The first aircraft used by the Centre was a Cessna 172 (VH-GCM) owned by Gippsland Air Charter and based on an agricultural airstrip at Labertouche.    Horrie Austin, Graham Austin and Gordon Mills, the principals of Gippsland Air Charter, were supportive of the Centre and the aircraft was available at all times.  Other aircraft were hired for special events. 

As early as December 1968 a Pilatus Porter 300 was used for two months each year when it was back in Australia from the Antarctic where it worked every year for the Australian Antarctic Expedition.   Most jumps from the Pilatus were made from 17,000 ft with flight times of 15 to 20 minutes, wheels off to wheels on.

In February 1970, Claude and Jim Cox purchased Cessna 180 (VH-BVL) and had it fitted out for jump operations.  The interior was lined with thick sheet aluminium with recessed strong points, modified flooring and an engineer designed alloy step for easy exits.   The aircraft arrived on a Friday when Claude was leaving for New Zealand to act as Chief Judge of the NZ National Championships.  On the Saturday, Labertouche experienced squalls and high winds and on Sunday after flying 10 loads the weather turned bad again and most of the jumpers opted to head for the bar of the Longwarry hotel.   

A few stalwarts waited looking for weather and an hour before last light the wind dropped and the clouds lifted.   A load of jumpers boarded the plane and jumped from the best height they could get.   The aircraft descended  and on touchdown the pilot decided to go around and applied full power.   Unfortunately, he had the trim wound back for landing and when he applied full power, the power surge pushed the joystick back into his lap and the aircraft climbed so steeply that it stalled at an altitude too low to recover.   Tragically, the pilot Geoff Lewis was killed and the aircraft written off.

Claude and Jim immediately purchased another Cessna 180 (VH-AVV) and this aircraft came into service with the Centre on the 11th of April 1970 until it too was written off when it was ground looped on the 8th of March 1971

Jim Cox decided that two written off aircraft were enough and so Claude, Steve Filak and Richard Molony went into partnership to purchase a Cessna 185 (VH-AGF).

Roy Taylor, the Centre's senior pilot at the time went to Perth, Western Australia to ferry the aircraft to Labertouche.   Over the Nullarbor Plains the mixture control malfunctioned and melted a hole in the top of one of the pistons.   Molten metal blocked an oil line and a connecting rod broke and punched a hole in the side of the crankcase.   Roy made a dead stick landing on a dry swamp bed.   

Steve and Richard accompanied Claude in his Holden panel van to the site where they removed the engine, took it to Perth, bought a spare engine from the company that had sold them the aircraft and had a local aviation engineering company rebuild the replacement engine using parts from the two engines.   They then took the engine back to the site of the mishap and had it installed in the plane, then it was flown to Adelaide to be inspected and signed out.  

From this misadventure, AGF got the nickname "The Swampfox" which was soon shortened by the jumpers to "Swampy".

Swampy went into service at the Centre 7th August 1971.  It was a very efficient aircraft for a small operation but the Centre was hiring other aircraft to supplement what was basically a student jumpship.     Swampy gave sterling service to the Centre and the rebuilt engine seemed to never want to quit. It had several extensions to its engine life before the next major overhaul.  

On the 26th of December 1972 Swampy was ground looped and was out of service until the 28th of March 1973.   

On the 6th of February 1977, Swampy was badly damaged again when a pilot left the oil filler cap off before flying a load and the windscreen became opaque and prevented him from gauging his approach, consequently in landing he overshot the strip dropping the wheels into a ditch and Swampy nosed over coming to rest upside down.  The insurance company wrote the aircraft.  Claude, Steve and Richard decided to buy the wreck and rebuilt it.

Swampy finally departed when  Richard wanted to sail his yacht "Nikki" around the world and Steve was getting married and so Swampy was sold to Rod Wilson and Tony Duckworth in September 1978.   Tony was one of the pilots that flew it at Labertouche.

Claude and Bruce Towers purchased the De Havilland Drover (VH-ADN).   It was purchased on the basis that the aircraft would be given a major overhaul and be airworthy on handover in July 1972.  The aircraft was airworthy but they had not been told that the main spar had only 100 hours life remaining.    The agent wanted another £12,000 ($24,000) to fit a new spar but Bruce was able to get the spar fitted by De Havilland in Sydney for £7,000 ($14,000).  

The Drover had a large fuselage and could carry 10 jumpers with room to spare but the climb rate was slow.   The aircraft was under-utilised and in 197? when De Havilland offered to buy it to use as a museum piece, Claude wanted to sell but Bruce saw it as an historic Australian aircraft and wanted to keep it (he had become emotionally attached to it).    Bruce took over Claude's share and the aircraft sat at Labertouche until 198? when it miraculously appeared on the Latrobe Valley aerodrome and ?? Brown rebuilt it and it is still flying at the time of this printing.

In December 1972, Bruce Towers' Piper Navajo (VH-EYF) became a regular backup aircraft at the Centre.  It continued to visit regularly as a jumpship until ? 1974.

On the 5th of January, 1974, Jim Czerwinski turned Swampy at the end of its landing roll before the tail had settled and the aircraft pitched forward onto its nose putting a slight bend in the prop.

In November 1977, Claude and Peter Ellery purchased a turbocharged Cessna 207 (VH-DMS).     Because most of the pilots had only the required ten hours in command when they started flying jumpers, they were naturally cautious and flew the aircraft with conservative power settings, resulting in slow sortie turn around times.    

The aircraft had a blue colour scheme and after the first day of operations, Rod Wilson remarking on the slow climb rate, said to Claude "It's a bloody blue goose".   While Claude was away, Tony Duckworth painted a shark's mouth on the front of the aircraft and sign-wrote the name "Blue Goose" on the side.    Claude saw it as a positive rather than a negative and so the artwork stayed on.

The Blue Goose was a great addition to the Centre's capabilities to keep up with jumper demand for bigger and better things and played its part until Claude's partner in the aircraft shot through and was not seen again until 1981.  DMS developed expensive engine problems and was mothballed in a lean-to hanger and there it sat unused for a number of years.    It was sold to John Dawson who completely overhauled and refurbished it and it was last seen parked at Moorabbin Airport in 2001.

Cecil Long approached Claude with a view to placing his Cessna 205 VH-RPL at Labertouche as a regular jumpship.   RLP and 70 plus year old Cess Long became a fixture and were used as a regular accessory to the Golden Eagles Display Team.

A group of jumpers formed a partnership and purchased Cessna 205 VH-FXK.   FXK was based on the dropzone and as time went on, Claude bought out each of the partners until he became the owner.   FXK was the only aircraft that transitioned from Labertouche to Pakenham when the Centre lost its arrangement with the Alcorn family's estate.

As can be seen by the list of jumpships shown below (and it is far from a complete list), the management of the Centre was keen to provide whatever areodyne jumpers would like to jump from.   At least two gliders were used to take jumpers to height and on one occasion a hot air balloon was used.

AIRCRAFT BASED AT THE CENTRE

AIRCRAFT USED ON A CASUAL BASIS AT THE CENTRE

Aircraft Picture Gallery

Aircraft domiciled at Labertouche

 

The Centre's First Cessna 180  - VH-BVL

 

The Centre's First Cessna 185  -  VH AGF

 

De Havilland Drover  -  VH-ADN

 

The Blue Goose at a display location - Northern Victoria

Cessna 205  -  VH FXK

FXK with a later colour scheme

Aircraft brought in to supplement the above

 

Cessna 180  -  VH DEK

 

Piper Navajo  -  VH EYF

 

Dornier  -  VH SHC

 

Andy Harris' Britten Norman Islander