iscover
Issue 385: Bonza, Space Planes & Albatross
Many moons ago, as a young cub journalist, I tracked down and interviewed a little-known former boxer called Chuck Wepner. Wepner was a chubby amateur boxer juggling a day job from New Jersey when, in 1975, he was given an improbable shot at the heavyweight title against Muhammad Ali, in his next bout after The Rumble in the Jungle. Nicknamed The Bayonne Bleeder because of his propensity to cut after taking a punch, Wepner told me he’d scrapped with as many men in the streets as he’d battled in the ring.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
Wepner was taking a predictable pounding from the great man until, early in the ninth, he landed a huge right hand which knocked the champ to the canvas. Of course, Ali soon recovered and won, but Wepner almost, almost went the distance – lasting until just 19 agonising seconds before the final bell in the 15th round. But things took an even more improbable turn, because watching that fight was a certain down-and-out actor called Sylvester Stallone, who raced home and, inspired, wrote the script for what would later become Rocky, the movie that would reinvent the American Dream.
It started something of a lifelong obsession with the underdog story, and maybe explains why we’ve given our cover over to featuring the emergence of Australia’s newest airline Bonza. Bonza has been written off by just about everyone for launching routes not covered by Qantas, Virgin or Rex. Its strategy is that it will fly from holiday destination to holiday destination, largely skipping out-state capitals. Except that same plan is working in almost every other country in the world, and Australia is something of an outlier. If Bonza pulls it off, it has the potential to bring about the biggest change to aviation in this country since the emergence of Virgin Blue. Hannah Dowling speaks to the key players to detail the tale of the tape.
Elsewhere, Bella Richards examines a quiet revolution in spaceplanes; Kirsty Ferguson dispatches excellent career advice on how to explain away your COVID absence; and Eric Allen continues his superb feature examining the rise and fall and (maybe) rise again of the de Havilland DH 86. It’s a tale fit for Hollywood.
Enjoy the issue,
Adam Thorn
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Australian Aviation a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Australian Aviation as a preferred news source.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Opinion: Planes, Glass, Cockpits and Automobiles
Alexander Robinson | Co Founder, Airly
-
-
-
-
-
Opinion: Airlines Will Turn Their Focus to Big Data
Andrew Truswell | Partner & Aviation Technology Practice Lead, Biztech Lawyers
-
-
-
Opinion: Airline strategies and what to expect in 2022
Troy Filson | Customer Success Manager APAC, PROS
-
Opinion: Breaking Barriers Early in Pilot Training
Sebastian Fitzsimons | Course Advisor, SFC
-
Opinion: The Internal Just Culture
Andrew Boniface | AW139 EMS Co Pilot And Mindfulness Facilitator
-
-
-
Opinion: A New Vision for Post-COVID Aviation
Daniel Jarosch | CEO, Sydney Metro Airports
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
