Chairman of the Aviation Safety Advisory Panel Pat Murray heads a list of five aviators recognised in the Queens Birthday Honours list released yesterday.
Murray, who was awarded an Member of the Order of Australia (AM), was joined by Queensland recreational flying identity Trevor Bange, NT airport administrator Robert Calaby, WA aviation record holder Barry Markham and Whitworth Aviation founder Bill Whitworth, all of whom received Medals of the Order of Australia (OAM).
Pat Murray AM has had a very long and distinguished career in both military and civil aviation. In his air force career he was personal flying instructor to HRH Prince Edward at the RAF Central Flying School, and an operational pilot and flying instructor with the RAAF, and a Roulette display pilot. He flew with Cathay Pacific as a Senior Check and Training captain. Murray has contributed to the Honourable Company of Air Pilots (formerly the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators) in several roles including Chairman of the Australian Region and Deputy Chairman and Technical Director. He is also an Honorary Professor at University of Southern Queensland and a former Professor of Aviation and Logistics. At Griffith University, Murray was the inaugural director of the Aerospace Strategic Study Centre. Murray was Group General Manager of the Air Transport Group at CASA between 2005-08 and since 2017 has been the Chair of the Aviation Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), and since 2020 the Chair of the Future of Aviation Reference Panel.
One of the most recognisable names in recreational aviation is that of Trevor Bange OAM. Bange is the CFI of Lone Eagle Flying School, run by the Darling Downs Sport Aircraft Association, of which he has been on the committee for 45 years, mostly as treasurer. Bange is the driving force behind the Clifton Fly-in, serving as organiser since 1982. He has contributed significantly to the success of gliding in the area as a member of the Darling Downs Soaring Club since 1967, serving terms as treasurer, secretary, airworthiness officer, flying instructor and tug pilot. Bange joined the board of Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus) in 2013 and has served on the South East Queensland Regional Airspace and Procedures Advisory Committee (RAPAC) as either ordinary member or convenor since 2002. Bange also served the Air Force Cadets as a flight commander and flying instructor for 34 years.
Bob Calaby OAM has received his award for many years of service to airports in the Northern Territory. Currently the Aerodrome Safety and Standards Manger for NT Airports, Calaby also served in the operations department of Darwin International Airport from 1999-2009. Calaby has also chaired the Australian Airport Association's Emergency Working Group, was a Technical Supervisor for the Federal Airports Corporation from 1997-1999. In a previous career, he worked for the Australian Survey Office doing Cadastral, engineering and geophysical surveys in Australia, Republic of Kiribati and the USA.
Aviation record holder Barry Markham OAM is well known in the international de Havilland world. A member of the Royal Aero Club of WA, Markham holds 10 FAI world records and 10 Australian records set in Tiger Moths. Most remarkable of these was his Perth-Cambridge UK trip immortalised in his 2008 book Solo to England. In May-June 1998, Markham set several city-pair records in his Tiger Moth en route to the UK, most of which are still intact today. The trip was a fundraiser fo the Royal Flying Doctor Service. He was a torch-bearer for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and was honoured with the UK's Geoffrey de Havilland Trophy and in Australia with the Luskintyre Aviation Group Trophy.
Bill Whitworth OAM ran Whitworth Aviation for 38 years from 1980-2018. He trained IFR students since 1970, amassing approximately 34,000 hours in the air. Whitworth instructed on the Qantas Cadet Scheme and training programs of both Garuda and Malaysian airlines. He is also a former CASA examiner, a member of the Royal Aero Club since 1963 and was a key organiser of the 1998 Magnificent Men Without Their Flying Machines aviation ball, raising funds for charity. In 2011, Whitworth was inducted into the Luskintyre Aviation Hall of Fame.
Australian Flying thanks all of these aviators for their years of service and congratulates them on being recognise in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for 2022.