Props & mags NOVEMBER 2013 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN AVIATION MUSEUM 66 LIPSON STREET, PORT ADELAIDE P.O. BOX 150, PORT ADELAIDE, SA 5015. PHONE (08) 8240 1230 Http://www.saam.org.au/ OPEN COCKPIT DAY AND ENGINE RUN.. Sunday 10th November was a great success. The weather was perfect and the crowd started arriving right on 9.30am. At one stage the queue to gain entry to the Museum went from the front desk right down the length of the car park. There was a bit of concern as to how the daywould go especially following the recent Port Festival, but within an hour or so of the doors opening, those concerns were certainly unfounded. The Star Wars characters were a hit with the children (as well as the big children) and certainly added entertainment to the day. Our Secretary, Mike, and Brian were run off their feet with the Sausage Sizzle yet still managed to smile about it One of the Museums favorite Historians reminiscing in the Wessex would you fly with him? Other big hits on the day were the arrival of the MAC Rescue Helicopter, the vintage cars, the Army who fired the cannon on the hour, the Fire Brigade which we were glad to have on hand when they fired up Old Smokey and the Barossa Helicopters providing joy flights was again very popular. Finally, we cannot forget the Railway Museum running the Bluebird taking patrons back and forth between the two facilities. All in all a great day, to all those who assisted in any way a huge thank you.
S.A.A.M. COMMITTEE MUSEUM PATRON: THE HON. ALEXANDER DOWNER AC PRESIDENT: DAVID BYRNE M: 0401 125766 VICE PRESIDENT: PIETER VAN DYK Ph: 8240 1629 M: 0407 328161 TREASURER: JOHN HILLIER M: 0414 734017 CURATOR: PAUL DAW M: 0417 816268 SECRETARY: MIKE MILLN M: 0401 124318 WORKSHOP MANAGER: GRAHAM BELL Ph: 8251 0792 M: 0417 845109 PUBLIC RELATIONS: JOHN ROBERTS M: 0418 800062 MEMBERSHIP: JEFF HANN Ph: 8251 0947 M: 0419 724060 TECHNICAL ADVISER: WAYNE LEE M: 0407 244084 Dates for your diary.. ANNUAL GENERAL METING And GENERAL MEETING SATURDAY 16th NOVEMBER 2013 1pm History Group Meeting 10.30am. FREE BBQ LUNCH FOR ALL MEMBERS Committee Meeting 5th December, 2013 PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO OUR XMAS FUNCTION THERE IS NO GENERAL MEETING IN DECEMBER FROM THE COMMITTEE. F-111 RAFFLE The painting by John Ford was drawn at the Open Cockpit Day. All the proceeds went towards our building fund to erect another display hangar. Our sincere thanks to John for his support of the Museum. PORT FESTIVAL REPORT The official figures indicated that 28,000 people attended the Port Festival of these approximately 3000 to 3500 found their way to the Aviation Museum and the National Rail Museum. The connecting train between the museums was again very popular as were the helicopter rides. The range of activities around the Museum was at times a little noisy with engines running, trains whistling and helicopters taking off and landing all the time. Added to this was the Choir that gave a performance on Saturday and the excellent big band that played nearly all of Sunday afternoon. All in all it was a most enjoyable time for the visitors. From our perspective the Saturday was a little quiet. The Sunday however was a very busy day. Overall we were able through a range of activities to earn a reasonable sum which we can add to our building fund. It was a very demanding two days and I must thank John Roberts in particular and all those who devoted their weekend to this activity. It was very satisfying to see so many people enjoy the Museum. XMAS CELEBRATION All members and their partners are invited to our Annual Xmas Dinner to be held in the hangar on Saturday the 7th of December. Join your friends for a pre dinner drink from 5pm. Dinner will be served at 6pm. Please place your name on the list at the reception desk so we cater for everybody.
