At that time the world in general had not made an obsession of health-and-safety, the way it has today, and at Woomera the concept hadn't even been discovered. We of the Target Aircraft Flight would take our aircraft onto the runway, test its systems, start its engines with compressed air and then hand over control to the remote pilots in the tower. The Jindivik, which had no wheels, only a single mild steel skid to land on, accelerated up to take-off speed on a 3-wheeled trolley. In the early days, before remote trolley guidance had been introduced, the only way to keep it from wandering off the runway was to point it at a distant central marker and then rely on a man called The Bats to inform the tower of the necessary correction: 'right, right, left,' etc. And to perform this service he had to stand on a high platform watching the aircraft accelerating towards him. He would mount the platform by a ladder, but to come down he had thoughtfully been provided with a shute.
Now, in those early days it was not uncommon for the Jindi, having reached take-off speed, to refuse to relinquish its attachment to the trolley on one side or the other. This would result in the aircraft and trolley performing somersaults, cartwheels and long jumps and throwing up considerable dust as it hurtled towards the Bats Trolley. The Bats Man, who hated it when that happened, would disappear in the dust to appear a few seconds later legging it like crazy. Sometimes the aircraft would go for his trolley (platform) but sometimes it would veer and try to head him off. I often wondered what they paid that guy - not enough, I'll bet.
Then there was the time Jimmy Knight, an RAAF lad, was being sucked into the intake of a Meteor engine. Hanging on desperately and unable to call for help he was slowly disappearing into the engine when someone noticed and ran to the starter trolley to shut the engine down.
But the thing that had me worried was the awful cat and mouse game that a particular type of missile liked to play. I think it was the Seaslug that, instead of performing its intended trajectory, would stop, hover nose-upward and then in this attitude move around sideways in an erratic fashion. From experience, we knew that at some point it would tire of the game, flip over and blow a hole in the ground, but when and where? Every eye in the place was on that missile and every pair of legs was busy as they moved one way then the other, like a shoal of fish. The amazing thing is that of all the Jindiviks, Meteors, Canberra bombers and missiles that crashed in that vicinity, as far as I know, none of them ever hit either a person or a building. So there you are, who needs health and safety!
I was a founder member of the Air Trials Unit Soccer club and still have my blazer badge to prove it. Joe Ellis, an RAF Sergeant and good all-round athlete was founder, captain, trainer and manager and we used to beat teams like Port Augusta. When Joe left, in March 1959, Colin Hipkin took over as Captain and led them to even greater honours. In training, we would run out of the village, around the sewage farm and back again. Six miles (10km), it was then. In fact, we matched our training schedule to that of the intensely dedicated RAAF Rules players with the result that we could run all local soccer opposition off their feet. Which is not to say we didn't have some good talent. We had Joe Ellis, himself, Tony Ball, Gerry Street, and Vic Puddle to name just a few.
As a matter of interest, about 10 years ago, on a fortuitous meeting with John Hoddinot, who needs no introduction to any significant Woomerite of the time, I learned that Vic Puddle had married the lovely Laurine, daughter of Ted Hall, mentioned by one of your other contributors. Laurine's sister, Margo (in all respects one of the loveliest people I've ever known), was my girl friend, so I knew the family well. Then, in 1975, as a prospective buyer, I was looking at house in a place called Frimley Green, near RAE Farnborough when I met a man called Randy something who had spent most of the previous 20 years as an engineer on the range at Woomera. When I asked him whether any of the old characters of my time were still there, the first name he mentioned was Ted Hall. He then showed me a book about Woomera in which there appeared a picture of Laurine Hall operating her climb-in camera. Now, I find Ted and Laurine mentioned on your site. Hmmm... Could they be the most famous Woomerites of all time, or is it just me?
Anyway, Mark, congratulations on producing a site that must be an absolute delight to thousands of people around the world and, in particular, thank you from myself.
Norman (Vic) Vickers
Lincolnshire, UK
E-mail: home@normanvickers.go-plus.net
(Thu, 20 Sep 2001)
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Memories of Woomera |
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