Radschool Association Magazine

Radschool Association Magazine - Vol 12

Next reunion 25-27 April 2003

31 Oct 2002

Page 19

A naked chick - what were you expecting??

'Dutchy' Forster got in touch after our recent competition, and was reminiscing about his time at Laverton and about some of the staff. He says “Flt Lt Nev Blakely was our course instructor on RMC 34 until about August'64. Ron Lippman was on the same course if my memory serves me correctly. The bloke in charge of workshop practices was a Cpl Harrison (Cpl Arry-sun as he used to introduce himself). Flt Lt Henry Parker, complete with two boxer dogs at heel, was the defence guard commander who made life just that little more uncertain. I remember the Beatle song "The Rise and Fall of Flingle Bunt' was banned from the ASCO juke box because the canteen ladies were sick to death of hearing it. I also remember a story that was doing the rounds about the time the Duke of Edinburgh was due to visit RAAF Laverton officer's mess. Story goes they used to play a game called 'dead ants' where, when someone yelled out 'dead ants' all would drop to the floor lying on their backs with legs in the air. The last one down shouted the bar. WngCdr 'Rusty' Steel had decided to encourage the Duke to shout and organized for someone to yell out 'Dead ants.' He passed the word around. This would leave the Duke standing alone and naturally he would have to shout the bar. Unbeknown to Rusty, someone had decided it would be in poor taste to leave HRH standing there and passed the word around that when they heard the call 'Dead ants' they were to stand their ground. When the Duke entered the mess the call 'dead ants' went up and there was Rusty lying on the ground on his back, all by himself, in front of the Duke, with his legs in the air.”

We asked Frank Alley who was a Sir at Radschool during the late 60’s if he could confirm/deny Dutchy’s story about the “dead ants” episode. Frank writes:-

The RAAF has purchased a bunch of new aircraft for 34 Sqn which this year celebrates its 60th birthday. Unfortunately, the end of the year will also mark the end of 55 years of uniformed maintenance at the unit as the VIP fleet will shortly be maintained by Qantas, not by the blokes in ‘ralls. One of the new aircraft type for 34Sqn is the Boeing 737s business jet, which will be configured to carry 30 passengers. You can only imagine the degree of comfort inside when you compare it to a Virgin 737 which is configured to carry 180 pax. 34Sqn had an “End of an Era" function in hanger 47 at Fairbairn back in September to celebrate the 60 years, and to commiserate the closure of the maintenance section.

It’s certainly a different Air Force now compared to the one we knew, with civvies doing most of the work, and we wonder where will it all end, perhaps next they’ll get Qantas pilots to fly the things-I think I’m glad I’m out of it.

I knew Neville Blakely quite well, good bloke, I worked with him at Radschool. Re the 'dead ants' story, I don't believe HRH was involved. I never actually saw it happen at Laverton, but I was told was that a certain Wng Cdr knuckle head from Williamtown did it in the mess. Whilst on his back waving his arms and legs in the air, looking like a bloody idiot, everyone else just stood there looking bemused at his antics. The officers' mess at Laverton was a bit staid and the only fighter pilots there were test pilots, a rather serious and professional lot they were...who can blame them. One of them actually took a Mirage off a park in Melbourne after it had been deposited there by a flamed-out knuck from Williamtown. Another was a school mate of mine, Gil Moore who I believe became the first CO of the FIII squadron at Amberley. When Gil went out on an aerobatics flight in a Canberra, everyone, including the pilots came out to watch. The other RAAF pilots were gooney drivers with ARDU. For awhile we had the USAF U2 pilots there, none of whom were the steely blue-eyed type, very cultured and massively experienced.

Bill Fewster was one of the Gooney pilots and he flew the first aircraft (C130) into Darwin after Cyclone Tracy. Some of the blokes may remember me taking them down to the Neptune (301) that had run out of hours. Fewster had taxied it from ARDU to out the front of 1AD. The guy I flew most of my hours with was Kevin Sharpley who was just back from Viet Nam where he flew helicopters, a superb pilot who got us out of some rather dangerous situations and on occasions put us into some. As I remember, one of my Radtech students finished up working with me at ARDU, sorry, but after all those years I can't remember his first name but his surname was Jeanes.

How to clean a CAT

Thoroughly clean toilet bowl.
Lift both lids and add 1 cup of shampoo
Find and soothe cat as you carry him/her to the toilet
In one swift move, place cat in toilet, close both lids and sit on top so cat cannot escape.
The cat will self agitate and produce ample suds. (Ignore ruckus from inside the toilet, cat is enjoying this.)
Flush toilet 3 or 4 times. This provides power rinse, which is quite effective.
Have someone open outside door, stand as far from toilet as possible and quickly lift both lids.
Clean cat will rocket out of the toilet and head for the outdoors where he will air dry.

Yours Sincerely, The Dog

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Financials - as at 31 October 2002
Collector		Emitter
Incoming	$10,229.57	Outgoing	$10,125.74
Base			$103.83
	________		________
Balance	$10,229.57		$10,229.57

Opinions expressed in this Newsletter, unless marked otherwise, are entirely those of the writer - Trevor Benneworth. This newsletter is not affiliated with, nor does it purport to be associated with any other organisation.

We warmly welcome your input, and should you have an opinion contrary to or perhaps you agree with any article published here, please express your thoughts to us in writing, and we will gladly publish them.

Stand by your beds!

Page 19

Financials - as at 31 October 2002

Collector

Emitter