Trans Australia Airlines
Encyclopedia
Trans Australia Airlines or TAA, (renamed Australian Airlines in 1986) was one of the two major Australia
n domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its sale to Qantas
in May 1996. During that period TAA played a major part in the development of the Australian air transport industry. The establishment of TAA broke the domestic air transport monopoly of ANA
(Australian National Airways
) in the late 1940s, and taking over the Queensland
air network from QANTAS. It was also at the time TAA supported the Flying Doctor Services of Australia by providing aircraft, pilots and engineers to ensure every emergency was answered quickly.
The airline's headquarters were located in the City of Melbourne
. In 1954 TAA became the first airline outside Europe to introduce the Vickers Viscount
'propjet', and in 1981 it introduced the Airbus A300
, the first wide-body aircraft
to be purchased by an Australian domestic airline.
Qantas revived the Australian Airlines
brand between 2002 and 2006 to serve the low-cost leisure market of visitors to and from Australia.
, Australia had been one of the world's leading centres of aviation. With its tiny population of about 7 million, Australia ranked sixth in the world for scheduled air mileage, had 16 airlines, was growing at twice the world average, and had produced a number of prominent aviation pioneers, including Lawrence Hargrave
, Harry Hawker
, Lawrence Wackett
, the Reverend John Flynn
, Sidney Cotton
, Keith Virtue
and Charles Kingsford Smith
. Governments on both sides of politics, well aware of the immense stretches of uninhabitable desert that separated the small productive regions of Australia, regarded air transport as a matter of national importance (as did the governments of other geographically large nations, such as the Soviet Union and the United States). In the words of Director General of Civil Aviation AB Corbett,
However, after 1939 and especially after Japan's invasion of the islands to the north in 1941, civil aviation was sacrificed to military needs. By the end of the war, there were only nine domestic airlines remaining, eight smaller regional concerns and Australian National Airways (ANA), a conglomerate
owned by British and Australian shipping interests which had a virtual monopoly on the major trunk routes and received 85% of all government air transport subsidies.
The Chifley
Government's view was summed up by Minister for Air, Arthur Drakeford
: Where are the great pioneers of aviation? ..... We discover that one by one the small pioneer enterprises are disappearing from the register. It is the inevitable process of absorption by a monopoly. Air transport, the government believed, was primarily a public service
, like hospitals, the railways or the post office. If there was to be a monopoly at all, then it should be one owned by the public and working in the public interest.
In August 1945, only two days after the end of World War II, the Australian parliament passed the Australian National Airways Bill, which set up the Australian National Airways Commission (ANAC) and charged it with the task of reconstructing the nation's air transport industry. In keeping with the Labor
government's socialist leanings, the bill declared that the licenses of private operators would lapse for those routes that were adequately serviced by the national carrier. From this time on, it seemed, air transport in Australia would be a government monopoly. However, a legal challenge
, backed by the Liberal
opposition and business interests generally, was successful and in December 1945, the High Court
ruled that the Commonwealth
did not have the power to prevent the issue of airline licenses to private companies. The government could set up an airline if it wished, but it could not legislate a monopoly. Much of the press objected strongly to the setting up of a public airline network, seeing it as a form of socialisation by stealth.
.
Coles was one of the richest men in Australia, and the co-founder of a retail empire that remains easily the largest in Australia to this day. Coles had withdrawn from active management of his business. He was 'a great believer in competition for business' and would not have accepted the post of Chairman of the ANAC had the monopoly provision been retained.
The Commission decided on the name "Trans Australia Airlines", applied to the Treasury for a preliminary advance of £10,000 and set about making plans, recruiting staff, and purchasing equipment. Reginald Ansett, proprietor of the small Victorian company Ansett Airways was quick to offer to get the new airline off to a flying start by selling his entire operation to the ANAC as a going concern, including (if desired) his own services as managing agent. The asking price, the Commission decided, was optimistic, and Ansett declined a more modest counter offer.
