Our speaker for 10am Thursday December 15 is retired Air Vice Marshall Alan Reed. His talk is titled “Invited to a war”. He was serving in the US teaching USAF pilots how to fly Phantom fighters. He wanted to fly in Vietnam but couldn’t be ordered there by the US. The only way he could get there was for the USAF to “invite” him, so that’s how he was “invited to a war”.
We’ll learn about his amazing RAAF career flying the Canberra bombers, the famous FIII low-level bomber, and other state of the art warplanes. He finished with a Queen’s Medal, a Distinguished Flying Cross  with Oak Leaf Cluster, and an Officer in the Order of Australia.
Alan will be interviewed to bring out the marvellous details of his career, a great way to end our Bearbrass year. It's a warts and all account with some anecdotes that will explode your heads!
Pic Left: MAJ Jim Melton USAF Navigator (l) and Squadron Leader Al Reed (r).Note the aircraft name "Carolina Kangaroo" "Have Camera, Will Travel" stencilled on their RF-4C Phantom. Major Melton hailed from North Carolina hence the aircraft name.