Physical description

This publication has a hard cover with a dust jacket. It consists of 191 pages, including 85 black and white and 12 coloured images.

Inscriptions & markings

This book is dedicated to all those who have, in their own unique way, made a contribution to our wealth of aviation history.

Summary

This book includes biographies of 16 different airmen with whom the compiler has come in contact. They have had their own uniques experiences in aviation. 12 of them served in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
One of the aviators featured in this publication is Joe Drage, Born on 10 July 1931 in Walwa, Joseph Gordon (Joe) Drage operated a timber mill and earthmoving business, but his great passion was aviation. After obtaining his pilot’s licence at the age of 19, Mr. Drage set about buying vintage aircraft that he feared would be sold overseas. He bought his first aircraft, a Tiger Moth in 1965. In 1972 he established Drage Historical Aircraft Museum on about 60 ha of land in Wodonga, with 5 planes. Over time this grew to 21 planes which Joe maintained so that they were all in flying order. His museum was the location for several air shows which included fly-ins by members of the Antique Aeroplane Association. The land occupied by the Museum was compulsorily acquired by the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation and Wangaratta council bought the aircraft collection for about $2 million. They opened Drage Airworld in 1984. The cost of maintaining the collection became too much for the council which closed it down in 2002. Joe Drage died on 9 August 2017.