Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 14, 2021 22:34:05 GMT 12
As we approach the reopening of Trans-Tasman flying next week, here's a bit of history from the early days of airline flying across the ditch.
TRANS-TASMAN AIRWAYS
Completion of 1000 Return Trips
FLIGHT PROM SYDNEY
(P.A.) AUCKLAND, June 19.
One thousand return crossings of the Tasman Sea by Tasman Empire Airways aircraft were completed this afternoon when the flying-boat Aotearoa arrived at Auckland from Sydney, commanded by Captain Oscar Garden. Few of the 18 passengers realised that they were making a notable flight until more than halfway across the Tasman, at an altitude of more than 10,000 feet. They were presented with certificates signed by the captain.
It was a normal flight of 8 hours 14 minutes in good weather. A New Zealand Herald reporter who made the journey found that the Tasman flight no longer retains its original glamour of adventure, and that the company’s service is now only an accepted, comfortable, fast, , an highly efficient way of bridging the 1342-odd miles between the Commonwealth and the Dominion.
On the flight to Sydney on Friday a small baby slept as placidly in its bassinette as did an elderly woman in a nearby seat.
Mr F. W. Doidge a Passenger
Mr F. W. Doidge. member of Parliament for Tauranga, who was a passenger to-day, said he had travelled 37,000 miles by air in the last 13 weeks in many parts of the world, and that the Tasman crossing was the most comfortable he had experienced.
Roaring out along the flare path in the half-light at Rose Bay, in Sydney harbour, this morning, the Aotearoa was quickly airborne, and shortly after the twinkling lights of the huge city had been left behind, the passengers were being regaled with a breakfast voted by them as better than any they had received in a Sydney hotel. Most of them dozed and read as the aircraft flew steadily on.
Members of the crew were:— Captain Garden; second officer, Mr A. Carlyon (formerly of the R.N.Z.A.F), navigator, Mr J. Kennedy (formerly of Union Airways); radio operator, Mr J. Jackson (formerly of the Union Steam Ship Company); and flight steward, Mr A. Barnard.
During the most critical years of the present war, the Tasman Empire Airways service has been the only regular civil transport link between New Zealand and Australia, and has played a vital part in Empire communications. The inaugural, commercial flight was made on April 30, 1940, during the Empire’s grimmest days, and since then the two Short four-engined flying-boats, the Aotearoa and the Awarua, have carried 15,488 passengers, most of them on important missions, without loss of life or injury. More than 400 crossings of the Tasman have been made by three members of the flying staff, Captain Garden, Captain C. Griffiths, and a radio officer, Mr D. Reid Miles.
Total of 1,342,000 Miles
The two flying-boats have flown a total of 1,342,000 miles in 8727 hours. The Aotearoa now has a total of 4662 hours in the air, and the Awarua 8610 hours. The machines have carried 631,497lb of mail and 174,860lb of freight across the Tasman.
The 1,342,000 miles flown on Tasman crossings does not by any means represent the total mileage logged by the two aircraft, for both of them have also been used on important missions connected with the Dominion’s war effort, carrying Vice-Regal and ministerial passengers, as well as members of the New Zealand and Allied services. The flying-boats have made five trips to New Caledonia, four to Fiji, and visits to Tonga, Samoa, and Honolulu.
On one occasion, the Aotearoa was fired on near Canton Island by a suspicious dive-bomber pilot, who took it for a Japanese flying-boat. The starboard wing was holed, but otherwise the aircraft escaped damage. That incident occurred when the former chief pilot, Captain J. W. Burgess, was returning from Honolulu, where he had taken the present Acting-Prime Minister (the Hon. W. Nash).
For a period of two months from July 2, the frequency of the Auckland-Sydney service will be increased to four times weekly each way. The service has increased progressively from one return flight a week to three times fortnightly, twice a week and now three times a week. The traffic staff have had waiting lists of nearly 1000 hopeful passengers to contend with. New aircraft with pressure cabins, taking off and landing blind, will in the post-war years substantially reduce the flight time, as they will be unaffected by the weather above which they will fly. They will not, however, dislodge the public’s affection for two gallant flying-boats —the Aotearoa, and the Awarua.
