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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 2305.PDF
562 FLIGHT NOVEMBER 22ND, 1945 From the Australian Viewpoint Mr, Hudson Fysh Delivers the First Commonwealth and Empire Lecture to the R.Ae.S. : Need for World Co-operation in Air Transport : The History of Australian Services BECAUSE the text itself was so considerable in itsscope and would, if read in entirety, have involvedthe listeners in an all-night session in the lecture hall, Mr. W. Hudson Fysh, D.F.C., the managing director of Qantas Empire Airways, gave only a brief summary of his lecture on '' Australia in Empire Air Transport.'' He dealt with the general air transport situation in Australia and elsewhere, and then continued, with the help of lantern slides, to a summary of the history of Australian air transport. The lecture was the first of the new Commonwealth and Empire series to be delivered and was, therefore, of special interest. In the printed version of his paper Mr. Hudson Fysh dealt first of all, and at length, with the history of human communications; leading on to early efforts at air-mail delivery, and describing in comparative detail the pioneer work in Australia. More recent Australian air history started with Sir Ross Smith's flight in a Vickers Vimy, in a matter of twenty-eight days, from Hounslow to Darwin, and, in some ways, the even more outstanding flight by Capt. (now Air. Vice-Marshal) Wrigley and Lt. (now Air Commodore) Murphy in a B.E, 2E across Australia to meet the Vimy at Darwin, As a consequence of these <»•••»•••••••••••••••"••••« • flights Mr. Hudson Fysh and Lt. McGinnis were asked to survey by car a route across Australia. In 1920 these two pioneers, with Mr.-Fergus McMaster, started Queensland and Northern Territories Aerial Services (Qantas) as a joy-flying and taxi concern UjSing surplus Avros. In the same way West Australian Airways was formed by Major Norman Brearley, a concern which later started the first subsidised service between Geraldton .and Darby—to be extended eventually to a run from Perth to Adelaide. A little later, in 1922, Qantas obtained a subsidy for a service between Charleville and Cloncurry, using A.W. F.K.8s and i. D.H.4, and doing the journey in two stages. The difficulty then was to find an aircraft which could fly satisfactorily in the hot, thin air and which would provide the passengers with something resembling comfort. Passenger Comfort The first successful aircraft to improve on the '' cap and goggle " passenger arrangements was the D.H.50, and Qantas later converted this type for use with a Bristol Jupiter, which greatly improved its performance. Later still, the D.H. 61 arrived, with a lavatory and an " aisle " for the eight passengers. Progress was being made. More modern still were the Vickers Viastra used by West Aus- tralian Airways and the Avro Tens used by the original Australian National Airways, which was founded by the late Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, but was later liquidated and re-formed by Holymans and other shipping interests. Guinea Airways showed what could be done in carrying heavy and useful loads over the wildest country. Australian National Airways, using American aircraft, eventually provided new standards in passenger comfort and a high degree of " utilisation "—round which revolves the whole economy of airline operation. Under the impetus of war, the Qantas Short Empire boats were eventually SOME JOURNEY TIMES . . . and a dip into the future 1830 London—Edinburgh... Mail coach (399 miles) 42J hr. 1870 London—Melbourne... Clipper sailing ship 70-90 days 1910 London—Melbourne... Steamship ... 30 days 1945 London—Sydney ... Avro Lancastrian service ... 62 hr. " That the future lies in the utilisation of the gas turbine, jet, the rocket and even newer sources of propulsion is certain . . . some form of ballistics will be the order of the day." flying 2,500 hours a year, but even this figure did not mate! that obtained from the American types. After describing the internal airline development am the pioneering side of the Empire services, Mr. Hudso: Fysh continues in his paper to deal with the genesis c these services in relation to Australia and to show th events which led up to the Empire Air Mail Scheme an* to the combined operations of Imperial Airways and th new Qantas Empire Airways. In the through service Qantas took over from B.O.A.C.—or Imperial Airways- at Singapore, using D.H.86 aircraft for this difficult sectio: until they took delivery of Short Ernjpire boats. Afte Tasman Empire Airways had been formed in 1940 two c these boats carried on with the Sydney-Auckland servic throughout "the war and during the period whe: sea-borne transport was almost non-existent. Fortunately an engine ........................«......r. overhaul workshop hai been established at Sydney otherwise there would hav been great difficulties in re planning the operation c the Empire route after th outbreak of war. B.O.A.C were then very short of fly ing staff and maintenanc facilities east of the broke: Mediterranean link, an* Qantas carried through t Karachi until the Japanes war started. Thereafte Qantas paid the price *c war in the loss of nearly all their boats, directly or indirect! as a result of enemy action. The Australian civil airlin pilots and operators did tremendous work during the perk* when the Japanese were nearing the shofes of Australia Indian Ocean Epic Very little has ever been written about the Indian Ocea service between Ceylon and Perth during the dajj£ whe Japan held the East Indies. Mr. Hudson Fysh describe the operation of the Catalinas—assisted later by a coupl of Liberators—over this 3,513-mile crossing. For it th Catalinas were loaded up to a figure more than 8,000 It greater than their normal all-up weight of 27,000 lb., ye an average payload of 1,000 1b. was carried. Radio silenc had, of course, to be maintained and the meteorologicE situation was specially involved since sea and rough a: conditions had to be correctly predicted for that part c the run during which the Catalinas were heavily ovei loaded. A special technique of take-off was perfected b the pilots, and extreme range was obtained by progre; sively reducing the power while maintaining a constar air speed as the aircraft became lighter. Three or four trij were also made to the Cocos Islands. This flight, withor radio aid, demanded the utmost accuracy in D/R an astronomical navigation. The Catalina-Liberator serv|! formed a fitting prelude to the regular Lancastrian sei vice which was started this summer. The Chicago Conference, in (Mr. Hudson Fysh's view did splendid work in laying the foundations of agreemer on technical matters and, even if it did leave questions c international operation much "in the air," it allowed vital ventilation of views based on the famous Five Fre< dorns. Out of this conference came the Provisional Intel national Civil Aviation Organisation (P.I.C.A.O. charged-with a continuance of the work of the conferenc* B 10
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