Gordon was Chief Pilot for Gippsland Air Charters and prior to the Centre operating at Labertouche had only flown one parachuting sortie in a Piper Tri-Pacer.

That was three years before and the jumpers were Claude Gillard and Steve Filak making their first display jump at an Agricultural Field Day on the Labertouche Airstrip.

He became an expert jump pilot, using any available updrafts to climb to height in an aircraft that was built for cross country flying rather than acting as an elevator for skydivers.    

When the aircraft was based in Darwin, Gordon went with it and became a successful Charter Operations Manager.

Bill took up flying in 1965 and was qualified to fly parachutists in February 1966.

He and Claude flew to a parachute competition in Queensland and to jump with friends in South Australia to clock up the hours necessary for Bill to get his parachuting endorsement.

Bill flew his first jump load at Labertouche on the 28th of August 1966.

He flew many hours at Labertouche and made many flights to interstate parachuting competitions, where he would compete and Claude would judge.

On his return from Vietnam he was travelling back from a day's jumping as a passenger in a friend's car and was killed when the car struck a bridge structure.
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Ian was a Commando Skydivers jumper that took to flying early in his jump career.    He first flew at Labertouche on the 9th of July 1967 and flew there regularly until December 1968.

Broke from Commando Skydivers to form Jindivik Skydivers? in 196?

He was flying at the Centre again in 1972.

Started a commercial aircraft charter business in Papua/New Guinea and is believed to have had a heart attach while landing one of his aircraft resulting in his demise.

Roy commenced flying at the Centre on the 15th October 1967. Manager of the Royal Victorian Aero Club, he was looking to log the magic 1,000 hours and once he hit that target, he decided to make a couple of jumps.   His first jump was at Labertouche on the 25th of February 1968  then he made more than 1,000 jumps before moving on to Meredith Skydivers as Chief Instructor in 19??.

Roy was ferrying Cessna 185 VH-AGF from Perth to Labertouche when the fuel injection system leaned the mixture too far and burned a hole in the top of a piston.   The molten metal blocked an oil duct resulting in a broken connecting rod that punched a hole in the side of the engine block.

Roy was on his way out the door, checking his parachute harness when he saw what looked like a clay pan and decided to land the aircraft.   It was dried mud rather than clay but Roy set the aircraft down everything went well until the aircraft was travelling slowly enough for the weight on the wheels to spend long enough on the mud crust to break through it and the plane nosed forward onto the propeller and stopped.

For a long time after that, when flying jumpers, Roy made a habit of pulling the throttle off and practicing dead stick landings.   He probably became the most experienced dead stick Cessna pilot in the country.

29/12/68  John was an Aviation Inspector with the Department of Civil Aviation and was the only pilot available with the necessary qualifications to fly parachutists at night.  It was a great night and twenty four jumpers made night jumps.

In December 1968, Australian Antarctic Base aircraft, a Pilatus Porter VH-FSB, was back from the Antarctic for some maintenance and the owner wanted to put some hours on it before taking it back to the Antarctic and the Centre was able get the use of it for a couple of weekends.   

The jumpers were amazed that the Pilatus was down on the ground immediately all the jumpers had landed and it would drop over the fence at the end of the field, stop in a few lengths of the aircraft and back up into its parking place.

Its performance was so good that the Centre kept trying to get it back again and after 18 months it was back again during its winter maintenance visit to Melbourne. 

Alistair's first jump was at Labertouche on the 11th of December 1965.  

He was a local Labertouche farm worker who flew for West Gippsland Air Charter.   He was flying at the Centre from April 1969 until March 1970.

Alistair was a local pilot who flew at the Centre for some time.  One of his interests was collecting snakes for the medical profession.    If informed of the presence of a snake, he would get a bag walk straight up to the snake, pick it up by the tail and pop it in the bag.   This earned him the title of "The Snake Charmer".   Most of the skydivers from his period would only know him by that name.

Alistair moved to Queensland and was flying float planes around the tourist islands of the Great Barrier Reef.

His family advised us that he has since passed away.

Quentin first flew at Labertouche on the 15th of April 1970 in VH-AVV.    He was a regular pilot at the Centre for some years.

