In the words of McMaster, Winton was `the official birthplace of Qantas’. The first and only meeting of directors in the town was held on 10 February 1921. Qantas operations were then moved 160km south-east to Longreach, which was more central to the operational area.
Qantas’ first office in Longreach was destroyed by fire. A temporary office was provided free in stock and station agent Frank Cory’s plank-fronted store. ...
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In 1919 the Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes announced the now famous ‘AIR RACE’. A prize of £10,000 was to be awarded for the first machine to fly from London to Australia in 30 days or less. Taking up the challenge, Ross Smith applied to the British company Vickers to supply a Vickers Vimy bomber for the race, and the Smith brothers flew their way into Australian folklore.
Landing ...
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In 1909 and 1910 there was a desperate race to be the first person in Australia to fly in a powered aircraft. The first few flights were made in aeroplanes that had been brought in from overseas, and which only stayed in the air for a few minutes. On 16 July 1910, at Mia Mia in Victoria, pioneer aviator John Duigan was the first person to fly an Australian ...
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In 1909, Houdini became fascinated with aviation, bought a French Voisin biplane for $5000 and hired a full-time mechanic, Antonio Brassac. The Voisin had been built especially for Houdini in 1909. It weighed 1,350 pounds, “..with Mr. Houdini mounted.” The 8 foot propeller was behind the pilot. The Voisin aircraft resembled an enlarged powered version of the box kites. After crashing once, Houdini made his first successful flight on ...
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Lawrence Hargrave (1850-1915)
On November 12, 1894, Lawrence Hargrave, the Australian inventor of the box kite, linked four of his kites together, added a sling seat, and flew 16 feet. By demonstrating to a sceptical public that it was possible to build a safe and stable flying machine, Hargrave opened the door to other inventors and pioneers. The Hargrave-designed box kite, with its improved lift-to-drag ratio, was to provide ...
Continue Reading →Aviation pioneer, Bert Hinkler hailed from the Queensland township of Bundaberg.
Renowned for his solo long distance feats in the frail aircraft of yesteryear, his most famous achievement was his flight from England to Australia. This epic flight in 1928 was achieved in a small Avro Avian biplane with his primary means of navigation being a copy of ‘The Times Atlas’. However, in 1931 his most amazing effort was to fly from Canada to New York then non-stop to Jamaica, then ...
Continue Reading →Across the world dedicated owners, engineers and supporters keep a fleet of beautiful aircraft aloft from days gone by.
Here are just some of those machines that provide us with timeless skies.
Continue Reading →This weekend I was able to visit the Australian War Memorial at Canberra.
The personal stories that emerge from this remarkable Australian memorial seemed to be limitless and no less thought provoking. The display of historically significant artefacts are tremendously complemented by the impressive ‘sound and light’ presentations in the various great halls. These serve to bring the stories to life in a form that captures the imagination of everyone from 2 to 102. This was my first viewing of the ...
Continue Reading →Yesterday I had cause to visit sunny Adelaide, the South Australian capital.
In my wanderings, I was able to visit the preserved aircraft of Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith. In 1919, they undertook the epic flight from England to Australia, winning a highly publicised air race in the process. The aircraft is a re-fitted World War One bomber; the Vickers Vimy.
Standing beside it one could almost here the endless roar of the engines and the thrashing rain experienced in a ...
Continue Reading →“Down to Earth”
Simply through our everyday lives, we have cause to encounter all sorts of personalities; some interesting, some complicated and others that spring to mind for all of the wrong reasons. They can be found in a marketplace in some far-away hidden corner of the globe, or right around the corner next to the pie shop. Part of the fun is never knowing quite where you’ll find them.
Some time back, I took to speaking to veteran aircrew ...
Continue Reading →The month of July has almost pased us by and Christmas looms ever larger on the horizon.
For those with an interest in aviation and/or history, it would be unfair for this month to slip by without making mention of two significant anniversaries. July marked both the centenary of Bleriot’s flight across the English Channel and the passing of forty years since Armstrong and Aldrin set foot on the moon, while Collins orbited above.
Aviation history is filled with pioneers who have ...
Continue Reading →Hi and welcome to ‘There and Back’.
This is my first post on what will become a busy Blog over the next 12 months as we ready to commemorate the centenary of powered flight in Australia and raise funds for the very worthy ‘Royal Flying Doctor Service’.
I hope you like the newly launched website which will continue to grow in many ways as the flight draws nearer. When the wheels lift off it will become a real time portal for one ...
Continue Reading →For a better viewing experience: Press the “HQ” button on the bottom right hand side of the video browser AFTER you press play
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