OUR QANTAS ALUMNI REMEMBER …

With the centenary of the Flying Kangaroo, some Rose Bay Probus members recall special moments in their Qantas careers.  Peter Shilton made friends with Frank Sinatra when he protected the crooner from invasive photographers leading to Sinatra being the photographer not the photographed!   Soon after joining Qantas, Peter recalls vividly helping Ava Gardner across the Mascot tarmac – help she warmly welcomed from the tall blonde chap almost 20 years her junior.  She grabbed his tie and refused to let it go – “Come with me” she urged as they staggered, entangled, up the stairs. The engines were humming and still she wouldn’t let go until the Chief Steward released her grip on Peter with scissors!  Anita Dunn was on that flight and was given a peek inside Ava’s beauty case brimming with lipsticks!  Anita seems to have fonder memories of the “dainty” and “chatty” Margot Fonteyn from NY to London.  Anita also remembers the amazing crowds at Cairo to greet the first passenger off the flight – the Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios – who thoughtfully changed from a suit to Priestly robes minutes before landing.  Jennifer Anderson was a ground hostess in the VIP lounge at the International Airport at Mascot working with the future Lady Joan Cutler and remembers having great fun meeting loads of VIPs – even before retiring to the bar at the end of a shift!  Ian Loveridge was Qantas Manager, Benelux in Amsterdam and often visited Schiphol airport.  One morning helping the airport manager with security checks, he was approached by a beautiful blonde in a fabulous fur coat.  To get a more accurate security reading with the “security hoop” he asked her to open her coat. She obliged and displayed a near naked body. She was on her way home to London after working in Amsterdam’s famous “red light” district!    The “security hoop” was also enlightening when Ian was based in Germany. Here, he security scanned a passenger wearing a Scottish kilt.  Lifting the kilt at the back revealed “the secret” of what Scots wear under their kilts but sadly Ian refused to say! Charles Wade worked for Qantas in Australia, PNG, Japan, Egypt, Iran, South Africa and the UK and has lots of tales to tell but still chuckles when remembering the old lady who stepped off a Qantas Flying Boat and sank under the water as her pink straw hat with the artificial flower floated away!  Pam Fox remembers her first flight on a Qantas Flying Boat to Singapore before becoming one of the glamorous Hostesses on the first Constellation flights for Qantas to London.  What a glamorous life they had – staying in first-class hotels with other crew during stopovers in Singapore, Karachi, Cairo, Rome and London – even if the round trips were anything from 30 -37 days!  We salute you all Anita, Charles, Ian, Jennifer, Charles, Pam and Peter.