Radschool Association Newsletter

Radschool Association Newsletter - Vol 9

Next reunion - 27 April 2003

20 Jan 2002

Page 7

Adrian Heinrich finishes his recollections of his time at 10Sqn with the old Neppy, he says;- "Another experience not forgotten was encountered when refuelling. You filled the main tanks and while waiting for the fuel to settle in the outer main, the tip tank, which was out at the end of the wing, was filled up, and out there you had nothing to hang onto except the earth plug and the fuel hose. As the tip tank got near full the extra weight would cause the landing gear strut on that side to suddenly compress a few inches but this translated to about two feet at the wing tip and even though you expected it, it always scared the hell out of you. I never fell off or dropped the fuel hose but I'm sure it must have happened. The Neppie was also well known for the amount of oil each of the main piston engines used, anybody who has watched a Neppie start up would never forget the billowing clouds of smoke which belched out for about five minutes. After a long flight I remember topping up each engine oil tank of 75 gallons with 15 gallons of oil each side."

Where it started! Maurie Lane and Adrian Heinrick with the Radschool banner in front of Qld Parliament House - prior to the start of the march.

RAAF Anniversary

The recent reunion coincided with the RAAF’s 80th anniversary, which was held on Sunday the 1 April, 2001. Most blokes and blokettes, though obviously suffering severely from the previous night’s activities, made the effort and joined the march through the streets of Brisbane to the RAAF memorial. The ceremony was arranged by the RAAF Association, and we thank them for inviting us to march and thanks also to the young blokes who carried and looked after our banner for the march and the ceremony. After the official part of the show ended, it was over the road for the unofficial bit and a dog’s hair to get well again.

And - where it ended up. Sunday morning sick parade - over the road from the ceremony.

During the march it was a little disappointing to see the best the RAAF could do to mark the occasion was to send one solitary old Caribou to do a fly over. The poor old thing did one east/west run over George St, over the heads of the marchers, then a run from South Brisbane, over the river, and away towards the Story Bridge. It was a pretty poor show to mark what was a well attended celebration (the Chief of Air Force officiated) and was all over in the blink of an eye. The least they could have done was to fly it in a stol configuration, with flap, gear and ramp door down, all making one helluva racket, but instead it was cleaned up and flying at cruise speed. Perhaps there were airspace restrictions, but we feel it could have been done a lot better. We did hear someone suggest that they probably had to pre-flight 10 to find a serviceable one….but we wouldn't repeat that….

En-route - being carried through the streets by Air Cadets.

How to remain sane at work

At lunch time sit in a parked car and point a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.
Ask people what sex they are.
Put mosquito netting around your desk.

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