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| Radschool Association Newsletter - Vol 2 | 31 Aug 1999 |
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| Radschool Association, 30 Redwood Street, Stafford Heights,
Qld, 4053.
Phone: 0414 359 173, Fax: 07 3359 1736, Email: radschool@yahoo.com Click HERE to join the Radschool Association Click HERE to go to the Yahoo Clubs Radschool Page. |
 Well
thanks to you, edition 2 of our little newsletter is up and away, and judging
by your interest and enthusiasm, there’ll be many more to come. The "Names"
have nearly doubled since Vol 1, and we now have over 100 people interested
in a re-union. We’ve included a (*) against those that have sent in their
$10 (see back page), so if you’ve paid, and there’s no (*) against
your name - yell!
Later this year we plan to hold State by State re-unions (see page 4), and then we’ll work towards the big one. A national reunion will be a big expense for some people, as there will be travel and accommodation involved, so when we do have it, it has to be big, and it has to be memorable. To do that we need lots of people, and we don’t have the numbers - yet.
Many of those that were at Laverton in the 60’s remember back to that period as being one of the best in their lives. Most were young, away from home and experiencing a big city and all it had to offer for the first time, they had money, good mates, in most cases their own transport, they were secure, and had an interesting job. Life was full of new experiences. Those from the southern states, who had been brought up with Aussie Rules football, couldn’t understand what northerners saw in their Rugby, and the blokes from NSW and Qld couldn’t understand the "aerial ping-pong" that the southern staters worshipped. This was a time when only sissies drove automatics, the roads were terrible, cars tended to fall over and interstate travel was relatively rare. When TV was only 10 years old, and black and white, and there were still places in Australia that didn’t have it at all. It was the time when a good Chinese meal was curried prawns and rice, when the radio DJ was king, portable stereo record players were on sale at ASCO for the first time, public telephones had A and B buttons (remember JPB), and the currency was £sd.
At Laverton, Tasmanians (two headers) met and mixed with Queenslanders
(banana benders), probably for the first time, each eager to hear
about the others’ life style and experiences. Eastern staters met with
blokes from the West who always had a (true?) story about a car that actually
dissapeared into a bull-dust pothole along the Nullarbor. That notorious
stretch of road was unsealed in those days, and was continuously boasted
about as the road from hell.
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| Rumour doing the rounds of RADS during the early 70’s that one of the SNCO instructors actually drove a fork lift smack bang into the side of a Canberra - now who would that have been??? |
 The
White Ensign!
People who were stationed at Laverton prior to 1966 will certainly remember the archaic 6 o’clock closing rule in force at the time. 1966 was the year that the Vic Gov’t introduced 10.00pm closing, prior to that all hotels used to close their bars at 6.00pm. Before then it was common place, at about 6.15pm, to see hoards of drinkers (and there used to be hoards in those days) standing outside hotels, on the foot-path, with about a dozen 7oz beers each, lined up on a window sill or on the ground. The law said that drinkers had 15 mins to be off the premises after 6.00pm, ("time gentlemen please" was the call) so they’d buy up a bunch of beers each, just before 6.00pm, and carry them out on to the footpath and drink on. And that’s the way it was. Laverton would stand-down early on Friday afternoons, we’d head for the showers, jam on the blues (or drabs), get into the car, then onto Geelong Rd and race into town at a million miles an hour - usually heading for either the London (long gone) or Y&J’s. And then, after 6.00pm, if you wanted to battle on (and at age 20-25 who didn’t) you couldn’t get a drink unless you bought a meal, or, unless you went to the RAN’s "super exclusive" club - the White Ensign. The White Ensign was really something else! It was downstairs in the Royal Exhibition Building in Nicholson St (Carlton), had an accommodation section, (tiny little rooms resembling cabins on a ship), food - of sorts, was open late, had a car park, but most of all, it had a bar (a trestle table) that stayed open, and nearly always - a heap of girls. (Remember Phil?) You needed gum-boots in the bar because of the spills, and a heap of mates because back then the Navy didn’t always acknowledge the Air Force as the superior service. But..... if you had a mate from the Barrenjoey area (CJP) like we did, who knew the lay of the land, then the White Ensign was good value. There’s a million stories associated with the White Ensign, most of which we wouldn’t dare print. Some people even associate it with the Laverton footy club. If you’ve got a story about the W.E. that we can print, we’d like to hear it.
