Golden West Employment Solutions will donate an Aircraft Club Test Propeller to the Qantas Founders Museum at Longreach on April 28, 2009.
A Club Test Propeller is used when testing aircraft engines after overhaul and before the engine is placed back in service in an aircraft. The donated hand made wooden test propeller was made in the USA, probably in the late 1940s or early 1950s.
The Propeller is historically significant as it was owned by Bush Pilots Airways Ltd, from the 1950s until that airline became Air Queensland and ceased operations in 1988.
Bush Pilots Airways is remembered by Longreach residents as the operator of the Queensland Health, Flying Surgeon Contract prior to 1987.
World War II bomber pilot Sir Robert Norman OBE, established the independent Bush Pilots Airways Ltd in 1951, serving isolated settlements and properties on Cape York Peninsula, North West Queensland and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
His flying exploits during various natural disasters led to him being awarded the OBE in 1958. His commitment to the furtherance of higher education in Far North Queensland and the enthusiasm and drive he displayed for the establishment of a campus of James Cook University in Cairns led to him being created Knight Bachelor in 1989.
James Cook University named its newest building in Cairns in honour of the late Sir Bob Norman OBE. The Australian Tropical Forest Institute Building is named the Sir Robert Norman Building in recognition of his significant role in the development of the campus.
He is also the author of “Bush Pilot” in which he details various stories of his life in the aviation industry.
“I am proud to have known Bob Norman and trust our donation of this test propeller to the Qantas Founders Museum will further recognise the contribution of Australia’s aviation pioneers, to life in rural Australia” said Bob Fulton, CEO of Golden West Employment Solutions.
Bob Fulton knows a little about aviation, having worked in the regional airline industry from 1971 to 2000 in the Pacific, Asia and Australia including founding Flight West Airlines in June 1987 and managing that airline until 1990. The family airline connection is carried on by Bob’s son, Robert, who flies Dash 8 aircraft for QantasLink (Sunstate Airlines) in Queensland.