Next reunion - 27 April 2003 |
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| Some of the crew that toured Amberley in the pink bus on the Saturday. We must thank W/Off Alan Goulding who gave up his day off to show us around. |
Times are not quite so good for a lot of other blokes either. Way back, a lot left the Royal air line for Uncle Reg’s and others associated with, only to wake up one morning late last year to discover that the unthinkable had happened. Just how could something so big and shiny and an integral part of the landscape stop. It’s amazing!! We can only wish the blokes well, and hope that Uncle Reg and the blue eyed girls get going again-soon.
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| Geoff Renshaw in the F111C electronics section, and not an AVO or scope iron in sight. |
One of the highlites of the reunion was the Saturday trip to Amberley. A bunch of us boarded the little pink bus in the morning and spent the day touring the base, and what an eye-opener it was. These days a lot of maintenance work is done by civvies who work the benches along-side the regular RAAF blokes, and even though we didn’t get to talk to any of the current RAAF blokes, we think that it would be difficult working in that environment (Remember the days of the "week-end warriors"). Enforcing discipline would be a real bitch. Kev Stapleton for instance, was heard to say he couldn’t believe the state of the floors that many years ago he’d worried to death stuck at one end of a 12" polisher. Friday arvo clean ups have long gone, or so it seemed. We wonder if the Wednesday arvo sporty is still around.
It was a little sad for those that had spent a lot of their younger lives at Amberley and with such fond memories of what was once their "home" to see it in today’s climate, but that’s progress. Perhaps the blokes that work there today will tour the base in 30 years time and also get a shock. Perhaps. It didn’t seem like it could be called "home" though.
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| Broughton and Benneworth in the Airmen's Mess at Amberley, can you believe it! arm chairs, coffee tables, soft drink fountains, Mr Whippy machine - Sizzler - eat your heart out .... |
Some of the present day conditions were amazing. None of us could get over the changes to the old Airman’s Mess. Long gone are the RAAF bait layers, replaced now by civvy chefs, all very polite and respectful - "what would you like sir? the fricassee of chicken", or "how would you like your fish done sir, grilled or poached????" Gone was the old mixed grill that was staple fare all those years ago. We were treated to a midday meal that could not have been bettered at a commercial family restaurant anywhere, though we reckon it would now be damn near impossible to call at the back of the mess on a Saturday morning with a six pack and get kitted out with enough food for a week-end bar-b-q for 100. Pity….
Amberley has it’s own aircraft museum, with an old Boston Bomber completely restored, along with a Catalina, Mirage and Sabre at various stages of "being put back together" as well as other bits and pieces of old aeroplane stuff. After having looked at and climbed into several of the old timers, you get a feel for the "guts" the blokes must have had that flew in them all those years ago. The rear gunner of the Boston had one helluva lonely life stuck down the back in his tiny little cubby hole and you can only imagine the degree of terror some of the blokes that flew in them would have experienced while under fire.
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