George Treatt (1934-2015); Helicopter Pilot

Papua New Guinea, Antarctica and Australia 1963-1968

George Treatt was a helicopter pilot of exceptional skill and one of very few pilots known to have flown with National Mapping personnel in Papua New Guinea, Antarctica and Australia.  As a Helicopter Utilities Pty Ltd staff pilot George flew Bell 47G-3B-1 helicopters to support Nat Map’s role in the high level geodetic survey of Papua New Guinea between1963 and 1965.  He flew Bell 47G-2 and Fairchild Hiller FH-1100 helicopters to support Nat Map members of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions during the four summer seasons between 1964-65 and 1967-68.  George also flew an FH-1100 helicopter in support of Nat Map’s Aerodist ground marking operations in the Northern Territory in 1967. 

Nat Mappers who flew with George in PNG referred to him as a magnificent and determined pilot with whom all felt most confident flying.  In PNG, George was seen to carry out many seemingly impossible sorties.  Supervising surveyor Bill Johnson fondly described George as laconic to the stage almost of taciturnity but one who could yet smile in adverse situations.  During his four summer seasons in Antarctica from 1964-65 to 1967-68, George was highly regarded as a professional pilot who was not only capable and efficient but also cooperative and readily able to accommodate the field positioning needs of survey parties.  Many of the Nat Mappers who flew with George in Australia during 1967 recall him as the nature boy due to his tendency to fly au naturel.  Nevertheless, he was greatly respected as an excellent and safety conscious pilot as well as a competent navigator.  George maintained a quiet air of authority and no-nonsense approach to his helicopter operations and fitted in well with Nat Map party members around the survey camps.

George Vernon Treatt was born in Sydney on 25 February 1934.  His parents were Vernon Haddon Treatt (1897-1984) and Dorothy Isabelle Treatt (nee Henderson-1902-1992).  George had three siblings.  His older brother John died at a young age and his older sister Rosemary died when she was eight years of age.  Diana is his surviving younger sister.  Later in life George’s parents went their separate ways and in 1960 his father married Frankie Wilson.

George’s father Sir Vernon Treatt

George’s father had a distinguished career in the military, law and public life.  During World War I, Vernon Treatt served in the ranks on the Western Front with the 6th Field Artillery Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery.  He was promoted sergeant and later awarded the Military Medal.  After the war he resumed his Bachelor of Arts degree studies at the University of Sydney.  He completed his degree in 1920 and was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to New College Oxford.  Here he gained the degrees of Master of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Law.  On return to Australia he was appointed to the New South Wales Bar and was Sub-Warden of St Paul’s College at the University of Sydney from 1925 to 1930.  In 1927, Vernon Treatt was appointed Challis lecturer in criminal law at the University of Sydney and held that position until 1959.  He played first grade rugby union and in 1928 served as Crown Prosecutor in the New South Wales Supreme Court. 

Vernon Treatt entered the New South Wales Parliament as the (United Australia Party) member for the Legislative Assembly seat of Woolahra and held this seat until it was abolished in 1962.  Vernon Treatt was New South Wales Minister for Justice from 1939 to 1941 and leader of the Liberal Opposition from 1946 to 1954.  He was made a King’s Counsel in 1940.  He was chair of the local government Boundaries Commission from 1964 to 1969.  From 1967 to 1969, Vernon Treatt was the Chief Commissioner of the then dismissed City of Sydney Council.  Sir Vernon Treatt received a knighthood as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1970 for his service to the Sydney City Council.

George’s school years

George Treatt’s formal school education commenced at the Cranbrook (Anglican Independent) School at Sydney’s Bellevue Hill under Oxonian Headmaster Brian Hone BA MA.  George attended Cranbrook in 1940-41.  During 1942-43, George moved to the countryside west of Sydney and attended the Locksley Public School located to the south of the Great Western Highway about half way between Lithgow and Bathurst.  George returned to Sydney and during 1944-51 attended Shore Church of England Grammar School at North Sydney.  Here he achieved the Leaving Certificate.  At Shore, George was under another Oxonian Headmaster, Leonard Charles Robson MC MA.  (William Dargie’s portrait of LC Robson was awarded the Archibald Prize in 1946.) 

