Guest - Barefoot to Boeings: Memoirs of a jet jockey

If you have ever thought about taking an overseas holiday, then chancesare you have travelled by air to get there. In todays world, travellinganywhere is easy and relatively quick.

When I first took on the challenge to write this book I held anarrow view of what travelling was all about. I knew I appreciated the stylingof vintage aircraft, enjoyed the banter of pilots, knew that a lot of money wasspent on model aircraft and understood engineers really knew their stuff! Theproblem was, at that time, I didnt really have the travel bug!

Meeting Brian Crane was a blessing and after learning about his mostremarkable life as a pilot, I felt compelled to share his story. There is somuch more to air travel than I could ever have imagined.

In writing his story, my emotions have gone the full circle as Ihave shared his joy, his sorrow and his excitement. He had a long successfulcareer as a Boeing pilot before retiring to the country northwest of Brisbane.His story is about dreams, passion, courage and personal conviction, oftengoing beyond what a person would normally do to get to where they want to be,and takes a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the aviation industry.

From humble beginnings and growing up in the bush, Brians earliestmemories are his fascination with anything connected to flying. His parents wouldoften find him outside listening for the rumble of the Tiger Moths or hangingout with friends who were lucky enough to own them. Unlike a lot of young boysof the era, his dream to fly never waned and he could often be seen staringtowards the sky in absolute awe as he imagined himself one day being in thepilots seat. What set Brian apart was that he had the conviction anddetermination to do whatever he had to do to walk the path towards his dream.

The success Brian enjoyed didnt just happen without drama orserious obstacles being put in the way. In many ways, it was a hard road totake. So hard at times, that another might have given up and taken a differentroad.

This book is a small glimpse into the life of an airline pilot,which it took a lifetime to play out. As you follow Brian on his journey, Ihope you will be captivated, as I was, and find yourself wanting to know whathappens next. Please enjoy Brians story

David (Brian) Crane was born in June 1929 in Wadeville in the midstof the Great Depression, at a time when it was sometimes difficult to put foodon the table. There was no doubt his parents viewed his arrival with sometrepidation and yet another mouth to feed! As the youngest and the only one ofnine siblings to be born on the family farm, Brian attracted a lot ofattention. His siblings were divided into two groups, the older ones and theyounger ones with a five-year gap between them. This gap created two familiesunder one roof with the younger ones referred to as the kids. The older onesidentified with each other as their social life and experiences were similar,however as the kids grew older they tended to resent not being able to do thesame things as the older ones.

Brians parents experienced quite a financial strain raising a largefamily, although they must have done well as Brian never went hungry. Briansfather, whom he called Pop, had his own history of coming from a soundindustrial family in Sydney before moving to a dairy farm. From humblebeginnings in 1867, Brians grandfather opened GE Crane & Sons, a buildingsupply company set up to counter the shortages of key materials in the rapidlygrowing construction industry, which grew to be a huge public company. For Popto leave the security of a secure industrial family to make his own way on afarm in the country was courageous, as he knew nothing of the bush and farming.

Pop quickly realised his dream and for a while worked for a Graftonfarmer to learn the ropes beforeeventually taking up residence on the Wadeville farm, located half-way betweenLismore and Murwillumbah and close to Nimbin. The countryside was mostly thickblue gum scrub, which had to be hand cleared with axes and simple crosscut saws.This was backbreaking manual work and meant long days sweating in the sun toget the job done. There was an enormous amount of work in setting up a farmwith timber fences taking many months to build, as well as sowing the pasturesand purchasing equipment and stock to start dairy farming as cream production,along with timber, were major industries in the Northern Rivers area.

Like all farms in those days, the farmhouse had an outside toilet,the dunny, which was poorly located and a long walk at night, away from thehouse into the darkness. As the dunny can had to be emptied, and Pop couldntconvince the kids to empty it, this became his duty and there were no argumentswith that! In an attempt to improve things, Pop built a concrete path, but in wetweather the incline of the concrete meant the water ran directly into the dunnybuilding, a most uncomfortable situation on a wet night with only a hurricanelamp for illumination. Pop also bought the latest in toilet seats in a bid toimprove comfort and aesthetics, but septic toilet systems were unheard of atthat time.