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Drop of a hat
By Paul Lineham

Volume 49, No. 02, February 22, 2007
 
HOME AT LAST: Retired RNZAF pilot, Trevor Huggard, returns the RAAF hat he stole in 1957 from Amberley to Base Commander WGCDR John Martin as a show of good will 50 years later.
Photo by LACW Melina Mancuso
 
FIFTY years after the event, a small ‘theft’ has been solved – but in doing so a mystery has surfaced.

In September 1957, FLGOFF Trevor Huggard, a Royal New Zealand Air Force pilot, staged through RAAF Base Amberley on his way to Singapore to fly Venoms during the Malayan Confrontation.

Included in his baggage when he left the base was a slightly-worn khaki felt slouch hat, complete with puggaree and RAAF badge, which he had, in his words, “knowingly purloined”.

Recently, the former FLGOFF Huggard visited Queensland to be with a dying Vietnam veteran mate. His conscience pricked him and he decided to go to Amberley and return the hat, which, he insisted, he had “only borrowed”.

He contacted the base headquarters and advised his quest. There was a faded number in the hat and SGT Tracey Holland, SOPSO with the Combat Support Unit, made inquiries and was able to determine that the hat had belonged to a former Pay Clerk, Fred Weller.

Wheels were set in motion and subsequently FLGOFF Huggard arrived at the base, bearing the errant headgear.

He told Amberley’s Base Commander WGCDR John Martin the circumstances that led to the incident. A group of deploying Kiwis had visited Ipswich to seek respite from the Queensland heat.

“We visited establishments on the base and on the way, I just happened to come across this hat, which seemed to me to be a nice souvenir for a young pilot, 21 years of age, adventurous and on the way to big things.

“Here was an Anzac hat which I’d heard and read about, and I couldn’t resist the temptation, so I thought: ‘oh well, I’ll take it’,” he said.

He gave the hat to WGCDR Martin to return to its owner, who will wear it this Anzac Day in the Adelaide March.

WGCDR Martin thanked him for returning the hat and promised to return it to its real owner. In return for his gesture, FLGOFF Huggard, his conscience now eased, received an Air Force baseball cap which, WGCDR Martin told him, didn’t have to be handed back.

Subsequently, the hat went ‘home’.

So, while the 50-year case of the missing hat has been closed, another question remains – how did an airman’s hat end up in the Amberley Officer’s Mess in the first place?