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Australian aviation

Aviation in Australia stretches back to the early pioneering days of manned and powered flight. In Australia, its development has been significant because of the vast interior of the country where long distances were a hindrance to many services. Until the Second World War Australia was one of the world's leaders in aviation in terms of both air mileage and prominent aviation pioneers.

Since the early development of powered flight in Australia in 1910, air services developed passenger and cargo transport, airmail, medical, and search and rescue services. The development of military aviation from 1912 and the engagement of the Australian Flying Corps in the First World War contributed greatly to pilot training and investment in aircraft and hangers. Since the first air trial between England and Australia in 1919, international aviation has also played an important part in Australian aviation history.

Early Australian aviation, 1880s - 1920s

Lawrence Hargrave was the first in Australia to experiment with powered flight. A gentleman inventor, his observation of waves and of the motion of fish, snakes and birds had led Hargrave to consider flight. His theoretical approach was based on the necessity to 'follow in the footsteps of nature'. Between 1884 and 1892 he constructed various monoplane wing designs.

In 1893, he invented the box kite and the following year, 1894, Hargrave lifted himself off the ground under a train of four box kites at Stanwell Park. This earned Hargrave the title of being the first successful aviator in Australia. By 1909 the models were accepted by the Bavarian Government for display in the Deutsches Museum at Munich after being rejected by Australian institutions.

It wasn't until 1910 when the first powered, controlled flight was made in Australia by the visiting Harry Houdini, at Digger's Rest, Victoria in a Voisin biplane, demonstrated again at Rosehill in Sydney.

Australian Flying Corps, air defence bases and RAAF

The formation of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) in 1912 paved the way for use of aircraft for military purposes. The first role that the AFC played was in the invasion of German New Guinea in September 1914 during the First World War. The first complete AFC squadron, 1 Squadron, was formed and engaged in the Middle East from early 1916. Three other squadrons operated on the Western Front in France. In Australia, the New South Wales Aviation School was formed and began civil and military aviation training in August 1916.

To support the three operational squadrons in Europe, 1 Wing Australian Flying Corps was formed in England under the command of Lt Colonel Oswald Watt until it's disbandment in March 1919. Four Squadrons were formed in the Wing, including 5, 6, 7 and 8 Squadrons. The aircraft were most noticeable for their colours and insignia, including Kangaroos, Emus, Boomerangs, Kookaburras and Dragons. The Aces of the Australian Flying Corps included Australians, New Zealanders, Englishmen and an Irishman.

In addition to the establishment of the air defence base at Point Cooke, Victoria, in 1914 as the Central Flying School for the AFC, the Brisbane Flying School, known as the Queensland Volunteer Flying Civilians (QVFC), was formed in 1915 by Major Thomas McLeod and Lieutenant Valdemar Rendle. The school was funded by £550 from 'The Courier Aeroplane Fund', a fund from a Brisbane newspaper. This funding paid for the reconstruction of the aircraft, the aerodrome at Hemmant and the hangar that was built on the aerodrome.

The New South Wales (NSW) Government established the NSW School of Aviation at Richmond in 1916, a favoured location for pre-war aviation enthusiasts. The New South Wales Government purchased four Curtiss Jenny planes for the school: two JN-4s in 1916 and two JN-4Bs in 1917. The chief instructor of the school, WJ 'Billy' Stut, used one of the Jenny Curtis JN-4Bs to fly from Sydney to Melbourne in November 1917 to promote flying as a 'post-war transport prospect'. In addition to the Curtiss Jennies, a Caudron G111 was purchased from Andrew Delfosse Badgery, a resident of Sutton Forest NSW. As this plane was a single seater it was not used for training purposes, rather for instruction in aircraft mechanics, maintenance and construction.

Partly because of the perceived potential of air power, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was established in 1921. The period between the First and Second World Wars was difficult for Australia's airmen. The army and navy argued persistently that there was no place for independent air power, and that air forces would always only support the army and navy. From a civilian standpoint, though, activities were rapidly gaining momentum.

