Tiger Moth reunion 70 years on
Soaring through the sky above Perth on Saturday, smiling as the Tiger Moth completed a loop, 95-year-old Lance Clark was feeling nostalgic.
Mr Clark, a former Royal Australian Air Force pilot from Bull Creek, flew Tiger Moths in Australia during World War II.
He enlisted in the RAAF at the age of 23 after hearing that several of his old school friends had been killed at war.
In 1943, just months after the birth of his first child, he started training at Cunderdin, about 150km south of his family farm in Cadoux.
He made his first training flight in the Tiger Moth that now hangs at the Aviation Heritage Museum in Bull Creek.
From Cunderdin, he travelled to Geraldton for bombing practice and then on to New South Wales and Port Pirie in South Australia.
He did the bulk of his training in twin-engine Anson and Airspeed Oxford bombers, but he was always keen to take a Tiger Moth for a spin.
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Mr Clark said it was a way for the pilots to unwind and stay in practice as they waited for deployment.
“When I was at Port Pirie in South Australia, we were allowed to take a Tiger Moth up for a little bit of relaxation,” he said.
“I think it was just to keep your hand in and avoid boredom.
“You’d get up and mess around a bit. Fly around, look at the countryside, the little ports along the coast and practice some aerobatics."
Mr Clark, a Flight Sergeant, never saw conflict in WWII.
Lance Clark relives the Tiger Moth. Picture: Ian Munro/The West Australian
By the time he had finished his training, the war was all but over.
“It turned out I probably would have been more help to the country staying hope producing more food, but I thought I needed to do something,” he said.
“I never get out of Australia, I never got shot at - I’m no war hero.”
On Saturday, about 70 years after he left the RAAF and returned to his family farm, Mr Clark took to the skies once again.
He spent an hour flying over Perth in the Tiger Moth, accompanied by an instructor from the Royal Aero Club of WA in Jandakot.
“We went right up the coast to Mullaloo and back through Gage Roads, where I saw the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier slowly moving out,” he said.
“We did a couple of loops and steep turns. It was just like old times.
“It brought back a lot of happy memories. There was a great sense of comradeship in the training. You went through with the same men and became very friendly.”
