Wade Mahlo, who runs a fuelling business at the airport, is gathering material for a mural for the Orange Regional Airport terminal, which is set to keep passengers entertained and informed while they wait for their flights. 

“We wanted to show the history of the airport, when it was opened, all the extensions and what airlines flew in,” he said.

Denis Gregory recounted a time when Jim Hazelton added floats to one of his aircraft and used the early morning frost to take off. 

“I think it took three mornings and they actually got it off the ground and then they thought, yippee we’ve done it, but where are we going to land?” he said. 

“They landed on Spring Creek Reservoir, but the water was low and they hooked one of the floats on the submerged fences – they got into trouble over that.”

On another occasion, Max Hazelton’s landing gear malfunctioned.

“Rather than do a belly land, they dropped two cars and strung a rope between them and they were tearing down the strip as the plane came in and they hooked the wheel and pulled it into place,” Mr Gregory said.

An airfield at Sir Jack Brabham Park operated from 1938, but the Spring Hill facility, opened in 1961, was almost not built at all. 

Mr Gregory said the decision to built the airport came from mayor Gordon Machin’s casting vote.

“They didn’t want an airport – they said there’s room at Bathurst and we can use that and there was a bus that used to leave down the bottom of Summer Street to take you to Bathurst,” he said.

Mr Mahlo said the airport was a critical facility today and welcomed more passengers than Bathurst. 

“We get 50, 60,000 passengers a year – it’s integral to the town,” he said. 

Anyone with material or memories can call Orange and District Historical Society secretary Phil Stevenson on 0402 412 188.

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