And so Mr Patterson and I crossed the Tasman Sea and joined our partner in crime “Mr Tweed” AKA JDK – By now all charges had been dropped and the cavity searches completed and we were free to leave on bail.
James had studied the map and decided that we should go to Point Cook to the south of Melbourne Via Ayres Rock and Darwin so we set off on the trip and eventually arrived at Point Cook aboard James New Mitsibushi Magna waggon and a very nice ride it was, although I was hoping that my late father wasn’t watching as we were never allowed in “Those F****ing Mitsubishies” owing to the fact that he had been straffed by Zeros a lot of times on Timor during the war. Norm wasn’t a very forgiving soul but I think he had good reason…………..
We arrived at the gate at Point Cook and were in for a real treat. The Gate house was manned by Herman Goering who Barked at us the minute he saw our cameras that we were not allowed to take photos “Ya vill have to report to ze deskenfurher at ze museum and request ze permissions but you may be shot instead”. It was obvious that Herr Goering had lost none of that old Furher magic! Now Point Cook is a tactical treasure in Australias Defence crown but I have to worry about the strategic relavence of a Maurice Farman Longhorn no matter how heavily armed. After we went through yet another Cavity search Ve were allowed to proceed.
And here dear listener is the evidence of what we found in the cave at Point Cook. One of the oldest active airstrips in the world.
By: setter - 3rd March 2005 at 21:06
Hi all
In addition to those I’m posting here all the shots from the Pattaerson World tour of NZ and Aus are slowly making there way to my webshots account at http://community.webshots.com/user/setter125 just go down through the albums till you see the Patterson world tour stuff.
Lots of very nice Aussie and NZ aircraft threr
Regards
John P
By: setter - 3rd March 2005 at 12:51
and now the last few from Wangaratta….
By: setter - 3rd March 2005 at 12:46
and yet more ……it was a great place after all!!!
By: setter - 3rd March 2005 at 12:22
and a few more…………….
By: setter - 3rd March 2005 at 12:20
And some more…………….
By: setter - 3rd March 2005 at 12:09
Hi and then there was the drive up to Wangaratta and one of the Worlds largest restoration shops – P40s . P39s, Kingfishers etc – Chris had joined our happy band by then and we had a great time hosted by Murray, Anna and Fourumite Mick Grinter as well as Gus who assisted in the piloting duties – just one of the most fantastic days (two actually)
By: setter - 3rd March 2005 at 10:50
and some more ………
By: setter - 3rd March 2005 at 10:42
Hairy
As we said – what happens on tour stays on tour- in any case now I am retireing I have been asked to drive for the FORD World Rally Team and I was getting in some practice was all.
Anyway to move on next we went to Tyabb near melbourne to look at Judy Pays collection and we only got a little bit lost – Just a smidge really and eventually we got there – a lot of nice aircraft including the worlds only Merlin Powered P40F, a CAC Mustang , Harvards,T28 etc
Regards
John P
By: hairy - 2nd March 2005 at 20:28
Still an air of mystery is a good thing, eh? Certainly was mysterious navigation efforts. We found Wangaratta because there is one road with, like, NO turnings. If John P, Steve P and JDK EVER offer to navigate, don’t accept. No, really. We achieved mega minus navigational achievements. How Steve finds his home airport beats me… (“It’s under the ‘a’ in Kansas City on the map…”)
Ask John about the drive from Ardmore to Glynns, I was following them in my car, interesting route. :rolleyes:
By: JDK - 2nd March 2005 at 09:44
Heh.
The one with the runway? 😀
By: JDK - 2nd March 2005 at 06:58
Any excuse John…
We had a good time. I’ve got pics and a dialup connection, so no sharing from here for the moment.
Still an air of mystery is a good thing, eh? Certainly was mysterious navigation efforts. We found Wangaratta because there is one road with, like, NO turnings. If John P, Steve P and JDK EVER offer to navigate, don’t accept. No, really. We achieved mega minus navigational achievements. How Steve finds his home airport beats me… (“It’s under the ‘a’ in Kansas City on the map…”)
Cheers!
By: setter - 2nd March 2005 at 06:40
Hi all
I’m having tecnnishall difficulties with my ISP at present and will be off line for a day or so. As a result there will be a short delay in my uploading of the australian tour pics.
john P
By: setter - 28th February 2005 at 11:14
and some more Moorabin…………………..
By: setter - 28th February 2005 at 10:54
Hi Steve
Nice to see you survived the China syndrome and caught up with Gus – Have a great time in the UK.
Back to the tour. Next destination was the Moorabin Air Museum and I “helped navigate” We had a team effort and managed to circle Moorabin for nearly an hour studiously avoiding finding the Museum but eventually we had to face up to the inevatable and arrived at Moorabing – A real gem with some very rare aircraft including a complete Beaufighter , Firefly etc
Here Dear listener are a couple of pages of photos – and the staff were very helpful and pleasant as were the Point Cook Staff once we got in there,
By: Manonthefence - 28th February 2005 at 10:47
MrP
You’ll have to bring the weather with you old bean. Its bloody freezing here at the moment. See you later.
By: srpatterson - 28th February 2005 at 10:26
Hello Forum…Steve checking in (or as they say in NZ, chicken in). Setter and I spent 20 minutes in Auckland trying to find the “Chicken Counter”, because they kept telling us to go there. Sorry, old joke.
I’m in Singapore waiting for my flight to London. Not much to report on the aviation front in China, as the only airplanes I saw were airliners. I did have a very enjoyable dinner last night in Hong Kong with Gus Larard, the P-40 pilot from Wangaratta, but most of my time was spent at the factory in Shen Zhen. Oh well, time for some more old airplanes!
Mrs. Patterson is arriving at LHR at 11.00 Tues, and then we’re off to Cambridge to meet up with Mr and Mrs. MikeJ. If any forumites want to join in on the festivities and buy me a drink (not in that order) you can reach me all week on my mobile, 07910 477663.
Looking forward to our visit. Please try and fix the weather before I get there (it’s 32C here in Singapore).
Steve
By: Andy in Beds - 28th February 2005 at 10:21
What’s that funny looking yellow caravan thing? :confused:
And what’s it doing in an aircraft museum?
A winged Caravan??
By: setter - 28th February 2005 at 10:12
and a few more…………..
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February 28, 2005 at 10:05 am