Desert Air - 40. DA Ch 40 - Calling RFDS

“That is perfect, as each building is octagonal in shape and are 5.3 metres in diameter,” Dad announced, “How many of these, do you have if I may ask Mr Kendrik?’ the Captain asked. “I have 9 already built ready to go, and they are multi-purpose designed,” Dad replied.

“Well that will mean two trips, but that is not a problem, since it is a very short distance,” the Colonel said to us, “If you think the runway is too short there is a sealed two lane road running parallel to the airfield, with a bend at each end, and the straight stretch is about 1.8 kilometres long, but only 15 metres wide,” I informed the Colonel.

“I see, that is tight but it would be a lot better that the airfield, does it have a road junction to aid us with turning around?” the Colonel asked, and I smiled. Even better, there is a truck parking bay at the Western end of the straight bit of road, we just have to get the local police to block off the road at each end of the road, when you are ready to land there,” I responded.

“Excellent, how about you take us there, so I can inspect both the road and the airport, to judge for myself which is the best option” the Colonel said, “By road it is a 45 minute drive, or I have a faster option,” I said smiling, and Captain Eccleston laughed.

“You may want to take the slower option, although he is a good pilot, he enjoys doing barrel rolls to unsuspecting passengers,” the Captain said. “I think I can cope with that, what sort of aircraft is it that you have?” the Colonel responded. “Well sir, the family owns a Twin Otter, but I have my own personal plane, a Thuxton Jackaroo Biplane,” I replied.

“Wow, those are a rarity these days, I would like to take a ride in one for sure,” the Colonel said to me smiling, “Good, with the Captain’s permission, we will set off at 0800 hour tomorrow morning,” I replied, as I looked towards the Captain, who thankfully smiled and nodded yes.

“Where can we set up camp for the duration of our stay?” the Colonel asked, “Well sir, as you know this base is now an operational museum with visitors coming in five days a week, how about we get you to camp near the home complex for tonight, and maybe tomorrow, you can set up at the Outcamp, once the buildings are in place,” I responded.

“That sounds good, apart from the three flight crew in each aircraft, we also have a team of 6 engineers who will be working on reattaching the wings to each of the two Liberators,” the Colonel informed me. “Fifteen men; that will be perfect sir. My biplane is over at another airfield about 6 kilometres away, so I will land here at 0730 hours, well before the museum is open for business at 0900 hours,” I said.

“Sir, if your men can gather their supplies, we have three Army and two station vehicles that will ferry you all over to the home complex, so you can all get settled in,” Captain Eccleston said to the American Colonel, “And I will make my station vehicle available to you for the duration of your visit, as there is a distance of 3 kilometres from the complex to here, and from the Outcamp to here it is 6 kilometres,” I added to the Captain’s statement.

As I walked back to the Hawkei with Captain Eccleston, I stopped for a moment. “Sir, if I may, I would like to request the rest of the morning and part of this afternoon to do some station work, to assist our American friends to get settled in, namely organising portable ablutions and a poly water tank for their water supply at the Outcamp,” I asked.

“Permission granted Corporal, take as long as you need, but report back to me before chow at 1900 hours,” the Captain responded. Walking back to the station vehicle where my father was still watching the Americans. Dad can you take me back to Camp Base, to collect my Jackaroo Ute, and do you know if we have a spare header tank and PVC pipe and fittings for storing fresh water for the Outcamp?” I asked when I reached Dad’s Ute.

“Yes and yes, there is a tank behind the western boundary machinery shed at Corunna Downs, and fittings and pipe are located the main machinery shed near the homestead,” Dad replied. “Great, I will need to use that please, and also I will need to organise a small ablutions block for the Outcamp, do you think we could get hold of one quickly at Port Hedland?” I replied.

“Lets head home first and I will make that call, before we go and collect your Ute,” Dad said to me. “I have a few hours off from Army duties to do all this, so I might as well enjoy a homemade lunch too,” I said smiling, and Dad laughed at that comment.

“Still not a fan of Army rations eh son?” Dad commented, “Not really, they do give you all the required nutrition and stuff, but some of them are fairly boring and bland,” I replied. “Ok, let’s get moving then,” Dad said and we headed for the complex.

After just ten minutes on the phone, Dad entered the living room of the house where I was talking with Mum, who was preparing lunches for everyone, and he was smiling. I found a place in Hedland, where they have converted a small shipping container into 5 shower suites, and another container has five toilet suites, and with a sweetener, they can have them trucked down to us tomorrow morning.

Both buildings have solar power cells with converters for power and lighting, and all we have to provide is the loader with the folks to unload them off the truck,” Dad announced. “Wow, good onya Dad, nice work, I hope they are not to expensive?” I responded, “About 8 grand each, but we can put it down as a tax deduction, so that will be fine,” Dad replied.

After been given my lunch pack, we headed off to the Army camp to collect my Jackaroo Ute, so I could collect the header tank, pipes and fittings for the Outcamp, and Dad headed back to the Airbase to help transport the Americans to their temporary campsite, a few hundred metres west of the complex.