His most memorable flight would be the trip to Rockingham, Western Australia for the 1970 National Parachute Championships with Steve Filak and ? stopping overnight at Ceduna, South Australia.   A flight from the east coast of Australia to the west coast in a small aircraft is a long journey, even for an enthusiastic pilot who loves flying.

Geoff made a few jumps and was a natural jump pilot, he always had the aircraft on jump run a few hundred feet below jump height and needed very little fine tuning of the aircraft track by the jumpmaster.

While flying in difficult conditions in New Guinea, Geoff had to "go around" on a landing where a "go around" was not possible.  News of his tragic demise stopped jumping early at the Centre so that the jumpers could all head for the Longwarry pub to conduct a wake in his honour.

Tony was one of the young commercial pilots using the Centre to build up his flying hours to obtain employment as a commercial pilot.   He started flying at the Centre in August 1971.    He obtained a position in New Guinea and was killed when a 44 gallon drum of fuel broke loose from its restraint in a Cessna 185 and rolled into a position that took the weight and balance of the aircraft beyond the safety envelope, causing the aircraft to stall and crash.   Tony was a great jumpship pilot and the Labertouche Jumpers were all saddened by his passing.

He is a well known pilot in sport aviation circles and he flew ultralights and glider tows over the years.

He was one of the few Centre pilots to be endorsed on the De Havilland Drover based at the Centre and had some interesting experiences taxiing this relatively large aircraft into and out of the enclosure without help.  He was still flying at the centre in August 1979 (VH-ALM)

Dave was successful in making flying his career and these days flies corporate jets. 

Bruce met Claude when his father asked Claude to come to Port Moresby to sort out a situation where the Civil Aviation Authority had grounded all parachutists in Papua New Guinea.

In 196? Bruce came to Melbourne to study for his Senior Commercial Pilot rating and lived at Claude's house while studying.   During this time he jumped and flew aircraft at Labertouche.

Later, he brought his Piper Navajo VH-EYF to Labertouche as a jump plane.   His New Year's Eve antics at Labertouche were just as colourful, though not as dramatic as they were later at Corowa.

As a young pilot, Bruce ferried films to his father's outdoor picture theatres around Papua/New Guinea.   Flying in such mountainous country requires a lot of discipline, something Bruce was a little short on in those days and so he developed his own methods of staying safe in any circumstances.   The fact that he is alive bears out the fact that he was successful.

Jim is a Toowoomba, Queensland based pilot, jumper and aviation engineer.   He was especially interested in the restoration of war bird aircraft and is a keen war bird pilot.    

He has conducted a parachuting school at Toowoomba for many years.   During one of his visits to the Centre, he met Labertouche jumper Janine Hayes, they married and she assisted him in turning his Toowoomba business into a very successful enterprise.

He flew VH-FRE and VH-AGF at the Nationals 1973/74

John was a regular Commando Skydivers pilot and sometimes would help out when the Centre had a shortage of aircraft.   He is an ex RAF pilot.

VH-FRE Nationals 73/74       Vh-DEK

Bob first flew jumpers at the Centre in VH-KFH on February 24th 1974.   He was a regular pilot in both Swampy VH-AGF and the Blue Goose VH-DMS.

Bob came to the Centre as a foundation member of Monash Skydivers.  He became a parachute instructor but found that his interest in flying did not allow him time to give both activities the attention required to do well in both.   So he chose flying and eventually went into partnership with another Centre pilot, Gary Gardner, purchased a Piper Navajo and started a charter business.

He had a successful career in commerce and then turned to aviation. He is now semi-retired and flies corporate aircraft in Australia and overseas to keep his hand in. 

Richard, better known to skydivers as Tug, was a Computer Analyst with an addiction to skydiving.  He eventually kicked the habit by becoming a pilot.

Tug, Claude and Steve formed a partnership to buy a Cessna 185 - VH AGF.   Thereby hangs a story.

Tug had a goal to sail a yacht around the world and when the aircraft partnership came to an end, he convinced his wife Diane that they should buy a yacht and circumnavigate the world.  They did that, and having liked it, they set out to do it again.

Someone in Florida must have offered him a deal he couldn't refuse and he settled there.

Bruce first flew at Labertouche at the 1975/76 National Championships in Bruce Towers' Piper Navajo VH-EYF.