There was considerable correspondence between the Commission and Ivan Holyman, the Chairman of ANA, with a view to recruiting Holyman as General Manager of TAA at the princely salary of £10,000 pa, and, when that offer was declined, of buying the near-monopoly airline outright. Holyman was not willing to sell, nor to work for a government-owned body, but was interested in setting up a "composite company", the details of which proposal remained unclear.
Eventually the ANAC proceeded with the original plan, to build an airline from scratch. One of the first people hired was Lester Brain
, then Operations Manager at Qantas
. Brain had 22 years of pioneering aviation experience behind him and was regarded as the man behind Qantas' reputation for technical excellence. He applied for the advertised position of TAA Operations Manager, but to his surprise and delight, was instead offered an appointment as General Manager — though at £3,000 pa, not the £10,000 that had been offered to Holyman.
TAA acquired its first two aircraft in mid-June 1946, both Douglas DC-3
s. A dozen more DC-3s would be added over the next few months, all ex-RAAF
aircraft originally bought by the Australian Government under lend-lease
. In July, the Treasury released £350,000 to allow TAA to order four larger, more modern DC-4
s from Douglas
in the United States, and Brain appointed John Watkins
as Chief Technical Officer. Watkins would become one of the key figures in TAA success. His first task was to travel to the USA to accept delivery of the DC-4s. He later wrote:
It was typical of Coles, who knew nothing about aircraft, to reason that quality equipment would be vital, and then select the best man for the job of finding it and be prepared to back his judgement.
At this point, political considerations came to the fore again. TAA planned to start regular services on 7 October, but there was a federal election set for 28 September. Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill
had been enormously popular during the darkest hours, but was voted out at the first post-war opportunity. There was no certainty that the Chifley Government would not be treated likewise, and the opposition was opposed to government ownership. Coles addressed the Commission at a meeting on 2 September 1946.
After some discussion it was agreed that the airline was not ready. It had a name, some excellent pilots, and some aircraft, but no ground facilities, no sales staff, no documentation, not even tickets. With a great deal of effort, it should be possible to make the planned start date of 7 October. With the discussion complete, Coles said I have news for you. We start next Monday.
After a week of frantic effort hiring staff, borrowing a tin shed at the RAAF base at Laverton
because Essendon Airport
had been turned into mud by heavy rain, creating operations manuals, passenger manifests, tickets, and load sheets — even making passenger steps and baggage carts because there was no time to buy them in the ordinary way — Captains Hepburn and Nickels took off from Laverton at 5:45 am bound for Sydney. TAA's first scheduled flight carried a full load of VIPs and just one paying passenger.
The subsequent few years led to massive growth for the new airline. As post-war austerity gave way to a more affluent era, Australians were able to travel by air in ever increasing numbers.
Much of the growth in domestic aviation in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was dominated by the rivalry between the privately owned Ansett-ANA and the government-supported TAA. A major factor in the success of the government airline was the wise choice of aircraft. After initially utilising the venerable Douglas DC-3, TAA was able to acquire the revolutionary pressurised Convair 240. Popular with the travelling public because of its ability to fly above much of the weather, it was really this aircraft that established the airline's reputation for excellence and service reliability.
East-coast services were continually expanded and TAA soon earned its title as a true 'trans Australian' airline with services to Perth
on the west coast of the continent, using Douglas DC-4
aircraft. Vickers Viscount
turboprop aircraft were introduced in the 1950s and again proved immensely popular as a result of their smooth, vibration-free ride.
Although government-owned, the Liberal conservative government of the 1950s had a philosophical leaning towards the needs of the privately owned Ansett airlines and the requirements of TAA suffered as a result. The controversial Two Airlines policy
was introduced and effectively seriously limited growth and expansion opportunities for the airlines without government approval.
Flight numbers and schedules were strictly controlled, and TAA and Ansett-ANA invariably had flights departing airports for the same destination at exactly the same time with exactly the same equipment. The policy was so strict that even newly purchased identical aircraft (one from each airline) were required on their delivery flights to enter Australian airspace at exactly the same time.
