Ted
McKenzie joined the RAAF in 1941 and trained as a pilot. In 1943
he flew Beauforts in New Guinea with No 100 Squadron after which
he became an instructor on the type. He stayed in the RAAF after
the war and was posted to the Central Flying School in 1947. In
1951, Flight Lieutenant McKenzie joined No 87 (PR) Sqn as the Squadron
Flying Instructor and shortly after, Dick Glassey and Leon Gordon
(both future Adastrians) were posted in as newly qualified pilots.
On 16 October 1951, Ted was taking-off from RAAF Fairbairn in Mosquito
A52-304 when the port engine failed, necessitating an immediate
belly landing from which he walked away. On 17 May 1952, Mosquito
A52-302 flown by Ted McKenzie and A52-305 flown by Dick Glassey
(with Graham Holstock as navigator) departed Canberra for Amberley
on the first leg of a detachment to Fiji to undertake an aerial
survey on behalf of the Fiji Government. Both Mosquitoes along with
a support Dakota arrived in Fiji on 20 May. Ted described the Fiji
detachment in the book "Mosquito Monograph" (written and
published by David Vincent in 1982):
"The survey commenced on 22 May but was plagued by bad weather
which soon led us to dropping off the 100 gallon wing tanks to improve
the climb rate - obviously we were not going to get the opportunity
to use the full range of the aircraft. To economise, we adopted
a practice of scrambling one aircraft early and calling off the
second if there appeared to be no prospect of photography. The facilities
at Nadi airport were good although the darkroom was not air-conditioned
and we had to improve both the ventilation and the light tightness.
We ran into further trouble with the processing of film and a great
deal of the film exposed was affected by a series of marks similar
to liquid drop marks. A great deal of research and monitoring of
techniques failed to isolate the trouble and specimens of film were
sent back to Australia for processing. As far as I can recall, the
problem was never actually solved and remained as one of the frustrations
of the operation. As originally conceived, I believe the survey
was to last until the end of June, but was extended due to the difficulties
encountered until mid August. Eventually about 95% of the area required
was covered. The two aircraft, with a C-47 lead aircraft, left Nadi
on 13 August and completed the trip to Amberley via Tontouta on
the same day. Both aircraft returned to Canberra on the following
day."
Another overseas detachment by 87 Sqn took place in January 1953
when two Mosquitoes were based at Port Moresby for the purpose of
photographing the Dutch New Guinea border from Hollandia to the
Fly River delta. This operation was plagued by bad weather and cloud
cover and it wasn't until 26 February and 7 April that one Mosquito
succeeded in photographing 90% of the border area in just two flights.
These flights were crewed by Flight Sergeant Leon Gordon (pilot)
and Flight Sergeant Holstock (navigator). Both men were later to
join Adastra.
Ted McKenzie took over as Commanding Officer of 87 Sqn on 1 July
1953 after Claude Browne was posted. In August 1953, RAAF Mosquito
operations came to a close when four 87 Sqn aircraft returned to
Canberra after a survey in Western Australia. The crews of the four
Mosquitoes included Ted McKenzie, Mike Wood, Leon Gordon and Graham
Holstock, all of whom were destined to join Adastra. While en route
to Canberra, A52-308 crewed by Leon Gordon and Graham Holstock,
performed the last RAAF Mosquito photographic survey flight (over
Noonkanbah, W.A.). In September 1953, Ted was posted to RAAF HQ
and by December, 87 Sqn had been disbanded. The squadron's contribution
to the aerial survey of Australia is described thus by David Vincent,
author of "Mosquito Monograph":
"There is certainly no doubt as to the important role which
No 87 Sqn performed in the aerial photographic survey of Australia
postwar. Altogether, this work undertaken by the RAAF covered two
thirds of the continent, the bulk of it being carried out by Mosquitoes.
It was to take another 10 years for civil contractors to finish
the job."
Ted left the RAAF in 1954 to take up a position managing the Broken
Hill Aero Club. In April 1955, he left Broken Hill after a memorable
social encounter with Dick Glassey and crew (which included Mike
Wood) enticed him to join Adastra.
Initially, he took over from Bob Keeling as pilot of the Prince
and concentrated on geophysics with Jack Tierney until the arrival
of the Catalina in November 1957. Ted was endorsed on the Catalina
by Jim Greenshields, Kenting’s pilot. He flew either the Prince
or the Catalina as required from then on until Joe Linfoot’s death
in 1957, following which he was nominated as Chief Pilot and approved
by DCA. In September 1957, Ted was endorsed on the Hudson by Lionel
Van Praag who had been called in for that specific purpose. During
his time at Adastra, Ted held the positions of Chief Pilot and Operations
Manager and was responsible for pilot check and training. He continued
in this capacity until March 1965 when he handed over Hudson VH-AGE
to Keith Cooper at Maralinga after which he returned to Sydney and
left Adastra.
In July 1965, he went to Aero Service Ltd to fly their Aero Commander
680F VH-MJJ on geophysics survey (mainly magnetometer). In this
aircraft, which was fitted with Doppler and radiometric detection
equipment, Ted did two trips to New Zealand and one each to New
Guinea and Japan.
In January 1968, he left Gale Air (as Aero Service was then known)
and went to New South Wales Region with the Air Safety Investigation
Branch. Wal Bowles (another former Adastrian) was also there at
this time. Late in 1969, Ted went to Head Office Air Safety and
remained there until retirement in December 1980.
Due to the good offices of Bill Mitchell, Ted was able to “taper
off” after retirement with some casual work on the Super Catalina
VH-EXG belonging to Geoterrex. This consisted of a few weeks work,
usually once a year, until 1984 when at the age of 64, eyesight
problems prompted him to retire permanently.
This biography was compiled from notes supplied to Ron Cuskelly
by Ted McKenzie in June 2006. References to the operations of No
87 (PR) Squadron RAAF are drawn from "Mosquito Monograph"
(ISBN 0 9596052 1 5) which was written and published by David Vincent
in 1982.
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