One Man’s Air Force

Col happily admits to his 56 years of age (“how many other ag pilots my age can say they’ve been at it non stop more than 30 years?” he quite rightly asks) and is no less forthcoming when questions about the number of flying hours he has logged are asked. By any standards, 26,000 plus hours -the vast majority of them on agricultural aircraft – is an impressive tally.

Equally impressive is Col Pay’s collection of airworthy warbirds: Tiger Moth VH-PCL, T-6 Texan/Harvard VH-HAJ, CAC Mustang Mk. 21 A68-107 VH-AUB and Spitfire HF. VIII A58-758 VH-HET. Soon to be added to the fleet is a Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk (first flight is hopefully due at the end of 1988) and a rather longer term project, a Japanese Nakajima Ki. 43 Hayabusa (Oscar) fighter.

The Tiger Moth has a history of its own within the Pay organisation. It was Col’s first aircraft and like so many other Tigers of the era, helped establish aerial agriculture in Australia by being fitted with a tank and spray gear. Nowadays VH-PCL has reverted to standard specification and is actually listed on the Australian civil register as being owned by Col’s son Ross. Ross is 23 and already a 1,000 hour veteran who spends most of his flying time at low level looking after the family business. He completed his commercial licence training in the Harvard – a claim few can make these days -and according to his dad is ready to take on the Mustang. The trickier to manage Spitfire will follow in due course.

These two Rolls-Royce Merlin powered fighters are naturally the best known of Col Pay’s collection. Evocative, fast, steeped in tradition and legend, the Mustang and the Spitfire attract crowds wherever they go, although if popularity can be measured in terms of that elusive quality called ‘charisma’, the Spitfire wins hands down.

A68-107 VH-AUB is actually Col Pay’s second Mustang. The first (also an Australian built example) was owned in partnership but had to be sold when the Australian Department of Civil Aviation clamped down on the operation of ex-military aircraft in the early 1970s. Following the establishment of more realistic rules governing the civil operation of such aircraft few years later, Col set about finding himself another Mustang, his search leading him to Jericho in outback Queensland where VH-AUB had been in residence since 1966.

Before that the Mustang had a varied career. Delivered to the RAAF on December 3, 1947, it was struck off charge in May 1958 and along with several other Mustangs became the property of Mr A J (Titus) Oates. Painted a bright pillarbox red, VH-AUB operated from Moorabbin until 1960 when it moved to Bankstown from where it rarely flew. It was struck off the Australian register in 1966 following its owner’s failure to pay Air Navigation Charges and moved to Jericho where it was maintained in good condition.

The Spitfire required a rather more lengthy rebuild before it made its first flight in Col Pay’s hands at Scone on the third last day of 1985 under the civil registration VH-HET. Spitfire HF. VIII A58-758 was the last of its type to be allocated an RAAF serial number, although it was not the last Spitfire to be delivered to the service. With RAF serial MV239 it arrived in Australia in April 1945 whereupon it was immediately placed in storage along with many others of its breed as the war was drawing to a close.

A58-758 survived scrapping and was also purchased by the ubiquitous ‘Titus’ Oates in 1961 before joining the amazing collection of Sid Marshall at Bankstown, a collection of non flying aircraft which included not only the Spitfire but also the Oscar mentioned earlier, a Zero, a Messerschmitt 109, Avro Anson, Douglas DC-2 and other types. The Spitfire was leased to Harold Thomas’ Camden Museum of Aviation in 1972 but the moving of that collection to smaller premises and the death of Marshall conspired to see the aircraft left to the elements at The Oaks, NSW. When Col Pay was finally able to purchase it in 1983, it was in a sorry state and required extensive work to achieve airworthiness, work which included complete de-skinning, drilling out each rivet, replacing the wing spars and replacing all the electrical and hydraulic systems. A Merlin from a Lincoln was substituted for the original and the Rotol propeller remanufactured by Hoffmann in Germany. Considering the amount of work required, it’s probably fortunate that Col Pay was the purchaser of this aircraft and that Pay’s Air Service engineering facility and expertise was available.

Col’s third World War II fighter will be the Curtiss P-40E, formerly N96045 and belonging to John R Paul of California. When this aircraft flies, it will complete the trilogy of the most important single engined fighters operated by the RAAF during the war and immediately afterwards . . . Spitfire, Mustang and Kittyhawk.

Col Pay is a pretty easy going kind of bloke who just gets on with what he enjoys most, but he does have one or two things to say about some so-called warbird ‘restorers’.

Although he considers airworthiness to be the proper aim in restoring old aircraft, he recognises that this is not always possible. Nevertheless he is critical of people who simply collect bits of aeroplanes and then do nothing with them, meaning that those involved in genuine restoration work often miss out. Even worse are those who collect bits at bargain basement prices or even gratis from well meaning owners on the pretence that they will be used in a local restoration project but are then sold overseas at substantial profit. According to Col, this is simply dishonest and a blow for the genuine restoration movement. But that’s his only serious gripe. Otherwise life’s pretty good for a man who has achieved what most of us can only dream of . . . and has achieved it several times over with more to come.