Pilot No.1
William Ewart Hart It’s fair to say that most of Australia’s early aviation history happened during and immediately after the Great War… Most. But not all. There were a handful of Australians who caught the flying bug early and gave it full rein right here. And one of the most important was Paramatta dentist William Ewart Hart – holder of Australian Aviator’s Licence No. 1. … Continue reading Pilot No.1
Home for a hunter
Orion rising The first thing you notice is its size. In fact, the most common reaction is ‘Oh. Wow!’ Although it’s hardly enormous by modern standards, the Lockheed Orion’s ancestry in the Electra turboprop is a vivid reminder that even small airliners are not small aeroplanes. To walk from SAAM’s darkened restoration workshop into a display hangar that is dominated by a retired RAAF AP-3C … Continue reading Home for a hunter
(G)olden days
Messing about in planes This won’t be news to TAVAS members any more, but a couple of weekends back I had the enormous pleasure of hanging out with my mate Andrew at the TAVAS Museum at Caboolture, north of Brisbane. (Plus other shenanigans, which we needn’t go into here.) TAVAS Museum I’d like to stop here, in case your boss comes in and you have … Continue reading (G)olden days
Missing Man
Vale, General Yeager Sometime today, you will find yourself processing the news that the famous twinkle has forever left the clear eyes of Brigadier-General Charles E. Yeager. I heard the news from my friend Ronald, who heard it on the radio. Then I checked and found I’d not known for around five hours. Part of me regretted that. Another part was glad I hadn’t found … Continue reading Missing Man
Eagle & dove
Marie Marvingt In March 1915, an injured pilot of the French Aéronautique Militaire was transported to a field hospital behind Verdun, 200km east of Paris. There, one of his nurses learned he had been the only pilot available to fly an important bombing mission. Within days, that nurse would become history’s first female combat pilot. No ordinary nurse This was still the early days of … Continue reading Eagle & dove
O’Hare City
Point of view Apparently, we’re not quite ready to move on just yet – and my last post on the Early Days At O’Hare brought in at least one response that’s worth a share. (By the way, I’ve fixed the image links in that piece now, so you can actually read the magazine article.) Phil Thompson is an artist and self-confessed travel geek living in … Continue reading O’Hare City
Early Days at O’Hare
Orchard Place Of course it wasn’t what I set out to do. I’d actually thought it would be interesting to go through some old American aviation magazines and compare the advertising from late 1938 to late 1943 and then mid-1945… I wanted to see how things changed as the Depression economy recovered but before war in Europe had begun; then in the depths of WW2 … Continue reading Early Days at O’Hare
The story of EW999 (Part 4)
The RAF Skymasters Researching Churchill’s Skymaster turned up a fair amount of interest – and just as much misinformation – about the entire fleet of RAF Dougkas C-54s. So, while I don’t have ready access to the records that could give us all a truly granular history of the C-54 in British service, I’ll give you what I can. This should help end some confusion, scotch … Continue reading The story of EW999 (Part 4)
The story of EW999 (Part 3)
Churchill’s Skymaster …continuing from Part 2 of this series A vigorous supporter of aid for Russia since October 1941, Mrs Clementine Churchill had been invited to tour Red Cross facilities across Russia in March 1944. The invitation was seen as a thank you for Clementine’s years of dedicated fundraising in support of the Russian Red Cross …and possibly as a propaganda assault by the Soviet … Continue reading The story of EW999 (Part 3)
The story of EW999 (Part 2)
Churchill’s Skymaster As we’ve seen in Part 1, the RAF’s first Douglas C-54 Skymaster, serial EW999 (C-54B 43-17126/0100), was luxuriously fitted out for the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The work was overseen by Armstrong-Whitworth Aviation at Whitley, Coventry and the new aircraft was ready for ‘The Owner’ in November 1944. A dedicated crew Apparently the PM disliked new faces or changes to his immediate … Continue reading The story of EW999 (Part 2)
airscape Magazine 