Beech Bums land after flying high for Royal Flying Doctor Service fundraiser

They were one of 34 teams from across Australia and New Zealand flying their small planes in the aviation event.

The race started from Darwin in late August and finished in Coffs Harbour two weeks later after crossing some of the most remote parts of northeast Australia.

The Beech Bums are retirees Whitney Rousham, Bill Tomlin and Paul Robinson flying Bonnie, a 1996 Beechcraft Bonanza.

In total they travelled 7900km in 31.7 flying hours and raised more than $10,000 for the Service before the race started.

When The Senior first met them in April, the Beech Bums' minimum fundraising target was $6000.

Although strong winds and cloudy weather conditions made for a challenging trip, all 34 planes managed to complete the race safely.

"We had a lot of fun and saw some wonderful scenery and visited some seriously isolated places," Whitney said.

"Although I have flown over these parts of the country before I was astounded by the amount of water covering the land and the greenery. What was previously red is now green, especially the Channel country and the Diamantina River floodplain.

"People on the race were a great bunch and we did play up a few times with them. Our team mascot, Bycha Bum, was renowned as being the cheekiest and naughtiest of all the mascots and we have the pictures to prove it."

Each day started with an extensive pilot safety briefing covering issues such as weather, terrain, potential aviation hazards, fuel availability and alternate landing sites.

Success in each race leg was based on accuracy of flying over and time between passing nominated ground features.

Because of the big difference in flight performance, a lot of attention was given to takeoff departure times to ensure safe spacing between aircraft.

The race fleet had a mix of planes ranging from home-built kit aircraft, light sport planes and well known general aviation aircraft such as Cessna, Piper, Mooney and Beechcraft.

Notable among the fleet were the Black Opals from Western Australia flying their 1941 Boeing Stearman metal and fabric biplane which was beautifully presented in her original livery as an American airforce trainer.

The Black Opals also had a backup Cirrus SR22 aircraft carrying oil supplies and spare parts for the old radial-engined Boeing.

The race was ultimately won by The Wacky Warbos (Ian and Connie Warburton) from ACT in their Piper Cherokee.

The Beech Bums finished in 20th place. To justify finishing low in the order Whitney said that Bonnie doesn't like being low and slow, especially over hilly terrain, and neither did the crew she carried.

"We also wandered off track a few times to do some sightseeing, such as our morning coffee stop at Hells Gate, a tiny dirt strip in western Qld, 15km before the NT border, our trip up to Mornington Island and our trip along the shoreline of the Gulf of Carpentaria and down the Leichhardt River looking for crocodile tracks. We found some too," he said.

"The best part of the race was the final presentation dinner where the Race Committee handed the Service a cheque for $750,000 raised by all race participants."

This year saw the introduction of mandatory team mascots into the flight crews which led to significant mayhem.

Mascots ranged from teddy bears with flying helmets, bugs bunny in a flight jacket to a singing and dancing cactus.

The Beech Bums carried Bycha, a small green furry crocodile who got up to considerable mischief with other team mascots (photographed as proof) and, as a result, copped more than a few penalties from the official Race Fine Master, all of which boosted the final fund tally for the Service.

This race also included for the first time a photography and videography competition for each race leg.

Several awards were won by Bill "Bum Lenz" Tomlin. Some of these photos and videos can be seen on the website www.beech-bums.com.

Beech Bums also won the Bush Poets Prize for the most creative poem which they made up around the amorous adventures of Bycha Bum.