The conservative government's benevolent attitude towards Ansett was epitomised in the 1950s when it forced TAA to swap a number of its popular turbo-prop Viscount aircraft with Ansett-ANA in return for slower and older, piston-engined Douglas DC-6Bs. In another instance, TAA had planned to re-equip with the revolutionary Sud Aviation Caravelle
pure-jet but as Ansett felt this was too advanced at that stage for their own needs, both airlines were required to purchase the Ansett preference; the less advanced turbo-prop Lockheed L-188 Electra
.
Nonetheless the Electra proved a reliable aircraft and TAA continuously grew and prospered. In the early 1960s it introduced the Boeing 727-100
and Douglas DC-9
as well as the Fokker F27 Friendship
for regional routes.
By the late 1960s it had a massive network criss-crossing the continent, as well as an internal network within Papua New Guinea
and flights from Darwin
to Baucau
in Portuguese
Timor
. At this time the airline's livery was the famous white T on a blue tail, and one of the more memorable television advertisements of the period was the jingle "Up, Up and away, with TAA, the Friendly Friendly Way". , whose lyrics and music were a variation on the 1967 song Up, Up and Away
, written by Jimmy Webb and also used by the US airline TWA
.
Further expansion occurred in the 1970s and larger 727-276
s, (simultaneously with Ansett) were acquired. Once again the terms of the introduction were restricted by the two-airline policy.
The policy was marginally relaxed in the early 1980s when TAA was able to introduce the then huge Airbus A300B4
, whilst Ansett chose to purchase the Boeing 767
. The A300 was a revolutionary aircraft at the time for the domestic airline industry, in that it was a wide-body (twin aisle) aircraft and provided significant extra capacity on the trunk east coast network and to Perth
. In 1986, Trans Australia Airlines was controversially rebranded as 'Australian Airlines'.
Australian Airlines was the travel sponsor for Neighbours
, Wheel of Fortune & Sale Of The Century
between Late 1987 and 1994.
By the end of the 1980s, there was some thought that the Two-Airline policy had outlived its usefulness and a radical shake-up of the industry was undertaken. A by-product of this impending change was the 1989 Australian pilots' strike
. As the result of a prolonged wage-suppression, this saw the resignation of the majority of the airline's aircrew and the basic structure of the airline was changed forever.
to succeed. In 1987 the Labor Government announced that the then government-owned domestic air terminals would be effectively privatised, and leased to the two domestic airlines. Compass, a threat to the TAA/Ansett duopoly, was granted severely limited access to aircraft parking gates.
The ambitious new airline was allocated what were clearly the worst gates, in the least desirable sections of domestic terminals across the country (in some cases, Atco huts were used),And also having to operate from the international terminal at Perth airport. As the result of liens placed over the Compass aircraft (due to alleged non-payment of airways expenses), the government's Civil Aviation Authority effectively caused the shutting-down of Compass on 20 December 1991 – 5 days before what would have been the immensely profitable Christmas travel period. A seemingly well-orchestrated plan saw the Compass aircraft quickly flown out of the country and with them, potentially the demise of a truly deregulated domestic aviation sector.
Ansett and TAA/Australian were the sole remaining players, in effect a de-facto two-airline policy yet again.
Qantas
acquired Australian Airlines in September 1992, in preparation for its closure on 30 April 1996.
brand for targeting the low-cost leisure market, flying out primarily out of Cairns and Bali
. This airline was disbanded in 2006 and assets absorbed back into the Qantas group.
's EP Big Jet Plane
identifies the aircraft as a Trans Australia Airlines Convair CV-240 piston-powered aircraft and is not a jet plane.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its sale to Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
in May 1996. During that period TAA played a major part in the development of the Australian air transport industry. The establishment of TAA broke the domestic air transport monopoly of ANA
ANA
-Abbreviations:* AB Nyköpings Automobilfabrik* Administration for Native Americans, a program in the Administration for Children and Families* Afghan National Army* Agency for New Americans, a refugee organization in Boise, Idaho...
(Australian National Airways
Australian National Airways
Australian National Airways was Australia's predominant carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.-The Holyman Airways Period:On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.II VH-UEE Miss Launceston between Launceston, Tasmania and Flinders...
