Sunday, August 17, 2008

Old Pix

Can anyone help with these photos? They'd probably be taken in Sydney, possibly at Bankstown Aerodrome in the mid to late 40's. Two have dates, the one of Dad in the biplane with the pilot helmet on is dated on the back 24 July 1948. He would have been 17 then. The other with a date is him with the models at his feet, September 1946, he would have been 15 then.
I have some other pix which I'll scan, of some people and aircraft. Some of you oldies might be able to ID them for me!
In the picture of the group of people standing by the biplane my father is on the far left of the photo... it looks like some promo for Shell Oil. (check out the can!)





I do have many more, however I'll have to scan them. And I can only upload 5 at a time to the blog.

I do know that Dad helped Fred and Grace Hoinville on occasion with his flying (after his death Grace sent a letter to Mum saying that Fred had always appreciated Dad's assistance and that he couldn't have completed his trips without that assistance - I don't know if she still has the letter, she had a big clean up a few years ago). I know he was a member of a gliding club, and he also built gliders - I have some photos of that, too.

Just googled this picture of Fred Hoinville (scroll down), and I'm wondering if it's him on the far right in the group photo? Here's some more information on Fred Hoinville. I think it might be him... Hey, Minicapt, do you think the Tiger Moth is Fred's Brolga?

Update : This is great! I wonder what other treasures there are among Dad's photographs?

More information, this time on Southern Cross Gliding Club.

Update 2: Minicapt has been searching for me and found this link to VH-AYY Hoinville's "Brolga".

9 comments:

Minicapt said...

1. First, fourth and last photos are DH82 Tiger Moths.
2. #2 could be a DHC-1 Chipmunk, but it has two open cockpits in place of the dual tandem-seat cockpit with a full canopy.
3. Three gliders on the ground (one a canard), Hurricane model in right hand, balsa-paper flying model (possible an Auster) in left.

Cheers

kc said...

You seem to come from mighty fine stock, Kae. Reminds me of MY dad.

Skeeter said...

I agree KC and would love to have had a few beers with Kae's dad.
I also agree with Minicapt on the ID of the Tiger Moths.
My blogger avatar is cropped from a digital drawing of me doing my first solo in a Tiger Moth on Aug 25, 1953.

A friend owns a Tiger in mint condition and he took me for a ride in it in 2005. I used his aircraft as the model for my drawing.

I think the low-wing monoplane with two open cockpits is not a Chipmunk, but a DH-94 Moth Minor, vintage 1937.
The Chipmunk is similar to the Moth Minor and was developed after WWII by de Havilland Canada as a replacement for the Tiger Moth.

kae said...

He he.
It would most definitely have been more than one [strike]beer[/strike] scotch.

Minicapt said...

Moth Minor it is.

Cheers

Skeeter said...

Kae, how come you know me so well? You are bang on with my drinking habits and preferred tipple...
...or was that your dad you were thinking of?

kae said...

Dad's tipple... mostly. It was Reschs' Pilsener years ago, then it was Tooheys. Then it was scotch and ice.

kaila said...

hi my name is kaila collins i am fred hoinville s grandaughter my mum patricia is fred s daughter from his first marrige grace was her stepmum iv been looking him up on the net.

kae said...

Hi Kaila
I was hoping that someone could identify the people in the group photograph. As I said, I think it might be your Grandad, but I'm not sure - I never met him.
My Dad died in October 2001 aged 70, and that's when Mum got the letter from Grace.
Could you tell me if your Grandad is in the group photo?

If you have visited the Southern Cross Gliding Club website they talk there in the historical section about some aircraft losing their landing gear on the trees. My Dad told me about the short landings, and it was a competition to see who could make the shortest landing. Of course the winner managed to lose some of his undercarriage on the tops of the trees at the end of the runway. I hope they didn't do it very often!
My email address is on the blog if you would like to contact me.