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| Neptune warrior By Andrew Stackpool Volume 49, No. 4, March 22, 2007 |
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Pandora was returning some of the mutineers from LEUT Bligh’s ill-starred Bounty to England for trial when she was wrecked. Arguably, it was a 10SQN SP-2H Neptune long-range maritime patrol aircraft, number 280, which made the discovery on November 15, 1977. Director Senior Officer Management GPCAPT Corrie Metz was aboard the Neptune when the discovery occurred. “Ben Cropp estimated that the cannon balls and cannons would be detectable with the MAD (magnetic anomaly detector) equipment we had on the aircraft. We did lots of passes over his vessel and dropped some smokes over the very faint detections we received,” GPCAPT Metz said. Based on those contacts, Cropp dived and found the Pandora. This was just one of the many events GPCAPT Metz has packed into his Air Force career, which has taken him around Australia and overseas to places such as New Zealand, Hawaii and the Philippines. He joined the Air Force in 1971 as a navigator and the following year was posted to 10SQN, which was then based at Townsville. The Neptune’s primary role was – like the AP-3C – anti-submarine warfare, however, the two-toned maritime aircraft had many other tasks. “We did a lot of fishery patrols as well and on one occasion, we assisted Customs in tracking a suspected drug smuggler down the east coast,” GPCAPT Metz said. Other activities included disaster relief and search and rescue. “One of the most satisfying operations I was involved with was flood relief in western Queensland in 1974,” he said. “We would go spotting stranded people and people on houses and call in the Hueys [Iroquois UH-1H helicopters] to rescue them.” A lot of their training related to anti-submarine warfare and this took the aircraft far afield. “We did many exercises, both in Australia and overseas, including the Joint Unit Course Exercise (JUCEX) out of [the Navy Air Station at] Nowra, and most notably in New Zealand, the Philippines and Hawaii. It was exciting for a 19-year-old to go on exercise.” GPCAPT Metz was also aboard SP-2H A89-280 on August 22, 1977, when it set a new altitude record for the Neptune type, reaching a ceiling of about 10,000 metres. “It took us about two hours to get up and two hours to get back. It was so cold that when I tried to take a vertical photo, my fingers were so frozen I couldn’t press the camera shutter. I had to use my whole hand,” he recalled. He had several duties in the Neptune, including operating the main stations for the passive sonobuoys and ordnance. In 1977, 10SQN relocated to RAAF Base Edinburgh and re-equipped with the brand-new Orion, but GPCAPT Metz remained in Townsville to “close down the squadron and fly one of the last Neppies to the museum at Point Cook.” During the last 36 years, he has enjoyed a long and varied career and has few regrets. He is also full of optimism for the future of Air Force. “The last six or seven years has seen the Air Force come of age,” he said. “We have developed a very expeditionary focus and have trained hard for real world operations. With some of the equipment we have now and what is coming down the pipeline, I see the opportunities increasing even further. “Our people are dedicated and smart. Our future looks bright and I feel privileged to have been part of it.” |
