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In an event hosted by the Australian War Memorial late last month, the now-grown passengers of Australian aircraft that carried them as orphaned babies from South Vietnam in April 1975 met the pilots and crew who operated the flights for a commemoration ceremony.
The Avro Lancaster B1 aircraft was flown by the RAAF No. 460 Squadron and completed more than 90 operational missions over Germany and occupied Europe.
The pilot in his early 70s and his female passenger in her 60s departed George Town Airport in Tasmania at around 12:45pm bound for Hillston in central western NSW via Leongatha, with the alarm raised at around 5pm that evening after they failed to arrive.
The flights, operating three times per week on A320neo aircraft, commenced on Friday evening and will add more than 58,000 seats on the route per year. It comes as the carrier stations two A320neos on the Gold Coast, bringing the local fleet to six of the aircraft type.
Sources said to be “familiar with the discussions” told The Australian that the office of Transport Minister Catherine King had lobbied Virgin to take over the stricken carrier earlier this year, but found no success. It comes as Rex marks one year of its voluntary administration.
Central to the operation is a small, highly specialised team made up of Australia’s 114 Mobile Control and Reporting Unit and the US 552nd Air Control Wing, working together in real time to coordinate air operations across the battlespace.
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