The 60's have
been called the Age of Aquarius, but for some of us they were
also the age of Adastra. Anyone who, from the mid 60's to the
early 70's, was in any way connected with aerodist, the airborne
profile recorder (APR), or aerial photography will remember Adastra
as the contractor who provided the lumbering Hudson aircraft that
allowed us to deploy these various items. Those were the days
when Army aircraft had such little lift capacity that they could
barely get off the ground with just a passenger let alone a few
thousand pounds of aerodist equipment. They were also the days
when the RAAF had better things to do than getting caught up in
such seemingly un-warlike activities as survey photography. If
you were any way involved, then you will remember the Adastra
call signs of Alpha Golf Sierra (AGS), Alpha Golf Juliet (AGJ),
and Alpha Golf X-ray (AGX) with mixed emotions. Regardless of
how sweet or otherwise your memories are of these venerable aircraft,
they became a part of the Corps' history and their call signs
were an addition to our vocabulary for many years.
Memories are dimming as time passes but, if I am correct, I believe
that all three were capable of aerial photography and were employed
by the Corps at various times in that capacity. Because of the
extensive modifications to the airframe and electrical system
needed to install aerodist and APR, AGS alone was fitted with
aerodist and AGJ likewise with APR. The longest of the several
associations that I had with Adastra was in 1966 when Topo Sqn
was operating in PNG in a broad band along the entire length of
the border with Irian Jaya.
The main base was on Horn Island, next to Thursday Island, and
a typical day's work was to fly from Horn Island to Wewak or Vanimo
on the PNG north coast then back again to Horn Island. In that
time they would be measuring to ground stations positioned on
both sides of the mountain spine running the length of PNG. It
was noisy and smelly and uncomfortable work and the physical and
mental pressures at times were great. Fortunately for me I only
did a few trips but some, such as George Gruzka and Eddie Anderson,
did it day after grinding day.
The Hudson was a pre-war medium bomber, and of the several hundred
that were purchased for the RAAF, some were eventually acquired
by Adastra. By the 60s they were getting a bit long in the tooth
and were much the worse for wear. Signs of age could be seen in
things such as the amount of oil consumed on a long flight. AGS
for one had a long thick band of heavy oily sludge on its wing
behind the engine nacelles as a result of its excessive oil consumption.
I observed at Wewak that it took longer to replenish the engine
oil used on the trip north from Horn Island than it did to fill
the fuel tanks! Ross McMillan swore that AGS had to run down the
runway at Horn Island to gain additional impetus so as to get
airborne with its full load of fuel and equipment as it headed
off to PNG. We would stand at the edge of the runway and make
careful observations to see if the under carriage was going left-right-left-right
in quick time during take-off and then debate his theory. We were
getting close to a consensus that he was on to something. On reflection,
perhaps we had been in the bush too long by then and needed a
break!
One of the nice things about operating out of Horn Island was
the scenery as you came home south across Torres Strait. It was
peppered with reefs surrounded by lovely turquoise water that
turned to the rich blue of deep water as the reef edge plunged
into the depths. Dead ahead was Cape York. The tip was plainly
visible and the triangular shape was quite evident as the eastern
and western coastlines gradually moved to the left and to the
right to eventually span the width of the windscreen. It gave
you confidence as a map maker that you were getting the shapes
right at least! Our pilot at that stage was Lionel Van Praag who,
in 1936, became the first Australian to win the Motor Bike World
Championship. One beautiful evening, coming home to Horn Island,
Lionel decided to skip the scenic tour and reverted to his motor
bike racing days. He flew AGS so close to the sea that the propellers
were drenching the aircraft in the spume that they whipped up.
I thought at the time, as I gripped my seat tightly with both
hands, that the aircraft was decrepit enough as it was without
giving it a coating of corrosive salt water, but Ross McMillan
expressed it more succinctly. "What am I doing flying at dot feet
across Torres Strait", he said with clenched teeth, "in an aircraft
built before I was born and flown by a pilot older than my grandfather".