This quality A4 size hard cover book has 22 chapters featuring Australian Valve Radios, manufactured from the mid 1920’s to the mid 1950’s. Its 190 pages are illustrated with over 500 b&w photos and 150 illustrations, making it an ideal reference work for the collector. Rod has filled the book with photos of some marvellous old sets, copies of newspaper articles from the time and reproductions of old newspaper and/or magazine advertisements - some of which are astonishing. For instance, in 1930 an Astor radio, "complete with speaker" sold for £29/10/- ($59.00), a price which would have represented about 3 weeks wages in those days. This well indexed book is a fabulous work in nostalgia and brings back fond memories for those of us who can remember sitting in front of some of these sets - listening to those marvellous old shows like "Night Beat" "Hop Harrigan" "Smokie Dawson" "Gunsmoke" "Biggles" and the like. It is also an invaluable work for those that don’t remember anything other than a "tranny", as it shows what "used to be", and is a stark reminder of just how far we’ve come in such a short time. Rod, who now lives in Brisbane, is the ideal bloke to have written this book. He grew up in the 30’s, and made his first crystal set at age 13. He joined the RAAF and went through Radschool at Ballarat in 1948/49, and probably practised his trade on some of these sets. He spent 22 years in the RAAF, and during that time saw the advent of the solid state device, and the inevitable demise of the thermionic valve. Rod’s book is available for $49.95 (well worth it) plus $8.00 p&h. You can place your orders by calling him on 07 3345 3547 (Intl: +61
7 3345 3547)
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| Q: Who was it who said "Defeat is magnificient". |
| State Reunions.
It has been suggested that each State hold a "mini" reunion prior to the one where we all get together, so plans are underway to coordinate these events later this year in Perth, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney (possibly Newcastle) and Brisbane.
If you haven't yet received the "flier" on the reunion, along with a coupon to fill in and return to your state organiser, contact us at radschool@yahoo.com - leave your postal address and we'll get them to you. It's important that you fill in the coupon early so plans can be made with regard to catering etc. If you want to get together with some of your mates later this year, fill in the coupon and return it as soon as you can. Please get behind this and make the night a success. Further information will be posted on our Club’s web page entry in Yahoo http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/raafradschoolassociation as it comes to hand so please give this site a regular look. At present we’re short on numbers from South Australia (see page 12)
so if you know anyone who lives in South Australia and hasn’t joined us
yet, please give them a jolt. Like wise for Tasmania.
Only trouble was, as John remembers, one of the girls had on a pink cashmere jumper, and next morning he was forced to spend several hours, and heaps of rolls of masking tape, trying to clean up his battle jacket.
Anyone who was posted to 35 Sqn in Vietnam, and who would like to join the 35 Sqn Assn, can join by writing to the Sec/Treas:- John Webster,
Membership costs $5 per year. For an additional one-off cost of $10
you can order an attractive Caribou name tag which can be worn at Anzac
Day marches etc. (Yep - they do welcome "queer" trades as well as "black
hands").
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| SOR was surely a rumour mill - another story from the
70’s concerns another SNCO being sprung checking the electrolyte
level in a lead acid battery with the light of a match. Seems the top of
the battery stuck in the ceiling in the battery room gave the game away
Now, who would that have been???? |
 We
need your input - Please!
To enable us to make this little newsletter into something you want to read, we need contributions from you. Please send or email us your photos and your stories. People want to hear from you. These next two photos were sent in by Bill Langton who was on 9RMT in 1967. Bill, like most of us, can remember some of the names from way back then, but not all. Can anyone fill in the first names, and in the case of the League photo, the missing names.
FR: Anstiss, Standish, Moulder, Macfarlane, Western, Burns, Fishman, Lyons, Zarate, Watkins, McGlincie, Oddy |
| These blokes (below) must have been real oddities in Vic in the 60’s which was then firmly in the grip of Aussie Rules. |
 BR: Coach Nev, Ebdon, Hammond, Rhule, Gallaher, Parks, Dwyer, Scott, FR: Robinson, Marr, Peacock, Turner, Wayne Ison, Fisher, Zarate. |
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Smile fellows - please! |
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 Back
row L-R.Hal Baurlei, - -, Bob Pearson, John Cox, - -, Bill Broadbent,
Bob Watling, - -, - -, Stan Strauhan, Geoff Morgan.
Front row L-R.Ross Ginn, Chapman, Mick Danos, Colin Slee, Warren Turner, Noel Shales, Bill Brown, Graham Knight, Ric Karabyn, Keith Turner, Len Lotz, Glen Ireland. Geoff, like most of us, has burnt out a few memory chips over the years, and he can’t recall all the names. Perhaps you can help - can you fill in the blanks?
