Draggie’s last flight
Once the Rolls Royce of the Air Force, A10-601 has made its final flight, Teena Cardillo reports

The team that made the acceptance flight: (from left) then Squadron Leader Mitchison, Wing Commander Ken Staib, Squadron Leader Keith Munday and Squadron Leader Miles Alexander.

Flying Officer Ben Edwards welcomes ex-Wing Commander Tom Mitchison aboard HS748 A10-601. Mr Mitchinson helped bring the aircraft from England to Australia in 1968.

It’s been a while since Wing Commander Tom Mitchison (ret’d) stepped on to an Air Force base. In fact, he recalls that the last time was in 1975, when he left the RAAF.
Some 25 years later, he made the pilgrimage to Point Cook to see HS748 A10-601, the aircraft he and a team accepted for the Air Force in 1968. Water cannons and cheers marked the departure of the “Draggie” at East Sale on January 20, while a small, but appreciative audience witnessed its arrival at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook where it was flown as part of the phased withdrawal of the aircraft as the Air Force’s navigational trainer.

Mr Mitchison remembers being impressed by the aircraft when he first saw it and on the subsequent journey back to Australia.

“These aircraft were regarded as the Rolls Royces of the Air Force at the time,” he said. “Prior to this, we were flying Dakotas, so this was a big breakthrough. This was the first pressurised aircraft that we flew in and our first insight to the ‘new Air Force’.”
Mr Mitchison’s ferry flight of A10-601 to East Sale, for the School of Air Navigation (SAN), took the crew 21 days. They left the Hawker Siddeley factory at Woodford in the UK on September 1, 1968, following a formal handover ceremony. The trip took them through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and included a six-day delay in Athens.
A10-601 was the first HS748 navigational trainer to arrive in Australia. A total of eight aircraft operated with the SAN at East Sale for the training of navigators, air electronics officers and RAN observers.

The aircraft were transferred to No. 32 Squadron when it re-formed in 1989, together with two VIP aircraft that had been operated by No. 34 Squadron. The milestone of 100,000 accident-free HS748 flying hours was celebrated in 1990.

In its final flight to Point Cook, A10-601 was ferried by a crew that included the youngest captain and co-pilot on the type, Flying Officer Ben Edwards, and Pilot Officer Andrew Schostakowski. FLGOFF Edwards said he felt a special significance, understanding that it would be the last flight for the particular HS748. On his first tour since completing pilots’ course, he had been flying Draggies for 18 months.

“The HS748 has proved to be a very reliable and capable workhorse in both navigator training and Air Lift Support tasking,” he said.

“It’s a real ‘pilot’s aircraft’ to fly, with some now reasonably old systems, that was built tough and reliable by the British. It has been great to fly and get an early captaincy on this aircraft after coming straight from pilots’ course where you fly the much smaller PC-9.”

Mr Mitchison said seeing A10-601 was a nostalgic moment and that he was particularly fond of the aircraft. He said very little of the internal structure of the aircraft had changed, although he did notice some updates to the electronic systems. “It certainly takes me back,” he said.

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