RAAFcv2

Chas Van Hulsentop been most fortunate that he had a very long career on the RAAF Caribou with 3 postings at 35 Sqn and 2 at 38 Sqn. The net result is that I probably have more time on the aircraft as a groundie than anyone else. Some might say “you poor bastard”. Anyway during that time I was involved in four pieces of art.
	Around 1982 I had a painting commissioned of a Caribou on the 35 sqn flightline at Townsville with me standing in the foreground when I was a Sgt (E6). The aircraft is 195. Note there are Hueys in the background – at the time 35 Sqn was operating both Caribou and UH-1H.
	In 1987 I came across another very good artist when I was at 38 Sqn (Richmond) and commissioned another painting. He did such a good job that he didn’t let me buy it. Eventually he did sell it to someone else but then bought it back and had professional prints made. I found out when I saw an add in a magazine – so I finally got a copy. The painting is a composite of several photographs I provided and depicts Caribou 234 over RAAF Richmond.
	In the early 90s I was back at 35 Sqn Townsville as the Warrant Officer Engineer and one of my troops was a terrific artist Jason Pullen. When I left the RAAF in 1996 he did a wonderful drawing for me of a Caribous in a field situation at a place called Lakeland Downs in North Queensland.
	This was also at Lakeland Downs and features Caribou 228. Jason Pullen is the artist.

The ARMY WAR ARTIST

The two RAAF Caribou Lithographic Prints were done by Captain Conway Bown, the official war artist of Australian Army. The Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Leahy, AO, requested Captain Conway Bown undertake the task of becoming the Army's War Artist and so in 2006, he was deployed to Iraq to commence recording Australian Defence Forces activities as part of Operation FALCONER.

Conway does COMMISSIONED WORK, CUSTOMISED ARTWORK and CUSTOMISED COMMISSIONED ARTWORK. Check out his great Aviation Art at www.ipas.com.au

During his military career Captain Bown has flown CT4-A Airtrainers, Aerospatiale AS-350B Squirrel helicopters, S-70 Black Hawks, UH-1H Iroquois and CH-47D Chinook helicopters. Conway commenced his art career quite late in life and is completely self-taught. Originally working primarily in graphite pencil, he has now branched out into oil paints and watercolours. His work is in the collections of General Norman Schwarzkopf, General Cosgrove, former Prime Minster John Howard and hundreds of other military art enthusiasts.

Caribou in Profile

2009

"This image was created as a tribute to the five decades of service of the DHC-4 Caribou to the Australian Defence Force. Sponsored by Australian Aerospace, it is a limited edition created for the farewell celebrations."

"The Caribou was chosen as the replacement to the C-47/DC-3 Skytrain/Dakota in 1964 and immediately began proving itself as a reliable tactical transport in Vietnam where it worked with the 1st Australian Task Force and operated by RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam (RFTV) which became No 35 Squadron."

"Both aircraft here are examples from No 38 Squadron based in Queensland"