University student and jackeroo

During 1952, George attended Sydney’s University of Technology.  Here mainly at the instigation of his family he studied wool technology.  George decided not to return to university after 1952 and instead spent 1953 and 1954 working as a jackaroo on his uncle’s property Mulberrygong on the Murrumbidgee River about 25 miles east of Hay in the Riverina region of New South Wales.  Even at that stage George was looking to a future in aviation and was biding his time until he could achieve adult-age entry to the Royal Australian Air Force. 

Flying with the Royal Australian Air Force

In 1955 at age 21, George joined the Royal Australian Air Force but he was not planning a career there.  Instead George saw the RAAF as providing the best available pilot training and also the most economical as he would be paid while learning to fly.  George undertook his basic RAAF training at Uranquinty south-west of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. Afterwards he underwent pilot training from the RAAF base at Point Cook south-west of Melbourne.  In 1956, George graduated from No 22 Pilot’s Course as a Sergeant Pilot.  His later postings in Australia included Williamtown, New South Wales and Amberley, Queensland. 

Around 1961 George served with the RAAF in Malaya with the rank of Flying Officer.  Here George nominally served with C Flight of No 1 Squadron RAAF where he was the pilot of a Douglas Dakota C47 general transport plane.  One of George’s major assignments was to fly the Dakota to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in the then Republic of South Vietnam.  Here for some time the aircraft was put at the disposal of the Australian Ambassador and George and his crew flew the Ambassador to various locations in South Vietnam and into Laos and Cambodia.  George left the RAAF towards the end of 1961 after six years and eight months service.  A summary of his flying with the RAAF is provided at Table 1 below.

Offer from QANTAS

About nine months before his commission in the RAAF was due for renewal consideration, George received an unsolicited letter from QANTAS canvassing employment as an airline pilot and explaining the entrance procedures for that airline.  George had no intention of renewing his RAAF commission and was attracted by the QANTAS offer.  However, through January, February and into March 1962 all George got from QANTAS was delay and not quite yet toned messages but nothing definite eventuated until it was too late.

To Helicopter Utilities

At a social function in Sydney in early 1962, George’s step-brother Bryce Killen suggested George get in touch with Bill Williams the then general manager of one of Bryce’s companies, Helicopter Utilities to see if there was a possibility of George becoming a helicopter pilot there.  George went to Helicopter Utilities to pursue this prospect.  George timed that visit well as Bill Williams suggested he take a flight with the company’s chief pilot who was about to test-fly a helicopter.  George was very impressed by the flight and realised then that helicopters would be his future aviation life.  George accepted a position with Helicopter Utilities and was immediately posted to Darwin to undertake helicopter conversion training. 

Helicopter pilot conversion training with John Stanwix

His instructor was John Stanwix (who had converted to helicopters from a fixed wing aircraft pilot and instructor background in 1958 under instructor Lance Yeates).  George’s conversion flight training was carried out in a Bell 47G-2 helicopter (VH-UTA).  George recalled that as part of John’s training method they would be flying over country covered by trees and scrub when John would call: Land down there!  At first George would think there was no room to land a helicopter where John had directed.  However, he soon realised he was been taught to quickly size up spots where a helicopter could be safely put down.  It was a lesson George learned well.  George found that John Stanwix was a very good instructor and the conversion theory and practical training was completed in just two weeks and John took George for the formal licence test on 6 June 1962.  However, there was then an inordinate delay for the necessary paperwork to come through the official pipeline. 

Helicopter pilot career

Afterwards, in the second part of 1962, George embarked on a career as a helicopter pilot that would occupy him for some 31 years.  Not that it was especially lucrative to start with; in those early days George was paid a salary of $3,000 and a daily living allowance of another $3 but that did not go far in the Darwin of those times.  However, by the early 1990s, George’s income as a senior pilot on Sikorsky S-58 helicopters was about the same as that paid to a captain of a Boeing 747 airliner.  Most of George’s helicopter flying was done with Helicopter Utilities which later became part of the Airfast Group of aviation companies.  However, George left but later rejoined Airfast on a few occasions; mainly to broaden his aviation experience.

