Reverend Harold Shepherdson
28/12/1903 - 17/12/2001
Aeroplanes
1933 Parasol hit anthill on landing – 1936 Miles Hawk 6 months crashed on Groote – 1947 Tiger Moth - Auster ….Cessna
SLSA not Austin it’s Auster J1 Autocrat UK 1940s – 3 seater & not mentioned in Half a Century
SLSA not Austin it’s Auster J1 Autocrat UK 1940s – 3 seater & not mentioned in Half a Century
Health Parasol 1932
Likely Batanga with Health Parasol - 4 blades - at Milingimbi - SLSA PRG-933-13-148
Batanga who was the first local to drive the tractor & was Bapa Sheppy's right-hand-man in thoe early days - he was Lawuk's father.
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Harold Shepherdson & Heath Parasol Milingimbi 1933
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Heath Parasol Milingimbi 1933
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Harold Shepherdson's Heath parasol in flight at Milingimbi NT 1932
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Miles Hawk VH-UGQ 1936
Ella p35 notes that the first strip was built at Gattji south of Milingimbi in 1936 but it was too short for the Miles Hawk.
SLSA PRG-933-13-613 MIles Hawk 1936
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Miles Hawk 1936 at Alice Springs p34
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"Plane flown from Adelaide-Darwin. Refuelled at Farina. Engine cut out over Adelaide on test flight the night before over Dry Creek - dropped into empty field - towed back to Parafield 1936. Cap and valve came out of petrol pump. Took part of brother's car. Possibly Reverend Griffiths, near Alice Springs." Rev. Henry Griffiths was at Katherine in the late 1930s - that looks more like Tennant Creek - on a good day.
Sheppy flew the Hawk to Darwin on his own - he stopped off at Farina 300 miles north of Adelaide & 500 miles further to Alice Springs which is half way. So presumably had to make similar stops going north which would likely have been Tennant Creek 300 miles and the Katherine another 400 leaving 200 into Darwin where Ella joined him. The M.2 did 115mph so at 100mph in an open cockpit he'd need a break pretty regularly as he'd fry. The man beside the Hawk may be the Rev. Griffiths who was based at Katherine in the late 1930s
28816_JPG_preview Miles Hawk NTL Sheppy Collection
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Miles Hawk - Groote Eylandt 1936 Half a C. p34
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Recovery of the Miles Hawk from Groote Eylandt in 1936
Sheppy spotted Lake Evella from the Hawk in 1936 - it only lasted 6 months and a decade before they could afford another plane.
Tiger Moth 1947 (-KBE or ALG)
Is this the Army Disposals one that was part owned by Harold Guy - Only a Husband
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Auster J1 Autocrat
Ella recounts an incident with the Auster in 1954 p35 - it apparently had no radio at that time.
PRG-933-13-112 Austin - after Moth Burrumarra
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PRG-933-13-113 (1)
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"My Austin at one of the outstations". This plane was secured by Harold Shepherdson after the 'Tiger Moth'. This photograph was printed in Mrs Ella Shepherdson's book, 'Half a century in Arnhem Land'. The man in the shirt and trousers may be Burrumarra. - It is an Auster - they were first built in the UK in the 1940s.
Cessna 182E
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That's Hartley Dentith
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Visiting Aircraft
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"Dr Donald Thompson with RAAF plane (flying boat) came to work as anthropologist 1935-36". The flying boat used Milingimbi as a base. This photo may be related to the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit (NTSRU) 1941-43. PRG-933-13-621 SLSA 1935 - it's a Supermarine Walrus
needs a clean
"SLSA PRG-933-13-545 Alan Marshall, Sheppy, ? Capt Slade Butterbox post WW2 de Havilland ". Not Sheppy - presumably Elcho after a good Wet - props still going - young Jack Slade - Marshall had polio age 6 - a communist sympathiser - in spats & Army issue boots c45/46 immediately post war.