Before his death [in 1921] Watt had been President of the Australian Aero Club and installed many new safety initiatives including the 'Safety First' campaign which resulted in several Acts of Parliament reinforcing better civil aviation standards. Watt's legacy is remembered by the Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia awarding of the Oswald Watt Medal for aviation to aviators who have shown pioneering spirit in aviation.
The Australian Flying Corps

England and the Pacific, 1920s - 1930s

Air trials between England and Australia were a high priority for civil aviation in the second decade. A £10,000 prize was offered by the Australian Government for the first Australians to fly from England to Australia in 30 days. Ross Smith and Keith Smith won that prize in December 1919 when they touched down in Darwin in their Vickers Vimy. Both had flown in the First World War, Ross extensively in the Middle East campaign. Both were immediately knighted, although Ross did not live long enough to enjoy either his wealth or status, dying in a plane crash in England in April 1922.

In 1928, Bert Hinkler left England for Australia, following the same route that the Smiths had flown in 1919. After just 15½ days he landed in Darwin, a little more than half the time of the Smiths' flight. An instant national hero, Hinkler received a special £2,000 prize from the Australian Government.

The Smiths' England-Australia flight and Ross Smith's subsequent death established the pattern for the heroic age of Australian aviation, stretching through the 1920s and into the early 1930s. Australian aviators' feats at this time had three outstanding characteristics. First, extremely long flights, indeed the longest in the world, were an Australian specialty ... Second, it was extremely hazardous. All too many of Australia's pioneer aviators died in their machines ... And third, there was a strong element of entrepreneurship, and the pioneering flights often brought in considerable funds, often used to fund airlines or further flights.
The Heroic Age of Australian Aviation, Linking a Nation: Australia's Transport and Communications 1788 - 1970, Australia: Our national stories, Australian Heritage Commission, 2003.

Charles Kingsford Smith was a pioneering aviator who flew across the Pacific from America to Australia in 1928 with Charles Ulm. In 1930, he soloed from London to Australia in 9 days 22 hours. Then in 1934, he and PG Taylor flew the transpacific route from Australia to America. On 10 November 1935, Kingsford Smith and his co-pilot died trying to set another England-to-Australia flight record when their plane went down off the coast of Burma.

Air services and searches, 1920s - 1930s

Air searches

Group Captain Charles 'Moth' Eaton, an RAAF instructor, entered Australian aviation legend when commanding the air searches for two lost aircraft, the Kookaburra and the Golden Quest 2, in Central Australia. His aircraft caught fire in the air and crashed at Tennant Creek, Northern Territory in April 1929. Remnants of the aircraft are on display at Tennant Creek Airport.

He earned his nickname 'Moth' after flying the first metal DH Gipsy Moth in the 'Great Air Race' from Sydney to Perth in 1929. Eaton went on to command and train many RAAF pilots and commanded squadrons. He was the first CO (Commanding Officer) of Darwin Base 1940-1941, CO for 72 and 79 Wing's South West Pacific Area (1943-1944), and finally Air Officer, Commanding (AOC) Southern Area in 1945.

Aviatrices, 1930s

Australian women aviators, or aviatrices, also led in aviation at a time when flying was considered to be a male-only domain. Millicent Bryant (1878 - 1927) became the first Australian woman to gain a pilot's licence on 28 March 1927. She drowned later that same year in a Sydney ferry accident.

Maude Rose Lores Bonney started flying in 1931 and became the first pilot to fly between Brisbane and Cape Town. In 1933 she flew from Darwin to England to gain the title of the first woman to fly from Australia to England. Freda Thompson (1906 - 1980) was the first female flying instructor in Australia and the British Empire, gaining her Instructor's Rating in 1933. In 1934, she was the first Australian woman to fly solo from England to Australia.

Nancy Bird-Walton became the youngest commercially licensed female pilot in the British Commonwealth in 1934. The following year, she ran an air ambulance service in outback New South Wales. Nancy became known as the 'Angel of the Outback' for her work with the Far West Children's Health Scheme. She flew many hours in her Leopard Moth, operating the first aerial baby clinic and aerial charter services. During the Second World War she became Commandant of the Women's Air Training Corps and in 1950 she founded the Australian Women Pilots' Association.

