Stuart Ratsch, better known as ‘Ratschy,’ or Stu grew up in a house surrounded by vineyards at the bottom of Menglers Hill.

As one of three boys, Stu was quite hands on in the vineyard as a lad. His work ethic gained him a job straight out of school at the Nuriootpa Office Shop.

Stu began as a gopher, delivering to and collecting from other shops, and at the end of the year, he accepted the offer for an apprenticeship in electronics, which back then involved fixing typewriters, faxes and copiers.

“I didn’t really like school, but I had to go back to trade school for four years,” Stu shares. “But I loved fixing things so that helped.”

Stu left The Office Shop after eight years to work for a company in Adelaide, until two years later, pretty much to the day, the Barossa called Stu back home. 

“That’s when (my wife) Jodie and I started our own business, Yourtech Services, from scratch, with a ute, mobile phone and a toolbox, that’s all I had,” Stu shares. “Basically, old customers heard I was back in the Barossa, and they were glad, so word of mouth got me fixing things in the area. Then it grew from there. That was 27 years ago.”

The business ran from the granny flat at the back of Stu and Jodie’s Tanunda house for 21 years. During that time, they went from dealing with second-hand copiers to brand new, as they became a Panasonic dealership and then went on to becoming a Konica Minolta dealership. They won many awards with Konica Minolta during this time.

After 21 years working out of the granny flat, Stu was feeling short of space. 

“That was when the shop at 189 Murray Street, Tanunda became available,” Stu says. “We took the plunge six years ago. The business has grown from nothing; it’s one hell of an achievement.”

With the business gone from the backyard, Stu has since gained the space he’s dreamt about for his hobby, model aircraft.

“It all started when I was 14,” Stu recalls. “We used to always go for Sunday drives after lunch as a family and drive past and stop to watch the aircraft at the airfield.” 

Stu has vivid memories of the excitement of these planes, but also his fear of the sound of their engines. 

He was finally able to save enough money to buy his first plane when he was 19 years old.

Back in those days Stu had to build the wooden plane, put the wings together, cover it all, put the electronics in. This first plane took him four to five months to build.

“Nervous as hell, I took it out there,” Stu beams. “I remember thinking, I built something, and it actually flies! It was such an extraordinary feeling. I remember that was the first really exciting thing about flying for me.”

Stu became a member of Barossa Valley Model Aero Club, and before he knew it, he was appointed secretary. He remained in that role for 23 years and then went on to become president for 12 years – and counting.

These days Stu is flying model jets with turbine engines. The size of models ranges from two to four metres long. These jets can hold around six litres of jet A1 fuel which lasts for about seven minutes flying time. 

With quite an impressive collection of aircraft, Stu’s man cave is more like an aircraft museum.

“I remember my first jet model, it was one ready to go,” Stu shares. “I was scared of this thing, it was noisy, and used to start on propane gas to warm it up. 

“(The) first time I lit it, the exhaust made such a bang, it made me fall over. I remember taking it to the airfield early one winter morning. It took off, and the noise was incredible. 

“The first time coming into land it was coming in a bit fast, so I had to do a go-around. Back in those days, idle to full throttle was like five seconds. I remember waiting as it was coming down, then when it was an inch from the ground it finally got to full throttle and accelerated back into the air with the turbine roaring loudly. It came around the second time for a perfect landing. I was scared as hell, but it was unreal. The sound, the smell, it’s like being at the airport with the jets,” Stu said with a chuckle.

Stu’s sons, Lachlan aged 28 and Cooper aged 26 have also taken up the hobby.

“I didn’t force the hobby on them, they just used to come out to watch and had a natural love for planes,” Stu shares. 

“They started small but they are now flying jets like me. The boys were lucky, they got to grow up with it, which makes them natural pilots now. Cooper has a sports jet, that clocks 440 km/h Lachlan has a Eurofighter sports jet that he does amazing tight manoeuvres with.”

Stu and Jodie are extremely proud of all they have achieved together.

An enduring business built from nothing, has enabled the most incredible family hobby to soar.