Hi Nev,
My name is Tim Mullaney and I live in Stroud NSW.
I moved from Sydney in 1978 at age 13 with my family to a farm at Allworth Park NSW ( located Stroud side of the Allworth township) , my father was a Qantas Pilot so I had been brought up with some knowledge and interest in aeroplanes , my Father would travel from Williamtown to Sydney as required for work and finished his career off as a Qantas 747 Captain , he unfortunately lost his pilots licence through late onset diabetes when he became insulin dependent, I also had some flying lessons at age 20.
On the night of the storm the plane went missing my Mother and I were inside our house watching television and heard a small plane travelling very low and it had some issues with the noise it was making like engine problems or because of the effect of the storm, we went outside the house to see if we could see anything but could not, we could clearly hear it was travelling south and it sounded like it was heading over property on the other side of the Bucketts Way from where we were (properties up Gunns Gully Road).
The next day we heard there was a plane that went missing in the storm and we phoned someone to report it at the time but I can not remember wether it was Williamtown airport or who ?? everyone including the media reports seemed sure it went missing at Barrington tops.
I spoke to a friend of mine Rob Murray who lived just down the road a few kilometers next to the deep creek bridge on the Bucketts Way and they heard the plane in trouble too, Rob and I went searching on horses up Gunns Gully road and travelled south through properties to Ebsworth road, we obvioulsy did not find anything but also realised that if a plane went into a lantana , scrub filled gully the wings could snap off and the fuselage could slide in underneath.
It has always played on my mind and when I think about it I can still hear it in my mind, particularly when it is in the news.
It was in the news again a week or so ago saying about the documented search area.
Today on the way home from work I pulled over outside the Murrays farm to answer my mobile and then make a couple of calls, a vehicle pulled in and I asked if he was Rob as I had not seen him for probably 20 years and he said yes, we spoke for a while and I asked him if he remembered looking for the aeroplane with me all those years ago and he did not, but he went onto say he and his family remembered it and that they were only speaking about it the other night, his father John told him he had spoken to other property owners over the years who had also heard the plane in trouble so he apparently believes the line of travel could have taken the plane to the Williams River as he feels it would have been found on the mor open properties to the south ( I guess a river which for a pilot if he could see it via lightning flashes etc would have seemed like a good option at the time).
The river would have seen many floods over the years as well so it may not not be of much help.
I am happy to speak to you about it if you like ( we could talk over the phone and both look at the google satellite map of the area to assist).
I know this is probably a curved ball for you to get your head around too but I see on the internet you are looking for more information and this may help.
Yours sincerely
Friday, September 07, 2012
Tim Mullaney
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9 comments:
Hi Tim,
I've become quite active in the search for the MDX and I recommend you try to get hold of a copy of the book written on the subject by Don Readford and Gary Donovan. Newcastle Library has it but I'm not sure about regional libraries. The last radar 'paint' from the RAAF Williamtown NDB put the aircraft over the Gloucester Tops area and it appears it was no further south than Berrico before it did a counter clockwise loop around the Barrington Tops and later crashed. I am conducting my next search in Nov. Send me an email if you are interested in participating. motorvated@bigpond.com
Bernie Nebenfuhr
Tim, in the mid 1970s, I was about the same age as you at the time when we were driving very early in the morning South along the Buckets Way near Allworth when we saw a dog that looked like a whippet but with stripes on its rump crossing the road in front of our car (the dog was heading West). My mother was driving and recollects that its gait was unusual. This is irrelevant to the crash of the plane carrying my schoolfriends father (which you may have seen that night), but I only mention this in terms of my having seen something mysterious (resembling a Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger)) near Allworth, in the same area where you saw/heard a mysterious plane a few years later. However I do not know where the plane could have crashed and not been found if it was in that area, unless it went into the river and was submerged. Just because we might never find the dog that I saw, I hope that it is not an omen that we will never find the plane in which my school classmates father died.
Whilst at Uni I studied the maps around the Allworth area. From memory I think there was some reference to iron to the west side of the bucketts way before the Allworth turn. I see other blogs make a reference to an iron mine possibly influencing a compass to swing somewhat. Perhaps Wallaroo State Forest might not be out of the question??
There seems to be vital information missing . That scrawl called a radar reading is not worth looking at . I had someone in the flightpath of the aircraft that night whom saw ,nor heard anyting .It would have screamed over his head if it cleared Berrico Trig . Meaning the plane did not get to where people think .
re Bernie..Ive listened to the recordings of the flight controllers,pilots in all there forms,meaning most versions and read Dons work.Singleton had (A) plane on radar 46nm nth on the sandon track apparently sth bound.In that area at the time is a raaf tandom training flight with the pilot listening in to the transmissions,ground control requests squaks from VH-MDX to identify which plane IS in fact MDX.I cannot find any evidence in the transcripts that any of the ground controllers were successful in identifying which plane was in fact MDX.What if the plane on the sandon track was the raaf training flight? Fruit for thought indeed.After having problems with his plain and failing to get clearance from willy into raaf air space the pilot of MDX states that he is going to continue his planed flight path.He was seen from stratfort.So he departs craven SW bound for singleton into a 60-70knot WSW wind,not a lot of headway to be made there.He attempts to climb,to much ice now and sadly the plane stalls.Now I know I need to use up some time to make this fit,so here goes.Don has the plane circling at big ben,it stays there longer than he thinks awaiting raaf clearance,fails to get clearance, departs the area SW into a head wind slowing it to a crawl it ices up and stalls. This flight path would cross willys last radar reading of an uncomfirmed aircraft.If you would like to more about this(Burnie only please)contact me at...email bigallain@gmail.com Happy hunting..
re Jock.By saying berico trig im going to assume you mean craven.If the plane departs big ben(mtn)which is SE of craven trig and flies SW it would not have flown over craven trig,therefor I agree the plane did not go where people think,in fact in most cases when a plane is lost they are never found where they should be. Cheers.
Quinton, as far as iron deposits and spinning compasses are concerned it makes for good reading but it just doesnt fit the facts.The compass rotated when the plane was in a dive, meaning the plane was spinning and the compass was still mate.As far as people hearing planes in the Allworth,Limeburners area,soon after VHMDX went off the radar search planes were scrambled from all over, this resulted in a a lot of false reports including the report from the formentioned area. The iron stone you refer to in that area I think is magnatite and the locals there wont let them mine it.It would not be strong enough to mess with a planes compass,it needs to be refined,.Could be in wallaroo ,stranger things have happened.but I doubt it very mutch,all the evidence points to the tops region. Cheers mate.
Hi again fellows ,I was expecting some reply or discussion on the subject matter,any one out there.
Hi Al I’d like to speak with you very much about your theory . Pls phone 0427385985. Cheers
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