Outback and beyond
The 2004 Outback Tour took the Roulettes to remote and rural Australia
where the HS748 was farewelled, old acquaintances were rekindled and the
Red Centre’s drought broken, as FLTLT Terry Gordon reports.

Roulettes Outback Tour
(MPEG video 6.75 MB)

Horn Island children are all smiles after the Roulettes’ display.

Photo by FLTLT Terry Gordon

The Roulettes gets a bird’s eye view of the communities they visit.

Photo by WOFF Ray Bennell

A Pilatus PC12 , piloted by Stephen Byrnes and Sebastian Lip, flies in formation with the Roulettes along the coastline north of Brisbane.

Photo by WOFF Ray Bennell

The Broken Hill crowd is wowed by the team in the skies.

Photo by WOFF Ray Bennell

Mark Skaife, Holden supercar driver, meets fan SGT Mark Nash at Darwin.

Roulette 7 FLTLT Jason Barwood calls the display at Charleville.

Roulettes leader SQNLDR Mark Broadbridge jokes with TV man Grant Denyer.

CPL Michael Pratt files burrs off a propeller at Mt Isa.

FLTLT Pat Geddes finds out from Travis Douglas, of Mt Isa, about his remote-controlled PC-9.

CPL Derek Green cleans the canopy of one of the Roulettes’ aircraft.

IT’S A long way from the Grand Prix to Gove, but the Roulettes are proud to show their skills before hundreds of thousands of people ... or just hundreds.

When most people think of Roulette display, they think of the team’s performances at major events such as the Melbourne Grand Prix or the Gold Coast Indy car races.

Now Top-Enders have enjoyed the Roulettes in their 2004 Outback Tour, a 14-day flying fling last month through rural and remote communities across four States and the Northern Territory.

The formation-flying team, supported by No. 32 Squadron, gave 17 aerobatic displays in 16 locations, travelling more than 10,000km.

For 32SQN, the task enabled its HS748 to conduct some farewell activities after nearly 37 years’ faithful duty. Of particular note was the visit to Horn Island on the tip of Cape York.

32SQN operated out of the island’s aerodrome in the dark days of 1942, flying Hudson Bombers. The Squadron was formed in Port Moresby just two days after the first bombing raid on Darwin, flying its first mission the same afternoon. It is believed to be the only Air Force unit formed in the field.

The Squadron still retains a special bond with Horn and Thursday Islands, which was evident during the visit when many locals recounted stories of Japanese attacks and told how proud they were that 32SQN had returned.

The Squadron’s “Howlettes” – the straight and level HS748 aerobatic team – also had the chance to give the Roulettes a day off with a sunset flypast over Darwin’s Parliament House for an official cocktail party on the eve of the NT’s supercar race.

From above the red earth of Mount Isa, Charleville and Longreach through to the tropical coastlines of Townsville, Cairns, Weipa, Thursday Island, Gove and Darwin, the Roulettes dazzled and entertained crowds, young and old alike.

It has been many years since they have ventured so far from their home base in East Sale.

The Outback Tour was planned so as many people as possible in remote areas could see their display and thousands turned out for the action.

As well as highlighting Air Force ability, the Roulettes helped raise the profile of the invaluable work of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) by inviting local schools to RFDS hangars to meet the team and have a close view of the aircraft.

In the homeward leg of the tour, the team visited Tennant Creek, Birdsville, Mildura, Broken Hill and Alice Springs, where they broke the drought with help of Channel 7 Sunrise weather guy Grant Denyer.

Unfortunately the display in The Alice – and Grant’s pax ride – had to be cancelled because of poor visibility, but the locals were still pleased to see the rain.

“We’ll now have drought-stricken towns across Australia requesting the Roulettes and me!” Grant said.

It was the Centre’s first good soaking in 18 months.

School children from across central and northern Australia swamped the Roulettes and ground crew with questions at all of the open static displays.

One child politely greeted Roulette 6, Flight Lieutenant Chris Tulk, and asked: “Excuse me, Mister, can you touch the clouds?”

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