The Radschool Association has formed a club on the Net, and you are all invited to join. The club can be found at:- http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/raafradschoolassociation - so please join and then add the address to your favourites. We’ve made the club open to anyone who was in the radio/electronics/sigs fields in any armed service in the world, and of course, there is no joining fee. To join, go to the site, click on "Join" (Top RHS) and follow the prompts - easy. As it’s a chat club, you are asked to post your email address so people can correspond with you. You can ask questions, upload photos, chat with a mate or a bunch of mates. We hope to eventually use it as our notice board. All we ask is that you keep the site free from offensive and/or discourteous material. Everything posted on the club’s site can be edited here, so any offensive material will be immediately trashed. When we get enough members we’ll try and get a chat room "sked" going. More about it later - check in regularly. Go to it!
Can anyone name the presenting officer? tb.
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| Col Price, now a Wng Cdr at APSC, Fairbairn, was wondering who would be the longest continuously serving ex-radschool member. He’s been "in" since 1965, can anyone beat that? |
 Service
Medal
For those that aren’t aware, The Defence Department’s Honours and Awards Section has recently issued a medal titled the Australian Service Medal 1945-1975. This medal, and its relevant clasp denoting the area of service, is
awarded to members of all Australian Defence Forces for (non-active) service
in certain specified areas overseas. There are 12 areas in all, some of
which date back to 1945, but the more relevant (for us) areas are:-
Thailand Any one who spent 30 days or more at Ubon between the dates 1 May 1962 to 31 August 1968. If you think you’re eligible either write to:- Director of Honours and Awards
quoting your full name, service number and date/place of service, or you can ring them on 1800 623 306. The process takes about 3 months from application - so get to it. Other areas of service that qualify are:- Japan, 1945-1952, Indonesia 49-51, Middle East 48-75, Berlin 48-49, Kashmir 48-75, Korea 53-57, Far East 55-71, Thai-Malay 60-64 & 64-66, W New Guinea 62-63, SW Pacific 45-46. If you want information on any of these, you can obtain it by contacting the above. Discharge Certificate.
RAAF - Air Force Office
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A typical (??) Appy’s room - back in 1967.
An Airman’s living conditions might be a lot better these days - but is the job??? |
| From the Ground Up
Word from Geoff Mayhew (Brisbane) that a book titled "From the Ground Up" has recently become available. It is all about the RAAF apprentice scheme from 1948 to 1993, and has a complete listing of all 1,100 Radio Appies. Those interested can obtain a copy from:-
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(A few) Rules men know, and wish women would learn.
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A view we all remember - the north gate looking towards "home". Many a (nocturnal) short trip was taken just out this gate................ |
| Bloke in PNG was feeling a bit crook, so he went to see the witch doctor for some advice. "Nothing wrong with you mate" the witch doctor said, "You’re just fed up with people". |
Your say! |
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| Alan Bivard, who was on 19 RMT remembers his time at Laverton
with affection. He writes:
" I remember the course being intensive and fairly tough, with quite a few blokes being either back-coursed or remustered. Although a long time ago, I remember the period very well as it was one of the best times of my life, you made great mates, felt independent, had a bit of money, bought your first set of wheels (I bought a monster BSA650 bike), and in many cases, it was at Laverton that many of us were introduced (seriously) to the opposite sex. Thanks for starting this off, a lot of ex 60’s Laverton blokes will appreciate it". You’re absolutely right Alan - that bunch of pine trees outside the gate on the north road will hold fond memories for a lot of us - tb. Paul Walsh of 37RTC/17RMT, who now lives in Melbourne, writes: "I received with great interest an email regarding the proposed Radschool reunion, and would very much like to attend. Like most of us I also have lost touch with a lot of great people from the Radschool days". Bevin Ford of 32RMC/21RTC, who now lives in the ACT writes: "I was on the first Radio Mechanics course to start at Laverton - in 1961, and I’m glad to see that someone is active in trying to get old Laverton Radschool people together again. The Ballarat mob organise their reunions regularly and it’s about time we did the same. I agree - tb. Adrien Heinrich who was at Laverton from April ‘66 to July ‘67, and who now lives near Tullamarine writes: "I was on 66 RMC but 2 weeks into the course it was changed to 1RMT. The idea of separate Mech and Tech courses was scrapped, and the straight through courses were started. I am certainly interested in the reunion, and am able to help when and if required. Thanks Adrian, we wondered when the change over occurred, and thanks for looking