Archive for year: 2020

Within minutes of meeting Bob Irvine for the first time you knew you’d met a larger-than-life bloke; one of those rare people that embraced their life and was proud of most of the things they’d done. You could tell by the way he told stories.

Bob Irvine died last night after fighting cancer. His loss will be felt by everyone at Lilydale Flying School and Lilydale Flying Club, but most of all by his family and his partner Lou (Linda).

He might have been your flying instructor. He might have been your formation leader. He might have been someone you encountered on a taxiway somewhere. No matter who he was to you, you were something to him.

Bob was an aviator from a long way back, the early 1970s to be precise. His involvement in aviation started in Wagga Wagga in 1965 at the RAAF School of Technical Training (RSTT). Bob was an airframe engineer, a course he chose because it gave him a wider involvement with the whole aircraft than a more specialised field such as a sumpie (engines) a gunny (armourer) or an avionics engineer.

From the beginning, Bob wanted to fly. He befriended the Knuckleheads (pilots), a natural thing for him, and got rides in everything from Neptunes to Canberras, “Goonies” (Dakotas) and most proudly of all, Mirages. He’d be quite happy to share these experiences over a beer anytime you asked.

Same for Butterworth. It was during his first tour at Butterworth that he completed his PPL at the Penang Flying Club. He always thought that put him in the good books with the Knuckleheads and scored him a lot of rides. In those days, the Vietnam War had Butterworth in a war zone and Bob was ready to go with the rest of 75 Sqn. They were never called; but they were always ready.

His 20 years in blue included time with the Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) at Laverton/Avalon, with some deployments to Woomera, 3 Sqn back in Butterworth and his final posting to 482 Sqn (Maintenance) at Amberley. There he found trouble. 482 was an F-111 squadron and Bob got involved with the fuel tank deseal/reseal project. Flt. Sgt Irvine wanted protective equipment for him and his team. It had him marked as a trouble-maker when the RAAF refused and ordered the men into the tanks. A later inquiry confirmed that the chemicals used were the cause of many cancers among the team. Disillusioned, Bob put in for his discharge after 20 years.

Of course, Bob’s built-in trademark was his booming radio voice. Honed at the Butterworth radio station, he later put it to good use as an auctioneer in Brisbane and PA announcer at the Lilydale air show. He was the voice of Lilydale Flying Club on many occasions. The man could speak.

He could also fly and teach flying. Bob mentored and nurtured plenty of students, always eager to that his charges should absorb his decades of experience. Even if you weren’t on his books, he had time for you. He was chosen to lead LFC’s formation team The Wedgetails and was a regular at every fly-away or day trip he could get to. If there was an LFC event on and Bob wasn’t there, something just seemed wrong.

Bob dove in and bought an aeroplane later in life: C177 Cardinal VH-DZP “Dizzy”. Having Dizzy enhanced his aviation career and with partner Lou they covered plenty of Australia. Bob would proudly tell people later how much of the flying Lou actually did. When Dizzy made the front cover of Australian Flying he positively glowed.

It’s not enough to say that Bob will be missed. LFC and the GA community is much worse off without him. It is people of his like that made general aviation worth being involved in.

LFC’s thoughts are with his family and his partner Lou, who will always be a part of the LFC family.

Goodbye Wedgetail Leader … and thank you for showing so many the way.

Lilydale Flying Club has pulled off a coup! On Saturday, the Wedgetails formation team landed on runway 34 at Melbourne International Airport and was escorted to a parking place in front of the terminal building for a photo shoot. Although historians are yet to confirm, it is believed that this is the first time a formation flight has operated out of ML. The daring team was:

#1 Warrior MGV Graham Bunn and Glenda Smith

#2 Warrior CWW Steve Hitchen

#3 CT-4 PTM “Mango” Murray and Kerry Gerraty

#4 Airtourer FVV Tony Self and Angela Stevenson

#5 Decathlon KAR Jock Folan

This could not have been done without the enthusiastic co-operation from Melbourne Airport Corporation, Airservices Australia, the surface movement guys at Tulla, the tower controllers and photographer Victor Pody.

All of this was to recognise all those aviators out there suffering because of COVID-19 restrictions. We know what you’re going through and we are all in this together.

Special applause for leader Bunny for getting us in and out, Angela and Tony for putting it all together and Air Bosses Murray and Jock for keeping the formation straight and making sure it was all safe.

Have a look at the video below.

Calling all isolated LFC Members

Join the Lilydale Flying Club Zoom Photo Appreciation Night

There’s not a lot of flying being done at the moment and the novelty of working at home is wearing off. Break the cycle of isolation with fellow LFC members with the Zoom Photo Appreciation Night.

Send in your favourite aviation photo that you took, log into the Zoom meeting and tell us all about your shot and talk about other people’s photos.

Photos need to be sent to Tony  Self, who will put them all together in a slide show. You will then be sent a link to Zoom. All you do on the night is click on the link and you’re in. You will need to make sure that you have a camera and microphone on your PC and have access to Zoom.

Tony is standing by to receive your photos and provide help to get you on Zoom. You can get him on tself@hyperwrite.com

It’s all happening at 7.30 pm Thursday 16 April 2020. Go to the following meeting link:

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/458285390?pwd=RWcrRTYrd0VoT09XQTh6TllrcmtzZz09

We’re in this together, so let’s be together!

by Phil Anthony

On Thursday 27 February, Phil Anthony, Anthony James and Phil’s friend Rob flew Anthony’s Bonanza to Mallacoota to observe the bushfire devastation in Gippsland and to meet with two friends who were working in the relief of the township.

Along the way, there were extensive burnt areas and from Orbost flying East, the vast majority of the area we could see had been burnt.

We were greeted at Mallacoota airfield by Brodie and partner from Glasgow, Sandy. Brodie grew up in Mallacoota and was Phil’s daughter’s bridesmaid last year. Her parents’ house narrowly escaped the flames. As they were holidaying in Mallacoota when the fires started, they naturally helped the township recover in the best way they could. They now are working full time. Brodie is running the makeshift youth centre in the closed down newsagency and Sandy as an arborist, clearing damaged trees and rescuing koalas. Brodie hopes that the government will fund the continuation of the youth centre which has filled a need in the community.

After shouting our hosts lunch at the pub, they drove us around the town to show us the extent of the damage from fires. About a quarter of the town’s buildings were destroyed. Already the gums are re-growing but the tea trees will not. The caravan park had re-opened and we noticed many visitors in the town supporting the recovery. The AFL state of origin match the next night was a great way to help the recovery.

Well done and thanks so much to Brodie, Sandy and friends who work so tirelessly in support of the fire-ravaged communities.

A group of LFC pilots are planning to do a similar visit in March.