queensland and northern territory aviation services ltd – that’s a bit of a mouthful. but aussies being aussies they quickly came up with a shorter version: qantas.
the national carrier, a very emotional story. and it all started as a typical australian story, with two guys in a car on a road trip. or more to the point: an off-road trip. an air race from england to australia was about to be run and paul mcginness, a ww1 pilot, wanted to participate. unfortunately he couldn’t raise the money but was contracted to survey airstrips between longreach and katherine.
he set out in a ford t – cutting edge technology then – and his mate and ex gunner hudson fysh. the trip was pretty hard going and the guys started to wonder what they were doing on the ground when it would be so much easier in the air.
fysh and mcmginness found someone to help them find the money and together they purchased a plane, an avro 504k, and set up qantas in 1920. they added a few more planes but really only got clear air (pun totally intended) when they won a government tender to delivery ‘air’ mail.
qantas also supported the royal flying doctors and had a converted four seater plane for that purpose. the airline continued to expand and in 1929 moved to brisbane. qantas started to take on more contracts to deliver mail as far as darwin, and later also to singapore. shortly before the war the airline added flying boats to service new zealand and even england (via singapore).
qantas flying boats would play an important role in the war. catalina flying boats were used to service areas under enemy attack. the catalinas were fitted with additional fuel tanls and could stay in the air for 36 hours.
after the war, as many other airlines, qantas switched to material tried & tested by the airforce: the dc3. around the same time, in 1947, the australian government decided to take over qantas. that was of course a labor government, chifley, these guys didn’t know any better, typical labor.
despite these obviously limiting circumstances the airline continued to expand, first with the addition of constellation and then with the super constellation aircraft. the museum in longreach recently acquired an old super constellation but the restoration is still ongoing and will be finished by qantas’ 100th birthday.
the super constellations were finally replaced by the boeing 707, ushering in the era of the jet planes. qantas’ first 707 had a long and exciting life: after serving at qantas the plane became a freighter before being converted into a luxury jet for stars like michael jackson and eventually some rich arab prince. when environmental restrictions caught up with the ‘city of canberra’ (that was her first name) she was left to rot in an airfield in england but eventually rescued and flown to longreach.
the 707 fleet was then replaced by the 747, starting in 1971. the qantas founders’ museum actually has a 747 in it’s ‘fleet’ – it won’t fly any more but the plane offers a few great insights that passengers are usually not afforded. or did you ever catch a glimpse of the ‘black boxes’?
fly by wire? in a way, although not quite as airbus implemented it.
qantas was re-privatised in 1995, of course under a labor government (keating). these labor guys really know how to manage an economy, fascinating. or was it to stop a few budget holes following the recession the country had to have?
who knows. what is absolutely certain, though, is that longreach is one of only two places in the world where visitors are allowed to stand in a jet turbine and have their photo taken.
complete adrenalin rush.
ps: we expected to be in & out and on our way quickly but ended up spending four hours in the museum. it is well designed and especially the jet walk was well worth it. on the eternal list of greatest museums ever the porsche museum in stuttgart will remain #1 – by a long long shot. sorry guys. great effort though.