after the Vic section of the reunion - tb. Greg Kane, who was also on 19 RMT, but who now lives in the West writes: " After graduation I was posted to OpCom at Penrith - doing HF stuff. Then I was assigned to the USAF for the remainder of my 9 years, trained in Colorado, then assigned to Woomera. Possibly strained the US/Oz relationship at times. I got out in 1976, and spent the next 15 years in the mining/petro chemical game looking after radio comms. Joined Motorola in ‘91, and have been with them ever since, but I’m now mainly in the selling side of radio. It’s great to see a few of the old names again, and I’m definitely interested in the reunion. I’m with you Greg - I could follow it too until they introduced transistors into the game - tb). Phil Smith who was on 51 RMT in 1971, and who is now with the Dept of Defence in the ACT writes: "I remember during the initial blasting of the old parade ground (Should blast ‘em all - tb) to make way for the new Radschool building, a few of us were in the library, diagonally opposite the groundies microwave dishes, watching the proceedings through the large windows that had been crossed with tape. One of our NCO instructors (no names no pack drill) was outside madly waving his arms around and shouting at us to get away from the window. Nothing wrong with that except he was dressed like a British WW11 air raid warden (from Dad’s Army), complete with tin hat and the lot. We watched with baited breath for the first blast to shower him with parade ground gravel. Looking forward to the reunion. Me too Phil - tb Ed Ward, who was on 18 Sigs course in 1963-64 remembers Laverton as the best 10 months of his whole life, he says, "I was 21, and had just bought a new EH Holden." You’re right Ed, it just doesn’t get any better than that - tb. |
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| The newsletter will contain items of general interest, lots of photos (we hope), and should be a vehicle for you to contact some of your old mates - mates that in some cases you haven't heard from in years. We intend to have a letters page, (let us know what you're doing now) a "remember when" page and of course a "where are they now" page. If you want to know the whereabouts of someone, send us a photo and a bit of information and we'll publish it - someone will know where they are. (Fingers crossed on this one - no estranged wives/husbands please). |
Where are they now? |
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| Terry Horsley and Lindsay Gale.
Both at the 41RTC wind up party - Aug ‘67. Terry best known for being the quickest Laverton to Melbourne in his FJ (which didn’t have any brakes) and Lindsay for having one of the first new Toyota Coronas on Laverton. |
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If you know where any of these people are now, please let
us know.
And if you're looking for a long lost mate, send us your "where are they now" photos along with a few words. |
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| Julian deRoss outside his Hut 450, late 1966? | Bruce Purcell and Rolf Roelfsema outside their Hut 451. Just think of the panics done in here over the years.............. |
| Where are the girls? There were some mighty girls at Laverton during the 60’s and 70’s. We’ve only got a few photos from those days, you might have some more - if so please send them to us. Here are a couple from 1967, and where are they now???? |
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| John Broughton, Jenny Wren and self, celebrating after a Radschool car trial - we made it back!!! | Relaxing after a hard day’s work sweating over a hot (scope) iron with a spot of fishing at Pt Cook pier (hoping like blazes not to catch any). Diane Hubner, self and Jenny Wren. |
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| Don Cureton who was a "brat" from 21Appy would like to hear from anyone else who was on the same course. You can phone him on 07 3373 9253, or send email to radschool@yahoo.com and we'll forward it to him |
| Alan Bivard who was a "thick " from 19RMT would like to hear from anyone else who was on the same course. You can call him on 02 9311 2719, or send email to radschool@yahoo.com and we'll forward it to him |
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Wayne Ison at Laverton in ‘66. Kept breaking the front windscreen of his VW. It’s believed that he’s now in Sydney someplace - in Real Estate. |
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We’ve got some names for the blokes in the pic above that
appeared in Vol1.
They are, Back row, L-R: Tony DeKevitt (now a Sqn Ldr - Canberra), Peter Kensett, Peter Beattie, Ken Marks, - -, - -, Front Row, L-R, Brent Knight, Don Lynch, - - , Rex Andrews. Can anyone fill in the blanks? and where are they now?- tb |
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Post Radschool |
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| 1992 was the year that the Radschool Apprentice scheme finished, with
the final graduation ceremony being held at Laverton. This was a good excuse
for a bunch of old "brats" to to get together again and meet at a hotel
in the Laverton area for a well overdue reunion. 19 Appy was well represented,
thanks to the tireless efforts of Geoff Chapman.
