This
image was taken from the balcony of the TAA terminal on 29 May 1971
looking north towards the control tower. TAA traffic staff meet the
arriving East-West Airlines Fokker F.27 Friendship VH-EWL City of
Albury. Beyond the control tower was Runway 04. The smoke is a distant
bush fire and not from a departing aircraft. The TAA traffic officer
is mounted on an electric tarmac vehicle produced by the Lightburn company.
The Lightburn featured a fibreglass body and was powered by an electric
motor mounted above the single front wheel and connected directly to
the steering wheel. The batteries were located under the seat. Being
of tricycle configuration, the Lightburn was not particularly stable
and indeed some intrepid traffic officers did succeed in rolling it!
Behind the tail of the Friendship is a TAA Electra which is parked on
a section of hardstand which was coloured green and known to airport
workers as "The Green Acre". The brick structures in the distance
at right are the wartime Allison test cells which are now heritage listed
along with Hangar 7.Photo:
Kodachrome transparency by Ron Cuskelly (C125)
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