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90 years on for 6SQN
Volume 49, No. 13, July 26, 2007 |
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Left: Former 6SQN members Kevin Vild and Jack Van Emden with a Lockheed Hudson aircraft from the Temora Aviation Museum.
Photo by LAC Scott Woodward |
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SWARM: Crowds line up to view the cockpit of an F-111 during the 6SQN family day at RAAF Base Amberley.
Photo by LAC Scott Woodward |
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NICE: CPL Anthony Papadis with the F-111 tail painted in his design to celebrate 6SQN’s 90th anniversary.
Photo by LAC Scott Woodward |
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A restored Lockheed Hudson provided an emotional link to the past as current and former members of 6SQN joined together to celebrate 90 years in style at RAAF Base Amberley.
More than 800 family and friends of 6SQN personnel attended a family day on June 16, as squadron areas were opened up for them to see what occurs during a normal working day.
An F-111 crewed by FLTLTs Russell Allison and Phillip Griggs provided a fly-past for the crowds, with each section manning a display, along with a Caribou provided by 38SQN and a Canberra bomber from the RAAF Base Amberley museum.
But the highlight of the day went to the Temora Aviation Museum, who provided a restored Lockheed Hudson painted in 6SQN wartime colours, according to 6SQN’s SQNLDR Phil Parsons.
“The 90th celebrations were about the people who have served with the squadron and those who have given and are a part of its rich history,” he said.
“Many past members and World War II veterans attended the day’s activities.
As always with reunions, some of our WWII veterans had not seen each other since the end of the war.
“The Lockheed Hudson provided a very emotional link to the past, and once they were inside reliving old memories it was hard to get them out again.
Throughout the afternoon, friendships were rekindled while new ones were forged with the current generation.”
The day’s activities concluded with an official dinner in the RAAF Base Amberley Airman’s Mess.
The dinner was attended by many past and present members, including a former Chief of Air Staff, veteran aircrew and maintainers from Ansons, Hudsons and Beauforts; Lincoln members who were involved in the atomic tests, Phantom veterans with combat time in Vietnam, and former Canberra crews through to the current generation of F-111 personnel.
The highlight of the dinner was the presentation by Mrs Nancy Lennon – a former WAAAF and wife of the late FLTLT Norm Lennon (Beaufort pilot) – of his Distinguished Flying Cross to 6SQN CO WGCDR Stephen Meredith.
The DFC, once framed, will be displayed in the squadron.
CPL Anthony Papadis won the 6SQN competition for an anniversary tail design for an F-111 aircraft.
The winning design was painted onto the tail of one of the recently-retired F-111s specifically for the celebrations, and the aircraft was displayed as a backdrop to the day’s celebration’s and pre-dinner drinks. |
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