RAAF Roulettes by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

---------- Post added 02-11-19 at 05:45 PM ----------


Roulette 4-ship by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

[PJ1]

They are a great aircraft and look like they would be fun to fly. Some years ago I heard a jet turbine whine way out the bush here and suddenly two of those popped up over the ridge just behind our house, turned east and headed away up the valley. They just had normal markings and were flying very low. I suspect it was the chief of the Air Force and his offsider heading to Amberley and having some fun on the way. It is the only time I have seen them here. But we get FA18s on almost a daily basis, and 707 tankers and the C5 heavy lift aircraft occasionally. Even saw a Growler once or twice. We are in a training area and the mountain next door seems to be a navigation reference.

[RobG]

They are a great aircraft and look like they would be fun to fly. Some years ago I heard a jet turbine whine way out the bush here and suddenly two of those popped up over the ridge just behind our house, turned east and headed away up the valley. They just had normal markings and were flying very low. I suspect it was the chief of the Air Force and his offsider heading to Amberley and having some fun on the way. It is the only time I have seen them here. But we get FA18s on almost a daily basis, and 707 tankers and the C5 heavy lift aircraft occasionally. Even saw a Growler once or twice. We are in a training area and the mountain next door seems to be a navigation reference.

Are you sure that they're 707 and C-5? Our tankers are the KC-30A which have two engines not four - but you could be seeing American KC-135 tankers which are similar to the 707 (they predate the 707 but are essentially the same). The RAAF heavy lifters are the C-17. I know that the US still has C-5 but I've only seen them operating the C-17 here. When you mentioned a mountain, I was thinking of Flinders Peak, but you seem to be out near Warwick.
The closest thing to a Galaxy I've seen in the air was the Starlifter, although I walked through a Galaxy as a static display in Cleveland, Ohio (not the one in Brisbane).

[PJ1]

Are you sure that they're 707 and C-5?

I apologise for my very sloppy post. I presumed what I saw was the 707 variety (refueling a Hornet). It certainly had four engines. May have been a KC-135. There were joint exercises on at the time so it may not have been a RAAF aircraft. Incidentally, my cousin's son was Squadron Leader on the tankers (now flying for QANTAS) and it was my cousin who referred to him as flying the 707 tankers so I just "assumed"!

I meant the C-17 heavy lifter. They are amazing. Very, very quiet. They fly very low (probably about 300ft) and you can clearly see the pilots if you hear them in time and they come over the top of you. But you never really hear them unless they are right on top, so I usually only see them by accident.

Mount Bodumba is on the property next door. It is a bit over 600m. The Blackhawks do some night training (probably with SAS) on it sometimes. The Hornets are mostly high up. Lately they seem to have been in pairs practising missile drills - one drops about six magnesium flares and a second one dives down through the pattern on the tail of the first. Occasionally they come over lower, even at tree top height flying the creek (it often seems to happen just before they do the Riverfire thing up the Brisbane River). I saw one do a missile line up on the house just down the road one day - diving down at a fairly shallow angle and pulling up about 200m out. It would have rattled the windows!

[RobG]

I apologise for my very sloppy post. I presumed what I saw was the 707 variety (refueling a Hornet). It certainly had four engines. May have been a KC-135. There were joint exercises on at the time so it may not have been a RAAF aircraft. Incidentally, my cousin's son was Squadron Leader on the tankers (now flying for QANTAS) and it was my cousin who referred to him as flying the 707 tankers so I just "assumed"!

The RAAF did fly ex-Qantas 707 aircraft converted to tankers (effectively KC135) prior to the delivery of the A330 based KC30A. A former Qantas 707 was bought by John Travolta who has donated it to HARS. It might be flown to Wollongong to join the 747-400 in the museum collection. That 707 was sold by Qantas in 1968 so never flew in the RAAF. I'm curious which one I flew on when I was six.

[PJ1]

I'm curious which one I flew on when I was six.

When I was six I was lucky enough to be shown the cockpit of a Fokker Friendship which was flying to Port Moresby. We weren't flying. It was at Eagle Farm and the pilot took my brother and I out to show it to us (something that our grandfather arranged somehow). I don't think I ever flew on a 707. For domestic travel I can count Fokkers and Viscounts, and then 727s and DC10s back in the day. It was 747s when we went to the US in 1984.

[Kaladran]

Good job, I've always had trouble getting good shots of planes in motion.