Where and when your Aviation passion/interest started?

[Matt_L]

Hi guys,

I seem to recall a similar topic on old forums but since the move to here no such one has been created and I think its a fitting topic to bring up and sure will bring back some memories

For me, it was in the late 1990's on domestic flights aboard Ansetts various planes on domestic sectors (a320,737s and 767s) which developed my interest at such a young age in the awe of flight and lead me to being involved in aircraft photography, flight training and the many facets which aviation encompasses that I enjoy today!

Be interesting to see some others responses...

[Nigel C]

From the age of about 2 or 3 I used to be taken to HMAS Albatross by my dad to go gliding. Mostly we'd go up in the Blanik or the Piper Super Cub (dad was one of the tug pilots there, then later at Bunyan near Cooma for the Canberra Gliding Club).

I also had a grass strip about 2kms down through the back paddocks where C180 VH-TPG used to do parachute operations every weekend at the Cambewarra Drop Zone.
My parents knew the pilot quite well, and in about '82 or '83 we even had a parachute pool party where about 14 parachutists dropped into our back yard wearing nothing but budgie smugglers, sneakers and a parachute. If I can find the old photos, I'll post them. Needless to say, copious amounts of alcohol were drunk that day....

[Tony G]

Mine started at the age of 6 in 1978. My parents both worked and the family that looked after me would take me to the airport at least twice a week, followed by a visit to the aviation shop in Rockdale.
I did not take photos then, but a few aircraft I remember Anglo cargo 707, British cargo 707, Jat DC-10s, 707, ATA( american trans air) Tristars, Transamerica DC-8s, and the colourful european airliners we dont see anymore etc etc I can go on for a while, but i wont bore you.

Now in continues with taking photos as often as I can, peaking out the windows everytime an aircraft flies over, collecting diecast aircraft of airliners that I have flown on and lucky enough I work with aircraft now.

Id say there is a 90% chance ill end my days with a camera in my hand at the back of 34.

[Marty H]

Whyalla Airport, old man used to take me out there regularly when it was serviced by Airlines Of South Australia Fokker Freindships.Also went out o Whyalla airport for the Queens visit and the largest aircraft that ever came into Whyalla a Ansett B737-200 When we went to Adelaide in the early 80's we used to stay at Marineland Holiday park which any departures off 23 went straight over, could sit up on a big hill there and have the B727's roar overhead.

[Adam P.]

My story? Starts with this little blue book in a little blue felt cover:


The little blue book is the wartime logbook of this bloke:


AUS 412686 W/O RW 'Jack' Purcell was a WWII Lancaster navigator with 467 Sqn out of Waddington in the UK. He was shot down in May 1944 while attacking marshalling yards in Lille, France. Six of the seven members of the crew were killed in action - including Jack. He was 22. His brother was my great grandfather, which is where the family connection comes from.

His pilot was the only survivor out of twelve crews lost that night - Phil Smith was blown out of the windscreen when the aircraft exploded and happened to be wearing his parachute (which was by no means universal at the time - most crew members needed to retrieve their 'chute out of racks and clip it on before bailing out). He was living in Mosman up until his death in 2003 and we became quite good friends for the last few years of his life. We still keep in touch with the family - I actually visited his widow earlier this week.

Dad's a history teacher and he first showed me that little blue book when I was nine or ten years old. That led to Airfix models and reading books and looking at the photos and discovering the whereabouts of Jack's service medals (they had never been claimed...) and eventually learning to fly and a PPL and an aviation degree and a job in the industry. I can trace it all back to that little blue book.



Nige?

Originally Posted by Nigel 'Legend' C

copious amounts of alcohol were drunk that day....

...so beginning another life-long passion.

[Lachlan C]

I was first introduced to aviation before i was one.
With a relative in the airline game i got to travel in the cockpit where ever I went (pre9/11). My family has a histrory in aviation from WW2 onwards with my grandfather being a F/E on the lanc. Then he went to The flying Kangeroo on the connies then the electras, 707 and 747. He was one of the first Oz crews trained to fly the 747.

[phil.l]

For me late 60`s(8 years old) sitting in the back yard under flight path for Elstree aerodome England.

[damien b]

Being taken to Adelaide airport as a kid and watching TAA and Ansett aircraft coming and going from the then open air view area at the terminal. That interest was further taken to the military side when my primary school in Freeling, South Australia was under the flight path of RAAF aircraft, mainly Orions, landing at RAAF Edinburgh.

[Philip Argy]

What a good thread to start - some interesting stories.

In about 1958 my family moved to Lane Cove West under the then runway 16 flight path (now 16R). I used to watch planes flying over my house and marvel at them, a few years later enjoying my first flight on a Fokker Friendship to Wagga for a farmstay holiday. From that moment on I was hooked ....

Funnily enough, the first time I flew trans-Atlantic on Concorde in 1982 it brought back memories of my first Fokker Friendship flight even though about the only resemblance I can think of now was the tiny windows.

That early interest has had fascinating influences on the direction of my career including studying physics, computer programming and being external legal counsel to the old Federal Airports Corporation before it was split up and sold off. Only myopia and colour blindness pointed me away from what might have been a career as an aviator, so now I just settle for being a frequent flyer and aviation voyeur, enjoying vicariously the more immediate experiences that many on this board are good enough to share!

[Gerard M]

My parents used to take me out to Richmond and sit there and watch the Hurcs do endless touches and goes!!! Can still remember it, considering it wasn't too long ago and used to always see the C-5 come in every week as it flew into Richmond from our house, about 30kms from Richmond, and seeing the tail sitting ABOVE the trees as you drove up to Richmond from the east...those darn trees have grown now not to mention that the C-5 is a bit of a rare occurrence there now!!Probably why i like the military aircraft better than the comercial i guess!