A life with wings ...

JOHN CLAYTON

VALE JOHN CLAYTON

25-Oct-1930 to 02-Nov-2012

From the GFA's magazine GLIDING AUSTRALIA May-June 2013 ...

Circa 1993: With Bill Schoon and the Callair VH-MPG.

[photo by the late Andy Logan]

"Sadly, we have lost our most senior instructor. JC suffered a sudden heart attack last night from which he could not recover."

It was just after dinner on the evening of 02-Nov-12 that the words above (via an email from Garrett Russell) delivered to Caboolture Gliding Club members the sad news of the sudden passing John Clayton.

After a couple of long absences due to illness leading up to Nov’10 and Feb’11, he had returned to active duty at the YCAB pie-cart until 29-Sep12 when Lindsay Mitchell (CGC President) had the privilege of co-piloting what turned out to JC’s last flight.

Lindsay and John decided to fly together on that day after discussing the fact that they had both been to the airfield for various reasons over the previous few weeks but had not flown. In Lindsay’s words … “He said then he wouldn't be flying for a few weeks as he was having cataract surgery on his eye so would be out of action.  My last email from him was last Saturday, before his passing, when he said the big C had flared again but to keep it quiet and he would be back”.

At the time of John’s passing, our CFI (John Ashford) commented … “a sad loss of one of the club’s stalwarts. I'll miss his sage advice”. I must admit that I had to check the meaning of ‘sage advice’ … advice given with wisdom to back it, usually from an older person ... and when I did, I commended him for his excellent choice of words.

21-Nov-10:  Back at the YCAB flight line after a long absence due to illness.

[photo by Mick Moloney]

JC (as he was affectionately and respectfully known) was born John Kenneth Clayton in Mildura at 0700 hrs on 25-Oct-30.

He remembered vividly at the age of five going to an air pageant at the old Mildura Aerodrome and seeing Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith and several other pilots conducting joy flights in the Southern Cross, the Southern Cross Junior and one other airplane (he didn't remember its name but it was single engine). He did however remember standing close to Kingsford-Smith and also that his uncle went for a flight in the Southern Cross that day. It was then that John became fascinated with flying. He also recalled someone buying him an ice cream from the large marquee erected for the occasion.

The following day the three aircraft flew over his house in formation heading in the direction of what he thought would have been Adelaide. While still living in Mildura, he also watched with great excitement for the Ansett Lockheed Electra (Lockheed 10) that flew from Sydney to Adelaide via Mildura.

In 1937 John's family moved to Essendon where he saw what was possibly one of the first flights of the Australian National Airways Douglas DC3 in Australia (VH-UZK "Kurana"), and in 1945 he witnessed the arrival of the first DC4 Skymaster (VH-ANA "Amana").

Nearly every Sunday he rode his bike to Bulla Road at Essendon Aerodrome and watched every aircraft take off and land on the then all-over grassed field.

In Aug’46 (about the same time as TAA flew their first service) John had his first flying lesson in a DH 82A Tiger Moth at Essendon. His Dad was unaware of John's flying lessons (he had witnessed a fatal crash in India and was not told of John's flying until after John had received his CPL). His Mum had financed most of his flying (at 3 pounds an hour). The Dept of Civil Aviation records showed John's age as 17 when he started flying! John believed it still stands that he was two years older than he really was.

The aircraft he flew in the late 40's were DH 82A, DH60G, Miles Whitney Straight, Ryan STM, Avro Cadet, Wackett Trainer,  Stinson Voyager, Portafield, DHC Chipmunk and various Auster models.

In 1949 he was in the first civil batch of pilots to be accepted into Australian National Airways (ANA). Prior to this, war time pilots only were accepted. ANA, at its peak, operated 36 DC3's, 10 DC4's, 2 DC6's, 6 DC6B's and 3 Bristol Freighters.

John's flying years with ANA included endorsements on DC3, DC4 and Bristol Freighters. This time was however cut short with a medical problem he had at the time. He was then offered a position in ANA operations and held that for many years. ANA was taken over by Ansett and the airline industry took off.

John was then transferred to Port Moresby and served in many places including Lae and Mount Hagen. He returned to Port Moresby as Airport Manager and then, after nine years in Papua New Guinea, he was offered the position of Ansett Manager at Mount Isa. The next step in John's airline career was in Brisbane as QLD Sales & Marketing Manager.

22-Jul-10: With Tim Williams (2012 GQ President's Awardee), Lindsay Mitchell (CGC President) and Kevin Rodda (GQ Secretary/Treasurer).

[photo by Garrett Russell]

His glider flying started in Mount Isa in 1971 and the following year he went to Kingaroy to attend an instructor course where he met Gus Mauch. While in the Isa, John became Club President and, because of the isolation and remoteness of the area, he did most of his early cross country training and flying with Maurie Bradney at Waikerie.

In 1975 he came to Brisbane and, having met Gus previously, joined the Southern Downs Aero and Soaring Club (SDASC) at Warwick. He was later involved in establishing gliding at Moura and Caboolture and to a lesser extent at Casino.

He became CFI at Warwick and served in that position for some 6/7 years and also became Assistant RTO Ops (Level 3) in 1985. Later, in 1991, he was appointed to the rank of RTO Ops Queensland. He has served five years as a councillor at the GFA, AGM/ACM and other advisory positions within the Queensland Soaring Association (now Gliding Queensland). He was a Life Member of both the Warwick and Caboolture Gliding Clubs.

JC had also been a relief instructor at Mangalore Gliding Club for some years (during the months of January and February).

His mother first flew with him in a glider at the age of 76 and last flew with him at the age of 92 (she lived through to 97 years of age).

1947:  After one of John's early solo flights at Essendon in Tiger Moth VH-ATK.

As far as power flying is concerned, John's records show that he has been in command of, or flown at the controls of, or flown as passenger in all the Douglas Passenger aircraft except the DC1 (DC2, DC3, DC4, DC5, DC6, DC6B, DC7, DC8, DC9 and DC10).

He had witnessed many achievements and tragedies over the years, however he still enjoyed his glider and power flying immensely and always said that … “I will continue to fly as long as my arms were strong and flappable”. More important to John however was the life-time of friends that he has met and who had supported him over the decades and commented that this"has been indeed extraordinary to say the least".

In 2004 he was honoured by his gliding fraternity peers as the recipient of the GFA's Hoinville Award for outstanding services in the field of Operations. 

John was a founding member of the Caboolture Gliding Club (and of its predecessor the Brisbane Valley Gliding Club) and has been a great mentor to generations of student pilots, pilots and instructors at Caboolture Airfield. He was the GFA's RTO-Operations for the Queensland Region for 14 years and had been an active Level 3 Instructor for over 30 years.

In Sep’11 he clocked up 3,000 hours of gliding ... all recorded in that beautifully handwritten glider pilot log book of his complete with many photos of gliders, students and other glider pilots. His log book was truly beautiful thing to see. When instructing, JC always carried a little black with him and made notes after every flight. He had a cross-referenced system of records in place where he could access details on anyone that he instructed or flew with. This was an incredible and often used resource for other instructors on the instructor panel … as by quick reference to his records, JC could review where a student pilot was up to in his training and what challenges he and that trainee had been addressing together. 

In his own words, John was ... "a very proud father of a very beautiful and loving daughter and the grand-father of a very, very delightful grand-daughter".

He has been and will continue to be sadly missed!