Debunking the myth: the rise and fall of the Zero By Fred Lane (This article was first published in NOCN 84, 1 March 2011.) One of the more highly trumpeted intelligence finds in WW II was a near-new Mitsubishi Zero A6M2 Type 0 Model 21 (serial number 4593) that crashed during its first operational flight […]
THE WAY IT WAS: Government House, Sydney under the most recent Naval Governor of New South Wales, 1991-1996 By Ralph Derbidge (This article was first published in NOCN 84, 1 March 2011.) When I look back on my life to date, I have no hesitation in rating my time at Government House Sydney as a […]
THE OLD AND THE BOLD … Stephen Dearnley: survivor, publisher, motorcyclist, yachtsman and boatbuilder (This article first appeared in NOCN 84, 1 March 2011.) Stephen Dearnley’s life has been full of excitement, variety and adventure — yet on first meeting, this calm, courtly and articulate man can seem like a person whose life has […]
THIS IS THE WAY IT HAPPENED … Swan to Shanghai, 1981: Trials of the heavenly duck. By Max Sulman (This article was first published in NOCN 84, 1 March 2011.) During the 1970s there was a gradual easing of tension between China and the West. There were cautious overtures which led to visits to the […]
HMAS Australia, 1911-1924: the first flagship (This article was first published in NOCN 84, 1 March 2011.) Builders: John Brown & Co, Clydebank Launched: 25 October 1911 Commissioned: 21 June 1913; Captain Stephen Radcliffe RN. Displacement: 18,500 tons standard; 22,000 tons full load. Length: 179.83 metres (590 ft) Beam: 24.38 m (80 ft) Draught: […]
Commander Rohan Edwin (Ted) Lesh RAN Rtd; 21 May 1925 – 28 November 2010 (This obituary was first published in NOCN 84, 1 March 2011.) Ted was a soft touch for voluntary organisations needing a Treasurer (he undertook Accountancy studies from 1961 to 64 whilst in the RAN). “Are you sure that you can take […]
The Coast Watchers: Behind enemy lines; the men who saved the Pacific Book review by Jerry Lattin Lindsay, Patrick: The Coast Watchers: Behind enemy lines; the men who saved the Pacific. William Heinemann (London) 2010; Random House Australia. 416 pp; $34.95 (paperback). The Coast Watchers were an organised force established in the 1920s […]
THIS IS THE WAY IT HAPPENED … The unguided missile by Jonathan Brett Young (This article was first published in NOCN83, 1 December 2010.) It was the last opportunity for the frigate to carry out a live missile firing in the Far East before returning to Australia and a major refit. The gunnery officer was […]
THE OLD AND THE BOLD: A.J.“Nat” Gould, aviator (This article was first published in NOCN 83, 1 December 2010.) As a teenager in Queensland during the 1930s, Arthur ‘Nat’ Gould picked mushrooms in nearby fields and sold them. His earnings paid for flying lessons at Archerfield, Brisbane, and he got his ‘A’ licence at the […]
THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE A tale of two cruisers by Colin Baxter (This Message was first published in NOCN 83, 1 December 2010.) The recent discovery of the sunken wreck of the WW II cruiser HMAS Sydney brought to a close one of the greatest maritime mysteries of our time. The ship’s loss left a nation […]
