The Bay Post/Moruya Examiner profiles the hobbies of people in our community each week in the feature, ‘Get on your hobbyhorse’. Do you have an interesting hobby? Email journalist Josh Gidney at josh.gidney@fairfaxmedia.com.au or phone him on 4472 6577.
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EIGHTY-year-old Ken Carey, of Broulee, has been fascinated by aircraft since he was a youngster, and his enthusiasm has only become stronger.
“It’s just the way they fly in the air,” he said.
“It is fascinating to watch.”
Model planes are a great substitute for the real thing.
Ken is a keen member of the Eurobodalla Model Aero Club and he builds, collects, maintains and flies radio-controlled models.
He had plenty of fuel for his interest as a youngster, living in Punchbowl in Sydney.
“At the end of the Second World War, we would have Mustangs and Spitfires taking off from Bankstown Airport,” he recalled.
“I remember them clearly.
“They were so loud and so low.”
Mr Carey later worked as a fitter at Bankstown Airport, working on the likes of DC-3s and Cessnas.
Seven years ago he was chatting to a fellow member of the Dalmeny and Narooma Bushwalkers, who mentioned he had a model stunt plane.
He invited him down to Tilba Oval to watch him fly it, and the rest is aviation hobby history.
“Ken seemed to talk a lot about model planes, so I thought maybe he would like one of his own,” his wife Fay said.
She bought him a model helicopter.
“I thought I would join a club and learn how to fly it properly,” he said.
He first joined a club at Tilba and when he moved to Broulee, signed up with the Moruya-based Euro-
bodalla club, of which he is one of the oldest members.
These clubs have helped him develop and hone his flying skills.
“Taking off and landing is the hardest thing to learn; everything else is relatively easy,” he said.
“I don’t smash them very often.
“It is like driving a car.”