ft. THE AYIATIOI HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA JOUK^AL VOL, II Noc 6 JUHB 1961 WjKTHLY lUTES The four neT/ BuEIMG 707-138B's for Qantas Xsee page Hil) have been allotted the follo\'»-ing registrations and names s- VH-EBH City of Darwin, VH-EBI ¥finton, VH-EBJ Longreach, and Vli-EBE City of Hewcastle, The aircraft are scheduled to reach Sydney on 8th,, 24th,, and 28th, Angust and 4th, September respectiTely, The first one, VII-EBE, is also scheduled to operate the first "turbo-fan" commercial flight from Sydney to London via lew York commencing on 2nd, September, Recent tests by a U.S, operator^S^ shown that the service. .. performance with the turbo-fan engines is better than the estimates - fuel consumption is 15 per cent better than that with turbo-jet engines (the estimated figure was only 10 per cent) and the altitude range is now 34000 - 40000 feet. The flight times on Qantas BOEIHG senrices will be re-scheduled from 1st, October to take advantage of the higher speed, greater fuel econony and shorter take-off requirements of the turbo-fan aircraft and the flight time from Sydney to London via the Middle East will be reduced by two hours and the elapsed time by four and a half hours. The existing fleet of Qantas BOEING 707-138's (VH-EBA to EBG) will be sent to the U.S, progressively to be fitted with turbo-fan engines (see page 1,75) and the first aircraft, VE-EBA City of Melbourne, will departs on 31st, July, The last aircraft to be modified, VH-EBG, City of Hobart, is., scheduled to return to Sydney on 6th, January, 1962, To clear:.the way for the new BOEING 707-138B's, Qantas has changed the registrations of tvro of their DuUGLAS DC-4's: VH-EBE is now VH-EDA and TO-EBN. iB;:now'YH-EDB, In addition, the DuUGLAS DC-3C ':VH-CAE which Qantas recently purchased from the Department of Civil Aviation has been registered to the airline as VH-EDC, Qantas recently converted two of theii' IDCKPIEED SUPEE-CuNSTELLATIONS VH-EAA and EAB for operation as freighters but both aircraft have been temp­ orarily "put into mothballs" probably due to the slackening in the rate of grovrth of air traffic which has "been hampered by the political, economic and international situation". On 5,6,61, TAA carried their ten millionth passenger, this mark being reached in less than 15 years from the airline’s .first flight on Rth,. September, 1946, The five million mark had been reached in 1955 after nine years operation. Journal ^ 44 .. June 1961 On 10*^6^61, the spaed restriction,.: on LOG MEED ELECTEAS operated in Australia was lifted, and the aircraft could again be flown at 405 mph (see pages II®8 and I«5l)« Ihe Department of Ciiril Airiation had adopted the policy that the restrictions should be in force until the last unmodified ELECTEA had departed for the and on 9«6'®61 Ansett-AM*s ¥E'-«BMG left Australia for laodifieation*. At .th^.,.dat^^ lAA had two laodified aircraft in seanrice ('VH-ILA and TEB) and Ansett-AIA had one (VH-RMA)^. while all of the'Q.antas ELECxEilS .(¥H^ECA to ECD) had been modified® Two aircraft were in California undergoing modification (‘yii-TlC and vH-MB) when the last aircraft departed® On 19^6®61j TAA^s LOCKHEED ELECTIUl VH-TLB ”John Gilbert” commanded- by, Captv Ai^c.Maiio2iey/l'flew:„..from..M@lbouma, to;. Brisbane \in baaeihourj.b&rminutes ”• ten:.,:]iL.inu,te^ S'S;.than thevpfeif:|:ods;:;re;0. an ELECTItA on 14th® June^ I960* On 19«6®61^ the first ci¥il JATO fliglit was made from Melbourne Airport by TM’s DUUGIAE DC-gC M-SBE on a test flight in which the star­ board airscrew was feathered during take-off«. The aircraft was fitted with t?/o Aerojet units beneath the fuselage jjramediately aft of the trailing edge of the wungc Each unit deTolops a thrust of lOuO lb® and has a burning time of 15 seconds# The aircraft made two test flights^ the first with one air­ screw feathered and no JATO and the second with the airscrew feathered and the JATu units operating® Another, DUUGLAS-._:DG~-gC ¥H«SBB will be similarly modified for TM by Fairey-Clyde at Baiikstown^ and a third DC-gC (as yet undecided) will be modified at a later date® Ansett-Mandated Airlines andi Fapuan...Air Transport'-will also fit.'the-units to several of their DC-gC^s# The additional thrust is intended for emergency use^ principally at the 4200 ft® strip at Madang^ and will in most instances pemit the usual ADW of 2620U lb® to be used again in Hew G-uineac In Februaiy this year, DGA imposed a limit of 24800 lb® AIJil’ for DC-gC*s operated in the Territory in the interests of higher safety standards® The Department said that ”for: some years the Department has permitted DC-g airliners to cany significantly higher weights