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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1712.PDF
2 December 1955 831 (Right) Departure of B.O.A.C.'s first Lancastrian service from London Airport to Sydney, on May 28th, 1945. Lancastrians reduced journey time to 63 hours, but accommodated only nine passengers. (Below) Short Empire-class flying-boats, one of which is seen at Berth 108, Southampton, were introduced on the U.K.-Australia route in July 1938, bringing new standards of comfort to the longest regular air journey in the world. The trip, in some 30 stoges, took 9'A days U.K.-Alexandria sector. One of the boats, Centaurus, made ademonstration flight to Australia and New Zealand in December of that year, and in July 1938 through flying-boatservices between Southampton and Sydney were inaugurated, reducing journey time to 91 days. While the Singapore-Sydney section of the route remained under the control of the Commonwealth government, Empire boats of both opera-tors were now making through journeys between Britain and Australia. By August 1938 the boats were operating at a frequency ofthree return services weekly, and though the outbreak of war brought a reduction in frequency it was not until 1940, whenItaly entered the war, that the route was altered. West of Cairo the service was diverted to Durban; passengers for Eng-land continued their air journey from Khartoum, travelling via West Africa. When war spread to the Far East the servicewas maintained at first, but it operated under increasingly dangerous conditions; one of the flying-boats was lost inDecember 1941 and another in the following month, and 1942 brought about the temporary severance of all overseas airlinks to Australia. Australia's Commonwealth lifeline was re-established in1943, when Qsntas opened a Catalina service on the 3,515-mile non-stop Indian Ocean route from Perth to Ceylon. Averagetransit time was about 27 hours, though one flight lasted nearly 32 hours. In 1944 the Catalinas were joined by two Liberatorsconverted for passenger carrying and capable of making the crossing in 17 hours. Together these two types made 824crossings of the Indian Ocean under very arduous conditions. It was during this period that the name Kangaroo service firstcame into use, though it did not then apply to the full U.K.- Australia route; the so-called "horseshoe" route via Karachi,Durban, Khartoum and West Africa provided the only connection with England. Direct flights between the two countries were resumed inJune 1945 by Lancastrians, which operated a fast (63-hour) service between Hum and Sydney. B.O.A.C, who had takenover the interests of Imperial Airways five years previously, were responsible as far as Karachi, where Qantas took over theservice. The first full year of peace saw several important develop-ments. Both B.O.A.C. and Qantas introduced the Short Hythe flying-boat, a "civilized" development of the Sunder-land, operating on a 5^-day schedule and carrying up to 22 passengers. Qantas crews manned the Hythes betweenSydney and Singapore. In October 1946 Qantas placed an order for four Constellations and in December of that yearthe Australian Parliament passed a bill providing for Aus- The L. 1049C Super Constellation, used on all Qantas flights between London and Sydney, covers the route in 58 hr elapsed time. tralian government purchase of the equal Qantas and B.O.A.C.holdings in Q.E.A. A year later Qantas, now State-owned, introduced their new Constellations on the Sydney-Londonroute at an initial frequency of three flights fortnightly. Mean- while, B.O.A.C. were continuing to operate three weeklyHythe services and three express mail and freight services per fortnight with Lancastrians. Another year passed andB.O.A.C. introduced their weekly Constellation services— and began the withdrawal of Lancastrians and Hythes. By February 1949 Constellations of the partnership airlineswere operating all passenger services between London and Sydney at a combined frequency of seven return flights fort-nightly. The subsequent story of the Kangaroo route has mainly been one of steady, unspectacular increases in frequencyand aircraft capacity. Highlights have included the replace- ment of the London-Sydney Lancastrian freight service by aLondon-Singapore York flight, connecting in Singapore with a Qantas DC-4 (August 1950); the introduction of the firsttourist service on the route (April 1954); and the introduction of the Super Constellation by Qantas (August 1954). Underan agreement concluded between B.O.A.C. and Qantas early in 1948 revenues earned from the Kangaroo route are pooledand shared in proportion to the capacity offered. Each airline is responsible for its own operating costs. All the Australian airline's services are now operated bySuper Constellations. Present schedules offer one first-class and one mixed-class flights weekly in each direction. B.O.A.C.,still using L.749A Constellations, offer two first-class and one tourist flight weekly. Next year, it is hoped, will see thereplacement of B.O.A.C.'s Constellation services to Australia by three return flights weekly with Britannia 100s; thoughfrequency of the Corporation's services will not increase, use of the much larger Britannia will result in greatly increasedseating capacity and faster schedules, as well as improved comfort. Qantas plan to introduce an additional Constella-tion service, so that passengers on the Kangaroo route should, for the first time in the long history of this service, be able totravel in either direction on any day of the week. The future of the Kangaroo route, as well as its past,will provide much material for discussion at the anniversary dinners on December 8th next. Among the celebrities attend-ing the London dinner, in addition to those named on page 830, will be the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation,Mr. Boyd-Carpenter; the Postmaster-General, Dr. Hill; the High Commissioner for Australia, Sir Thomas White; theNew Zealand High Commissioner, the Hon. T. C. Webb; representatives of the British manufacturers; and many pastand present executives of Imperial Airways and its successor, B.O.A.C.
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