Peggy Kelman, (nee McKillop), OBE (1909 - 1999) began flying training in 1931, gained her licence in 1932 and got a job flying for Nancy Bird, barnstorming in western NSW in 1935. In Scotland, she bought a used twin-engine light aircraft and decided to fly home with her groom to Moree NSW, arriving home on 15 January 1937.

Civil aviation, 1920s - 1930s

QANTAS, the inland medical service and overseas flying boats

In 1919, former AFC officers Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness surveyed part of the route of an England to Australia air race. They travelled from Longreach, Queensland to Katherine, Northern Territory in 51 days. The arduous trip highlighted the important part that aircraft could play in practically roadless areas of western and northern Queensland and North Australia.

In August 1920 Fysh and McGinness bought an Avro aircraft and established what later became known as the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service (QANTAS). By 1922, a scheduled mail service operated between Charleville and Cloncurry, and operations had moved from Winton to Longreach. By 1927, the service had extended first to Camooweal then Normanton. In 1929, the route extended to Brisbane and the company moved its headquarters there.

In Sydney in 1920, Paul McGinness and Hudson Fysh were buying the first QANTAS planes when they met Reverend John Flynn, Superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission. Flynn saw that aviation could help inland Australia if four vital ingredients could intersect: medicine, communication, aeroplane design and finance. After years of experience in bush hospitals, Flynn knew the medical services he needed. In 1924, Arthur Baird re-modelled a DH50 for transportation of patients. In 1927, Hugh Victor McKay, founder of the Sunshine Harvester company, offered a crucial grant and Fysh advised the QANTAS Board that an agreement with the Australian Inland Mission for an aerial medical service was now viable.

The Australian Aerial Medical Service was formed on 27 March 1928, with its first base at Cloncurry. Qantas signed a year's contract to operate medical flights on demand. The Royal Flying Doctor Service was born.

In 1935 QANTAS took over the Darwin-Singapore sector of the Royal Mail route as well as operated its first overseas passenger flight from Brisbane to Singapore, a four-day trip. By 1938, to meet the growing demand, the airline introduced Short C Class Empire flying boats. As flying boats needed only a mooring buoy, terminal building and fuelling facilities, QANTAS established a base at Rose Bay in Sydney. The aircraft flew the entire Australia-England route, with the QANTAS and Imperial Airways crews changing in Singapore.

Ansett

Ansett Australia was founded by Sir Reginald Myles Ansett in 1935. It made its first passenger flight on 17 February 1936 from Hamilton in western Victoria to Melbourne. In 1946 the company began Melbourne to Sydney and Hobart flights before developing a successful service as a domestic carrier throughout Australia.

Second World War

From 1940, the RAAF established 41 different schools to train airmen to meet the commitment to the war effort. The duration of the Second World War saw 37,000 aircrew trained in Australia. On 19 February 1942, Darwin was bombed by the Japanese. There were 64 raids on Darwin, as well as on other towns such as Derby, Katherine and Townsville. The day the Second World War ended the RAAF had a total of 173,622 men and women working in 570 Units around the globe, maintaining 5,620 flying aircraft.

By October 1946 the RAAF's personnel numbers had fallen to 13,238 as government defence spending was drastically reduced. In the hope of improving career prospects for younger personnel, many of its most experienced senior officers were discharged or retired off. In 1948 RAAF strength hit a low of just 8,025; however, in the same year expenditure was increased to gradually raise Air Force capability again.
RAAF History - Post War, 1946

Further wars, such as the Korean War from 1950, Malta in 1953 and Vietnam from 1964 saw the deployment of squadrons for border patrols and freight runs.

Throughout this period, a number of RAAF air bases were established around Australia. This included Pearce (Perth) in 1937, Amberley (Ipswich) in 1938, Darwin in 1940 and Tindal (Katherine) in 1942. More recent bases include Edinburgh (Adelaide) in 1954 and Curtin (Derby) in 1988.

