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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1684.PDF
FLIGHT, 25 November 1955 North-West Australia's Pioneer Airline The Story of MacRobertson-Miller Aviation By DENNIS M. POWELL, F.R.G.S. A recent photograph of Capt. H. C. Miller, co-founder of M.M.A. THOUGH the MacRobertson-Miller Aviation Co. wasfounded in 1928 its story began some years before that.The present managing-director, Captain H. C. Miller, learned to fly in England in 1914; and after the First World Warhe returned to Australia to barnstorm the country in war-time aircraft. Miller gained a reputation as a very experienced pilotand in 1928 he interested the late Sir MacPherson Robertson, one of Australia's leading businessmen, in the formation of anairline. Capt. Miller asked de Havilland to construct an aircraft tohis own specifications. This was the D.H.61, the first truly com- mercial aircraft to be flown in Australia. It was a six-passengercabin biplane powered by a single Bristol Jupiter Series XF engine. The D.H.61 operated a network of services throughoutSouth Australia; then, as business increased, a Fokker Universal was imported from the United States. This was the last Ameri-can-built aircraft allowed into Australia until the Department of Civil Aviation lifted its foreign aircraft embargo in 1936 topermit the import of the DC-2. (Australia recognized the effici- ency of American transport aircraft when a DC-2 came secondin the England to Australia Air-Race in October 1934. The race had originated through the generosity of Sir MacPhersonRobertson, and the outcome clearly showed the great influence which both Capt. Miller and Sir MacPherson had on the earlydays of commercial aviation in Australia.) Early in 1934, M.M.A. decided to concentrate its activitiesin Western Australia, where it obtained the contract to operate the North-West coastal run, actually the oldest airline route inAustralia. In November 1921, the now non-existent Western Australian Airways operated an airmail and passenger servicebetween Geraldtown and Derby, only a few months before Qantas started operations in Queensland. M.M.A. started its North-West service with five D.H.84Dragons, taking four days to fly from Perth to Daly Waters in the Northern Territory. In 1938, two D.H.86s were acquired,cutting the flying time to Daly Waters to two days. In the following year M.M.A. started connecting services withQantas, K.L.M. and Imperial Airways at Darwin. Two Lock- heed Electras were then added to the fleet and four Electrassubsequently formed the backbone of the fleet until the first DC-3 was acquired at the end of 1945. M.M.A. now has fourDC-3 passenger aircraft and one DC-3 freighter, but it was not until the beginning of 1954 that the last Electra (VH-MMD) wasretired. Another type of aircraft obtained after the war was the ex-R.A.A.F. Anson. Five specially modified Ansons are at present in service. They are fitted with seven seats and are used mainlyon feeder routes and on the famous Royal Flying Doctor Service. The directors of the MacRobertson-Miller Aviation Co.Pty. Ltd., of Perth in Western Australia, agree that the introduc- tion of DC-3s into the company's fleet after the end of the SecondWorld War has been one of the major factors contributing to the expansion of the company's services. Since the introduction of its first DC-3 (aptly registered VH-MMA) in November 1945,there has been a continuous expansion in passenger and freight operations, which, in turn, has enabled the company to purchasemore DC-3s; a total of five are currently operated. But to return to the historical record: after the First World War (duringwhich he flew with No. 3 Squadron, R.F.C.) Capt. Miller re- turned to Australia and formed the Commercial Aviation Com-pany, using modified Service-type aircraft. The company regis- tered Australia's first civil airfield with the Government in theState of Victoria, and the first eight years of its existence were devoted to joy riding and charter flights. In 1927, Sir MacPherson Robertson joined forces with Capt.Miller and they registered a new company, the MacRobertson- Miller Aviation Co. Pty. Ltd., which tide has been retained downthrough the years. Early in 1934, they started operating in Western Australia when the Commonwealth Government ac-cepted a tender from them for the right to operate the air service along the north-west coast of Australia. From 1934 to 1939,M.M.A continued progressively to expand as more aircraft—of die types already mentioned—were obtained. In the four yearsup to the start of the war, the number of passengers carried each year trebled, with the mail and freight carried approximatelydoubled. When the war broke out, Australian coastal shipping almostceased and the people of the isolated north-west regions had to rely almost entirely on air transport as there were no railwayor public road services. Operating unarmed in regions subject to enemy aerial attack, M.M.A. pilots did a magnificent jobmaintaining the only contact these isolated people had with civilization. During the war, the R.A.A.F. impressed several of the com-pany's aircraft, and at one stage they were left with only one machine to operate a very thin skeleton schedule. In 1945, the directors of M.M.A. decided to introduce theDC-3. They actually hired their first from the Commonwealth Government in November 1945 and made do with it until theywere able to obtain another from the Americans in Manila in April 1946. Others were bought at intervals from the R.A.A.F.,the Zinc Corporation at Broken Hill, and finally from die Pakistan Air Force. The aircraft have all been modified and converted in M.M.A.'sworkshops at Perdi to meet die requirements of the Australian Department of Civil Aviation and local operating conditions.Powered by Pratt and Whitney R1830-S1C3G engines, they are fitted widi 28 seats (in seven rows of four) and, because M.M.A.often uses its passenger aircraft for freight work, double cargo- type doors. Empty weight varies from 17,691 1b to 17,983 lband the maximum permissible weight for passenger aircraft is 26,200 lb. Crew comprises captain, first officer and hostess. All aircraft are subject to a rigidly enforced maintenance pro-gramme with daily inspections. A certificate of safety inspection is signed every 40 hr and airframe inspections are made at 125,500, 1,000, 2,000 and 4,000 hr. After 8,500 hr, each aircraft undergoes a major overhaul. Engine changes are at every 1,050hr; the time taken by M.M.A. engineers for a double engine change is usually four hours. Yearly utilization of each DC-3averages about 3,000 hr; for each Anson it is about 1,000 hr. Particular attention has to be paid to the dangers of corrosion,which is always a possibility in aircraft operating in the salty atmosphere of a coastal route. This problem is overcome to alarge extent by keeping a high polish on die skin. The cleaning staff polish the aircraft on a progressive basis. Each time an The company's Fokker Universal, used on the Darwin-Perth routes from 7935 to 7939. M.M.A. had only one of this type.
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