My family is my first love, 4WDing and camping is my second love and Flying is my passion. I love flying and the freedom it gives and love "bashing clouds". The name came from when I went for a ride in an F/A-18 Hornet and there were some nice white fluffy cumulus clouds about and we proceeded to fly though the very tops of them. When you go through a cloud in a Hornet you simply "destroy" the tops of them and put holes in them, thus bashing clouds - Cloud Basher.
I have used that user name for numerous years on a number of aviation forums and so I can remember what I call myself on various forums I just use the one.
Hope it is ok to post a few photos here of flights I have done and taken people on, but as I said, I love flying and sharing it with people. If this is outside of the forum rules mods, please delete them.
Self Portrait in a Piper J3 Cub
View from the Cub's Door
Taking an passenger for an aerobatic flight in the Pitts Special S2B
Taking another passenger for an aerobatic flight. A nice shot too!
Harvard WWII trainer flypast - friend flying
Coming in to land after turning my passenger upside down and around and around
Taking the Stearman WWII trainer out for a spin
Turning Crosswind in the Stearman. Just beautiful
The Photos of the Pitts and Harvard were taken at the RAAF Richmond Flying Club Fly-in in 2008. I am the president of the club there and we arranged for a number of aircraft to visit and I conducted joy flights in the Curtis Aviation Pitts Special on the day. Everyone had a ball and not one of my passengers was sick. The photos as you can see are simply awesome (the originals full size look even better) and were taken by my Glenn Alderton who if any of you are Warbird enthusiasts will know is one of Australia’s premiere aviation photographers. I know Glenn from work and we have shared a few too many beers at a number of airfields including flying days at the Temora Aviation museum. The other photos of the Stearman were taken by a friend of mine when I got to fly that aircraft in the States last year. The Piper Cub was also in the States and belonged to a good friend of mine. He was 6 ft 5 and weighed 290lbs and as we both couldn't fit in he just said take it for a fly. Unbelievably trusting.
I have flown the Harvard myself but not solo as they owners insurance won't allow anyone but the owner or a named instructor to fly it solo, but it is simply a beautiful aircraft to fly. I also fly a Tigermoth which is again simply beautiful on a Spring evening with the sun setting and the wind in your hair and the smell of fresh cut grass.
Anyway a rather lengthy post just to explain my user name! I guess you can tell it is indeed my passion and especially older aircraft, warbirds and antiques. I count myself very lucky to be able to fly some of these aircraft and cherish every moment of it and being able to share it with others.
Cheers
Dave
