Retirement

As a kid I was always interested in aircraft. I loved driving past the airport. Then one day my Nan took me for a flight in a Fokker Friendship. In the 60s it was still considered exclusive and I remember being looked after like a king and given a badge. My careers adviser asked me what interested me, I said I would like to be a pilot. His answer was quite quick and decisive " you'll never be smart enough to become a pilot" and he advised me to forget about it". So I did.

About six years before before we sold South Coast Music Jill had done some skydiving but she enjoyed it more when the parachute opened and she flew to the ground. Maybe she should learn to fly? So I did some research and on her birthday I drove her to Jaspers Brush, a small airfield outside Nowra and Jill did a Trial Instructional Flight. She enjoyed it so much she signed up for lessons.

Our Jabiru tail dragger "Sky Dancer"

Jill would go out weekly for her lessons, I never joined her as I'd been already told it was beyond my capabilities. She soon went on to pass all her written and practical exams and was awarded her pilots certificate. She then completed her passenger carrying endorsement and then asked me to be her first passenger. I was eager to go along as I alway enjoyed flying. I watched everything she did and of course the flight went like clockwork. When on the ground I said to Jill, I don't think there is a reason for me not to learn to fly. Apart from the written exam the practical side didn't look that hard. So I signed up for lessons.

Jill decided she would like to own her own aircraft so we went on the hunt for an aircraft that would suit our needs and decided on the Australian built Jabiru. The tail dragger we wanted came in kit form not factory build and it was attractive to build your own aircraft. I had the skill to construct it so it was ordered. Jill gave me time off work and I started putting it together.

Construction started in approximately 2000 and the first flight was in 2001. I had help from my father when I needed it and Jill on the weekends. We did all the work ourselves including the spray painting.

I distinctly remember the feeling I had when I first flew this aircraft solo, not only had I learnt to fly and attained my pilots certificate but I had built this aircraft. I looked around...only me and the sky, It was a high I'd never felt before.

We have flown this aircraft over a significant part of Australia. As far north as Bundaberg, south west QLD, most of NSW and Vic, eastern SA on the way to Uluru NT.

When we sold South Coast Music I went about building a shed at our Bomaderry property and bought organs to fill it. Jill was offered the opportunity to do an instructors endorsement . So Jill started to study, passed her instructor rating and then her senior instructor rating. With that she was now qualified to move on to Chief Flying Instructor.

As there was nothing keeping us in Nowra we set off looking for somewhere new to live where we could open a flying school.

As it happened we decided to take a flight up to Bundaberg for their airshow. We thought we would do the round trip by going up the coast and come back via the inland route. On our way home we stayed over night at a friends hanger in Temora. When we woke the next morning it was very foggy. For something to do Jill wandered down the the local aero club and met Alan Powlay. Alan was the CFI (Chief Flying Instructor) for the Temora Aero Club.

Al and Jill hit it off straight away and Al explained that he was looking to step down and was looking to sell his business, Temora Flight Training. They decided that a trial be undertaken to see if Jill fitted and for us to evaluate the prospect of living in Temora.

Two weeks later we returned staying in our friends hanger. While Jill undertook flight training duties I evaluated Temora.

Temora CBD was clean and very well maintained, there seemed to be an aura of pride. People would see that you were wearing an aviation shirt and stopped to talk about their airport and museum. They were very friendly but were worried about the amount of money spent by council on the new aviation estate just completed. This concern would quickly go away as the aviation estate was one of the best decisions council would make to attract new people to the area. It would spawn stage three, which is now sold out with stage four yet to go on the market. At the time, Temora had all the major banks in town, two supermarkets, two hardware stores and all the shops looked busy.

We had previously decided to give the town a six week trial but by the end of two weeks we had decided Temora was the place for us. Great town, friendly people and the opportunity to build on the airport estate and move into a airport community.

Most of the larger blocks had tentative names on them however one gentlemen at the aero club had put his name on one of the blocks we wanted. At the time he didn't have the means to go ahead with the purchase so we were able to go to council and negotiate for the block of land. We were to be the first block sold and built on, in the second stage to the north of stage one.

Stage one had been sold out for some time, with the majority being hangar only blocks. There were very few house and hangar blocks in stage one. Stage two had been designed slightly differently with the majority of the blocks allowing for house and hangar.

