Noel Olliver/ Thumper

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M

michael rauls

Tech Sergeant
1,679
862
Jul 15, 2016
One of the images posted here of a p40 of the RAAF named Thumper brought back some memories as I had a kit when I was a kid of this plane. Did a net search and all I could find was the pilots name Noel Oliver and that he was in 80 squadron RAAF.
If anyone knows anything about this pilot or his plane it would be of much interest to me.
 
Hi Michael, I have no info on the pilot but Thumper was A29-651, 80sqnRAAF.
80sqnRAAF24.jpg
 
Wildcat said:
Hi Michael, I have no info on the pilot but Thumper was A29-651, 80sqnRAAF.
View attachment 544106
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Cool thanks. Ya that was the picture I saw in the forum here that reminded me of the kit I built as a kid. Figured it must have been a pretty notable plane/ pilot to have a model fashioned after it but now I cant seen to find any info on them.
 
I had the privilege of working with his son in Brisbane. Not long after his Dad passed away, he brought his Dad's log book and DFC to work. (Surname is Ollivier - two l's and two i's - this makes searching a bit tricky) His old man sounds like an amazing guy. He flew air sea rescue in Otters or Walrus', and also flew agents in and out of France in Lysanders. He told a story of when his dad was in charge of a squadron in Townsville, he got a phone call from the docks that the dock workers were going on strike and as he was the highest ranking officer they could find on the weekend, could he go down there and sort it out. He headed down to the docks and the workers were on the dock and the military police were standing off to the side. He walked up to the dock workers and the union boss then started talking to him. Noel told them to go back to work. They refused. Noel turned to the Military Police and told them to shoot them all. They all went back to work.

My favourite story was when he was flying P-40's out of New Guinea. His wife was back in Wollongong, and had just given birth to their first daughter. Noel asked his CO for leave to go back to Wollongong, but his CO refused. Noel was a not going to take no for an answer, so he climbed into a P-40 and flew from New Guinea down to Townsville. He was refuelled and then flew down to Sydney. In Sydney, the refueller asked for the paperwork, so Noel pulls out his pistol and the refueller decides that no paperwork is needed. He then gets on a train in Sydney and heads to Wollongong, and from there he goes to the hospital. He bursts into his wife's room and gives her the shock of her life. He spends the night with his wife and new baby, and the next morning he heads back to New Guinea. When he gets back, his CO comes over to him to tell him that his leave had been approved.

I can probably get find his son's contact info if you are interested - PM me.
 
You could try the Australian National Archives at National Archives of Australia but you would need to check under every possible spelling of Olliver and you must not pay any attention to the dates shown.
As examples multiple Wirraway files are dated opened 01-01-1800 and closed same day. The Wirraway project first started 1936 and ran to around 1956.
They spell P-40E as PEOE on at least one file and these sorts of cataloguing errors are exremely common. They have C-130 files starting in 1929, etc etc

Once you get past the errors some of the information is pure gold
 
Simon Thomas said:
I had the privilege of working with his son in Brisbane. Not long after his Dad passed away, he brought his Dad's log book and DFC to work. (Surname is Ollivier - two l's and two i's - this makes searching a bit tricky) His old man sounds like an amazing guy. He flew air sea rescue in Otters or Walrus', and also flew agents in and out of France in Lysanders. He told a story of when his dad was in charge of a squadron in Townsville, he got a phone call from the docks that the dock workers were going on strike and as he was the highest ranking officer they could find on the weekend, could he go down there and sort it out. He headed down to the docks and the workers were on the dock and the military police were standing off to the side. He walked up to the dock workers and the union boss then started talking to him. Noel told them to go back to work. They refused. Noel turned to the Military Police and told them to shoot them all. They all went back to work.

My favourite story was when he was flying P-40's out of New Guinea. His wife was back in Wollongong, and had just given birth to their first daughter. Noel asked his CO for leave to go back to Wollongong, but his CO refused. Noel was a not going to take no for an answer, so he climbed into a P-40 and flew from New Guinea down to Townsville. He was refuelled and then flew down to Sydney. In Sydney, the refueller asked for the paperwork, so Noel pulls out his pistol and the refueller decides that no paperwork is needed. He then gets on a train in Sydney and heads to Wollongong, and from there he goes to the hospital. He bursts into his wife's room and gives her the shock of her life. He spends the night with his wife and new baby, and the next morning he heads back to New Guinea. When he gets back, his CO comes over to him to tell him that his leave had been approved.

I can probably get find his son's contact info if you are interested - PM me.
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Verry cool, thank you! As I explained earlier I had a p40 kit when I was a kid that was modeled after his plane. At least I asume so as one of the decals it came with was Thumper with the rabbit just like on his plane. I had forgotten about it over the years but when I saw a picture of him and his p40 on the forum here it jogged my memory and sparked my curiosity about who this guy was. Sounds like he was quite a guy.
And yes I would love to speek with his son if possible.
I'll PM you here in a minute. Thanks again.
 
