Desert Air - 3. DA Ch 3 - Plans for the Airbase

“Wow, that sounds awesome, do we know if many people come to visit this site?” I responded, “Yes, there is and we have notified the Marble Bar Tourism Information Centre, of the change of ownership and they have stop promoting the location and information about the base.

Plus we have put up a temporary fence and signs at each entry road, to say that the Airbase is closed for restoration purposes, so that should stop any visitors seeing the place, while the work is being done, with the boundary fence being the first priority,” Dad said to me.

“Dad, would you be able to keep Marcus busy for half a day, so I can fly over to the air base and take a look at it myself please,” I asked, “That will be no problem, I was planning a water run tomorrow anyway, so he can come along with me. Although it is only 52 kms by air to the base, there is Avgas in the shed, so make sure you fill up before you leave in the morning,” Dad replied.

I joined the rest for the last half hour of the movie, before Marcus and I walked over to the cottage. “By the way, I have arranged with my Dad, for you to join him on a water run tomorrow, so you can get a bit of a look around the station,” I announced to Marcus as we walked.

“What will you be doing while I am away and how long will the water run take?’ Marcus asked, “I have other work jobs to do, which includes some hard labour out in the sun, which I thought may not be to your liking, so you can be with Dad in the Ute, for most of the day, and helping check all the southern water points. Breakfast is at 5.30 am, you set off at 6 am and will be back before sunset,” I replied.

“What! A whole day?” Marcus exclaimed, and I chucked at his response, “Yes mate, it isn’t like your little farm, there is quite some distance between the water points on a cattle station, especially one this big,” I replied. “Well, I guess I did agree to come along to experience life on a cattle station, so I guess I can’t complain,” Marcus said as we arrived at the cottage.

“The next morning, I was up early as usual, not needing an alarm clock to wake me, when I know I have a full day ahead of me, and it took me a bit to wake Marcus up, who complained that it is still dark outside, “Yes, it is now, but by the time you have eaten breakfast, it will be full light, and we need to take advantage of all daylight out here,” I responded, and reluctantly Marcus climbed out of bed, while I headed over to the homestead.

“Morning Dad, Morning Mum,” I said happily as I walked into the formal dining room, where the family always eats. “Good morning son, is our newest recruit awake?” Dad replied, while Mum gave me a peck on the cheek, and adjusted my collar.

“Reluctantly yes, he was complaining that it was still dark outside, but he is up and getting ready,” I replied smiling. “The other kids are all still asleep, and probably won’t wake up till 7, so you should be able to get away before they are up,” Mum replied.

“Not true,” came the voice of Rhodes, as he entered the dining room, dressed and ready for work, and he sat down next to me. “I should have guessed that you were up too, your sister is in the kitchen making breakfast and giving the cook a sleep in,” Mum stated.

“Yes, Mary and I have discussed it before, being twins, we always seem to wake up at the same time, no matter how far apart we are,” Rhodes replied, and I would always cry as a child when I wasn’t close enough to my twin brother,” Mary said as she walked in with a plate of toast and a tray full of cooked breakfast, bacon, tomatoes, eggs fried and scrambled, sausages and a large bowl of baked beans, before she sat down next to Rhodes.

“Love a full cooked breakfast, first thing in the morning,” I commented, as we began to serve ourselves and began to eat. “So what is on the plans for today Dad?’ Rhodes asked between mouthfuls of breakfast.

“Don’t eat with your mouth full,” Mum and Mary said together, and Rhodes blushed a little then swallowed his food. “Sorry,” he said as he looked to our father for an answer to his question. “I am taking young Marcus on a water run to the South, the station staff is continuing with fence repairs, and Jex is taking some supplies over to Corunna for me,” Dad replied.

“Would you mind if I tag along too please dear, It has been some time since I have seen Joyce over at Corunna, and it would be nice to catch up with her,” Mum said straight after, just as Rhodes opened his mouth to speak, but he closed it again after mum had volunteered to come along.

“Yes that will be fine Mum, Dad has asked me to speak to Hedley about the shared fence line, so you two can have a good chat while I am talking to Hedley,” I replied, and Rhodes groaned, at the thought of a long and boring women’s chat over a cup of tea and biscuits.

“If it is alright with your brother, how about you take his ute, and go and check on the condition of the Shaw River airfield, if it is in need of repairs, you can come back and take the grader out and give it a once over to get it usable again,” Dad suggested to my brother.

“Sure Dad, not a problem, I can do that,” Rhodes said smiling, who had only been taught how to grade roads in the past season during the holidays, and he always takes plenty of music with him to keep him entertained.

“Good, I have already prepared lunch and snacks for Dad and Marcus and I will quickly make one up for you too Rhodes, then you can be on your way,” Mum said, as she finished her breakfast, which is far less that what us boys eat.

