Family’s strong links to Darwin

By FLGOFF Fiona Harris

Family’s strong Ex-GPCAPT Don Porter, a former No. 10 Squadron Neptune pilot with his son, FLTLT Angus Porter, who captains a 10SQN Orion.

Photo by CPL Darren Hilder

FLIGHT Lieutenant Angus Porter and his dad have been reunited in Darwin, a place that has much history for both of them.

FLTLT Porter is in the Top End with No. 10 Squadron for Operation Relex II. His dad, retired Group Captain Don Porter, recently took the opportunity to visit his son and his old command post.

GPCAPT Porter became commanding officer of RAAF Base Darwin in 1975, not long after Cyclone Tracey had swept through, leaving mass destruction.

“When I came to Darwin there was devastation, sheets of iron everywhere,” he said. “Angus was born in the base hospital and there was a huge hole in the wall. The place was very different back then to what it is today.”

FLTLT Porter is a pilot at 10SQN, the same squadron in which his father flew the P-2 Neptune. During his visit to Darwin, GPCAPT Porter looked over the AP-3C a much more sophisticated aircraft in terms of electronics than the Neptune.

In FLTLT Porter’s five years as an AP-3C pilot, he has already had many experiences his father had decades earlier. He is an aircraft captain, as was his father.

Both have been on operations to the Middle East; GPCAPT Porter in 1977 and FLTLT Porter last year. “I think every pilot goes through a stage of wanting to fly fast jets but I was always interested in AP-3C’s,” FLTLT Porter said.

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