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Simon Thomas said:
I had the privilege of working with his son in Brisbane. Not long after his Dad passed away, he brought his Dad's log book and DFC to work. (Surname is Ollivier - two l's and two i's - this makes searching a bit tricky) His old man sounds like an amazing guy. He flew air sea rescue in Otters or Walrus', and also flew agents in and out of France in Lysanders. He told a story of when his dad was in charge of a squadron in Townsville, he got a phone call from the docks that the dock workers were going on strike and as he was the highest ranking officer they could find on the weekend, could he go down there and sort it out. He headed down to the docks and the workers were on the dock and the military police were standing off to the side. He walked up to the dock workers and the union boss then started talking to him. Noel told them to go back to work. They refused. Noel turned to the Military Police and told them to shoot them all. They all went back to work.

My favourite story was when he was flying P-40's out of New Guinea. His wife was back in Wollongong, and had just given birth to their first daughter. Noel asked his CO for leave to go back to Wollongong, but his CO refused. Noel was a not going to take no for an answer, so he climbed into a P-40 and flew from New Guinea down to Townsville. He was refuelled and then flew down to Sydney. In Sydney, the refueller asked for the paperwork, so Noel pulls out his pistol and the refueller decides that no paperwork is needed. He then gets on a train in Sydney and heads to Wollongong, and from there he goes to the hospital. He bursts into his wife's room and gives her the shock of her life. He spends the night with his wife and new baby, and the next morning he heads back to New Guinea. When he gets back, his CO comes over to him to tell him that his leave had been approved.

I can probably get find his son's contact info if you are interested - PM me.
Click to expand...

Was his son the young bloke that won the "Wheels" RT Charger in 1971? In the interview he gave to Australian Muscle Car Magazine last issue he mentioned his father was a WW2 Fighter Pilot.
 
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John Ollivier here. That photo is of my father Flt LT John Noel Ollivier. At the time of the photo he was with 80 squadron RAAF based in New Guinea.
His war record was:
Enlisted in the Australian Air Force at the age of 20 in July 1940
Trained under the Empire Air training scheme in Ontario Canada
Mobilized to England in May 1941 with a total of 140 hours flying time
Commenced with 616 squadron RAF June 1941.
Transferred after a week to 614 squadron Air Sea Rescue flying Lysanders and Walrus's. They had lost all their pilots so for a couple of days he was the only pilot doing air sea rescue in the area. His activities in that time included a few night landings in occupied France delivering and returning personnel. Ot turned out that he was an excellent navigator with great sense of direction.
Returned to 616 and continued flying Spitfire MkVB under S/L Johnny Johnson, Englands top scoring fighter pilot
Completed with 616 squadron RAF April 1942 (Talley at the end of that was 1 confirmed, 1 probable and 2 damaged)
In July 1942 commenced operations with the Australian 75 Fighter Squadron and deployed to Milne Bay just prior to the Japanese invasion of Milne Bay.
Flew 30 combat operations in the space of 26 days prior to and during the "Battle for Milne Bay" before being wounded in action. ( was wounded while coming in for a landing after a mission over Milne Bay, was followed in by Jap Zero and was hit during touch down, pulled up the plane, climbed out and was observed to stand beside his plane firing his side arm at a another attacking Zero before taking cover in trench. He had suffered a severe wound of the back of his right shoulder. Nearly lost his arm from that but the base surgeon (Dr Butcher) was able to save it.
The day he was released from hospital he and my mum (Muriel) got married and they had a honeymoon on the north coast of NSW.
After the recovery period of 7 months he was posted to the newly formed 80 squadron in Townsville and ranked at Flight Lieutenant. He was with the squadron when it was deployed to New Guinea in Feb 1944 where he fought for the next 13 months. Nadzab, Cape Glouster, Tadji, Hollandia, Biak, Noemfoor.
Awarded the DFC for extreme valour under heavy enemy opposition during that time. Citation states that he attacked 3 heavy anti aircraft positions and destroyed two and put one out of action. During that encounter his plane suffered heavy damage.
Finished with 80 Squadron October 1944 and completion of enemy operations flying
Commenced Point Cook December 1944 as a training Instructor
Commenced 20TU Mildura March 1945 as pilot training instructor, training instructors
Completed flying service August 1945
After the war moved to Gunnedah and Narrabri and had various business until he retired to Foster. Passed away at the age of 86

And yes, I was the 16yr old that won the E38 Charger from Wheels. Had it for about 6 yrs till a little old lady overtook a tractor coming towards me and head on. We all got out ok probably because I was going really slow for a change.

By the way, dad named his plane Thumper after my mum:pilotsalute:
 
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