Good question.
In 1998, I attended a conference in the UK and the venue was the
RAF Museum at Hendon in outer London. Being an aeroplane buff
all my life, it was like being in second heaven and I took every
opportunity, and manufactured some more as well, to linger in
amongst the exhibits. One caught my attention from a distance
as it had the distinctive RAAF roundel used in the South West
Pacific. As I drew closer I could see it was a Hudson and the
exhibit description stated that it was once registered as VH-AGJ,
the aircraft initially used for APR operations. It had been repainted
in its original RAAF colours as A16-199 but, as a memento of its
Adastra days, it still has a modified plexiglass nose and not
an original Hudson nose.
A few years before, in 1981, I was on a course at the RAAF School
of Languages at Point Cook and there, in pieces, was AGS. You
could not miss the distinctive Adastra colour scheme on the wings
stacked alongside a hangar. At the time I was under the impression
that it was to be restored for exhibition in the RAAF museum but
it appears that it is another one of "our" Adastra Hudsons, AGX,
which has that honour. Given the vagaries of memories over that
span of time, maybe it was AGX that I saw and not AGS, but never
mind as AGS was destined to go onto greater things. (Ed. Both
AGS and AGX would have been at Point Cook in 1981 but the wings
stacked beside the hangar would have been those from the damaged
AGX.)
It is now not only a prized exhibit at the Temora Aviation Museum
in NSW, but it has the distinction of being the only airworthy
Hudson left in the world. It is unique. People will pay good money
now to fly in it. "Good grief", you may well say.
However it is good to see that some things so firmly associated
with the Corps are still around for people to look at and enjoy.
I suppose that it is also a measure of the passing years that
what were tools of the trade in our younger years are now treasured
pieces stored away in museums around the world.
The preceding
article appeared in issue number 26 of "Westlink" (17
December 2004), the journal of the Royal Australian Survey Corps
Association (WA). It is reproduced here by kind permission of
the RASCA and the author, Dr Noel Sproles. It is regretted that
it has not been possible to include the illustrations from the
original article. These illustrations were:
(a) Photo of Hudson VH-KOY (formerly VH-AGS) at Temora.
(b) Map of Papua New Guinea.
(c) Map of Torres Strait.
(d) Photo of the APR station on Hudson VH-AGS which can be viewed
here.
The
Author
Dr. Noel Sproles
enlisted in the Australian Army a private soldier when 18 and
left the Army 23 years later as a Lieutenant Colonel. During this
time he was engaged in survey and mapping operations in Australia
and overseas. He served in all the mainland states and the NT
as well as in Papua New Guinea, the UK, and Indonesia. In 1968/69
he spent 12 months in Vietnam and was wounded in action while
serving as an Australian liaison officer with the Thai army. After
leaving the Army he spent some years as an operations manager
in the wholesale grocery industry before returning to university
and gaining his Ph.D. Following graduation, he was employed by
the University of South Australia as a senior research fellow
in defence related fields for six years before retiring in 2004.
His association with Adastra was with survey operations in Papua
New Guinea in the 1960s when he was serving as a staff officer
at Murray Barracks in Port Moresby. In 1966 he was detached to
the survey squadron conducting aerodist operations from Horn Island.
Apart from a short period at Horn Island flying in the Hudson,
he spent this period as officer in charge of the survey ground
parties to the north of the ranges in New Guinea. Later in this
period, a Hudson was based in Wewak to obtain aerial photography
in the North West of New Guinea on an opportunity basis as weather
permitted. He made several visits to the Adastra team during this
period. The article 'Arduous Times with Adastra' was written for
the Survey Corps association newsletter. Like Adastra, the Survey
Corps is no longer but the spirit lives through the associations
in the various states. Since writing this article, Noel has visited
the Temora Aviation Museum to see their 'Adastra' Hudson. Fully
restored complete with dorsal turret and WWII RAAF 'war paint',
it is a great sight and one that he recommends everyone take the
opportunity to see.
More
reading:
Aerodist
APR
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