PRESS, 20 JUNE 1945
TRANS-TASMAN AIRWAYS
Completion of 1000 Return Trips
FLIGHT PROM SYDNEY
(P.A.) AUCKLAND, June 19.
One thousand return crossings of the Tasman Sea by Tasman Empire Airways aircraft were completed this afternoon when the flying-boat Aotearoa arrived at Auckland from Sydney, commanded by Captain Oscar Garden. Few of the 18 passengers realised that they were making a notable flight until more than halfway across the Tasman, at an altitude of more than 10,000 feet. They were presented with certificates signed by the captain.
It was a normal flight of 8 hours 14 minutes in good weather. A New Zealand Herald reporter who made the journey found that the Tasman flight no longer retains its original glamour of adventure, and that the company’s service is now only an accepted, comfortable, fast, , an highly efficient way of bridging the 1342-odd miles between the Commonwealth and the Dominion.
On the flight to Sydney on Friday a small baby slept as placidly in its bassinette as did an elderly woman in a nearby seat.
Mr F. W. Doidge a Passenger
Mr F. W. Doidge. member of Parliament for Tauranga, who was a passenger to-day, said he had travelled 37,000 miles by air in the last 13 weeks in many parts of the world, and that the Tasman crossing was the most comfortable he had experienced.
Roaring out along the flare path in the half-light at Rose Bay, in Sydney harbour, this morning, the Aotearoa was quickly airborne, and shortly after the twinkling lights of the huge city had been left behind, the passengers were being regaled with a breakfast voted by them as better than any they had received in a Sydney hotel. Most of them dozed and read as the aircraft flew steadily on.
Members of the crew were:— Captain Garden; second officer, Mr A. Carlyon (formerly of the R.N.Z.A.F), navigator, Mr J. Kennedy (formerly of Union Airways); radio operator, Mr J. Jackson (formerly of the Union Steam Ship Company); and flight steward, Mr A. Barnard.
During the most critical years of the present war, the Tasman Empire Airways service has been the only regular civil transport link between New Zealand and Australia, and has played a vital part in Empire communications. The inaugural, commercial flight was made on April 30, 1940, during the Empire’s grimmest days, and since then the two Short four-engined flying-boats, the Aotearoa and the Awarua, have carried 15,488 passengers, most of them on important missions, without loss of life or injury. More than 400 crossings of the Tasman have been made by three members of the flying staff, Captain Garden, Captain C. Griffiths, and a radio officer, Mr D. Reid Miles.
Total of 1,342,000 Miles
The two flying-boats have flown a total of 1,342,000 miles in 8727 hours. The Aotearoa now has a total of 4662 hours in the air, and the Awarua 8610 hours. The machines have carried 631,497lb of mail and 174,860lb of freight across the Tasman.
The 1,342,000 miles flown on Tasman crossings does not by any means represent the total mileage logged by the two aircraft, for both of them have also been used on important missions connected with the Dominion’s war effort, carrying Vice-Regal and ministerial passengers, as well as members of the New Zealand and Allied services. The flying-boats have made five trips to New Caledonia, four to Fiji, and visits to Tonga, Samoa, and Honolulu.
On one occasion, the Aotearoa was fired on near Canton Island by a suspicious dive-bomber pilot, who took it for a Japanese flying-boat. The starboard wing was holed, but otherwise the aircraft escaped damage. That incident occurred when the former chief pilot, Captain J. W. Burgess, was returning from Honolulu, where he had taken the present Acting-Prime Minister (the Hon. W. Nash).
For a period of two months from July 2, the frequency of the Auckland-Sydney service will be increased to four times weekly each way. The service has increased progressively from one return flight a week to three times fortnightly, twice a week and now three times a week. The traffic staff have had waiting lists of nearly 1000 hopeful passengers to contend with. New aircraft with pressure cabins, taking off and landing blind, will in the post-war years substantially reduce the flight time, as they will be unaffected by the weather above which they will fly. They will not, however, dislodge the public’s affection for two gallant flying-boats —the Aotearoa, and the Awarua.
PRESS, 20 JUNE 1945
