My father (Don Considine) was an aircraft maintenance engineer employed by TAA at Essendon Airport for many years, and subsequently at Tullamarine.

My mates and I spent many weekends riding our bicycles to the Airport where we spent hours walking through hangars, getting inside aircraft and dreaming of flying.

We were fortunate one afternoon to get ourselves on a test flight in a Fokker Friendship over Port Phillip Bay. Another day we phoned the Control Tower and were invited up for a couple of hours. These were simpler times.

The attached photo is of my Dad on the cover of Goodyear’s Industrial Products News magazine. Goodyear’s caption was that “it symbolises the responsibility of maintenance sections to keep aircraft in the air.” It was shot at Essendon Airport.