It took me the rest of the afternoon to get the header tanks transported and in place, on a small level area on the side of a hill above the campsite, and once it was in place, I fitted a supply pipe and fittings leading down to the edge of the campsite, with a large tap at the end, as well as one at the base of the tank.

Back at the homestead machinery shed, I switched from the flat bed trailer to the water tank trailer, and filled it up with fresh bore water, and headed back to the Outcamp to fill up the header tank with fresh water. On the way back from that I stopped off at the complex to see if Dad was there, which he wasn’t, so I called him on the radio.

“Complex to Dad, are you copying, over?” I called from the complex radio in the office. “Receiving you son, over,” Dad replied after a minute of waiting, “Dad, is there a flat bed trailer over at Limestone, big enough to carry the buildings from the shed to the airfield? Over,” I asked.

“No there isn’t, you will need to take the flatbed that you used earlier over there for that, over,” Dad replied, “That’s what I thought, thanks, over,” I said to end the call. Topping up a water jug, and grabbing an apple and a banana from the kitchen, I jumped back into the Jackaroo, and headed back to the homestead shed, to swap trailers over again, before I started the one hour journey to Limestone Station.

When I turned east onto the Marble Bar Road, I picked up the radio mic again, Jaxon to Limestone Station, over,” I called, and after a few minutes I called again and still no answer, as I turned down the main driveway of the station and a few minutes later I stopped outside the homestead.

I walked straight into the homestead and called out to Jake. “Out here boss, in the enclosed verandah,” Jake called back and he didn’t sound too good. “Sorry boss, I heard the radio call, but I’m too crook to get up to answer it, not sure what is wrong,” Jake said when I stepped into the side enclosed verandah and found Jake laying on a bed, and he was sweating badly.

I felt his pause which was racing and he was quite pale, so I headed to where the radio’s are located next to the kitchen and hit the red button on the larger base radio. “RFDS to Limestone Station, receiving your emergency call, over,” the voice over the radio said, as I picked up the mic.

“RFDS, this is Jexon Kendrik speaking, my station hand is very sick, I have just discovered him on his bed, rapid pause, sweating very pale clammy skin, over,” I said over the radio. “Ask him if he has been bitten by something, and see if you can find any bite marks, over,” the RFDS caller asked, and I walked back to the verandah, where Jake was now not responding as I gave him a big shake, so I rolled him over onto his side, before checking for any bite marks.

“Limestone to RFDS, Jake is now unconscious, I have rolled him onto his side, and I have found a very small bit mark on his leg above his left ankle, over,” I said once back at the radio, “Ok, that is possibly a spider bite, find the RFDS medical box and this is what you need to do…” and over the next twenty minutes I followed the instructions given to me by the RFDS doctor, and I was told that the nearest RFDS aircraft was on its way, as is the nurse from the Marble Bar Nursing Post. What seemed like an eternity was only about twenty minutes, when the nurse from Town arrived, and she had with her the RFDS medical crew with her.

Once all the assessments were made, I was asked if we could use my Ute to transport Jake to the RFDS aircraft, which had landed at the Marble Bar Airport, and with me driving, we quickly made the short drive to the airport, where the gate was open to allow me to drive straight onto the parking apron.

I watched at the RFDS plane quickly took off and headed north for the Port Hedland Hospital, where Jake would be looked after. Heading back to the homestead, I picked up the telephone and called the home Complex, and Mum answered the phone.

After informing Mum of what has happened with Jake, I informed her that I would stay at Limestone tonight, and return in the morning, as I wanted to do some water and stock checks while I was at Limestone. After the call to Mum, I remembered that I had the Sat Com still in my pocket, and I put it into place, and switched it on.

“Corporal Kendrik to Captain Eccleston, over,” I said into the Sat com, “Go ahead Jex, what’s up,” the Captain responded, “Sir, I am at Limestone Station just out of Marble Bar, and we have had a medical emergency, with the station hand just flown out by the RFDS. Requesting permission to take leave, so I can look after things over here,” I asked in hope.

“Permission granted, hope all goes well with your station hand, we can take care of things from here thanks Jex, over” the Captain replied, “Thanks sir, just an update for you, the water tank is in place at the Outcamp and has been filled with fresh bore water, and my father has arranged for two converted small shipping containers, to arrive tomorrow morning, for toilets and showers.

Can you ask the Colonel to get in contact with my father, in regards to checking out the runway at Marble Bar please, over,” I said, “Will do, over,” the Captain said, and I shut off the com’s and placed it in my pocket again.

After topping up the water jug, and with a A4 laminated map of Limestone Station in hand, which shows the location of the station boundaries and tracks as well as all water points, I walked over to the shed and checked that the Ute has a spare wheel, tools, spare water and fuel and pipe repair gear, before setting off to do a water run.

It was late afternoon by the time I arrived back at the homestead, and I was surprised to see my biplane parked near the homestead, so I guessed that Dad was nearby. My Jackaroo Ute was missing, so he was probably showing the Colonel the Airport.