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In August
1962 I was informed that King Bhumibhol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit
of Thailand would be conducting a Royal Tour of New Zealand and Australia
(in that order). They had chartered Qantas as the Carrier and Electra
as the aircraft, and I had been appointed Officer-in-Charge of the exercise
and Commander of the aircraft, which I think you'll agree was a fair
amount of responsibility.
The exercise consisted of modifying an Electra into Royal configuration,
that is with sleeping quarters, a reception room, sitting room and an
area for the entourage of about 30 first class seats, plus security
and press, and this was done on VH-ECA. The actual tour meant positioning
the aircraft to Bangkok then operating to the NZ capital Wellington
to start the official NZ tour, after which we would fly into our capital
Canberra then do the Australian tour. The whole exercise consisted of
21 sectors over a period of one month. Some of the interesting sidelights
were that protocol meant I should try never to look down on the King
(he's smaller than me), never cross my legs and point the toe at him,
nor point towards him or in his direction. He is a secular Monarch as
well as the Head of the Buddhist religion, descended they say from Buddha
himself, immensely popular and revered in his Country. Also I should
not use the public address system unless of course in an emergency,
but should communicate with him through his Lord High Chamberlain. I
found later that the LH Chamberlain would crawl in to the Royal compartment
on his hands and knees, and similarly crawl out backwards.
So on 14th August 1962 I flew VH-ECA through Darwin to Bangkok arriving
on the 15th, in a total flight time of 13hrs 30mins. The next day I
had an appointment with an Air Marshal, the Chief of the Royal Thai
Air Force who wanted to know my flight plan details so he could send
2 flights of jet fighters to formate on me and escort Their Majesties
to the Thai border. Well the last thing I wanted was a bunch of local
jet jockeys zooming around so I said OK but I want them at 5 miles horizontal
and 1000 feet vertical separation. He wasn't happy, but had to agree,
and I can tell you now that when we did depart the following day there
was a bunch of dots on each side of the aircraft at a very respectable
distance!
Later on that same night I had a phone call at my hotel from Pat Berg
who was the senior traffic officer I had on my team. He was at the airport
supervising the baggage onload for the next day, and he was nearly crying.
With typical disregard for agreed limits, the locals had registered
lots more than the Electra could handle over the 3 sectors to Sydney.
Well, I said load on board all the Royal baggage first and all of the
entourage baggage, then see what's left over. I then talked to ops Sydney
and found out that one of our early Boeing 707 flights QF2 from London
was due through Bangkok in the middle of the night, with plenty of cargo
space available, so it picked up all the surplus baggage. Sure enough
it was all sitting waiting in the arrival terminal at Sydney when we
got there. Magic!
The Royal departure was on 17th August 1962 and you never saw a tarmac
like it! Troops on parade, cannons firing, tapestry clad elephants swaying
along, parasols and brightly coloured umbrellas everywhere, and monks
in saffron robes by the dozens. It is essential that a departure should
be right on schedule so that all the ceremonial requirements are carried
out with no dignitaries standing around waiting, and we had of course
organised a precision departure schedule so we were ready.
That means that counting back from "off chocks", you have a deadline
for every function to be completed - fuelling, maintenance, loading,
cleaning, even floral arrangements, passenger boarding etc etc, up to
doors closed. You cannot of course close the doors until Their Majesties
are on board, and that's where your problems start as their farewells
sometimes drag on a bit. You then have to rearrange your flight to arrive
on chocks exactly on schedule at the other end so that all the arrival
ceremonies and dignitaries are not standing around waiting. It is a
matter of professional pride to arrive on chocks exactly on schedule
irrespective of your departure problems, and I'm very happy to say we
achieved this on all arrivals with the exception of one, of which more
about later. On this first departure from Bangkok, I introduced all
the crew to His Majesty on the red carpet on the tarmac leading to the
main entry door, after which we raced up the forward steps so that cabin
crew could meet and escort him and we tech crew could fire things up.
There's a photograph of the introduction in my book.
For diplomatic reasons the King would not overfly Singapore, so we operated
Bangkok - Singapore - Darwin - Sydney - Wellington in typical late monsoon
weather. That tour of duty was of course too long for me so I had positioned
a crew under the command of Captain Bert Smithwell to Darwin and they
took over from there. I personally stayed on board to Sydney, so I was
home on 17th August.