After eventually receiving his helicopter pilot licence documentation, George’s first task as a helicopter pilot was supporting field surveying work in the west Kimberley region of Western Australia.  The work area extended from around Broome to around Derby.  The work was undertaken in the latter part of 1962 for the Royal Australian Army Survey Corps.  Later, George would spend considerable periods of time positioning National Mapping survey parties in the field in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Antarctica.

Flying for National Mapping in the New Guinea highlands

From after World War I until it gained independence in 1975, Papua New Guinea was an Australian administered territory.  Between May and September 1963, Nat Map’s survey observing work commenced for the high level geodetic survey of Papua New Guinea.  Between May 1963 and January 1965, geodetic survey observing parties had to be positioned on 31 mountain tops in the New Guinea highlands.  Twenty-two of these mountains rose to over 10,000 feet above sea level. The highest was Mount Wilhelm that rose to 14,793 feet.  Helicopter Utilities’ Bell 47G-3-B1 aircraft were the first turbocharged helicopters to operate in PNG.  These helicopters were then the only ones in PNG that had sufficient engine power to operate in the thin air associated with mountains above 10,000 feet.  Helicopter VH-UTJ was brought to Port Moresby on 21 May 1963 onboard an Army LST (landing ship-tank).  It was first flown on a test flight to Mount Victoria (that rises to 13,240 feet above sea level) on 23 May by John Stanwix.  George accompanied a similar aircraft (VH-UTG) that was to be used by the Royal Army Survey Corps on its delivery flight in a Royal Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules transport plane directly from Richmond RAAF base near Sydney to Lae. During this first period of operations the pilots of the Nat Map helicopter included George Treatt, John Stanwix and John Arthurson (a former RAAF fighter pilot in Korea). 

The next period of Nat Map’s PNG geodetic survey operations was between November 1963 and January 1964.  The use of Bell 47G-3-B1 helicopter VH-UTJ from Helicopter Utilities for the positioning of observation parties continued with pilots George Treatt and John Arthurson. 

Incident on Mount Otto

On 10 January 1964 the helicopter chartered for the survey crashed on Mount Otto (11,634 feet above sea level), whilst George was training relief pilot Wally Rivers (who was at the controls) on techniques required for high altitude take-offs prior to a planned pilot change-over.  George and Wally escaped serious injury but the aircraft was destroyed.  They were recovered by the only other Bell 47G-3-B1 operating in New Guinea at the time.  It was flown from Madang by pilot John Hurrell with engineer Phil Latz.  George recalled being flown directly from Mt Otto to nearby Goroka where he had a gash in his leg stitched up at the hospital

(The next morning aircraft engineer Phil Latz was dropped on to Mount Otto to dismantle the wreckage for salvage.  The weather closed in for several days and the two extra men who were supposed to help Phil could not fly in.  Undeterred, Phil dismantled the wreckage alone and bundled the various pieces for later helicopter recovery.  After sitting around for a day or so in the rain and damp he walked down the mountain to Goroka!  Phil later became a helicopter pilot and flew Nat Map survey parties in north-west Western Australia.)

Completing the National Mapping survey in Papua New Guinea

Between October 1964 and January 1965, Nat Map’s PNG geodetic survey work was completed with support from a Bell 47G3-B1 helicopter (VH-UTG) that was again used for observer party positioning with George as one of the pilots.  The flying work-day for Nat Map in the New Guinea highlands would start at first light which, for aviation purposes, was officially deemed as 20 minutes before sunrise.  Owing to cloud build-up around the mountain peaks, it was usual for flying to be curtailed for the day at some time between about 10:00 am and noon.  Thus owing to concerns with cloud closing in, there was always some pressure on pilots to keep flying, when necessary, as long as conditions allowed. 