) in the late 1940s, and taking over the Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
air network from QANTAS. It was also at the time TAA supported the Flying Doctor Services of Australia by providing aircraft, pilots and engineers to ensure every emergency was answered quickly.
The airline's headquarters were located in the City of Melbourne
City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. The city has an area of 36 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 93,105 people. The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "She gathers strength as she...
. In 1954 TAA became the first airline outside Europe to introduce the Vickers Viscount
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...
'propjet', and in 1981 it introduced the Airbus A300
Airbus A300
The Airbus A300 is a short- to medium-range widebody jet airliner. Launched in 1972 as the world's first twin-engined widebody, it was the first product of Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European aerospace companies, wholly owned today by EADS...
, the first wide-body aircraft
Wide-body aircraft
A wide-body aircraft is a large airliner with two passenger aisles, also known as a widebody aircraft or twin-aisle aircraft. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabin, passengers are seated seven to ten abreast, allowing a total capacity of 200 to 850 passengers...
to be purchased by an Australian domestic airline.
Qantas revived the Australian Airlines
Australian Airlines
Australian Airlines was a full-service airline based in Australia, servicing Australian and Asian destinations between 2002 and 2006. It was an all-economy, full-service international leisure carrier and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, although run independently of the mainline carrier...
brand between 2002 and 2006 to serve the low-cost leisure market of visitors to and from Australia.
Background
Up until World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Australia had been one of the world's leading centres of aviation. With its tiny population of about 7 million, Australia ranked sixth in the world for scheduled air mileage, had 16 airlines, was growing at twice the world average, and had produced a number of prominent aviation pioneers, including Lawrence Hargrave
Lawrence Hargrave
Lawrence Hargrave was an engineer, explorer, astronomer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer.- Early life :Hargrave was born in Greenwich, England, the second son of John Fletcher Hargrave and was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland...
, Harry Hawker
Harry Hawker
Harry George Hawker MBE, AFC, was an Australian aviation pioneer and co-founder of Hawker Aircraft, the firm that would later be responsible for a long series of successful military aircraft.-Early life:...
, Lawrence Wackett
Lawrence Wackett
Sir Lawrence James Wackett KBE, DFC, AFC is widely regarded as "father of the Australian aircraft industry". He has been described as "one of the towering figures in the history of Australian aviation covering, as he did, virtually all aspects of activities: pilot, designer of airframes and...
, the Reverend John Flynn
John Flynn
John Flynn may refer to:*John Flynn , professional baseball player*John Flynn , American film director*John Flynn , Irish footballer...
, Sidney Cotton
Sidney Cotton
Frederick Sidney Cotton OBE was an Australian inventor, photographer and aviation and photography pioneer, responsible for developing and promoting an early colour film process, and largely responsible for the development of photographic reconnaissance before and during the Second World War...
, Keith Virtue
Keith Virtue
Keith Allison Virtue MBE was a pioneer Australian aviator. Sir Lawrence Wackett, in the Foreword of Keith Virtue's biography, writes that he was an experienced airman himself but he marvelled at the ability and skill of Keith Virtue and counts him as one of the greatest of the Australians who...
and Charles Kingsford Smith
Charles Kingsford Smith
Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC, AFC , often called by his nickname Smithy, was an early Australian aviator. In 1928, he earned global fame when he made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia...
. Governments on both sides of politics, well aware of the immense stretches of uninhabitable desert that separated the small productive regions of Australia, regarded air transport as a matter of national importance (as did the governments of other geographically large nations, such as the Soviet Union and the United States). In the words of Director General of Civil Aviation AB Corbett,
Air transport was encouraged both with direct subsidies and with mail contracts. Immediately before the start of the war, more than half of all airline passenger and freight miles were subsidised.
A nation which refuses to use flying in its national life must necessarily today be a backward and defenceless nation.
However, after 1939 and especially after Japan's invasion of the islands to the north in 1941, civil aviation was sacrificed to military needs. By the end of the war, there were only nine domestic airlines remaining, eight smaller regional concerns and Australian National Airways (ANA), a conglomerate
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
owned by British and Australian shipping interests which had a virtual monopoly on the major trunk routes and received 85% of all government air transport subsidies.
