Radschool Association Newsletter

Radschool Association Newsletter - Vol 6

31 Aug 2000

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Passing out parade.

Last issue we mentioned that 35Sqn and 38Sqn had been merged into the one squadron which was now based at Amberley. This was done to allow the RAAF to continue to fly the Caribou, seeing as they have yet to find a suitable replacement aircraft. It is interesting to note that the Caribou was ordered by the RAAF back in 1963 as a replacement for another ageing aeroplane, the DC3. The DC3, or Gooney Bird as it was affectionately called, has been in active service with the RAAF since 1940.

An RAAF DC3

Just recently, at Edinburgh, the RAAF auctioned off their last 3 remaining DC3’s, the last of those wonderful old work horses which have been every-where the RAAF has been, and which were supposed to have been replaced 36 years ago when the first 3 Caribous were delivered to Richmond (22 April, 1964). These poor old things have been around for what seems a million years, and will probably continue to fly for another million years. It would be a shame if they just ended up on a pole somewhere.

Over time there has been a lot of mods carried out on the Gooney. No longer do they have that terrible old liaison HF with its fist size output bottles and its trailing wire antenna, but even so, they haven’t changed all that much since first made back in 1935. How many other machines that were designed and made in 1935 do you know that are still being actively used today-not many I bet. (How many people have snapped a tail wheel lock with the towing brace-and had to get down the back and fit a new one-mongrel of a job. You only ever do it once).

During WW2, Goonies were used by 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38 Sqns. All told, Mr Douglas made a total of 10,926 DC3’s, and they’ve done just about everything since. Apart from carrying bods and cargo, they’ve been used as crop dusters, glider tugs, gun carriages, rain makers and have been fitted with skis and JATO bottles and used on the ice. Long may they continue to fly our skies.

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