Happy 100th, Dad.

Dad was never a fan of cricket, so the concept of reaching a century would certainly been alien to him. And yet, today would have marked 100 years since he was born into a farming life on Queensland’s Darling Downs. Little did anyone imagine that his life would take him far beyond the fenceline.

It was life that would see him go to war twice, once as an Army commando and once as an Air Force fighter pilot, witnessing the devastation of Hiroshima in between. For a young man who had never seen snow and the ocean only once, it would be a troop ship that expanded his horizons. In civil life, he would fly the Super Constellation across the globe and then also qualify as a navigator to steer the aircraft by the stars.

Still, for all his 23,000 hours of flight across 100 different types of aircraft, it was as a father and role model that his greatest contribution was made. The value of honesty, service and family were always at the forefront of his actions and few but well chosen words.

He left us far too young and yet in so many ways his legacy has continued to live on over the past 35 years. In his absence, his presence is still felt and many of the lessons he taught have in turn been passed on to the next generation – both in the cockpit and in life.

Gone but not forgotten.

Happy 100th, Dad.