The internal tour of New Zealand around that country and back to Wellington
was the responsibility of the New Zealanders, so I passengered there
a week later, took over Command again on the 24th August, and operated
the Royal Flight Wellington - Christchurch in 55mins, arriving exactly
on schedule. Two days later (26th) I flew from Christchurch to our Capital
Canberra in 4hrs 35mins to commence the Australian tour, with a big
tarmac reception both military and civil for the Royal arrival. I'm
sure they were as pleased as I was when we rolled in right on schedule.
I then received an official invitation from the Governor of Victoria
Lord Brooks and his Lady to "Captain and Mrs J. Ross", to attend an
official reception for Their Majesties at Government House Yarralumla
the next evening. The Governor General at that time was Lord de L'isle,
but due to his wife's illness he had delegated his duties to Brooks.
So I sent the aircraft to Sydney under the command of my Deputy Captain
John Schlink for some necessary maintenance, and rang Bea to say "Fly
to Canberra, and can you please bring my dinner suit and black tie?".
Bea, as always coped, and we had a very enjoyable supper and evening
with all the dignitaries. At one point during the evening we were chatting
to a tall young chap who introduced himself as Malcolm Fraser. He became
Prime Minister many years later.
On 29th August we departed Canberra for Sydney to start the round Australia
tour, and were 6 mins late off chocks due to extended farewells by the
King. Now, on a long sector that can easily be made up, but we were
only going to Sydney. So I cut all the corners, pushed along at close
to vne, and yes you guessed it - arrived on schedule! We did Canberra
- Sydney in 35mins chock to chock, and even allowing for having priority
in take off and landing, that is pretty good going. The airborne time
was 27 mins, and is probably still a record.
Well Sydney was my home town so I had one clear day there, (I didn't
go out to my office but I did use the phone a bit!), then on the 31st
August I took the flight to Brisbane, to Melbourne on 2nd September,
then to Hobart on the 5th. In those days Hobart airport was quite small
and marginal for an aircraft the size of Electra, so I had visited the
place on TAA some time previously to have a look-see. Anyway, all went
well, and I had the honour of landing the largest aircraft in there
up to that time. As a matter of interest I stayed in the lovely old
Wrest Point Hotel, which was later demolished to build the present Casino.
I also was interviewed on Hobart TV, but had to be a bit guarded in
what I said about the Royal Tour or the Family. However I was full of
praise for Hobart itself as I genuinely liked the place, and the local
Manager told me a contract would be in the mail from Hollywood, Ha Ha!
By this time you will have worked out that the tour was designed to
cover all State Capitals, and just to show that you are right, we took
off for Adelaide on the 7th September. You will also remember the baggage
problem which first surfaced at Bangkok and was getting worse the farther
we went, so by this time I had organised our Qantas DC3 to follow me
around as a freight carrier. Dave Graham who was Australian Director
General of Civil Aviation was now a passenger on board my aircraft,
and he offered me a DCA aircraft as well which of course I accepted,
so I now had a 3 aircraft fleet under my control - all with vastly different
cruising speeds and freight capacities. Still, with careful scheduling
and pre-departure baggage deadlines, it all worked out fine, and all
my passengers' baggage was always waiting for them on arrival at each
point.
I had been to Adelaide airport quite a few times, but never stayed there,
and I must say it is a beautiful city with broad streets and plenty
of parks. The Garden City.
The King wanted to visit Woomera and Evetts Field whilst Queen Sirikit
stayed in town, so off we went on the 9th September to Woomera. Very
interesting. We viewed the atomic bomb site from a respectful distance,
and visited the site of the British Blue Streak rocket project with
its big launching tower complete with slippery-dip emergency escape
and huge blast pit lined with firebrick. In case you are wondering,
I didn't try the slippery-dip, but just admired it.
Evetts Field was a "secret" RAAF field, used for Jindivik pilotless
aircraft experimental flying, the radio controlled aircraft being "flown"
by ground pilots located at the end of the runway, which by necessity
was dead flat and smooth like a billiard table. First of all, the RAAF
would not release any airfield information to me, not even its location!
