The day the wheels stopped turning

I spent thousands of hours in the F27, operating often on the daily Melbourne-Albury- Canberra-Sydney-Newcastle run for an overnight before returning to Melbourne the next day via the reciprocal route, often to be followed by one or two Tasmanian ports.

If this very special aircraft had a fault, it was because it was limited to cruising heights of between 16,000 and 20,000ft, which in summer put it fair square in the cumulonimbus breeding ground. Fortunately, the TAA F27s were equipped with an excellent weather radar system, a vital piece of equipment to guide us around turbulent areas.

I can recall a flight one busy Christmas period when the radar failed between Albury and Canberra with many of those build-ups existing along the entire route. Theoretically, this should have grounded us, but as another TAA radar equipped aircraft was about to depart Canberra for Sydney I arranged for its captain to advise us on his route and inflight conditions.

Following this aircraft, we managed to get to Sydney where our radar was replaced.

So we contrived to keep the wheels turning, the passengers happy, and we could continue to Newcastle, storms or not.

Many F27 flights were conducted between Adelaide and Darwin, via several inland stops. The carriage of freight and passengers provided a vital link to these isolated settlements and our arrival at each place was eagerly awaited by

A marathon effort was required to keep those rotten wheels turning while attempting to remain somewhere near our schedule.No wonder we sweated.

the locals. Our flights kept us very busy, particularly in summer, trying to escape that eternal turbulence. Also, it was necessary to make as many as 12 calculations to determine a maximum takeoff weight at each aerodrome, prepare a load sheet, supervise loading and unloading, contact ATC and refuel when necessary – all to be done in an optimistic 10 minute turnaround time.

A marathon effort was required to keep those rotten wheels turning while attempting to remain somewhere near our schedule. No wonder we sweated. Ansett had streamlined its takeoff calculation procedures but somehow TAA was sadly lacking in this regard.

At a later date, my roster had me operating from Sydney to Echuca carrying 40 maternity nurses who were to visit the Tongala milk factory. I did a lot of homework for this flight. As Echuca, at the time, was a grass field, I determined it would just take an F27 with its relatively high wheel pressures and wheel loading. A week before this flight I had arranged with ATC at both Melbourne and Sydney to positively confirm that Echuca would be satisfactory on the day of our operation.

On October 3 1966 we headed away from the normal air route, having to resort to map reading which was a far cry from my years of following radio aids. Somehow this country aerodrome appeared as per plan and a careful inspection was made before we settled in on the final approach to be followed by a smooth landing, even if I say so, but with a rather rapid deceleration.

We had no sooner stopped than a police car pulled up beside us and the policeman asked what we were doing landing there as a light aircraft had become bogged the day before at this very spot. I tried gently applying power to move us away from this soggy area, but no, we were stuck hard and fast, and I was not prepared to use more power. With its long undercarriage legs our aircraft would not like too much rough treatment.

This was the day the wheels really stopped turning Our passengers were picked up by a bus which took them to the milk factory. Later in the day they would be bussed to Mangalore and complete their flight back to Sydney in a DC‑4. But now I needed to contact TAA in Melbourne and the only form of communication was by phone at the very far end of the aerodrome.

On this day I would trudge back and forth many times, in a freezing southerly wind, to discuss with the powers that be the required procedure to have the aircraft towed out of the mud.

Finally, after much coming and going, the shire engineer provided us with a tractor which eventually eased us away from the bog. It was this engineer who had assessed the field as being ok for our operation.

His experience in the RAAF on aerodrome construction in New Guinea during the war years convinced him that if a Liberator could land on this field then an F27 should have no trouble.

How wrong was he! With his vehicle I measured the length available for takeoff, allowing for the reduced distance.

Once again, the complex TAA takeoff calculations were used to determine the aircraft’s performance, and it was found that although the length was limited the aircraft would make it. This F27 was a Mark 2, and with its water methanol injection and with no load, it became airborne quite easily and arrived back at Essendon intact, except for a load of Echuca aerodrome mud caked liberally around the undercarriage area.

Another time I was rostered to take 40 keen photographers from Melbourne to Katherine.

Reaching the Katherine area, we flew along the Katherine gorge offering our passengers

His experience in the RAAF during the war years convinced him that if a Liberator could land on this field then an F27 should have no trouble. How wrong was he!

a great opportunity to photograph it from the air.

We had an overnight stop and were then to proceed empty to Alice Springs next day. After my Echuca episode I had often wondered just how good would the F27 be in limited weight takeoff performance, and as we were empty I decided to put it to the test.

Years of training had made the terms V1 and V2 impress themselves indelibly in my mind and no takeoff could be considered without due regard to these values. But on this day, when we were far from home with no-one looking and an empty aeroplane, an opportunity afforded itself to try something different and to ignore V1 and V2.

Standing on the brakes and opening up full power and not quite knowing what to expect, I released the brakes. To my complete and utter surprise the wheels had barely started to turn and with the proverbial ‘nothing on the clock’ the aircraft just leapt into the air! So this is what an F27 could do if really pushed and how aircraft were operated before some clever person invented V1 and V2.

But if an engine had failed at that moment, we would still be going around and around, spinning in circles!