WHEN "BROOMY" takes to the skies in a vintage warbird, he isn't just flying a plane, he becomes one with a living, breathing beast.
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"It comes alive as you start the engine," he said.
"It's a living, breathing thing of history ... it's talking to you."
And Squadron Leader Richard Brougham, callsign Broomy, is listening to the CAC Wirraway.
"They have a very distinctive sound as all the cylinders start to come alive and as it fires up, you've got the smoke going, and as it settles down you've got the grumble of it, and away it goes," he said.
"To take in the sights, the sounds, the smells, it's a museum piece coming to life."
Squadron Leader Brougham has to open the hatch and peer over the side, donning his "Broomy" helmet, as he navigates the runway in the tail-wheeled plane at Williamtown's Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base.
He checks in on the radio, pumps fuel into the engine, tests the propeller, and deals with cables and pedals and dials that were cutting edge back when they were built in Australia almost 90 years ago.
Smoke splutters as the plane roars to life, but that's meant to happen.
"It rewards you if you fly it okay, but also lets you know if you don't fly it okay," Squadron Leader Brougham said.
Three seconds on the runway and he's in the air, flying over the stunning Newcastle coastline and watching a rain storm roll in from Cessnock.
The loud and constant grumble of the Wirraway doesn't worry him - it's proof of its long-lasting reliability.
It captures the attention of beachgoers, walkers and nippers heading into the ocean at Redhead Beach, and Squadron Leader Brougham gives them a wave.
The stories of history are front-of-mind as the vintage trainer and general purpose military plane passes over Fort Scratchley and the Anzac Memorial Walk.
The plane at Williamtown for the upcoming air show, normally based at Temora and named after an Aboriginal word for "challenge", was built in 1944 and saw the drama of both flight training and active duty.
"This particular plane did see service, up in the south Pacific right near the end of the war," Squadron Leader Brougham said.
The Wirraway has been described as the beginning of Australia's aircraft manufacturing. It's a two-seater, with the back passenger once able to rotate and fire a gun towards the tail.
More than 700 of them were built from 1939, as the cloud of war loomed, and 1946. There are now only three still flying in Australia, and it was the first air force plane to become accessible to civilians.
The Wirraway was used on the Pacific front in World War II as a "stop-gap" as enemy forces edged closer, but was mainly a training plane.
Squadron Leader Brougham has flying in his blood and knew he wanted to be in the air force from five years old.
He's spent decades flying Hornets, Hawks, F-18s, the classic Tiger Moth and other planes and choppers with the RAAF, and has trained Saudi pilots in the Middle East.
To take in the sights, the sounds, the smells, it's a museum piece coming to life.
- Squadron Leader Richard Brougham
But, he said the chance to become No. 100 Squadron's Temora Flight Commander last year and jump in the cockpit of the Wirraway had brought him back to basics.
That's been one of his favourite parts, along with the pulsing history he feels when he climbs up onto the wing and into the pilot's seat.
"The connection - the people that have gone before me and what they've done, and it makes me a student again," he said.
He'll be flying the Wirraway at the Newcastle Air Show on Saturday, and it will be on display out at the base on Sunday for the RAAF open day, along with other precious vintage planes from No. 100 Squadron.
"We do get a lot of veterans or even families of people who flew this aircraft, or maintained it ... it's great to hear the stories and what it means to people when they come and see something that their grandfather actually flew in," he said.
"To capture the imagination of kids as well."
Wing Commander Jason Easthope leads the No. 100 Squadron, the RAAF's air-worthy heritage fleet.
He flew the "mighty Mustang" - the epic fighter jet of last century that he admits he has a soft spot for - to his hometown of Newcastle in preparation for the air show.
"The Mustang is iconic, leading edge, made a difference in the war, sounds great, looks great, and flies fantastically," he said.
The importance of being a custodian of history is not lost on him.
"These aeroplanes have real connections with our aviation history - some of them served, some of them served in combat, they still serve in the air force now, and they really bring our museum displays to life," he said.
"If I'm flying up high and I've got a moment to think, my mind drifts back to the '40s when these young kids were crossing the English channel, heading into Germany, young, shit-scared and had a job to do.
"An eight-hour mission, with five minutes of terror in the middle of it."
Wing Commander Easthope said it was exciting to be able to bring something so rare and precious to Newcastle.
"We preserve the aircraft, we fly them gently, we have experts working on them and we will ensure that they are here for generations of Australians," he said.
"You feel like you're not far away from the pioneering days ... there's a real sense of the era."
He looks like a Top Gun pilot in his green flying suit standing on the tarmac at Williamtown, and reveals he has been a fighter pilot most of his career, before moving to No. 100 Squadron rather than "fly a desk in Canberra".
He reckons he'll have to be dragged out of the plane eventually because he loves flying too much to ever give it up. He joined the air force straight out of school and was flying solo a couple of months later.
"Oh wow ... the freedom first of all. Being free in three dimensions, it's hard to explain," he said.
"What that does in your life, is it makes you view the world quite differently."
Warbirds have converged on Newcastle for the air show, and will fly over the Stockton, Nobbys and Newcastle areas on Saturday.
They'll be joined by state-of-the-art jets and other RAAF planes in massive public formation and aerial displays from 10am to 12.30pm, and from 1.30pm to 4pm on November 18.
The Williamtown RAAF open day on Sunday, November 19, is a ticketed event and bookings can be made online.
About 50 military exhibitions will be set up for visitors, including a military working dog display, a drone show, a real ejector seat from an F-35 fighter jet, and the No. 100 Squadron.
The Newcastle Air Show, hosted by the RAAF and City of Newcastle, is expected do draw a crowd of 100,000.
IN THE NEWS:
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