However when it was realised that we were actually going there, they
gave me the field co-ordinates and a couple of local frequencies so
I could find the place. They were also very concerned about an aircraft
the size and weight of the Electra landing and manoeuvering there on
their beaut runway, so I'm glad to say I put the 60 odd tons down nice
and smoothly. Back to Adelaide later the same day to complete a good
day's work, although it totalled only 2hrs 35mins flying time.
Next day, the 10th, off to Perth on the last leg of the Australian tour,
arriving again right on schedule in 4hrs 35mins. We were due out again
next evening for the final official ceremonial departure from Australia
and I made the usual preparations, but now came the crunch. I got a
call at my hotel from the station engineer to tell me that the aircraft
was "unserviceable, and would be for some hours". Wow!
I immediately called the King's hotel and instructed them to hold the
King there until I could sort things out. This was done in the nick
of time. It was too late to stop the Governor as he was on his way,
and the guns, troops, etc, were already out there to receive and ceremonially
depart the King, so I scooted out myself to assess the situation.
There I found a very upset station engineer who reported that he had
removed the aircraft batteries and charged them, although there really
was no requirement to do so - he was just making sure. I should say
here that the electrical system on the Electra was critical to the operation
of many systems, and generated enough AC power to supply a town of approx
6000 people.
Well, when the batteries were reinstalled, they were wrongly connected
in reverse polarity, or in other words positive to negative, so when
he applied AC ground power to the aircraft all hell broke loose. We
did of course carry lots of in-flight spares and he was able to rectify
everything except the control unit of the engine fire detector systems,
and there was no way I would depart in that condition. He had alerted
Sydney and had spares on the way both by TAA and Ansett, and he also
hoped RAAF aircraft from Richmond and Adelaide could help, but the minimum
delay looked like about 10 hours. I therefore gave the order for everyone
to stand down, and said the new departure time would be notified as
soon as possible. I should also say now that the station engineer was
posted to Cocos Island for 2 years.
The King's advisers were all about and indicated they would want to
be part of any re-scheduling, so I invited them to meet with me. I then
said that in view of all the operational circumstances I had decided
the minimum delay would be 12 hours.
They were an unusual lot of advisers plus soothsayers, numbers men and
colours men (literally), and they jabbered away between themselves trying
to sort out the most propitious time for departure. They then indicated
that although the numbers and colours were more favourable for a 12
hour delay, the King could not possibly arrive and go through the streets
of Bangkok as the sun was setting, or in the dark (He is a sun-god).
He could certainly travel the streets as the sun was rising or risen,
so a longer delay would be necessary. It was then obvious to me we should
put the whole exercise back by 24 hours, and this I did.
So next day, the 12th September 62, we had the big ceremonial send-off,
and departed Perth for Singapore exactly 24 hours late. Off schedule
for the first time.
The King was gracious enough to present me with a silver box engraved
in Thai filagree, and topped with his personal Royal Cipher, and there
is a photo of this presentation in my book. I am trying not to look
down on him, so I look like a praying mantis.
We did the first sector in 7hrs 20mins night, transitted Singapore,
then flew in cloud and rain all the way to Bangkok in 2hrs 50mins, arriving
after dawn exactly on schedule but 24 hours late on 13th September 62.
The tarmac was wet and rainy but again a mass of people, umbrellas,
and colour as the King disembarked.
So I'm sitting there feeling very pleased with myself, when I noticed
the King was standing on the tarmac, shaded by his inevitable umbrella
obviously waiting for some one, although there was nothing in the agreed
protocol about this. The penny then dropped that he was waiting to say
goodbye, but rather than take all the credit I rounded up the tech crew
and fronted them up to him. Still, I got a kind of special handshake
and smile, and I like to think even today that he was a sort of friend.
One last point about this tour. I was given the King's Royal Standard
to be flown whenever the King was on board. It would of course get a
bit tattered at 250 knots, so I would mount it outside my sliding window
as soon as he boarded, remove it before takeoff, then fly it again after
landing and before taxying in. Well, as soon as the King had disembarked
at Bangkok I removed it as usual, but strange to say it fell into my
briefcase, and now lives in our dining room sideboard along with the
silver box presented to me by the King.
Next day (14th) I ferried the aircraft back to Sydney via Darwin in
5hrs 30mins day and 8hrs 10mins night, feeling that a very demanding
month of my life had been successfully concluded. We landed before dawn
on the 15th, and I went home and relaxed.
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