Hi Nev,
My name is Tim Mullaney and I live in Stroud NSW.
I moved from Sydney in 1978 at age 13 with my family to a farm at Allworth Park NSW ( located Stroud side of the Allworth township) , my father was a Qantas Pilot so I had been brought up with some knowledge and interest in aeroplanes , my Father would travel from Williamtown to Sydney as required for work and finished his career off as a Qantas 747 Captain , he unfortunately lost his pilots licence through late onset diabetes when he became insulin dependent, I also had some flying lessons at age 20.
On the night of the storm the plane went missing my Mother and I were inside our house watching television and heard a small plane travelling very low and it had some issues with the noise it was making like engine problems or because of the effect of the storm, we went outside the house to see if we could see anything but could not, we could clearly hear it was travelling south and it sounded like it was heading over property on the other side of the Bucketts Way from where we were (properties up Gunns Gully Road).
The next day we heard there was a plane that went missing in the storm and we phoned someone to report it at the time but I can not remember wether it was Williamtown airport or who ?? everyone including the media reports seemed sure it went missing at Barrington tops.
I spoke to a friend of mine Rob Murray who lived just down the road a few kilometers next to the deep creek bridge on the Bucketts Way and they heard the plane in trouble too, Rob and I went searching on horses up Gunns Gully road and travelled south through properties to Ebsworth road, we obvioulsy did not find anything but also realised that if a plane went into a lantana , scrub filled gully the wings could snap off and the fuselage could slide in underneath.
It has always played on my mind and when I think about it I can still hear it in my mind, particularly when it is in the news.
It was in the news again a week or so ago saying about the documented search area.
Today on the way home from work I pulled over outside the Murrays farm to answer my mobile and then make a couple of calls, a vehicle pulled in and I asked if he was Rob as I had not seen him for probably 20 years and he said yes, we spoke for a while and I asked him if he remembered looking for the aeroplane with me all those years ago and he did not, but he went onto say he and his family remembered it and that they were only speaking about it the other night, his father John told him he had spoken to other property owners over the years who had also heard the plane in trouble so he apparently believes the line of travel could have taken the plane to the Williams River as he feels it would have been found on the mor open properties to the south ( I guess a river which for a pilot if he could see it via lightning flashes etc would have seemed like a good option at the time).
The river would have seen many floods over the years as well so it may not not be of much help.
I am happy to speak to you about it if you like ( we could talk over the phone and both look at the google satellite map of the area to assist).
I know this is probably a curved ball for you to get your head around too but I see on the internet you are looking for more information and this may help.
Yours sincerely
