A Different View Of Sydney

[Grahame Hutchison]

I found this Gerard, there was an Avalon Air Show in 1995 so unlikely for there to be one at Richmond also.

From Wikipedia

In 1988 as part of the 1988 Bicentennial of Australia, the first major airshow in Australia was held in Sydney Australia at the RAAF Air Force base at Richmond in the outer suburbs of Sydney. It was organised by members of the Schofields Flying Club, which had been running small-scale airshows at the small strip at Schofields Airfield. The Bicentennial Airshow featured a vast array of international military types including the F-15 Eagle, Panavia Tornado F3, Sea Harrier, the RNZAF aerobatic team "Kiwi Red", C-5 Galaxy, BAe Hawk and a flypast by a B-52 bomber.

In February 1991 a second airshow was held at Richmond, to celebrate the RAAF Anniversary. This was the last airshow run by the remnants of Schoe's, who provided the prime impetus to get the Aerospace Foundation of Australia up and running. The Foundation is responsible for forming AirShows DownUnder.
The Avalon airshows began commercially when Airshows DownUnder was formed, after the success of the 1988 Bicentennial of Australia Airshow and the RAAF anniversary airshow.

[Gerard M]

Thanks Grahame. Defiantly was at Richmond so it must have been 91 unless there were some other airshows there around the early to mid 90's.

RAAF B707-338C A20-623 at Sydney in December 1987 - perfectly lined up to look like one aircraft with no cockpit.

Where about's was this photo taken at Sydney? I can't figure it out?

Its seriously amazing how close you are to all the aircraft back then especially at the major airports! Especially of the one with your cousin? half over the fence!!! And got to love the safety cars from back then

[Grahame Hutchison]

The nose to nose B707s were at the Qantas Jet Base, one of those right place at the right time shots.

Before Runway 16L/34R was built the tunnel under the runway was narrower without taxiway Charlie. We would park on the bay side just off General Holmes Drive and east of the tunnel , then walk down the bay to a suitable location. You could stand back from the fence on slightly higher ground or just sit on the fence. I don't remember airport security or safety cars coming along to moved us back from the fence at all - it was just common sense that prevailed.

Before the new section of the international terminal was constructed, you could drive alongside the river to an area right next to the threshold of Runway 07, another great location back then. As soon as the airport started to expand, all of this area was closed off to the public.

[Bob C]

I don't believe that the date of February 1991 is correct.

The airshow at Richmond that year celebrated the RAAF's 70th Anniversary and according to my logbook, I visited the show on both days - ie 11 and 12 October 1991.

Further confirmation is shown in my flight log which shows I travelled from PER on Australian Airlines B737-376, VH-TAJ, on 10 October and returned on 14 October aboard B737-476. VH-TJH.

Whilst on the subject of airshows, I attended Avalon in 1992, 1995, 2001, 2003 and 2005. I missed the shows in 1997, 1999, 2007 and 2009.

And I visited RAAF Richmond on 14, 15 and 16 October 1988 for the Bi-Centennial Airshow.

[Grahame Hutchison]

That 1991 Air Show date for Richmond is from Wikipedia Bob, so I would say your date is correct.

[Bob C]

Hi Grahame

I think the weight of evidence is in my favour as I have heaps of slides and prints all with the dates 11 and 12 October 1991 written on them.

Also, belated thanks for a fabulous selection of photos from Sydney. I hadn't really noticed the thread until this afternoon and it is a wonderful trip down memory lane for me as I too spent many hours out there in the early 80s (as I mentioned to you some time ago) before I came to Perth.

I'm going to dust off the slide projector (it still works !) tonight and enjoy a nice red or two whilst looking at some of my slide collection - more than 8,000at last count.

BTW, I have a complete set of slides of all the overseas aircraft which operated in Australia during the Pilots' Strike.

[Grahame Hutchison]

Here are a few more photographs of the war birds back then.

Mitchell B-25J at Bankstown in December 1986 - the aircraft is in the hanger currently used by the Ambulance Service of New South
Wales. I was fortunate enough to get on board the Mitchell and climb through the narrow tunnel on my back to the Bomb Aimer and
Front Gunner position. I could only imagine what it would have been like to do that while in combat, as there was only minimal protection
from ground or air to air gunfire. This aircraft also flew into Scone the day I was there to see Col Pay's Spitfire do it's first flight.


Mitchell B-25J at Bankstown in December 1986 - Looks fairly original except from the David Clark headsets and a couple of radios.


