Every Hawkesbury local has a soft spot for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base at Richmond. I remember being taken out to look at the planes as a young child in the 1970's.  It was a favourite family Sunday drive up the Windsor Road to marvel at the Caribous and Hercules rumbling along the runway.  I was always impressed with prospect of seeing the RAAF planes at Richmond but the extra bonus was the lukewarm can of Leeds lemonade promised when we got there.  Wow - and the pinnacle of excitement for this 5 year old was to attend one of the open days on the RAAF base itself.

Nowadays there is no public entry to the RAAF Base and the open days stopped many years ago due to security issues, however you can still see all kinds of aircraft coming and going most days of the week from Ham Common on the Hawkesbury Valley Way.  Keep in mind the aircraft don’t always fly, some days are relatively quiet and flying schedules are not generally made public.

Ham Common is a reserve running along a large section of the Hawkesbury Valley Way between Richmond and Windsor. A popular park, it's home to our  Hawkesbury Visitor Information Centre and the Valleyway Café which is gaining a reputation for amazing food. The park itself, has over two kilometres of off-road pathway which is used by walkers, joggers and cyclists. There is a skate park, exercise stations for those wanting to work-out and a fenced kid's playground.  You may know the playground from it's famous Fat Albert sculpture which was constructed decades ago to commemorate the relationship between the RAAF and the Hawkesbury community.

Richmond has a long history with aircraft. In 1911 William Hart, a dentist from Parramatta was the first man to get a pilot’s licence in Australia.  He set up an airfield at Richmond the following year where he kept and flew his pride and joy; a Bristol aeroplane. Unfortunately William crashed another plane, a locally built aircraft which prevented him from flying for several years. A private flying school was then set up during World War I and the NSW Government went on to set up its own flying school in 1915 to train pilots for the Australian Flying Corps and continued to do so until the end of the war.