By Mikayla van Loon
The opportunity to tick off a dream bucket list item wasn’t something Dale Macalister considered possible.
But when the 76-year-old Mercy Place Montrose resident was selected as the recipient of the Mercy Health Foundation’s Imagine Fund, it allowed him to take flight in a de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth.
Setting off into the air on Tuesday 23 April, with family and friends watching from the ground at Lilydale Airport, Mr Macalister said he didn’t feel nervous or scared, just exhilarated.
“I wasn’t really scared, I was in good hands,” he said.
“It was an amazing opportunity.”
Growing up, Mr Macalister heard the stories of his father, a World War II Royal British Air Force pilot who flew Supermarine Spitfires and this evolved into the dream of one day doing something similar.
“It’s always been a dream,” he said.
“He talked about it and as a kid you imagine things and want to do what your dad did.”
Mr Macalister said as someone who has worked in factories, built model planes and who has an affinity for hot rod cars, he admitted he’s always liked anything mechanical.
Still, not having “been in anything that small before” Mr Macalister said “it’s hard to compare to anything else because you’re at the front of the plane not the back”.
“And I didn’t actually feel in control but you feel as if you are at the same time.”
That job was instead left to pilot Damian Nott, who regularly does the Tiger Moth joy flights, treating people to acrobatics in the air.
Mr Nott said once they reached 4000 feet it was a dream flight, with some wind causing turbulence at around 2000 feet, making the take off and landing a bit bumpy.
This didn’t bother Mr Macalister though.
“The best was when he rolled over and your stomach comes up to your mouth and the earth disappears up into the sky and then back down again,” he said.
“The turbulence wasn’t as bad as doing flips.”
Once in the air, Mr Macalister said “it was as clear as a bell” although he “found it hard to identify things” but he did manage to spot the golf course.
Witnessing the moment from the ground was Mr Macalister’s older sister Alison, who lives in New Zealand.
When she arrived, Ms Macalister said it was the first thing he told her.
“To see this and to see how happy he is [is wonderful],” she said.
Seeing that “he was confident” Ms Macalister said she didn’t feel nervous, “the only time I felt a little bit of worry was when the propeller wouldn’t start”.
Ms Macalister said the memories her brother was able to create and the connection he was able to have to his “parents, grandparents, great uncles [who] were all in the air force or navy at some stage” was a beautiful part of the flight.
For Mercy Place Montrose’s Lifestyle Coordinator Dee Halligan, making memories for the residents is one of the most important things she can do.
“It’s all about triggering memories and that’s worth everything,” she said.
Being able to submit an application to access the Imagine Fund each year, Ms Halligan chose Mr Macalister’s story after hearing the connection of his father to the Spitfires.
“They pick the best story or the most interesting one or the one that’s going to have the biggest impact on the resident and Dale’s was it and then it’s all hands on deck to make that happen,” she said.
Mr Macalister said that completed his bucket list “but Dee might pull something out of me at some stage” and he might be off doing something else exciting.
