Picture
taken 16 May 1989PERSONAL DETAILS
Robert Douglas Blair
born Wednesday, 27January 1954, North Adelaide, South Australia (somewhere about
6.30pm)
lives at Hallett Cove, South Australia
email address: rdblair@internode.on.net
Education
Academic Qualifications Bachelor of Arts (Accountancy) 1975
Employer Carr Fastener
Holdings Pty Ltd [trading name Carr Components]
(formerly TRW Carr Pty Ltd, subsidiary of TRW Inc.,
Cleveland, Ohio, USA )
Carr Fastener, (located at Netley, South Australia), now uses the trading name Carr Components and manufactures components mainly for the automotive industry but also for the white goods and other non automotive industries. In the 20th century the company also manufactured fasteners of various kinds including some for clothing, industrial brushes and Nelson Stud Welding. The company began in Sydney in the 1920's and moved to Adelaide about 1928. From then until 1997 its head office was at Hendon but then all operations were consolidated at Netley. The company was foreign owned from about 1928 until 1999 when TRW exited from manufacturing in the automotive industry in Australia and the business became 100% Australian owned.
Picture
taken 16 May 1989
1959 (Grade 1) 1963 (Grade 5)
More pictures of me. More recent pictures of me are not so good.!
Interests: Genealogy, Commercial Aviation and Travel
I have been researching my family tree since 1979, and now have more than 17,250 persons on file (of which approximately 4,700 make up one family - SHEPHERD). This includes research on my ancestors and their families as well as the families of cousins and other relations.
I am a member of the following genealogical and historical societies:
South Australian
Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc.
Pioneers Association of South Australia Inc.
Historical Society of South Australia Inc.
National Trust of South Australia Inc.
Clan
Douglas Association of Australia
Society of Genealogists (London)
Cornwall Family History Society
English Heritage
Scottish Genealogy Society
Borders Family History Society (Scotland)
Genealogical Society of South
Africa
Blair Society for Genealogical Research (USA).
From 1997-2002 I was a Council Member and Treasurer for the Pioneers Association of
SA.
From 1981-2001 I was a member of the Council of the South Australian Genealogy &
Heraldry Society holding the positions of Treasurer 1983-1989, Vice
President 1990-1992, President 1992-2000 and Immediate Past President
(ex-officio)
2000-2001. I am still a volunteer for the Society.
My interest in commercial
aviation started in 1969 following an Ansett ANA flight (F-27) Adelaide-Mount
Gambier-Melbourne. I love flying and several travel agents have gone completely insane
with my overseas travel plans -
Overseas trips should:
use as many different airlines as possible
have the minimum number of direct flights and maximum number of stops
en route
fly in as many different aircraft types as possible
I have been quite successful in achieving these goals.
Airlines (including those operating
scenic flights* only) I have flown with are:
Air Canada, Air Ontario, Air Fraser Island*, Air Grand Canyon*, (Ansett) Airlines of South
Australia), Ansett, Aspen (United Express)
British Airways, British Midland, Broome Aviation*
Canadian Airlines, Canadian North,
Chartair*, Compass (II)
Delta
Eastland Airlines
First Air, Flight West
Greenlandair
Heliways*
Icelandair
Jetstar
Kendell
Malaysia Airlines, Mesa
North Australia Helicopters*
Pacific South West
Ray's Scenic Tours*
Qantas, Qantaslink (National Jet)
Sabena, Seawing Airways*, Slingair*, South African
United
Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Blue
My favourite domestic airline was Ansett,with my last flight being in January
2002, while it had very limited flights, no cabin service apart from cold water
and only weeks before it shut down for good, but now I fly Qantas.
