Flightpath - May 2018

FLIGHTPATH|55

flownupfromRichmond,NSW,withLeading
AircraftmanSherwoodaboardasanexchange
crewman, O’Donnell going into Caulfield Re-
patriation Hospital, Victoria, on his return. On
26NovembertheSouthamptonwasrepaired
withtheawaitedpartsand,arrivinginDar-
win, recommenced the survey flight.
Anevenmoreunusualtaskoccurredon2
December, when the Southampton was be-
deckedwithblackstreamersanddroppedthe
ashesofMrG.A.HobleroverDarwin.Hobler
was a former Member of the North Australian
Commission,andshortlybeforehediedin
Sydney had requested to be buried in Darwin.
Thesurveyflightthencontinuedthrough
Wyndham,WA,DrysdaleRiver,Derby,
Broome,PortHedland,Carnarvon,andGer-
aldton, where the aircraft was again damaged
ontakeoff.Theaircraftwasbeachedandca-
reened with hull and engine repairs carried
outwhileHempeltravelledtoPerthtopickup
pre-positioned spares. After nearly a month,
the Southampton left Geraldton on 18 Janu-
ary 1936, travelling onward to Perth, Albany,
Israelite Bay, then traversed the Great Aus-
tralianBighttoMuratBayatCeduna,SA,
where the open sea crossing again concerned
thecrew,asitposedagreaterriskcompared
totheirnormalcoastingroutes.On3Febru-
ary they arrived in Port Lincoln, travelling
onward to Port Adelaide and thence to Point
Cookon8February,butwerepreventedfrom
landingback‘home’asthewatersweretoo
rough, so diverted to Williamstown, finally
arriving in triumph back at Point Cook the
following day after seven long months.
After the aircraft was thoroughly over-
hauled,asecondstagesurveyuptoDarwin
via Sydney, Brisbane, Bowen and Karumba
wasundertakenuneventfullyinlessthana
month,between30April1936and28May.
UnsurprisinglytheSouthamptonwasavery
tiredairframebythispointanditafterwards
quietly vanished from official records.
TheSouthamptonA11-2wasrefurbished
in late 1935, and flew again after several
yearsofstorageon22September1938,un-
dertakingacoupleofparachuteflights,in-
cludingCorporalD.GrahamandLeading
AircraftmanR.E.BatyoftheRNZAF.Its
last recorded operation was to investigate
thefatalcrashsiteofanAnsoninPortPhil-
ipBayinMay1939,afterwhichit,tooqui-
etly disappeared from the record.
Sir Richard Kingsland, AO, CBE, DFC,
flewthebigseaplanesatPointCook.Here-
called: “We had two Southamptons, and they
were massive wooden beasts. They were
made of mahogany. And Australia needed a
decent sized flying boat, and Britain very
kindly,havingfoundthatthesecouldbe
builtinmetal,gaveustheirtwowoodenones
...-buttheywerevery,veryslow.”
“SquadronLeaderHempel.‘UncleHempel’
hewasknownas,wasveryold-hemusthave
beenforty!Hewasveryfondofwoodworkso
whenonecrasheditwascannibalisedto
makefurnitureforhimtothenhandoutto
his friends. Beautiful mahogany furniture.”

With thanks and credit to the RAAF Mu-
seum archive, and ADF Serials website.

Southampton Parachutists

The irst ‘pull of’ Southampton jumps were made by Squadron Leader Paddy Hefernan

(whoranthecourses)andFlightLieutenantDonCarroll,whohadalsoundertaken

parachutetrainingintheUK.Ofhis24August1932drop,Hefernanrecalled:“Weworked

ourwayalongthewing,throughthebracingwirestotheouterstrut.Herewestoodwith

ourbackstothewayweweregoingandleantagainstthestrutuntilwereachedjumping

height.Ithinkthatthistimewastheworstpartofthetrip,becauseduringthetake-ofyou

could feel every movement of the wings and you felt sure that they were going to fall of ...

As we got over the southern boundary we got the signal to ‘Go’ ... so we pulled our

respective ripcords and the next thing we knew was that we were yanked of the platform

and were loating in space.”

The RAAF used ‘pull of’ platforms on the Southampton’s outer struts for parachute training. Despite some

claims otherwise, the two volunteers were carefully stood on the platforms before take of.[Via Maurice Austin]

All RAAF Museum Archive