27/08/1976  AGF

Cess was the second pilot hired by Reg Ansett and stayed with Ansett Airlines until his retirement in 198?   Flying every type of aircraft in the Ansett fleet except pure jets.

His reminiscences about the days of twin engined piston airliners were colourful and would captivate any audience.   He drove a sports car and gave the appearance of a typical English gentleman.

Cess flew his Cessna 205 VH-RLP at Geelong Skydiving Club for some years before moving to Labertouche in November 1976.

He particularly enjoyed flying the display team at country shows, the team would sit at the dinner table eating and drinking for hours listening to him relate the fabulous stories of the development of Annsett Airlines.

Cess was an active pilot at Labertouche at the age of ??.

Drew was Chief Pilot for Commando Skydivers.   He piloted VH-IEU for the Golden Eagles Display Team at the Melbourne Show in 1977, flew VH-RPZ for the Eagles at the Melbourne Show in 1978 and flew VH-AGF at the Centre in April 1979.

19/09/1977  VH-IEU     Melbourne Show

23/09/1977  VH-IEU     Melbourne Show

Peter started flying at Labertouche in 1977 when he left the Australian Navy.   He went into partnership with Claude to buy VH-DMS a turbocharged Cessna 207.

He later was a jump pilot at Toogoolawah and Picton.

Gary first flew at the Centre in VH-CMX on the 14th of May 1978

He was a regular pilot at the Centre for many years, son of a local Labertouche farmer, he had an interest in flying and offered his services to fly Centre aircraft.   He later flew both VH-DMS and VH-AGF.

Gary eventually went into partnership with Bob Courtenay and started a charter operation in South Gippsland.

He was still flying at the Centre in 1983. 

07/09/1979   VH-DOM   Adelaide Show

Colin started flying in 19?? at ?? 

As a senior instructor at the Centre his opportunity to fly jumpers was restricted but he still put up a lot of hours at Labertouche.

Colin was a share-holder in VH-FXK and flew many hours in that aircraft.

After Eagle Skydivers terminated its involvement in skydiving at Pakenham, Colin became involved in Commando Skydivers, became its Chief Instructor and took his turn on the pilot roster flying its Cessna 206 and Britten Norman Islander. 

He has more than 2,200 flying hours, 1,300 plus hours of that flying jumpers.   He is endorsed on Cessnas 172, 182, 206, 207 and 210, Beech 33 and 36, Piper Cherokee 6, Piper Warrior and Britten Norman Islander BN2A.                                                                                                   

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Bugsy's first jump was at Labertouche on the 31st August 1975.

Robert had a Piper Tri-Pacer (VH-MUM), that he converted to a trail-dragger.   The very same Piper that Steve Filak and Claude jumped from regularly with the Victorian Parachute School at Pakenham in the early sixties.

He was a refrigeration and air conditioning technician and was valuable to the Centre for the maintenance that he gladly did to the lighting plant, the tractor and the mower, whenever necessary.

Robert was a share-holder in VH-FXK and flew it as often as he could.

He became the sport parachuting representative to the Department of Transport's Victorian Region RAPAC Committee.

Tony started jumping at the Centre in 1971 and commenced flying as a jump pilot on ??/??/??

Tony painted the shark's mouth on the Blue Goose and was generally the alternate culture representative on the DZ for the first few years.

A good jump pilot, he became a helicopter pilot and was mustering cattle in Australia's north for some time before returning to Victoria and flying commercially.    

He and Rod Wilson purchased VH-AGF from Filak, Gillard and Molony.

He is resident in Paris, France, keeps in touch with Oz jumpers through Bruce Towers and makes frequent trips back to Australia.

Colonel Sam came to Labertouche as one of the share-holders in VH-FXK during 1982.   Sam flew and jumped at the Centre during its last years.

When he finished his time in the army he went into the fast food business for a while and was last seen in Wangaratta riding a Harley Davidson on his way to visit Andy Harris.

Since then Claude had lunch with Sam and Bermo at a Queensland RSL but did not get an address.   Where are you Sam?

22/08/1982  VH-RDD

Ross continued to fly for Eagle Skydivers at Pakenham when the Centre moved there.