Photo's Of A3-60 And 80

[darren.crick]

G'day all,

Ian Odgers sent me these two images for use in our gallery, he believes they were taken in 1978/79 at Williamtown. I note from our Gallery Rod has one of A3-60 at Butterworth in 1978.

Ian would like to know the Sqn markings and any other detail from the images anyone can help with, he believes from memory one was the unit commanders aircraft.

Attached Image

[darren.crick]

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Attached Image

[Demon50]

I also have a photo of A3-80 with the same tail markings and from memory the caption said they were either the badge of RAAF Williamtown or the personal markings of the OC RAAF Williamtown.

[Rod Farquhar]

A3-60 has the Grumpy Monkey (Chinese Lion) emblem of 77Sqn, Definitely Williamtown, from the background I would guess earlier than 78/79, could be wrong there.

A3-80 has the Williamtown base markings, the OC's marking was a falcon in a round circle and the dart was two blue one red, late 70s
Rod.

[Rod Farquhar]

Just goes to show you shouldn't rely on your memory, this extra information from the excellent Mirage book by Darren Mottram/Paul Mason.
The Grumpy Monkey is in fact a Korean Lion, this version was first used by 77 Sqn in 1973 and remained much the same for the duration.

The first OC Williamtown's a/c was A3-40 with the red/pale blue dart and falcon in circle 1976, in 1977 it returned to 2OCU colours.
Next was A3-80 as per the pic in 1981, in Sept 81 it crashed.
Finally came A3-78 with basically the same markings as 80.
Rod. :D

[darren.crick]

Perhaps it was the OC's aircraft at the time but hadnt yet had the logo overpainted...

anyway, thanks guys I'll pass that back...

[a45521]

A3-40 wore the personal markings of the OC Williamtown at the time who was known as Big Jim, but his full name escapes me at the moment. One clue though is that when he retired he became the director of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. A3-80 wore the emblem of RAAF Williamtown (Base Squadron Williamtown?) and was the "personal" mount of the then OCWLM, Air Commodore Bill Simmonds. Big Jim was a former CO of 75Sqn so that may be another clue to his name. When I get home from work I shall check my records and try to get his name. I was stationed at 481 Sqn in 1974 when Jim became OC and I will never forget the OCs parades every tuesday until we got it right. I joined the RAAF to fix aeroplanes not wear out shoe leather.

A45521

[Demon50]

Jim Fleming ?

[a45521]

Jim Fleming, That's him, Big Jim Fleming. Except for the extra OCs parades he wasn't a bad sort of bloke.

[gordon]

Ah James Hilary Fleming ex Kittyhawk pilot. He must have been a good bloke.

He flew Kittyhawks with 76 Sqn as a F/Sgt during WW2 (in 1945) and later joined the wonderful 78 Sqn as a W/O. ;) There he flew Mustangs in 1947 as preparation for joining 77 Sqn OS. He was involved in the early stages of the Korean war flying Mustangs and was awarded a DFC(US), an Air Medal(US) but all he got from us was a MID.

He was CO of 75 Sqn (as a F/L) Aug 1956 till Mar 1957 and again between Apr 1966 and May 1968 (as a W/C) and was also CO of 76 Sqn from Jul 1961 till Jan 1962 (then a S/L). He eventually left the RAAF as an AVM in 1982.

Does anyone know if he is still around. If so he would have turned 81 last month. So I expect he could still be around, he was a couple of years ago.

What else can u tell me about him a45521?

Gordon

[Rod Farquhar]

I think he was the OC of IADS at Butterworth when I was there in 77/78/79
Rod.