Remembering Australian Aviation’s Eric Allen

But as even Hedy would surely admit, she only shared Eric with his other love, Australian Aviation. His contributions, which included Yesteryear and In Australian Service, defined much of his later life. And in the years before his death, he progressed to writing exhaustively researched stories examining some of the most critical moments in aviation’s history. When I became editor in early 2020, I couldn’t believe my luck to have stumbled across a man of his talents. Hedy believes her husband contributed to every single issue since his first in 1979.

Eric’s passion for planes was all-consuming. The couple bought a house underneath the flight path and, Hedy tells me, Eric would often rush outside with his camera whenever he heard an aircraft rumbling overhead. He’d even tune his radio into the control tower so he could get the inside scoop to time it just right. “Quite often, he knew, even if it was a helicopter, what kind it was. He could tell from the sound of the engine.” Hedy believes Eric brought 10,000 photos of aircraft into the marriage, accumulated since the age of 11 when he received his first Kodak Brownie Box camera. At first, they were stored at his mum and dad’s until they got their own place. “As soon as we bought a house, his parents said, ‘Right, those slides are going. We want them out!”

Eric had a terrific sense of humour. But he was also shy at first, and that, Hedy explains, meant he could sometimes come across as a touch aloof to those who didn’t know him. But in much the same way fate dealt him a second chance with Hedy, it also dealt him a second chance at a career with Australian Aviation. “Eric was an academic. But because of a lack of opportunity and his parent’s financial circumstances, he didn’t have the chance to go to university. Eric wanted to be an aeronautical engineer but didn’t think he had the maths for it. He probably did. He should at least have studied journalism or something professional.”

It was only when Hedy found herself out of work — causing the pair’s income to halve — that Eric thought to sell some of his picture slides to Jim Thorn, the founder of Australian Aviation, to print in the magazine. Jim lived around the corner from Eric’s parents and was impressed at the shots he had taken. Before long, Jim asked whether Eric might write some words to go with them, too? “And, of course, that was right down Eric’s alley because he thought some of the contributions from other people weren’t well put together. And he said, ‘You know, I can do better than this.’” The feature was well received by readers, and it went from there.

When he subsequently retired from his day job at Commonwealth Bank in his mid-50s, the writing came into its own. “He applied himself because it gave him something to do during the day. He lost the social camaraderie of his co-workers, so he needed it.” As his reputation grew, he was invited to interview the biggest names in the industry — including TAA great John Watkins — or be invited on notable flights.

Eric’s last year was one of highs and lows. His only son, Adrian, got married, and, despite his worsening health caused by a cancer diagnosis, Eric was able to attend the small ceremony and dinner afterwards. The young couple also discovered they were about to have their first child — a boy, due in weeks — and bought their first unit. “Eric was absolutely over the moon about that because he told them they wouldn’t get anywhere paying rent.” Yet Hedy said as the year went on, he became significantly unwell.

It’s a testament to his giddy enthusiasm for this publication that he continued to write up until the end. His latest dispatch thumped into my inbox in August, clocking in at more than 7,000 words. He never told me about his health troubles, and after reading his article, I would never have known. His last message to me came just 10 days before his death, updating his meticulously detailed captions. Hedy even told me she found notes on his computer for another feature he was researching.

I’ll leave the last words to Eric from his email to me introducing his final article — the second half of which we’re printing over the following pages. “I’ve blended two themes,” he explained. “Qantas joins the jet airliner era combined with the challenges airlines faced with the last generation of large piston engines powering large transport aircraft. As you will read, it was a testing time with the superior reliability of the jet engine coming to the rescue.

“I hope you enjoy the story.”