The loss of HMAS Sydney, 19 November 1941 The most grievous loss suffered by the Royal Australian Navy occurred on 19 November 1941, when the cruiser HMAS Sydney was lost in action with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran off the Western Australian coast. None of...
News & Views
The Right Place At The Right Time
Our friends at Vintage Wings of Canada have done it again! In their latest article they present a series of amazing images of aviation in the second World War, depicting moments of terror or tragedy or pathos. You can see the full story here, but below are a few of...
Veterans & Veterans’ Families Counselling Service
Who is VVCS? VVCS provides free confidential counselling and group program services to support the mental health and wellbeing of the Australian veteran and ex-service community and their families, irrespective of which theatre they served in. The VVCS Legacy...
Missing RANHFV Members
.Can you help us locate the following members of the RAN Helicopter Flight Vietnam? If so, please use the "Contact Us" box at the foot of the page. Their Flight number is included in brackets. x Hawkins, Raymond Basil (2) Homer, Raymond Harold (1) Jones,...
RAN Helicopter Flight Vietnam – The 5th Contingent
Can You Help? Between October 1967 and June 1971 four deployments of RAN personnel served in the Helicopter Flight Vietnam. A Heritage article of this period of our history can be found here. Not many of the history books will tell you that there was a 5th Flight in...
New FAAAA President
Rear Admiral Mark Campbell, CSC, RAN (Ret'd) was a Helicopter Warfare Instructor with substantial aviation, command, acquisition and sustainment experience. He has about 3,500 flying hours mainly as an anti-submarine tactical co-ordinator in Sea King and...
Update on Hookway Trackers
Down Under Aviation News is running an article on the current status of the S2G Trackers purchased by Peter Hookway back in the early 90s. Sadly, they have gradually rotted out in the open at West Sale Aerodrome. There may yet...
Firefly Wreckage found in Jervis Bay
Memorial For Lost Aircrew Around 3pm on November 27,1956 two Firefly aircraft flown by young British pilots collided off the coast of NSW. SBLT David Eagles was flying aircraft VX 381 that lost about seven feet of one wing and ditched a short time later, with both...
Spitfire Images
Legends at full throttle: Photographer captures pin-sharp images of the final 55 airworthy Spitfires using just a handheld camera Air-to-air photographer John Dibbs spent years hanging out of fighter planes to capture stunning shots of Spitfires Using skill and...
The Paintings of Jim Rae
Jim Rae is an ex-RN aircraft handler. He served on HMS Eagle, HMS Victorious(twice) and HMS Ark Royal before leaving the RN in 1968. He then worked as a Fireman Local Authority, then a couple of industrial Fire sections at Sullom Voe Oil Terminal and Mount Pleasant...