After a break of some 27 years, it was quite an experience for everyone who attended, to once again see people and places that had once been so familiar. All these blokes look like they've got old!!!! |
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| Garry Thomsen, Trevor Lee and Bob Norton at the Radschool Apprenticeships scheme finale - Laverton | Allan George, Trevor Lee and Paul Hewitt. 3 old Radschoolers, at the Radschool Appy finale at Laverton in 1992. Allan, still serving, is now a Grp Cpn and works (???) in Canberra. |
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| Now we know what Stewart Deans (ex-19
Appy) has been up to all these years (apart from taking photos) - growing
bloody great pumpkins that’s what! This 204.5kg giant, grown in his Canberra
garden in 1997 was the largest pumpkin in the ACT that year. (The Australian
record was only 218kg.) Lady Flo has been banging on his door ever since.
Scones anyone............. |
Paul Hewitt and Kevin ('Nobby') Smith shown here
having a good old chin wag at the Apprenticeship Scheme finale at Laverton
- 1992.
"Now look here Nobby..........." |
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| Any Radtech A’s who worked on the Caribou or C130 in
the late 60’s, early 70’s, will have mixed memories of a piece of radio
equipment known as the 180L2. This black box was used to electronically
tune the HF antenna to the selected frequency. Only trouble was - absolutely
nobody in the Air Force knew how the damn thing worked.
Time and again the equipment would be written up U/S by the aircrew, and the radtech on duty crew would have to try and fix it. This usually meant pulling the faulty piece out of the aircraft, and replacing it with a serviceable item. The faulty piece was then taken back to the squadron radio room where its cover was removed, the insides were stared at for a few minutes, a bit of Servicol (remember that stuff) was sprayed onto the "bits" and the cover was then replaced. It was then tested on the bench, and for some unknown reason this always seemed to fix it. A green (Serv) tag was then tied to it and it was returned to the rack waiting for its next ride in an aeroplane. |
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Financials - as at 31 Aug 1999 |
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Income |
Expenses |
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| Membership | $390.00 | Chq Bk | $9.00 |
| Stamps | $4.05 | Expenses | $305.28 |
| Funds Avbl | $79.77 | ||
| ________ | ________ | ||
| Balance | $394.05 | $394.05 | |
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The RRA Names List includes names of people who have contacted us previously, and who expressed interest in the re-union. Check it, and if you know someone who isn't on the list, and who should be, let us or them know. Financial members of the association are marked with an asterisk. Thanks again for your response to the formation of the Radschool Association. Many have joined and helped to meet the costs associated with its inception - but we need more. As you can see from the financials above, we currently have $79.77 in the bank, but once planning for the state reunions gets underway, that figure will diminish rapidly. We intend to build the association into a "club" that will deliver benefits to its members - help us by joining now. We also intend to develop this newsletter into something you look forward to receiving, and eventually to increase its frequency to a monthly. We’ll also build up our web page. But! we can’t do any of that without your help and your input. Please send us your photos, your letters, your stories, your gripes, your memories - we need them all. Either email or post them to us. If you’ve got the equipment, scan your photos and email them with your stories. If you send information by post and want it returned please include a self addressed envelope. We’ll scan your photos and any other material, and get it straight back to you. The first reunions (State based) will be held later this year - please support them if you can. We plan to make them an enjoyable night out, and you will meet some old mates. Stand by your beds! Trevor Benneworth Click HERE to join the Radschool Association |
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Copyright © 1999 Radschool
Association
Last updated 9 Dec 1999
We’ve had many requests for addresses/contact numbers for some of the names
shown in Vol 1 as blokes have seen names of mates that had been forgotten
for years, and they wanted to get in touch again. We’ll keep a register
here, and if you want to get in touch with anyone, either email us and
we’ll forward your email on, or ring in and we’ll put you in touch. It’s
great to be able make contact again after all that time.
We
had panics and bed-rolls and guard duties, and we all became experts with
the Lightburn twin tub and the 15in floor polisher.
Book
Review
John
Mathwin ([H] 08 9450 6311)
has offered to organise the event in the West, and John Broughton
(0418 498 723) and John Schmidt will do likewise in NSW, Peter Nelms
([B] 02 6265 5056)
will look after the ACT, Adrian Heinrich (03 9338 5498)
will take Vic. I'll look after Qld (Trevor Benneworth 0414 359 173).
John
Broughton who was at Radschool in 1967, has fond memories of an "open
day" at Laverton. Seems he was rostered on duty that day as a crowd controller,
and he and a mate just happened to meet a couple of girls who had come
to the base to watch the show. Being the civic minded blokes they were,
and ever conscious of the need to cement relations between the service
and the civil populations, they offered to give the girls a personalised
tour of the base, and being honest and righteous blokes who didn’t wish
to waste the "boss’s time", they offered to do it in their own time - after
hours.
35
Sqn Assoc.
Join
the E-Club.
