Frank Proust 1917-2009

[Raoul Isidro]

In those days (1946) Frank had to deliver the photographs of the English rugby team that played in Tamworth to Sydney in time for the second edition of the news. He took off solo in a Tiger Moth amid a gale. He later found himself in the middle of a violent snowstorm.
"I had no way of knowing where the horizon was and the Tiger Moth rolled over and started a deathly tail spin, out of control."
He pulled out with great G force just meters off the ground and skimmed the tree tops. The whole episode was witnessed by an Anglican minister who was praying for him. He landed on a nearby paddock and the minister rushed to his aid. The two men embraced in the middle of the freezing gale.
The minister rushed Prouse to the nearest train station to get him to Sydney. The pictures didn't make the second edition but the adventure was well worth ten times over.

Frank Proust, 1917 - 2009.