CURATORS REPORT This month has seen quite some action with the Port Festival and Open Cockpit Day. Thank you to those members who manned various aircraft and other hangar displays to make these days very enjoyable for visitors and highly successful for SAAM. Your dedication for many hours is appreciated. I have submitted Several photos for the magazine, space permitting. Besides our special event days, there are several other achievements. Many of you will have noticed the long nose probe has joined our F-27 display and is now suspended on the hangar door up the northern end. Special thanks to Tony Fazzarali for putting the 6.2 metre long probe back together and preparing the suspension system. Thanks to Graham Bell and his team for helping out and mounting the probe into position. The photo sows Tony and Marchello suspending the probe. Another achievement over the last few weeks has been the work of Jeff Hann and Barry Swinburne on the Accession Register. At last we have some dedicated effort on getting this project up to date. Final subject for this report is Tony Harvey and Jack have finished the large Singapore Airlines Boeing 747 model. This model has a cut-away cabin so visitors can view the seating and other internal fittings. Great job guys, thanks. Tony and Jack are now busy with an Australian Airlines Airbus A 300. See you next month, Cheers Paul Daw VH-CAT F-27 nose probe Tony and Marchello REMINDER TO MEMBERS And the winner of the raffle is. our Secretary Mike Milln (left) Members are reminded to wear your official Museum identification when attending special events so that those on front counter or back gate duty can easily identify you from paying visitors. To all those celebrating their birthday this month, we wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY and hope you have a great day. 3
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN AVIATION MUSEUM SIGNIFICANT AVIATOR PROFILES WING TIPS Many members attended Helen Blake s presentation about Jimmy Melrose 21 September, which commemorated the centenary (plus a week) of his birth on 13 September 1913. While he is fresh in your minds, the History Group thought you might like to read a little more about him. The following article is based on one of the Group s Significant Aviator Profiles, soon to be published on our redesigned Website. Read on.. CHARLES JAMES (JIMMY) MELROSE Jimmy Melrose was born at Burnside, Adelaide, on 13 September 1913, into a family of prominent South Australian graziers. He was brought up on the esplanade at Glenelg, in a life of comfort and privilege. He was educated at St Peters College, before his mother took him travelling around Europe for three years. They returned to Adelaide in 1929 just before Jimmy s 16 th birthday. C.J. (Jimmy) Melrose in DH80A VH-UQO Courstesy NLA While travelling, Melrose had formed a determination to learn to fly. His first flight was with the Aero Club of South Australia s flying instructor, in a DH60 Moth, on 13 May 1930. It was three years later in July 1933 when he gained his pilot s licence, aged 19. He had flown solo after only six hours of instruction. In March 1934 he persuaded the trustees of his trust account to release sufficient funds for him to buy a new DH80A Puss Moth, VH-UQO, which he named My Hildergarde after his mother. He was an ambitious young pilot and planned to fly to England to participate in the air race back to Melbourne. To prepare himself he took some navigation training, and planned to fly around Australia. He departed Parafield eastwards on 7 th August 1934. He flew in from the west five days later, having beaten the existing record (held by Jim Broadbent) by 45 hours. Having been licensed only 16 months and with just 200 hours flight time, he flew out of Adelaide on 16 th September 1934 just after his 21 st birthday. He arrived at Croydon on 28 th September at 7:00am after 8 days and 9 hours, beating Jim Mollison s 1931 time of 8 days 19 hours. This was not recognised as a record, however, because he had departed without formally registering his flight as a record attempt. The MacRobertson Air Race from England to Melbourne began three weeks later on 20 th October 1934. Melrose was entered in the handicap section. He arrived at Allahabad, in central India, on 24 th October, by which time Scott and Campbell-Black were in Melbourne, having already won the speed race in their de Havilland Comet. A couple of days later Melrose faced the most dangerous sector of all: the 500 mile overwater flight from Koepang to Darwin, largely devoid of navigational markers. It was a close-run thing as he missed his Australian landfall by some 75 miles to the south west, turned south west instead of north east and ended up 175 Puss Moth DH80A VH-UQO Courtesy, Helen Blake, PD miles from Darwin before he realised his mistake and followed the coast up to Darwin. He landed at dusk on 28 th October - with empty tanks and four hours overdue - to a very relieved welcome.
