3
Squadron LIFETIMES
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Wing Commander
Roderick Martin HANSTEIN.
Died 5 March
2007. Aged 82yrs.
[3SQN
Commanding Officer, Butterworth, 1962-3.]
3SQN Group photo. Rod sitting with hands resting on the Sabre
intake cover. [Squadron dog Jefferson in the intake!]
Rod HANSTEIN completed his WW2 flying training in Canada, under
the Empire Air Training Scheme, in 1945.
At
the conclusion of WW2 he returned to Australia and undertook a short
spell as a specialist Navigator Instructor at Point Cook, after
which he was converted to Mustang Fighters at No.2
Operational Training Unit, followed by a posting to Malta.
In Malta he was part of the RAAF fighter wing comprising 75 and 76
squadrons where he began to fly Vampire jet fighters.
Rod married his wife
Adele in 1952. (Interrupting her University medical studies, but
she eventually qualified as a Doctor 30 years later!)
In 1954 Rod
converted to Meteor fighters and began ground duties as
Commander of Air Training Corps in Melbourne, and Aide to
the Commonwealth Games.
In 1959 Rod moved to
Butterworth, Malaya, where he was Commanding Officer of 3 Squadron,
equipped with Sabres. During this time he had a close
brush with death when his Sabre went into an
uncontrollable spin. Rod ejected from the fighter and survived
parachuting into a rubber plantation tree canopy.
He was then posted to
Thailand where he commanded 79 Squadron and Ubon Base,
where he worked with the U.S. Forces against Communism.
On
return to Australia, Rod was appointed Assistant Director of
Operations at Headquarters in Canberra.
There
is a fascinating article in TROVE where Rod was
interviewed about his RAAF career, and also his later business
interests.
Rod shown in a 1992 newspaper photo, after buying an
Aquarium! [Inset: Rod with his 3SQN RAAF Sabre.]
In
the article, Rod talks about applying the "10 Principles of War”
to business!
He
also mentions that during the Indonesian Confrontation he was
involved in intercepting Soviet-made Badger bombers carrying
surface-to-air missiles. [But
3SQN never had cause to open fire during these tense incidents, since
participants remained on their own side -
just! - of the international boundaries.]
And
he adds some detail about his Sabre ejection, after a loss of
control, on the 9th of October 1963. He says:
"I rolled over onto
my back, lost my tail unit and had to eject. My wingman stayed
with me as long as possible to pinpoint my position. I fell into
the jungle and was hanging in the trees, but they found me."
[The full crash report for A94- 967 is available in
the National Archives.]
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