|
"JC"
(as he is affectionately known) was born
John Kenneth Clayton in Mildura (Victoria) at 0700 hrs on
25/10/30.
He
still remembers vividly at the age of five going to an air
pageant at the old Mildura Aerodrome and seeing Sir Charles
Kingsford-Smith and several other pilots conducting joy
flights in the Southern Cross, the Southern Cross Junior and
one other airplane (he doesn't remember its name but it was
single engine).
He
does however remember standing close to Kingsford-Smith. His
uncle went for a flight in the Southern Cross that day and it
was then that John became fascinated with flying. Somebody
bought him an ice cream from the large marquee erected for the
occasion. The following day the three aircraft flew over his
house in formation heading in the direction of what he thinks
would have been Adelaide. While still living in Mildura, he
also watched with great excitement for the Ansett Lockheed
Electra (Lockheed 10) that flew from Sydney to Adelaide via
Mildura.
In 1937 John's family moved to Essendon (Melbourne) where he
saw what was possibly one of the first flights of Australian
National Airways Douglas DC3 in Australia (VH-UZK "Kurana"),
and in 1945 he witnessed the arrival of the first DC4
Skymaster (VH-ANA "Amana").
Nearly
every Sunday he rode his bike to Essendon Aerodrome (Bulla
Road) and watched every aircraft take off and landing on the
then all-over grassed field.
On
01/08/46 (about the same time as TAA flew their
first service) John had his first flying lesson (in a DH 82A
Tiger Moth at Essendon). While his Dad was unaware of John's
flying lessons (he had witnessed a fatal crash in India and was
not told of John's flying until after John had received hisCPL),
John's mum had financed most of his flying (at 3 pounds an hour).
According to the Department Of Civil Aviation the records show
John's age as 17 when he started flying! (John thinks it still
stands today that he was 2 years older than he really was).
The aircraft he flew in the late 40's were DH 82A, DH60G,
Miles Whitney Straight, Ryan STM, Avro Cadet, Wackett Trainer,
Stinson Voyager, Portafield, DHC Chipmunk and various Auster
models. In 1949 he was in the first civil batch of pilots to
be accepted into Australian National Airways prior to this,
war time pilots only were accepted). As a point of interest
ANA, at its peak, operated 36 DC3's, 10 DC4's, 2 DC6's, 6
DC6B's and 3 Bristol Freighters.
John's flying years with ANA included endorsements on DC3, DC4
and Bristol Freighters. This time was cut short with a medical
problem he had at the time. He was offered a position in ANA
operations and held that for many years. ANA was taken over by
Ansett and the airline industry took off. John was then
transferred to Port Moresby and served in many places
including Lae and Mount Hagen. John returned to Port Moresby
as Airport Manager and then, after nine years in Papua New
Guinea, he was offered the position of Ansett Mount Isa
Manager. The next step in John's airline career was in
Brisbane as QLD Sales & Marketing Manager.
John's
glider flying started in Mount Isa in 1971 and the following
year he went to Kingaroy to attend an instructor course where
he met Gus Mauch. While in the Isa, John became Club President
and, because of the isolation and remoteness of the area, he
did most of his early cross country training and flying with
Maurie Bradney at Waikerie. In 1975 John came to Brisbane and,
having met Gus, he joined the SDASC at Warwick.
John
was later involved in establishing gliding at Moura and
Caboolture and to a lesser extent at Casino. He has been
awarded Life Membership at both the SDASC (Warwick) and
Caboolture Gliding Clubs.
He became CFI at Warwick and served in that position for some
6/7 years and also became Assistant RTO Ops (Level 3) in 1985
and later, in 1991, he was appointed to the rank of RTO Ops
Queensland. He has served five years as a councilor at the
GFA, AGM/ACM and other advisory positions within the QSA (now
Gliding Queensland).
"JC"
has been a relief instructor
at Mangalore Gliding Club (Victoria) for some years during
the months of January and February.
John's
mother first flew with him in a glider at her age of 76 and
last flew with him at the age of 92 (she lived through to
97 years of age).
As
far as power flying is concerned, John's records show that he
has been either been in command, or flown at the controls of,
or flown as passenger in all the Douglas Passenger aircraft
(except the DC1) from the DC2, DC3, DC4, DC5, DC6, DC6B, DC7,
DC8, DC9 and DC10.
John
is presently compiling some general information on the history
of Australian National Airways in the years between 1946 and
1956. He has witnessed many achievements and tragedies over
the years, however he still enjoys his glider and power flying
immensely and says that he will continue to fly as long as his
arms are strong and flappable. More important to John however
is the life-time of friends that he has met and who have
supported him over almost seven decades and comments that this
"has been indeed extraordinary to say the least".
In 2004 he was
honoured by his gliding fraternity peers as the recipient of
the Gliding Federation of Australia's Hoinville Award for outstanding services in the
field of Operations.
John was a founding
member of the Caboolture Gliding Club (and of its predecessor
the Brisbane Valley Gliding Club) and has been a great mentor
to generations of student pilots, pilots and instructors at
Caboolture Airfield. He was the GFA's RTO-Operations for the
Queensland Region for 14 years and has been an active Level 3 Instructor for
almost 30 years.
In
his own words, John is ... "a very proud father of a very
beautiful and loving daughter and the grand father of a very,
very delightful grand daughter".
|
