The era of Essendon Airport

One of the best things about Reservoir when growing up in the 1960's was that where we lived was only a little north of the flight path for aircraft using Runway 26 at Essendon. Prior to 1970, prior to Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport being commissioned, all domestic and international flights flew into Essendon Airport.

The variety of aircraft seen on the flight path, at least to a kid, was endless.

Commercial jets had just been introduced and both Ansett and Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) were flying Boeing 727's, Douglas DC-9's and a plethora of propeller aircraft, such as the Lockheed L-188 Electra, the Vickers Viscount and the Fokker F27 Friendship.

Sometimes a strange shape would appear in the skies by way of an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy or Bristol 170 freighter.

Even Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) aircraft such as the English Electric Canberra, Canadair DHC-4 Caribou and Lockheed C-130 Hercules were not strangers to the sky.

It was a marvellous time for me, becoming aware of aircraft and then radio.....imagine my delight when I purchased a Tandy Multi-band radio from Atlas Electronics in Bell Street, Coburg, hearing for the first time Essendon Tower and Essendon Approach.

My grandfather, in particular, fostered my interest in aircraft. On any Saturday or Sunday possible, my grandfather Jock would drive me over to Essendon Airport with my grandmother, Gladys, in tow. Once at Essendon Airport we would park the car just south of the control tower and watch the aircraft taxi, takeoff and land. It was a very busy and noisy environment, as in those days is was possible to park only metres from the apron. Very impressive for a young lad! My grandfather concentrated on his race bets, and my grandmother did her knitting, leaving me to run around with my jaw hanging down as I identified a new and exciting aircraft!

I have a very clear memory of the distinct pitch of engines from the prop-jet aircraft and the smell of Avgas floating through the air.

Some highlights of Essendon Airports history can be found at Essendon Airport

Radio awakening

Life is a funny thing when one thing leads to another and an interest is sparked. Such was the case in being interested in aircraft and then being introduced to radio.

Having started to listen to aircraft on Very High Frequency (VHF) I became aware, through the Department of Civil Aviation in those days, that aircraft used High Frequency (HF) for travel around Australia in areas where VHF did not work and also radio navigation systems were on Very Low Frequencies (VLF). HF and VHF transmissions used Amplitude Modulation (AM) while the navigation aids transmitted Modulated Carrier Wave (MCW).

Through an aviation friend of my father, Barry, I obtained some Visual Flight Charts and Radio Navigation Charts. A whole new world had opened for me - what were all of these circles, zone, tracks, radio frequencies, codes, flight levels...............and how did I decode the language I was hearing on the airwaves? Short, sharp messages from air traffic controllers to pilots and vice versa - they knew what was being said but it was all unintelligible to me.

So my thirst for aviation knowledge and to decipher this cryptic language had begun.

Around this time, 1977, I joined a local radio group, then the Western Suburbs Radio Club, later to become the Western and Northern Suburbs Amateur Radio Club (WANSARC).

This was a whole new "wireless" world and I became an "official" Short Wave Listener (SWL), L30848, as a member of the Wireless Institute of Australia.

One of our club members was the late Bert Horan VK3BH. Bert was a pilot with Ansett, flying Boeing 727 aircraft. Imagine my excitement when I heard Bert flying a 727 over the Australian Gulf, working another station on 14MHz. I was to learn later that when things were quiet on the flight deck, Bert would fire up one of the spare HF transceivers and have a contact or two!! Of course I noted all of the details and sent Bert an SWL card as confirmation of hearing his contact.

A short time later Bert handed me one of his personal cards of acknowledgement (a QSL card) to confirm my recorded details. This was one of the first of many QSL cards received from around the world.