His onward flight from Darwin to Melbourne was fraught with drama. He battled strong headwinds and navigation problems due to a faulty compass. But he pushed himself in order to reach Melbourne in time to participate in a city motorcade for the finishers. He did - just. Three hours after his arrival he was seated on the back seat of an open-top Vauxhall, one of only six cars in the motorcade. The cars paraded in order of the race finishers. Melrose was in the sixth car having placed 7 th overall and 3 rd on handicap. The motorcade wove through the streets of Melbourne through a 100,000 strong crowd to a reception at Parliament House. Melrose received almost hysterical adulation in the press. His flight was an extraordinary achievement. He was the youngest of 42 contestants, and the only solo contestant and one of only two Australians to finish the race. While he finished third on handicap, he was awarded the second prize of 1,000 (because other contestants could not take two prizes). Handsome yet modest, Melrose became a figure of public adoration. After returning to Adelaide, Melrose was annoyed that the Aero Club of SA would not agree to purchase his now-famous aircraft My Hildegarde, even, it seems, with the benefit of a donation from his uncle. Instead, the Club launched a Melrose Fund and subsequently used it to buy a Miles Hawk (faster and more powerful than a Puss Moth). Meanwhile, Melrose did what he loved best and before the end of 1934 set out to establish a number of flying records. He achieved an altitude record of 20,000 feet over St Vincent s Gulf on 20 th November. On 13 th December he flew 700 miles from Adelaide to Launceston followed by the 650 miles to Sydney on 20 th December both in record times. Percival Gull VH-UVH over Adelaide Courtesy Helen Blake/Graeme Minns, photo possibly W. Maddocks But the New Year bought new plans. In January 1935, with some regrets, he sold his Puss Moth My Hildegarde to his friend Jim Broadbent for 875. He delivered the aircraft to Sydney via Melbourne, where he sat and passed his B (commercial) pilot s licence. On 31 st January 1935, Melrose left Sydney with his mother for England via Canada on the liner Aorangi. He planned to buy a new aircraft that he would use to establish an air transport business. Crossing Canada in March, he was often a guest of local Aero Clubs and aviation businesses along the route. By April he was in the UK and spent time with the aviatrix Jean Batten who had just flown a Gipsy Moth from Australia. Together, they flight tested a Percival Gull. During coming months Melrose experimented with seaplanes and even an autogiro, while travelling around the UK with his mother. They witnessed firsthand the coronation procession and dined at 10 Downing Street. But Melrose s main objective was to select a new aircraft to purchase. He settled on a Percival Gull and began test-flights in early September before he flew it in the King s Cup race around Britain. This was a prestigious and gruelling race. Melrose faced very tough competition, finishing 5th in his class., He noted in his diary A grand race and a perfect plane and went on to purchase the Gull, which his mother christened Westley. Meanwhile, his old friend Jim Broadbent had arrived in England with the job of delivering another Percival Gull back to Australia. He and Melrose set off from Croydon in their respective Gulls on 2 nd November 1935
The famous Kingsford Smith, meanwhile, had left England on 6 th November in his Lockheed Altair Lady Southern Cross. He was intent on beating Scott s and Campbell-Black s record set the previous year in the Centenary air race and was conscious of Melrose and Broadbent racing ahead of him. The Altair was a much faster aircraft and by the time the two Gulls met up in Allahabad, it was close behind them. Melrose had then seen Kingsford Smith overtake him over the Andaman Sea south east of Rangoon. But Kingsford Smith never arrived in Singapore and a search was organised. Melrose immediately abandoned his race with Broadbent to join the search. This meant more adventures for Melrose including a crash landing on a remote beach and incredible perseverance in hiking overland and returning with parts to fix the aircraft. Melrose managed to fly back to Adelaide, arriving on 30 th November. A few days later he was on his way to Sydney where his Gull could get a complete overhaul. However, having to land in poor visibility he hit a stump and wrote off the aircraft. But he was not seriously injured and turned his attention to another new aircraft. This was a Heston Phoenix, a larger type that could carry four passengers in relative comfort. It was the first British high-wing monoplane to have a retractable undercarriage. This was ideal for an air-taxi business, and Melrose had ordered one while in England. He had planned to have it delivered for him, but with the loss of the Gull he soon boarded a ship for England to fly it back himself. On arrival in England he had been allocated only the second Phoenix built, with the special registration VH-AJM. Melrose had reasoned he could get paying passengers for the trip back to Australia, but got no responses to his advertisements. However, he did get official sponsorship to a degree as this was the South Australian Centenary year, and his became the Centenary Goodwill Flight. Making plenty of stops along the way to distribute Centenary pamphlets, the flight took almost three weeks. He arrived at Parafield on 25 th April 1936 (Anzac Day) and was surprised that 9,000 people were there to see him land. However Melrose received excellent publicity for his intended business and the fast, well-equipped Phoenix. He went on an interstate Centenary publicity tour, and then by June his air-taxi business was in full swing. He had carried no less a luminary than the South Australian Premier, Sir Richard Butler, on a chartered flight to the mid-north of the state. All seemed well until 5 th July, when the Phoenix broke up and crashed soon after leaving Melbourne on a charter flight to Darwin. Melrose, not yet 23 years old, was killed along with his passenger. There was a massive outpouring of public grief over Melrose s death. 100,000 people assembled along the route of his funeral procession in Melbourne, while the South Australian Premier suspended parliament for a day as a mark of respect. Today there are many memorials to the young aviator, including the suburb of Melrose Park and James Melrose Drive at Adelaide Airport. Adapted by Peter Ingman from a longer profile written by Mike Milln (SAAM History Group)