Civil aviation - TAA, Ansett and Qantas 1950s - 1980s

Civil aviation expanded rapidly after the Second World War due to the large number of trained military pilots. Military aircraft were converted for use as passenger craft, such as the popular DC3, and the two-airline policy was formed by the government.

TAA and the introduction of modern transport aircraft

Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA) commenced in 1946 as a government airline and was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines that operated in post-war Australia 'in a parody of competition'. For the first ten years of its operations, TAA pioneered the introduction of modern transport aircraft to Australia. TAA was the first to introduce pressurised aircraft into Australia in 1948 with the Consolidated Vultee Convair 240, following the initial demand for a twin-engine aircraft to replace the Douglas DC-3.

TAA was the first airline outside of Europe to introduce the Vickers Viscount 716 in 1954. The Vickers Viscount was the first modern postwar turboprop airliner to enter service in Australia - powered by four Rolls Royce Dart turbo-prop engines. It was designed in the UK in response to the Brabazon Committee's recommendations on post-war airliner requirements. The Viscount was widely used in Australia by TAA, Ansett, Butler Air Transport, MacRobertson Miller Airlines and the RAAF. Seating was usually provided for 47 passengers.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were transported by Trans-Australia Airlines during the Queen's 1954 tour of Australia.

The airline also assisted in the development of the Dutch FOKKER F27 aircraft to replace the aging DC3. In the early 1980s, after the relaxation of the Two Airline Policy, Trans-Australia Airlines was the first domestic airline to introduce a wide-bodied aircraft, the Airbus A300B4. Trans-Australia Airlines was the dominant operator until the late 1980s, covering the major interstate and intercapital routes, as well as routes to Papua-New Guinea. The airline was renamed Australian Airlines in 1986 and was sold to Qantas in 1992.

Ansett

In many respects, the airline which did best out of the post-war period of flux was Ansett. In 1940 Ansett had been very much a minor local airline. It ceased flying regular routes altogether during the war, but, after the war, quickly re-entered the aviation market in rigorous competition with both Australian National Airways (ANA) and the new government airline TAA.

During the 1940s and 1950s Ansett's budget interstate fares offered a competitive alternative to the services on offer by the ANA and TAA. Ansett bought three C37s and converted them to DC3s and re-established routes linking Melbourne with Canberra and Adelaide, with stops at Mt Gambier and Wagga Wagga respectively. In the highly regulated environment, Ansett was not permitted to duplicate ANA's non-stop services. Reg Ansett was a fierce critic of the emerging two-airline policy.

In 1957 Ansett acquired ANA and thus acquired ANA's fleet of DC6s. In order to counter TAA's superior British-designed and built Vickers Viscounts, Ansett aggressively bought six of them to counter the government airline. Ansett expanded rapidly during the late 1950s and 1960s, taking over regional airlines like MacRobertson-Miller, Guinea Airways and Butler Air Transport. In October 1964 Ansett began flying domestic services with jet aircraft, using the first of many Boeing 727s imported into Australia. By 1968 Ansett was the largest airline in Australia. From being the two-airline policy's greatest critic, Reg Ansett became its firmest supporter.

The 1980s saw a continuation of growth for the airline with an expansion into New Zealand in 1987. Ansett commenced international services in 1993 and was awarded Airline of the Year in travel industry awards the following year. In 1996, as a large international airline, it was bought by the very much smaller Air New Zealand. Due to financial difficulties Ansett went into receivership in 2001 and ceased business permanently in 2002.

QANTAS

After the Second World War QANTAS began the task of rebuilding and modernising its fleet. In 1947, the Australian Government nationalised QANTAS Empire Airways, buying out the shares held both by BOAC and QANTAS at market prices. Hudson Fysh worked closely with the government to make it a success. Fysh remained chairman of Qantas until he retired in 1966.