Sometimes the work pressure was such that every available minute for flying counted towards meeting the survey schedule.  Nat Mapper John Allen recalled one morning after making several successive flights, George returned to base for the final loading for the day.  Instead of leaving the engine running George shut the helicopter down while he took a necessary call of nature break.  This minor delay agitated the supervising surveyor Bill Johnson who rebuked George as he returned to the helicopter along the lines: Captain Treatt, you were in there twelve minutes!

Approaching Mt Ialibu in cloud

Nat Mapper John Allen also recalled being on that final flight for the day that was going from Mt Hagen base to a survey station on the top of the 11,369 feet Mt Ialibu.  The approach to the peak that George had used on earlier flights in the day was up a steep valley with the ridges forming the valley converging toward the summit.  As the aircraft went higher, cloud was seen spilling over a ridge to the right and creating a barrier to their line of flight.  At one stage when about level with the trees on the ridge, John could see individual tree branches in the midst of the cloud.  John feared they were going to be trapped into flying into cloud. 

However, in a sudden brief manoeuvre, George pirouetted the helicopter around while also spiralling upward clear of the cloud and into blue sky.  A couple of minutes later the helicopter landed on Mt Ialibu.  John had never before experienced such flying.

From flying in low latitudes to flying in high latitudes

Soon after completing his flying commitment to Nat Map’s Papua New Guinea survey project, George shifted his operational flying area from near the Equator to near the South Pole.  George flew Helicopter Utilities helicopters in support of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions during four consecutive summer seasons.

First season in Antarctica

For George’s first Antarctic summer season in 1964-65, Helicopter Utilities provided three Bell 47G-2 helicopters (VH-UTA, VH-UTB and VH-UTC) as well as pilots for ANARE’s DeHavilland Beaver fixed wing (VH-PGL).  These aircraft travelled south on the MV Nella Dan as part of an expedition led by Philip Law, the Director of the Australian government’s Antarctic Division.  As well as George, the helicopter pilots were John Arthurson and Brian Saw.  They were supported by helicopter engineers Ron See and Lindsay Smith.  (The Beaver pilots were Harvey Else and John Whiting.) 

The helicopters carried out ice reconnaissance flights to help get the supply vessel MV Nella Dan in to Mawson base’s Horseshoe Harbour.  From that base, the aircraft were used to position surveyors, geologists and others into the field.  The first operational helicopter flight was on 3 January 1965 and the last flight was on 26 February 1965.  The three helicopters flew a total of 394 hours and 20 minutes in 342 sorties.  The summer season survey party that George and his fellow pilots supported were Nat Mappers Syd Kirkby, Max Corry, John Farley and Rod Maruff. 

Recognition for Antarctic service

Mount Treatt was named after George for his outstanding service as a helicopter pilot with the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition during 1964-65.  This peak is located in Antarctica’s Kemp Land at 68 degrees South latitude and 56 degrees 55 minutes East longitude.  It rises sharply from the plateau about 14.5 km south-east of Mount Cook in the Leckie Range. 

Second season in Antarctica

For the ANARE summer expedition of 1965-66, George again travelled south on the MV Nella Dan as the sole pilot of the one Helicopter Utilities Bell 47G-2 helicopter (VH-UTB).  The use of only one helicopter was due to a light field program that summer.  On the voyage south a wave broke over the deck of the Nella Dan and smashed a wing on the Beaver fixed wing aircraft that was rendered unserviceable for the season.  The first operational helicopter flight was on 10 January 1966 and the last flight was on 12 February 1966.  During this period some 55 hours and 54 minutes of helicopter time were flown.  Helicopter support operations were curtailed on 13 February when a 130 knots blizzard at Mawson tore the helicopter from its tie-downs on the back deck of the Nella Dan and led to the tail rotor blades being bent.  George was supported by helicopter engineer Graham Dalitz.

Third season in Antarctica

During the summer of 1966-67, George returned to Antarctica to again support that season’s research expedition.  With fellow pilot J Zwoyny, George operated Helicopter Utilities Fairchild Hiller FH-1100 turbine powered helicopters (VH-UTB and VH-UTZ).  George was the chief pilot on this expedition.  The pilots were supported by engineers Lindsay Rogers and Graham Tadgell. 