from \ji0W Guine^ aerodromes than would be allowed from sim­ ilar aerodromes in iuistralia® We permitted this because of the DC-3’s vital development^ role in Pa|)ua and Hew Guinea ® * However, it was now considered that the Territo.iyhs airline services were now an integral part of Australians domestic airline system and hig;her safety standards were essential® In conformity with TAii-s practice of naming their aircraft after explorers and pioneers of Australia^ DOUGLAS DC«gC ¥Ii-SBM was named **Ivan Champion*^ in a ceremony at Port Moresby® Mr® Champion, who was the first man to cross Hew Guinea on foot (he walked from the Fly River to the Sepik River in 1928 in coiEpany with Charles Karius), and is now Commissioner for lative Affairs in the Papua-Hew Guinea Administration, cut the ribbon which sent the bottle of cliampagne splashing on the nose of the aircraft. and officially named it® On 26®6®61, Ansett-AHA's BRISTOL FEEIGHTEE ¥H«IIJ completed its last flight from Melbourne to Hobart® It is not certain whether the aircraft, which has completed 25000 hours flying, 'will be retired or sent to Hew Guinea® Journal « 45 June 1561 llie Italian airline^ Alitalia^ inaugurated its Rome-Sydney jet service when DOUG-IAS DC-8 Series F-BlUZ arriwed at Sydney Airport on 16®6«61 with 61 passengers® The aircraft^ which was chartered from the French airline lAI^ carried the usual colour schema of the latter compary with the notation on the nose “Alitalia on charter from. IAI“® I‘ha seiwice will be operated with chartered TAI DC«“8^s until Alitalia takes deliTeiy of their omi aircraft in about six months^ Un 19®6®61^ Flinders Island Airways BEECH D18S VH-FID (which now has a red and white colour scheme - see page II«55) opened the new nerfspaper air delirery service between Melbourne and some Victorian country towns ^ In about a months the aircraft ¥fill be used to re-establish the air-freighting service between 8t® Helens^ Tasmania^ a.nd Melbourne which vms interrupted rrhen' FIA^s AVED ADSOH VH-FIB crashed near Loch^ Fiotoria^ on lUth« February, 1560 (see page I®14)® Initially the service will be flown each Monday morning to transport crayfish to the mainland market® H'icholas Air Charters, a subsidiaiy of licholas Froduots (the Aspro finu), has acquired Air Charters Pty® Ltd® and will operate light aircraft,on charter duties from Moorabbin® Ihe fim now owns CESSHA 182 Ffi-ALL and CESSIA 182D W-ffiR, ^ VA/- A “circus” of depionstration aircraft made a tour of major centres in south-eastern Australia during June (see page 11^36) under direction of the Dulmison Aircraft Co® At each centre, the World Aerobatic Champion, J« Blaha, presented his remarkable display of aerobatics® On 11®6®61, to., park-the 2yth#' anniversary of the Air Training Corps in Australia, Flight Lieut® ii® Hearn flevr his radio-controlled model aircraft to a world record altitude of 4760 feet over Daverton, "victoria, and exceeded the previous record of 4488 feet held by Czechoslovakia® He controlled the model from DE HAJILLAHD HOEilT MOTH VH-AMJ which was piloted by his brother, B®G« Hearn, who is a member of A^H^Se-A^ DE HAfILLAH) CHIPMCHK YH-EFL also accompanied them as an observer® As noted on page 48 in this'issue, TIPSY HIPPER T^66 Mk#II has been sold to Hew Zealand® Apparently the oimer-pilot, C« Thome, obtained the aircraft in early June and completed assembly by 9th® Jiina# Test flights were made on 10th« June and the UPPER ?ms airborne for five minutes on the first test flight® Hovrever, during the second fliglit, which lasted about 1^ minutes, the spinner became detached and smashed one blade of the propeller, necessitating a forced landing from 300 feet® The landing was effected successfully in a rough paddock near Hood aerodrome, Masterton, but the port undercarriage leg was torn off after tlie aircraft touched down® On 24«6®61, Rex Aviation were servicing an Aero Conimander 680 wiiich has been purchased by the Snowy Mountains Authority® Registration VH-SMA has been applied and the colour schema is blue and white® Constmcted in October, 1956, it has constructor's number 680-422-96® A,H«S*A» Journal - 46 - Jime ly61 On 17th*-May, 1S61, the Minister for Air (Senator Wade) announced that; the SHECMA Atar had been chosen as the power unit for the GAMD MIRAGE III for the EAiiF (see pages 1*97 and 11*20), A further choice will now be made w'ithia four months bet?feen the Atar 9C irhich powers the standard MIRAGE IIIC and a later development of the engine, the Atar 9il, The engines will be manufactured to a "substantial extent” in Australia by Commonwealth Aircraft Coi’poration and officers of the firm v/ill go to the SFECMA Tforks for technical consultation.