With the block now secure we needed a hangar. One of our acquaintance from Nowra was a shed builder. His brother owned a factory building and construction business that had just patented a new construction beam that gave a rounded roof with unheard of strength. We rang him to find out prices and found them a little more money than a conventional roof. They also had a cancelled order for a 24m X 16m building and if we would take it, it would actually be cheaper than a conventional roof. Wow we'll take it.

Council was very excited about this design when we presented the plans and took a whole day to pass it with the DA arriving in the post the next day. Three days from lodgement of plan to DA.... unheard of. The plan included an office with bathroom and kitchen facilities and crew resting area. Included in the design was a organ showroom and workshop with a mezzanine level for storage. This gave us somewhere to stay while we built the house. We started a trend on the airfield with curved roof hangars as several others have now been built.

Northern side of Tenefts St in 2007
Click to view it now!

Below. View of our slab from our friend and soon to be neighbour's Thruster aircraft

When it came time to design the house I had decided to build in a theatre. We had makeshift theatres in all our previous houses because of our love for movies. For me this idea came from one of my fathers friends. He had a 8m x 4m cinemascope curved screen and full 35mm projector equipment in his home in the 60s, so I'm not talking small digital equipment. Once a month he would have people around and us kids also saw the animations shorts before the movie and fell asleep during the movie.

I wanted to have one of my organs rise out of an organ pit. It would required significant planning and construction. PVC piping would have to be be put in place so that cables and 240v could be transported from the house walls into the pit keeping the 240v to a different wall.

The first part of the construction was to dig the hole, brick round the 1.8 m square and water proof the hole in the ground. It certainly had people wondering just what we were doing.

The equipment room on the side of the theatre was to be used not only for the theatre equipment but also to house C-Bus lighting for the theatre and house security, phone and internet services and Blu-Ray and DVD storage, cabling for speakers for Dolby Atmos configuration, microphones, video inputs and outputs, LED lighting for the floor, Cat 6 cabling throughout the house and security cables for sensors and doors etc. had to be terminated here.

The theatre room was the last room in the house to be completed. The rest of the house was complete and we had moved in. Also I had been on the lookout for a scissor lift the right size, raising height and lifting capability. It took quite a while but eventually one appeared on Ebay. Because the frame was metal great care was taken to make sure it didn't rattle or buzz. Sound deadening 13 mm plasterboard was used and soundproof bats with high R rating were used in the walls and ceiling.

Once all the lighting was wired to the C-Bus system I then had to learn how to program it. Writing the code was in a language simular to Pascal, that was the easy part. Clipsal are very guarded as to how exactly to initiate communications for the first time between new units. You need to be able to turn at least one clock on one unit before you are able to connect it to a computer for programming. This required holding several buttons down when powering up. This information was not in any service or user manuals and was not mentioned in any text in their one line manuals except to say you need at lest one clock enabled. The intension is you are suppose to do their very expensive course and be accredited so that you can overcharge the customer. Anyway someone slipped up on a website somewhere and after much searching I had the protocol to initiate a clock signal. I also used C-Bus to control the organ lift, curtains and turn 240v power on for equipment like subwoofer amplifiers etc. all controlled via remote.

Risers for the seating had to be made and LED lights installed on the steps and then all the seating needed to be put in place. All the equipment in the the equipment room was terminated, with a 130" screen and projector and the curtains in place soon we had a working theatre.

I have been extremely happy with the way this all came together and it all works perfectly. Because I am a perfectionist when it come to sound I can say this rivals sound produced in professional theatres. The bass is not over done but will rattle your chest when required to do so. All in all a great space to watch movies.

Equipment used for the theatre: Yamaha CX-A51000 Receiver, MX-A5000 11 channel amplifier 230 watts each, 7 Klipsch main and surround speakers, Yamaha speakers in the ceiling for Dolby Atmos, one Peavey RP 500 amplifier in bridge mode delivering approx 800 watts to two Bose professional B502 subwoofers, Oppo Blu-Ray player, computer and Google Chromecast, Mitsubishi HC7000 projector and a Sony RM-AV3000 Universal Remote Control with Touch LCD Screen.

One of my neighbours, Sam came to me one day explaining that a group of people were trying to put together a community radio station. It was early in the development but they had quotes for equipment and had started fund raising. The quote was over $40k for broadcast high quality equipment which was all very nice but was unnecessary to start off with, in my view.