Ourselves Writ Strange A. Marshall p139 " Flt-Lt Jack Slade O/C of No. 6 Communications Unit stationed in Darwin, flew an antiquated Dragon biplane on a weekly service round the northern missions during the adjustment period after the war.” They had two Dragons A34-13 &
VH-ASK A34-13
In February 1943 No. 6 Communications Unit commanded by the Northern Territory’s legendary flying doctor, Clyde ‘Doc’ Fenton, arrived at Batchelor followed by No. 18 NEI Squadron, a mixed Dutch and RAAF bomber squadron, during May. The Mitchell bombers and crews of 18 NEI Squadron moved to the Netherlands East Indies as part of Group Captain ‘Moth’ Eaton’s No. 79 Wing in 1945 while 6 Communication Unit remained before moving to Darwin’s Parap Civil Drome later that year.
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1946 - Purchased by Commonwealth Dept. of Health for use by the proposed Northern Territory Medical Service, Darwin. A34-13 & A34-31 purchase price £50 each, plus unserviceable A34-23 at Darwin for £25. Captain Jack Slade was the first Chief Pilot, and he selected A34-13 because of his experience with this particular aircraft with 6CU during the war, which he believed to be superior to the subsequent Australian production Dragons built at Mascot. Jack Slade later recalled: "The two serviceable aircraft cost £50 each and A34-23 was £25.
De Havillands gave us the stretcher and folding chairs, and the total cost including two Christophersen propellers was around £220. The props cost £50 each and I had a job persuading the Health Department to be so extravagant." A34-31 - 17.5.46 Sold through CDC for £50 to Department of Health, Canberra. Purchased by Commonwealth Department of Health for use by the proposed Northern Territory Medical Service, Darwin. NTMS Chief Pilot Jack Slade selected A34-13 & A34-31 because he had flown them with 6CU and both had low hours after major overhauls. A damaged airframe A34-23 located at Darwin was also purchased for parts.
11.7.46 DCA allocated registrations VH-ASK & -ASL to A34-13 & A34-31 respectively.
A34-13 flew approx. 700 hrs with 6CU, mostly flown by Jack Slade.
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Jack Slade with A34-13 NTMS days.
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VH-ASK (A34-13) at the Scottish Museum of Flight
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Above is Jack Slade beside VH-ASK (A34-13) - the first Dragon built in Australia in 1942. It is he in the photo at Elcho in 1946 during the Post-war Adjustment Period when he flew a weekly tour of the missions & on this occasion was joined by author Alan Marshall.
They must be cooling the motors as it is midday - they only stayed overnight & left early. Slade flew most of the 700hrs that this plane did with Flying Doc Fenton's No. 6 Communications Unit out of Batchelor & Parap between 1943/46. Slade selected ASK and VH-ASL/A34-31 for the NT Medical Service air wing post war at 50 quid a piece. VH-ASK was sold off in 1954 & in 1973 was sold to a Scottish private collector Sir Willy Roberts. In 1981, at Christies, The Royal Scottish Museum of Flight paid 7,000 pounds for her and after a complete rebuild - she is on display at their East Fortune museum east of Edinburgh. They seem entirely unaware of her early record but will be visited in July 2023. |
"Aerial medical moth, landed on back plain at Milingimbi, 1938" SLSA PRG-933-23-96
Southampton Flying boat Mili refuel 193? - In fact a Short Rangoon flying boats of No. 203 Squadron RAF 1934
SLSA PRG 933/13/608 - "South Hampton flying boat for Melbourne centenary 193? Called in for petrol coming and going - mail. Ella and Harold Shepherdson asked out for evening no soft ??" "During the Melbourne Centenary in 1934, four South Hampton flying boats flew to Victoria." Actually not a Supermarine Southampton - which had two engines & a high triple tail - it is one of the three Short Rangoon flying boats of No. 203 Squadron RAF which flew from Iraq to Australia in September 1934 as part of the Melbourne Centenary celebrations - without soft drinks, just beer on ice, so they had to make do with warm water. Perhaps a view from seaward with mission boat 'Maree' at right.