time it was serviced by West Australian Airways (a long drag across plenty of nothing for a twenties aircraft) and the fledgeling Ansett services. It has a lot of history, which is why some of us are disgusted that it's going for housing development. The locals happily bought land near it cheap and then complained the airfield was too close!
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