Boarding PH-PBA!

[motto]

The company I worked for still operated C47s in Papua New Guinea for quite a few years after I started with them in 1966 and had only just disposed of the set of JATO bottles held for emergency purposes.

All of them carried a 1-1/2" flare pistol and six flares on the radio compartment bulkhead and the aircraft were never locked up at any time. Anybody could walk out onto the tarmac as the perimeter fence at Lae, our main base, was only waist high. It was a different world then.

Several of our aircraft were still fitted with the High Density or troop seating which was canvas fold up seating with the backs against the side of the fuselage and another row sideways down the middle. I well remember taking off from Lae on a staff charter flight with a total of 54 souls on board. Every troop seat was occupied with many adults having a child on their lap.The rear cargo compartment was full of Eskys and on the cabin floor just inside the entry door under a cargo net were two 9 gallon kegs of beer and large bags of ice.

On takeoff it took an age for the tail to come up and we used the full length of the runway to get airborne with the 1830s giving all they had and the props clawing at the moist tropical air while everyone sat tense and silent awaiting the outcome. When we lifted off at the end of the strip and roared out over the Huon Gulf a cheer went up. It was indeed a different world.

David