On the voyage south an engineer went to test one of the helicopter engines without a pilot on aboard the aircraft.  Unfortunately the engineer did not realise that on that particular aircraft one of the foot pedals had to be sightly depressed to ensure there was no torque being transmitted to the tail rotor.  In the event the pedals were left level and the aircraft screwed around on the deck of the MV Nella Dan and went over the side and was left hanging at about a 45 degree angle.  Fortunately it was recovered by one of the ship’s cranes.  This expedition was the first time that ANARE’s operations had been supported by turbine powered helicopters.  Amongst the various operational flights George made that season were some to support the survey work carried out in the Framnes Mountains by Nat Map surveyors John Quinert and John Manning.  The first operational helicopter flight was on 7 January 1967 and the last flight was on 22 February 1967; only 19 hours were flown during the expedition. 

Fourth season in Antarctica

George’s final ANARE expedition was for the summer of 1967-68.  He again travelled south on the MV Nella Dan; this time as chief pilot with fellow pilots Jack Palmer and R Hamilton. Helicopter Utilities provided three Fairchild Hiller FH-1100 helicopters (VH-UHD, VH‑UHE and VH-UTZ) to support the ANARE operations together with engineers A Hank Hendry and Gordon Douglas.  The first operational helicopter flight was an ice reconnaissance from the MV Nella Dan on 13 January 1968 and the last flight was on 10 March 1968.  A total of nearly 293 helicopter hours were flown in support of various expedition activities. 

Helicopter work included positioning the survey party that comprised Nat Mappers Max Rubeli, Max Corry and George Hamm (incoming Officer in Charge of Mawson base for 1968) who undertook a coastal traverse on eastern side of the Amery Ice Shelf.  Nat Map surveyor John Manning undertook astronomic observations on the western side of the Amery Ice Shelf. 

Flying with National Mapping in Australia

Back in Australia during June 1967, George flew Helicopter Utilities Fairchild-Hiller FH-1100 helicopter (VH-UTZ) on charter to National Mapping.  This aircraft operated from the Tennant Creek, Hooker Creek, Wave Hill and Timber Creek regions of the Northern Territory and Kununurra in Western Australia.  It was used to position survey crews that established survey control stations (ground marks) for Nat Map’s Aerodist airborne distance measuring operations.  The licensed aircraft engineers who maintained VH-UTZ on this charter were Graham Tadgell and Roy Rayner.  George also flew VH-UTZ to support Nat Map’s Aerodist measuring party in July and early August 1967.  The areas he operated from included Katherine, Calvert Hills, Brunette Downs, Creswell Downs, McArthur River and Borroloola in the western Gulf of Carpentaria region of the Northern Territory.

Flying for Heletranz in Papua New Guinea

Between October 1969 and December 1970, George left Airfast to work for the New Zealand-based Heletranz in Papua New Guinea.  Part of the attraction of this assignment for George was the opportunity it provided to fly Aerospatiale Alouette II helicopters.  The Heletranz work involved tasks for Ok Tedi open cut gold and copper mine in Western Province and work for BHP and Kennecott Copper.  Later George went on to fly Aerospatiale Alouette III helicopters and found these larger machines much better to fly.  By late 1970 George was well experienced on the Alouette III and was flying seismic work in PNG’s New Ireland Province.  About this time George’s contract with Heletranz was due for renewal but without consultation many contract conditions were changed to George’s considerable detriment.  He did not renew the contract.

Back with Airfast in Papua New Guinea

George’s departure from Heletranz was well timed for around that time, Airfast had added some Aerospatiale Alouette III helicopters to its fleet of aircraft.  Airfast was looking for experienced Alouette III pilots.  Thus in January 1971, George was back in Papua New Guinea flying an Alouette III for Airfast.  One of his initial assignments was erecting communications repeater stations on some of the mountain tops he had previously flown to with National Mapping.  Sites included Mt Otto which George flew to while based at Goroka.

