Kay Johnson of Wolli Creek wasn’t an unaccompanied minor (C8), but her early aviation encounter is memorable: “About 1947, my father decided to take my mother and me to Tathra by Dragonfly biplane. The back of each seat had a pocket crammed with heavy duty paper bags. The scenery was spectacular, but the thermals caused us to violently drop, so the bags were soon in use. Dad and I were unaffected until the door of the pilot’s cabin flew open and revealed the pilot reading the Herald and having a cup of tea. As I knew nothing of autopilot, I needed a bag. We landed in a paddock at Bega and taxied up to a shed. An old bus came trundling across the paddock to take us to Tathra. Mum made Dad buy a car to come home.”

From planes to trains: “No aircraft tales, but in my teens I was often sent

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