“I guess, that leaves me to mind the younger siblings and the homestead,” Mary said, “If your would please dear, I should be back by lunch time, if we keep our visit fairly brief,” Mum replied, “It is just 54 kms by air to Corunna Downs, so travel time will only be about fifteen minutes, including takeoff and landing,” I added.

I could see that mum was looking forward to this plane ride, as I filled the fuel tanks with Avgas and did all of the pre-takeoff checks, and once Mum was strapped in, I did all my final checks, before making the radio call to the nearest controlled Airport, which is Port Hedland, giving them my flight plan from Hillside to Corunna Downs stations.

“Oh wow, this is marvellous,” Mum said through the microphone, and I smiled as I tilted the stick to the left and we did a complete roll, “Enough of that son, I do not need any aerobatics thankyou,” Mum said as we returned to the right way up, and it was not long before we were on the ground again, stopping at the end of the short runway, just in front of the homestead.

Hedley and Joyce Parkinson stepped out onto the verandah to see who had landed a biplane on their runway, “Oh Amanda, it’s good to see you, and is this your oldest, my how much he has grown since I last seen you Jexon, welcome, come inside out of this heat,” Mrs Parkinson said to us.

“I won’t be staying thankyou, I have another trip to make, I have one of our station’s sat phone Mum, just give me a call when you are ready to head back home,” I responded, “In that case, I must insist that you stay for lunch Amanda,” Mrs Parkinson said.

“Thankyou, I would appreciate that, thanks for the lift son, I will see you later this afternoon,” Mum said to me, as she waved before following the Parkinson’s inside.

Once I had turned around I took off again and headed due north for about 3 kms, before turning left, for a direct approach to the main runway at the airbase, and I flew low over it once to see what the condition of the runway is before going around and landing.

Although it was a sealed runway, there was plenty of cracks in it with grasses and small shrubs growing through them, which made the landing a little bumpy, but I made it safely, and save me from walking, I taxied the plane along the track that leads to the twelve aircraft hanger pits, and I stopped near one, to take a closer look at one of the pits, which are 50 metres in diameter.

I knew from the information that dad had given me last night, that the B24 Liberator Bomber aircraft that were stationed at the air base, were 20.5 metres long, with a 34 metre wingspan, and stand 5.4 metres high, of which the hanger pits are about 5 metres high, so a little lower than the height of the plane.

Getting back into the plane, I taxied back towards the main taxiway, located between the northern ends of both runways, and I stopped on the taxiway and shut the plane down. From there I followed the road that heads north, and when I approached a large dry creek bed, I saw on the other side, a large log across the road, blocking access, as well as a temporary fence with a sign.

I crossed the creek and leaned over the fence to see what the sign read. “Road Closed, No Entry, Conservation Project in Progress.” I smiled when I saw this sign, and I returned the way I came, and worked out that it is about 1.5 kilometres each way from the creek to the taxiway, and I decided that the creek crossing would be the stopping point for all vehicles from now on.

Once back at the aircraft, I pulled out my lunch box and took a swig of water, and picked up an apple, taking a bite as I pulled out the briefcase that contains all the information about the airbase, and I sat in the shade of the aircraft, as it was starting to get warm already, and it was only just after 8 am.

The main workshop building was located near the northern end of the shorter runway, near the junction of the taxiway, the hospital is located about twenty metres south and midway of the main runway, while a number of other slabs, that are hidden mostly by shrubs, are located north west of the workshops, and include the Signals and Met shed and Operations briefing shed.

Further to the west, there is the windsock, wireless shed, the wireless transmitter, and a number of pits where the guns were located to protect the airbase from the enemy. I was fascinated with all of this, and I began to search for each location, and managed to find them all.

As I walked around the operations shed foundations, I stepped on an area that sounded hollow, so I stamped my foot down hard, and it sounded like metal. Using my boots, I scrapped away the dirt in one area, and it took some doing before I reached the metal, but it was nearly a foot down, so I covered it up again, and made a mental note to bring a spade with me next time.

I spent a few hours carefully inspecting every part of the airbase, and I was sitting under the planes wing eating lunch when I heard a vehicle approaching from the south-east, just as the sat phone rang. “Jexon, we have seen a vehicle go past the Corunna homestead and it is heading your way,” I heard my mother say, “Yes I can hear it already, thanks for the heads up, I will deal with them, bye,” I replied.

I heard the vehicle stop for a short while, no doubt to remove the obstruction that was blocking the road, before I heard it approaching again, and I jumped into the plane and taxied down to the south end of the shorter runway, which is where the access road come to, before shutting it down and climbing out.

Leaning on the wing, I watched and waited as the vehicle came closer, and it slowed as it approached and stopped a few metres short of the runway. “Wow a biplane, and at a place like this, where did you get it?” the man said excitedly as four others exited the vehicle.

“None of your business mate, you are trespassing, I suggest you get in your vehicle and return the way you came,” I said sternly. “But we checked and the people in Marble Bar said we don’t need to check with the station, that we can just come out to have a look,” the man responded.