Guardian Australia
Retired Group Captain Lyle Holt comes from a family of servicemen – but their Indigenous ancestry was concealed in official records Warning: This article contains and descriptions of events that may be distressing to some readers. It also contains references to Indigenous Australians who have died Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Relaxing in his civvies at the cafe in the Australian War Memorial ’s newly opened Anzac Hall, retired Group Captain Lyle Holt looks less like a man who spent years as a supersonic strike navigator and more like a man bridging two worlds. Just inside the hall sits his RF-111C strike reconnaissance aircraft, tail number A8-134 – the undisputed centrepiece of this massive new wing and part of the controversial $500m expansion of the national war museum five years in the making. The aircraft is nicknamed “the pig” due to its long nose and ground-hugging capabilities. Largely defined by its deployment during the 1999 Timor-Leste crisis, the F-111 demanded from its navigators a mastery of high-speed and low-altitude precision, as it roared just metres above the treetops, where the margin for error was measured in milliseconds. Continue reading...
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