Flying for Kelicopters in Abu Dhabi

During another of his periods away from Airfast between August 1978 and July 1979, George spent nearly a year working for the Florida-based Kelicopters Inc where he flew a Bell 212 (Twin Huey) helicopter.  During this time George was stationed at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on the Persian Gulf.  George worked there on the basis of two months flying then one month off.  He was accommodated in his own room for the duration and had the convenience of not having to vacate it during his times away.  With fellow expat pilots George also enjoyed excellent catering and laundry services as well as free airline travel when on leave.  These generous employment arrangements helped to deal with the very onerous flying conditions.

Abu Dhabi is the capital and second largest city in the Emirates with a population that was approaching a million people.  The climate was challenging especially between June and September when it was extremely hot and humid.  The daily temperatures (on average of minimum and maximum) remained above 32 degrees Celsius and maximum daily temperatures exceeded 45 degree.  The working temperature was even higher inside the Perspex bubble of the helicopter.  There was no escape from the heat during flights.

George’s flights were usually short duration trips to off-shore oil drilling and production platforms.  He had insufficient time to climb above the temperature inversion that persisted to over 5,000 feet above sea level.  The average annual rainfall in Abu Dhabi was two and a quarter inches; that usually fell on less than ten days per year. 

The nearby oil fields produced light crude with high sulphur content.  Owing to constant flaring at well heads, the air was always thick with sulphur smoke.  This was unpleasant to live with and also affected helicopter operations to such an extent that the service life of engines and other components was halved.

Flying with Airfast in Indonesia

Later George flew Sikorsky S-58T helicopters for Airfast Indonesia.  He flew these aircraft across a wide area from the eastern city of Merauke at the mouth of the Maro River on the Arafura Sea in West Irian to islands in the Banda Sea off eastern Java.  Tasks included oil exploration, oil drilling support and timber transport work.  The timber work involved sling-loading logs out of tight clearings amongst tall trees in dense jungle. The most common timber George loaded was ebony but other less valuable species were also loaded.  Ebony is a very dense black timber used in high value applications such as furniture making. Indonesian ebony (Diospyros celebica) is prized for its luxuriant multi-coloured wood grain.

George found the S-58T to be a marvellous helicopter to fly.  The model was first released in 1954 as an 18 passenger utility helicopter.  The original S-58 was powered by a single radial engine but the later S-58T was powered by a Pratt &Whitney Canada PT6T-3 twin-pac turbo shaft engine and had seven gearboxes.  These aircraft had been used throughout the world for numerous civilian and military applications.  As a consequence an extensive range of unused spare parts could be acquired at very competitive prices.  It was often more economical to replace components with military surplus spares than to have then overhauled.

George’s last couple of years with Airfast in Indonesia involved flying a Bell 204 helicopter for exploration company Ingold, mostly in Papua New Guinea.  Initially the company’s logistical support for it exploration and aircraft crews was very poor.  Food was just dried meat and rice.  Fortunately this situation later improved.

Retirement

A few months before his 60th birthday, George retired from flying in December 1993.  At that time he was still working for the Airfast Group in Indonesia.  During a flying career that spanned 38 years, George had accumulated over 15,000 flying hours in command of military and civilian fixed and rotary wing aircraft; details of which are provided in the Tables 1-4 below.

George’s personal pursuits have been a balance of outdoor and indoor activities that have included snow and water skiing, metal machining and electronics.  In recent years he has spent his time living at Sydney’s northern beaches with winter retreats at Brinsmead, a northern suburb of Cairns in north Queensland.

Vale

Sadly, George Treatt passed away on 24 August 2015 at Cairns Hospital; he was 81 years of age. George was survived by his younger sister Diana. The following notice of his death appeared in the Cairns Post on 29 August 2015:

 

George Treat Flying Record

Types of Aircraft Flown and Hours in Command

Table 1: Fixed Wing Aircraft Type (flown with RAAF)

Hours Flown

DeHavilland DH.82 Tiger Moth*

51

Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Wirraway

80

Mustang

1

DeHavilland Vampire F.30, FB.31

66

DeHavilland Vampire T.33

1

Gloster Meteor T.7, F.8

77

Douglas Dakota C47

1,250

Hours Flown as Pilot in Command (RAAF fixed wing flights)

1,526

(* Most of these hours were flown with RAAF.)