Gannet 841 at Moorabbin in 1980 - would have been a bit of a beast with it's contra-rotating propellors. The next few photographs are
at the museum at Moorabbin Airport (not sure if it is still there today).


Meteor T77 A77-707 at Moorabbin in 1980 - great registration.


Wirraway CA-1 A20-10 at Moorabbin in 1980


Canberra Bomber at Essendon in 1980 - these two aircraft were at Essendon for several years.


Firefly AS5 RAN WD828 at the Schofields Air Show in November 1985 - this was the airshow where a Baron over ran the runway and into a
fence (I have a photograph somewhere in the collection). A Varieze also lost it's nose wheel at the end of it's landing roll.


Mustang CA-18 Mk 21 VH-AUB at the Qantas Jet Base Open Day in September 1983. They also had a Starlifter C-141, RAAF Orion and
RAAF F111 at the open day. This sort of open day will never happen again at Sydney.


Spitfire HF MkVIII A58-758 at Scone in September 1984 - This is Col Pay's Spitfire being rolled out for it's first flight. Unfortunately
there was a technical problem on the day and they only taxied the aircraft.


Sea Fury X 253 VH-HFA at Scone in September 1984 - This Sea Fury was owned by John Esward Allen back then. I have fond memories
of the Sea Fury, Illawarra Flying School had one back in 1968 while I was doing my PPL. The Illawarra aircraft was flown by Eric Greathead
and did some banner towing at one stage. It was always exciting to see it taxi in and turn around in the small apron area in front of the
Illawarra hanger (dodging the pack of C150s). A real beast and super fast (438mph).

[Brenden S]

Ansett 727-277LR's were VH-ANA, ANB, ANE,ANF they were the only 4 to have the LR mod done to them. Nice pics, thanks for sharing.

The DC-3 looks like a butler air DC-3 that was obviously taken out of service.

[Grahame Hutchison]

News and Police helicopters were a big part of the 1980s and the Bell Jetranger III dominated for many years.

Bell 47 G4A VH-HMJ at the Darling Harbour heliport in February 1985. The heliport was located on the western side of Darling Harbour
just south of the Pyrmont Bridge, exactly where the Darling Harbour shopping and restaurant complex is today. I had completely forgotten
about the heliport until I started looking through this album. From the shots here, access was obviously no problem and there were three
helipads from memory.


Jetranger II 206B VH-PHY at the Darling Harbour Heliport in February 1982 - the NSW Police were a regular visitor.


Bell 222 at the Darling Harbour Heliport in November 1981


Jetranger III 206B VH-UTS at the Darling Harbour Heliport in November 1981 - John L was a car dealer at the time.


Longranger 206L VH-TCH at the Darling Harbour Heliport in February 1982


Jetranger III 206B VH-AFV at Mascot in April 1981


Jetranger III 206B VH-AND at Mascot in November 1984


Jetranger III 206B VH-FHF at Long Reef in August 1980 - this was the first Jetranger operated by the Wales Bank (now Westpac) and
was stationed at Long Reef on the weekends.


Agusta A109A II VH-DMR at Mascot in October 1990 - this A109 was operated by the Department of Motor Transport and I think they
could sequence the traffic from the chopper during peak hour.


Squirrel AS350B VH-HRS at Bilgola Beach in November 1983 - this was the first Squirrel
operated by Wales/Westpac Rescue and is seen here performing a real beach rescue.

[Grahame Hutchison]

Dauphin SA365C VH-PVF at Essendon in January 1987 - operated by the Victorian Police Force, this was quite a bold move operationally when
the NSW Police Force and many other organisations were using Bell Jetranger IIIs.


Squirrel AS355F VH-HWA at Essendon in December 1984 - one of the early Squirrels for the Channel 9 Network.


Jetranger III 206B VH-AJD at Moorabbin - Operated by Channel 7 - not sure why this one has floats, maybe because it would have operated along
Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne. Jayrow Helicopters operated out of the hangers on the right, and they were a large operation at the time.


Sikorski S76 VH-ECS at Sale Victoria in January 1984 - this S76 was operated by ESSO servicing the offshore oil platforms in Bass Strait. ESSO
had a large helicopter fleet at the time.


Bell 205-A1 VH-UHP at Sale Victoria in January 1984 - this 205 was operated by ESSO servicing the offshore oil platforms in Bass Strait.


MBB BO-105S VH-MBK at Essendon in December 1987