Aircraft types I have flown on are:
AIRBUS
A300 (South African) [Johannesburg-Capetown]
A320 (Ansett, Jetstar)
A330 (Malaysia) [Adelaide-Darwin-Kuala
Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu-Kuala Lumpur-Dubai-Istanbul]
A340 (Virgin Atlantic) [London
Heathrow-Johannesburg]
BEECHCRAFT
1900C (Mesa) [Albuquerque-Farmingon]
BOEING
B727 (Ansett, Delta)
B737 (Ansett, British Midland, Canadian, Delta, Icelandair, Sabena, United, Virgin
Blue)
[incl. Manchester-London
Heathrow, Frobisher Bay-Montreal-Calgary, Reykjavik-Narsarsuaq,
Istanbul-Brussels]
B747 (Air Canada, British, Malaysia, Qantas)
[incl. Toronto-London
Heathrow, Capetown-Johannesburg-Kuala Lumpur]
B757 (British, Delta)
[Edinburgh-London Heathrow, Salt Lake City-Denver-Dallas/Fort Worth-Orlando-Fort
Myers, Orlando-Atlanta]
B767 (Air Canada, Ansett, Qantas) [Air
Canada - Los Angeles-Toronto]
B777 (Malaysia) [Kuala
Lumpur-Darwin-Adelaide]
BOMBARDIER
CRJ200 (Kendell) [Melbourne-Hobart]
BRITISH AEROSPACE BAe146 (Aspen, Qantas Airlink) [Durango-Denver,
Cairns-Alice Springs]
RJ85 (Sabena) [Brussels-Glasgow]
CESSNA
182, 206, 208, 210 [Cessna
208 (Mesa) Farmington-Durango]
CONVAIR
CV-580 (Air Ontario) [Toronto-London-Cleveland-London-Toronto]
DE HAVILAND
Beaver
DHC-6 [Twin Otter] (Eastland) [Darwin-Nguiu-Darwin]
Dash 7 (Greenlandair) [Narsarsuaq-Nuuk]
DOUGLAS DC-3
(Ansett Airways) [Mount
Gambier-Adelaide, Melbourne-Warrnambool]
DC-9 (Ansett)
DC-10 (Canadian) [Vancouver-Honolulu]
MD-80 (Compass II, Pacific Southwest) [Adelaide-Melbourne-Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide,
Los Angeles-Phoenix]
EMBRAER EMB-120
[Brasilia] (Flight West] [Brisbane-Hervey
Bay]
FOKKER F-27
(Airlines of South Australia, Ansett)
F-50 (Icelandair) [Glasgow-Vagar-Reykjavik-Westman
Islands-Reykjavik]
HAWKER SIDDELEY HS-748 (First Air) [Nuuk-Frobisher
Bay]
Trident 2E (British) [Edinburgh-London
Heathrow]
LOCKHEED
L-1011 [Tristar] (Delta) [Atlanta-London
Gatwick]
SAAB
SF-340 (Kendell) [Adelaide-Port
Lincoln-Adelaide]
BELL
47G,
SIKORSKY
S-61 (Greenlandair)
Of the above airlines Airlines of South Australia, Ansett, Compas II, Flight West and Sabena are now defunct (that I am aware of and Canadian Airlines has been taken over by Air Canada.
My least liked aircraft
type was the Boeing B-727, and I was glad when they were replaced.
My favourite is a difficult choice out of Boeing - B-777 and
Airbus - A330.
I also prefer window seats.
My travels have taken me
to large areas of Australia as well as overseas.
My favourite places are:
In Australia - the outback, Western Australia (especially the Kimberley
region), the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland (far west and
Cape York). I also love Kangaroo Island and Tasmania.
Overseas - the UK, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, National Parks of the United States of America (Yosemite, Grand Canyon,
Yellowstone, Zion, Arches) and the Rocky Mountains of
British Columbia .
I do not like places to be overdeveloped - the Grand
Canyon has hotels, etc hanging over the southern rim and the
accommodation at Old Faithful is nearly right on top of the geyser, which I
think is a bit much.
Even in
Australia I think there has been a little too much development in some
areas.
Travel - Internet Class has links to pages with pictures from my travels in Australia and overseas.
Favourite Radio Station ABC Classic FM
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This page was created on 28 June 1997 and last updated 30 September 2007. © 1997-2007 Robert D Blair.