A major theme in Qantas' post-war history is decolonisation, as it moved from being Qantas Empire Airways to Qantas the Australian Airline. This was a long and at times painful process. For much of the period, traffic on its busiest route, the Kangaroo Route from Sydney to London, was operated in a British Commonwealth pool which brought together BOAC, Air India and QEA.
The Heroic Age of Australian Aviation, Linking a Nation: Australia's Transport and Communications 1788 - 1970, Australia: Our national stories, Australian Heritage Commission, 2003.

In October 1953 agreement was reached for Qantas to fly to North America instead of British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (which Qantas eventually absorbed). New services were established to Hong Kong, Japan and South Africa. QANTAS grew into Australia 's largest airline. By 1958 QANTAS was landing in 23 countries.

Post-war international aviation until the 1980s involved only one airline, QANTAS. Since the purchase of 747 jumbo jets in 1971, QANTAS has continued to be a significant international airline.

The isolation and harshness of the bush ... made QANTAS such a needed, respected and, it must be added, profitable airline in the first place ... However, it was its extremely astute management, both when privately and government-owned, that enabled it to take advantage of these opportunities and so transform in into one of the world's largest and longest-lived international carriers.
The Heroic Age of Australian Aviation, Linking a Nation: Australia's Transport and Communications 1788 - 1970, Australia: Our national stories, Australian Heritage Commission, 2003.

Deregulation

The deregulation of domestic aviation in 1990 meant the end of the Two Airline Policy. There has been a proliferation of airlines servicing Australian routes, as well as discount airfares which have enticed more people to fly. New, smaller airlines entered the market to service local and national routes, and many disappeared as quickly as they appeared, such as Compass Airlines. Currently, the airlines Virgin Blue, JetStar Airways and QANTAS service different national routes.

Related Culture and Recreation Portal Stories

• Charles Kingsford Smith
• Royal Flying Doctor Service
• Darwin bombing
• Women in action
• Mateship
• Charles 'Moth' Eaton
• The Battle of Long Tan
• Aviation museums

History of aviation

• Lawrence Hargrave
• The Heroic Age of Australian Aviation- Australian Heritage Commission
• Aviation in Australia - State Library of New South Wales
• Australian Flying Corps
• Royal Australian Air Force
• Qantas Heritage Collection
• Australian Commercial Aviation Collection
• The end of the Two Airline Policy - Compass Airlines
• Flying Boats - Sydney's golden age of aviation exhibition 10 May - 14 September 2008, Museum of Sydney

Aviators

• Lawrence Hargrave
• Ross Smith
• Keith Smith
• Hudson Fysh
• Charles Kingsford Smith
• Bert Hinkler
• Charles 'Moth' Eaton
• Lt Colonel Oswald Watt

Aviatrices

• Nancy Bird-Walton
• Millicent Bryant
• Freda Thompson
• Maude Rose Lores Bonney
• Peggy Kelman, (nee) McKillop
• Rosemary Arnold
• Jessie 'Chubby' Miller

Aviation services

• QANTAS foundations
• QANTAS history
• Ansett
• Australian National Airways
• Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA)
• Compass Airlines
• JetStar Airways
• Virgin Blue

Look, Listen, Play

• Qantas Heritage Collection
• Linking a Nation: Australia's Transport and Communications 1788 - 1970 - Chapter 8: The Rise of Civil Aviation to 1970
• Hargrave's Flying Machines
• View animations of Hargrave's ornithopters based on photographs by Charles Bayliss, 1889
• Houdini flies his Voisin bi-plane in Sydney, Australia, 1910 - download mpg movie
• Charles Ulm and Charles Kingsford Smith treasures from 1927 trans-Pacific flight
• View photos of the arrival of the Southern Cross and crew from Charles Ulm's Collection, 1928-1934
• Crossing Oceans - view animations showing decrease of in-air flight times from 1919 to present

Printed references

N Hayes, Billy Stutt and the Richmond Flyboys - The New South Wales State Aviation School 1915-1918 and beyond, Pacific Downunder, Cowes, 2008.

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Last updated: 26th June 2008

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