Apart from the FM modulator, amplifier, processor and the aerial / coax the rest could be done on a budget. I became involved in this project as the head technician (actually the only technician). Eventually they went on air a lot earlier than expected for under $10k.

Just as I finished the house and theatre I got the call that the studios would have to be moved to new premises. An old brick car garage had been donated by council at the local Rural Museum. It had to be designed from the ground up and incorporate two studios, production / equipment room, presenters room, office and meeting room. A tall order for a small space. I made several designs and one was chosen.

It was decided that new updated equipment would be required. A QNAP server had just been bought online but new mixer consoles, desks and computers were required. Also two new rack mount mixers and dead air and streaming module were added and thanks to Sam a new tower had to put in place to send the signal to the hill for transmission.

Like the home I'd just completed I ran all the cabling through the walls and terminated at both ends. I also spay painted the outside of the building and the ceilings inside, leaving the rest of the painting for the volunteers.

The new studios were officially opened by the Mayor Rick Firman on 5 Aug 2017 and I was very surprised when it was announced that Studio One was to be known as the Norm Bailey studio in honour of all the work that I had done since I started. I was very humbled and it did bring a tear to my eye.

The original building with car entrance. Production and Studio Two yet to be bricked up t be closed

The finished building, from the front.

Evonne at the new console of Studio One looking through the glass to a mirror image Studio Two.

Part of the equipment rack.
Equipment list below

Norm's presentation and interview at the opening of TEMFMs new studios at the Rural Museum 5 Aug 2017. Watch the full opening of TEMFM

Top: Cat 6 patch bay, D-Link router, iPECS phone system, Behringer input mixer, dead air detector and MP3 player, Inovonics Compressor Limiter, Behringer splitter and Barrix to send signal to the hill. QNAP and amp for outside speakers out of view.

Our Parents

None of our endeavours would have been possible without the unconditional support, guidance, encouragement, help and love shown to us throughout our lives by our parents. Both sides of the family had no musical background apart from records and radio. Why they decided to give us this opportunity is a mystery, but we will both be eternally grateful for the opportunities and the directions our lives went as a result.

Norm's parents Doug and Marlene

Jill's parents Ken and Margaret

Doug and Marlene

Doug (Nov 1932 - 6 Oct 2022) has always been a very handy man, being able to turn his hand to most things. His father brought him into the push bike building business where he learnt to weld, braze, sandblast, paint, sign write and the unique skill of adding ornamentation lines to vehicles. His hobby was racing and building and boats racing, sailing and fishing.

Cheetah was one he built, here pictured at Silverwater in Sydney which about 64 km/h . Watching the American powerboat scene he added sponsons to Cheetah turning it into a hydroplane.

On the 16 Feb 1965 he was the 14th person in Australia to be awarded his 100 miler per hour badge recording 103.24 mph in a boat he called Norman.

On the 27 June 1965 he recorded an Australian record of 168.45 km/h in a boat called Kaarina on Lake Munmorah. At the same race meet he recorded an unofficial Australian record of 169.94 km/h in his boat Norman but blew the engine on the return run, which nullified the record.

During the Local Government Centenary Regatta 1972, a crowd estimated at 5000 saw a hydroplane driven by Doug Bailey skim over the water at a speed of 107.4 miles per hour (172.84km/h) to establish a new “straight-line record at Lake Albert Wagga Wagga.

He thought he may turn his hand to drag racing and bought an old T model Ford in 1963 to convert to a T-Bucket hot rod but this was not to be. When he retired in about 1994 he went about its restoration. He did the whole restoration including the mechanical side right down to the painting and Mum did the stitching for the seats.

Doug's hydroplane siting on 169.946 km/h on Lake Munmorah

Restored 1922 T model Ford winning at Yass

Restored 1957 Mercedes-Benz at Yass 2019

Doug and Mum did so many things for myself and Jill but here are a few. The most important one they bought me an organ, encouraged me by taking trips to Sydney for lessons. Did up three Galant cars, the one on the right, a station wagon version and one for Jill when she needed her first car. Built three trailers, one on the left, one car trailer conversion and one plane trailer. Painted an aircraft, was always on hand to do things in the shop and finally passed those skills to me. These were the big items but there are too many important little things to mention.

Doug Bailey
15 November 1931 -- 06 October 2022
Much loved husband of Marlene. Son Norman and daughter in law Jillian.
Formerly of Burrill Lake and Greenstone Lodge Temora
Always in our hearts

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Ken and Margaret

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