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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1119.PDF
7O6 . South Paeifir Traffic FLIGHT (2) Purchase of four Douglas DC-6 aircraft by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, Ltd., from the Australian Federal Government (the aircraft had recently been obtained for sterling payment from S.A.S.). (3) Ultimate operation of a landplane service between Christchurch (South Island) and Australia. (4) Construction of a new international airport in Fiji at Suva Point, some two miles from the capital. The conference closed on December 7th. By that date two of B.C.P.A.'s newly acquired DC-6s had arrived in Australia from the Douglas factory in California, and the second of these had made a flight to Auckland on December 4th under charter to Tasman Empire Airways; it continued to Ohakea R.N.Z.A.F. Station, some 100 miles north-west of Wellington, on the following day. The 1,200-mile flight be- tween Sydney and Auckland was completed in 4 hr 27 min. Members of the Conference returning to Australia departed by this aircraft on December 7th and the writer was fortunate in travelling on the same flight. B.C.P.A.'s new aircraft pro- vide accommodation for 48 passengers by day and 37 by night; there is a crew of nine, including a purser and two hostesses. The forward cabin has seating accommodation for 32 and the after cabin for 16; upholstery in the larger cabin is green and in the smaller one wine-coloured, and cream curtains with a dark floral pattern are hung throughout the aircraft. Expansion at Mascot The writer had not visited Mascot, Sydney, for over two years, and developments to the land strips and the increase in traffic, both here and at Essendon, were most noticeable. Flights made included Sydney-Melbourne by T.A.A. Skymaster, a return by DC-3, and Sydney-Brisbane return by T.A.A.'s Convair service. T.A.A. Skymasters operate Sydney-Melbourne- Adelaide-Perth return daily. It was good to make a flight in a DC-3 after all this "latest and biggest" flying and to find oneself still appreciative of the comfort and lack of noise in- the full passenger version of this " old faithful." The Convair is undoubtedly a fine aircraft for short-hop operations and ideally suited to Australia. T.A.A. has taken delivery of three, and will shortly have the complete set of five. At present they are operating once daily Melbourne- Hobart and Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane. The overall effect in the 40-seater cabin is a restful grey, with lighter-coloured ceil- ing and racks, while the chairs provide adequate comfort. The pantry is forward, immediately abaft the flight deck; the carrying out of this aspect of service before the full gaze of the customers did not altogether appeal. In matters of noise and vibration, the writer noted an un- usual quietness in the DC-6, but there was a very slight vibra- tion in seats and bunks immediately alongside the inboard motors; the floors of the aircraft are lined with a sponge material to offset this effect. The Convair had no suggestion of vibration, but was fairly noisy in the two back rows of seats, which are situated aft of the exhaust stacks. At other points noise was in no way noticeable. The Australian public appears to like the Convairs, and this is particularly interesting in view of the intense competition between T.A.A. and A.N.A. —nationalization versus private enterprise. All things being equal, the public will patronize private enterprise, but if the government airline produces an aircraft that the passenger prefers, or an aspect of service that appeals, then that line will be patronized; which is pleasing, because it means that the best man may still win, whatever his politics may be. Local colour—Polynesians of Western Samoa. of the Islands. (Top) Apia, the capital An ^musing sideline on T.A.A. aircraft registrations was to be noted. The series VH-TAA to VH-TAZ inclusive has been taken up fully, with the exception of VH-TAX—it was thought wiser to leave that one alone. The writer departed by regular B.C.P.A. Skymaster from Sydney for Fiji. These aircraft maintain the Sydney-Van- couver route three times fortnightly and the Auckland-Van- couver service once fortnightly. With the introduction of the DC-6, schedules will probably be increased <to twice weekly Sydney-Vancouver and weekly Auckland-Vancouver. The four Skymasters are to revert to the Australian Federal Govern- ment as soon as the DC-6s go into trans-Pacific service. Their future is as yet undecided; Qantas wants three for the Sydney-Hong Kong, Sydney-Tokyo and Sydney-Perth-Cocos- Mauritius-Johannesburg routes, possibly starting next August; T.A.A. would like two; and it is possible that other B.C.P.A. shareholders are interested in the matter of disposal of these aircraft. The B.C.P.A. flight to Vancouver departs Mascot at 2000 hours and reaches Nadi, Fiji, at 0800 hours L.S.T. the following morning. The transfer of the Fiji international airport from Nadi, with a hinterland of mountains reaching to 4,000 feet, to Suva Point, 130 miles away on the southern side of the island of Viti Levu, was a recommendation from the S.P.A.T.C. that came as a pleasant surprise; desirable as was the move to put the airport near the capital, it was felt that it might founder fUMA "Auckland," one of Tasman Empire Airways' Sandringham flying boats. I -'if
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