The seventh excerpt from an unpublished autobiography of a pioneer pilot in Australia, edited by John Powell. THE GOLDEN YEARS OF LOW-LEVEL FLIGHT I was now back in aviation and any flying that I did I had to pay for. I was earning the princely sum of £9.10.0. a week and by the time I [...]
‘Reflection’
The Late John Freeman Oam – Part Seven
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Snapshots in Sepia – Part 3
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010These memories of my early childhood are occasional, random, non-sequential and fleeting—like flicking through a cardboard box of old sepia snapshots with nothing written on the back. My dad, was the son and the grandson of a farmer. He was the eldest boy out of three brothers and a sister. The regulated tenor of farming [...]
Snapshots in Sepia – Part 2
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010These memories of my early childhood are occasional, random, non-sequential and fleeting—like flicking through a cardboard box of old sepia snapshots with nothing written on the back. At Abbotsham, the lavatory (dunny or toilet), was a tiny shed down the backyard. It consisted of a wooden seat built into a wood frame, over an old [...]
The Late John Freeman OAM – Part Six
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010The sixth excerpt from an unpublished autobiography of a pioneer pilot in Australia, edited by John Powell. Bonzer will feature more of this story in the months to come. THE GOLDEN YEARS OF LOW-LEVEL FLIGHT In National Service Training I was a bit of an oddity. The other fellows in the Air Crew section of [...]
Sublime Syntax
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010I was just thinking, itself an occasion for congratulationary recognition these days, about my far-off days working, or pretending to do so, in the commercial jungle. By attrition, I eventually found myself in the higher echelon gatherings known as “Management Meetings”, probably the most universally, world-wide location for the biggest airing of yak droppings, back-stabbings [...]
Snapshots in Sepia
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010These memories of my early childhood are occasional, random, non-sequential and fleeting—like flicking through a cardboard box of old sepia snapshots with nothing written on the back. I also find it difficult to pinpoint my age in relation to any particular event. One of the earlier memories is riding in the jinker behind dad’s former [...]
The Wee Lassie with the English Accent
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010I’ve been doing a bit of reminiscing lately. Today I’ve found myself back in a place, not long after Nick and I were married, when we spent several months in Scotland. It feels like a different life now. At the time, Nick was working as a metallurgist for Pressed Steel, a company in Swindon that [...]
The Late John Freeman OAM – Part Five
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010The fifth excerpt from an unpublished autobiography of a pioneer pilot in Australia, edited by John Powell. Bonzer will feature more of this story in the months to come. THE GOLDEN YEARS OF LOW-LEVEL FLIGHT There were a number of accidents in those days. An instructor was caught in a “Willy Willy” a small intense [...]
The Late John Freeman OAM – Part Four
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010The fourth excerpt from an unpublished autobiography of a pioneer pilot in Australia, edited by John Powell. Bonzer will feature more of this story in the months to come. THE GOLDEN AGE OF LOW LEVEL FLIGHT A little later I went out on another solo spinning exercise and this time I was quite used to [...]
My Uncle John
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010My father was the youngest of five. After the two eldest boys, the product of grandfather’s first marriage, John came next, then sister Edith, and finally, Eric, the baby of the family. It’s only looking back so many years later that I realise just how eccentric my uncle John was. To me, as a young [...]