 

 

Table 2: Fixed Wing Aircraft Type (civil flights)

Hours Flown

Auster J/4, J/5, J/5F

8

Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation CA-6 Wackett Trainer

3

DeHavilland DH Chipmunk

6

Cessna 150, 180, 182, 210

110

Piper PA-24 Comanche

1

Piper PA-28 Cherokee

21

Piper PA-23 Aztec

24

Victa Airtourer AT.115

4

Beagle B.121 Pup

4

Hours Flown as Pilot in Command (fixed wing civil flights)

181

 

Table 3: Rotary Wing Aircraft Type (civil flights)

Hours Flown

Bell 47,D, G, J

4,030

Bell 204, 205

1,920

Bell 206

1,670

Bell 212 (Twin Huey)

530

Hiller UH-12C

17

Fairchild Hiller FH-1100

505

Sikorsky S-58T

3,610

Sikorsky S-63A

150

Aerospatiale Alouette II

225

Aerospatiale Alouette III

990

Hours Flown in Command (civil helicopter flights)

13,647

 

Table 4: George Treat Flying Record Summary

Hours Flown

Hours flown as pilot in command (RAAF fixed wing flights)

1,526

Hours flown as pilot in command (fixed wing civil flights)

181

Total hours as pilot flown in command of fixed wing aircraft

1,707

Hours flown as pilot in command of civil helicopters

13,647

Total hours flown as pilot in command (all aircraft)

15,354

 

Prepared by Laurie McLean, 2013; updated May 2016.

 

 

References

 

Anonymous (1987), The Antarctic and Australian Aviation, articles in Aurora ANARE Club Journal, Volume 6, No 4, June 1987, pp 25-28 and Volume 7, No 1, September 1987, pp 26‑29, ANARE Club Melbourne.

Anonymous (2012), Vernon Treatt entry on International Historians Association website, accessed at: http://www.internationalhistoriansassociation.com/~internat/ihawiki/index.php?title=Vernon_Treatt

Anonymous (2013), Ebony article on Wikipedia website, accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebony

Anonymous (2013), Sikorsky Aircraft article on Wikipedia website, accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_Aircraft

Anonymous (2013), Sikorsky H-34 article on Wikipedia website, accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_H-34

Anonymous (undated), Complete (Historical) Civil Rotorcraft Register of Australia, Parts 1&2 from Rotorcraft Registrations Database accessed on Rotorsport website at: http://www.rotorspot.nl/vh.htm

Allen, John and Cook, David (undated), The Division of National Mapping’s Geodetic Survey of Papua New Guinea-a Personal Perspective, accessed at: http://www.xnatmap.org/cpng/docs/dnm_png%20flt.htm

Australian Antarctic Division (2013), Place Names search for Treatt on Australian Antarctic Data Centre Data Management and Spatial Data Services website, accessed at: https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/places/search.cfm?search_text=Treatt&search_aus_gaz=true&search_gebco_gaz=true&search_informal_gaz=true&search_scar_gaz=true&search_subant_gaz=true&submit_btn=Search

Johnson, Howard Angas (1969), The High Level Geodetic Survey of New Guinea, National Mapping Technical Report 8, Department of National Development, Canberra, March 1969, accessed at: http://www.xnatmap.org/cpng/docs/HAJ_PNG/HAJ_PNG_F.htm

Morgan, Grahame (2011), Vale John Hurrell, 15 February 2011, entry on The Papua New Guinea Association of Australia web site, accessed at: http://www.pngaa.net/Vale/vale_june11.htm

Latz, Philip John (2006), Flying with my Angel: Surviving Religion, Sex and Helicopters, Zytal Press, Stokers Siding New South Wales, ISBN 9780980445107.

Porteous, Murray Thomas (2013), Personal communications March-August 2013.

Treatt, George Vernon (2013), Personal communications April-September 2013.