The Chifley
Ben Chifley
Joseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician, was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia. He took over the Australian Labor Party leadership and Prime Ministership after the death of John Curtin in 1945, and went on to retain government at the 1946 election, before being defeated at the 1949...
Government's view was summed up by Minister for Air, Arthur Drakeford
Arthur Drakeford
Arthur Samuel Drakeford was an Australian politician and was the minister responsible for the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II...
: Where are the great pioneers of aviation? ..... We discover that one by one the small pioneer enterprises are disappearing from the register. It is the inevitable process of absorption by a monopoly. Air transport, the government believed, was primarily a public service
Public services
Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly or by financing private provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income...
, like hospitals, the railways or the post office. If there was to be a monopoly at all, then it should be one owned by the public and working in the public interest.
In August 1945, only two days after the end of World War II, the Australian parliament passed the Australian National Airways Bill, which set up the Australian National Airways Commission (ANAC) and charged it with the task of reconstructing the nation's air transport industry. In keeping with the Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government's socialist leanings, the bill declared that the licenses of private operators would lapse for those routes that were adequately serviced by the national carrier. From this time on, it seemed, air transport in Australia would be a government monopoly. However, a legal challenge
Australian National Airways Pty Ltd v Commonwealth
Australian National Airways Pty Ltd v Commonwealth 71 CLR 29 - most commonly known as Australian National Airways Pty Ltd v Commonwealth and also referred to as The Airlines Case or the ANA Case - was a High Court of Australia decision...
, backed by the Liberal
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
opposition and business interests generally, was successful and in December 1945, the High Court
High Court
The term High Court usually refers to the superior court of a country or state. In some countries, it is the highest court . In others, it is positioned lower in the hierarchy of courts The term High Court usually refers to the superior court (or supreme court) of a country or state. In some...
ruled that the Commonwealth
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
did not have the power to prevent the issue of airline licenses to private companies. The government could set up an airline if it wished, but it could not legislate a monopoly. Much of the press objected strongly to the setting up of a public airline network, seeing it as a form of socialisation by stealth.
Beginnings
With the bill suitably amended to remove the monopoly provisions, the Australian National Airways Commission came into existence in February 1946. The commissioners themselves were prominent high-achievers, including the director-general of civil aviation, the deputy director, a Labor party luminary and former member of the Commonwealth Bank board, the director-general of posts and telegraphs, and the assistant secretary of the Treasury. The Commission was to be chaired by none other than Arthur ColesArthur Coles
Sir Arthur William Coles was a prominent Australian businessman and philanthropist.With his brothers Coles founded the Coles Variety Stores in the 1920s, which were to become one of the two largest supermarket chains in Australia now known as Coles Group...
.
Coles was one of the richest men in Australia, and the co-founder of a retail empire that remains easily the largest in Australia to this day. Coles had withdrawn from active management of his business. He was 'a great believer in competition for business' and would not have accepted the post of Chairman of the ANAC had the monopoly provision been retained.
The Commission decided on the name "Trans Australia Airlines", applied to the Treasury for a preliminary advance of £10,000 and set about making plans, recruiting staff, and purchasing equipment. Reginald Ansett, proprietor of the small Victorian company Ansett Airways was quick to offer to get the new airline off to a flying start by selling his entire operation to the ANAC as a going concern, including (if desired) his own services as managing agent. The asking price, the Commission decided, was optimistic, and Ansett declined a more modest counter offer.
There was considerable correspondence between the Commission and Ivan Holyman, the Chairman of ANA, with a view to recruiting Holyman as General Manager of TAA at the princely salary of £10,000 pa, and, when that offer was declined, of buying the near-monopoly airline outright. Holyman was not willing to sell, nor to work for a government-owned body, but was interested in setting up a "composite company", the details of which proposal remained unclear.
Eventually the ANAC proceeded with the original plan, to build an airline from scratch. One of the first people hired was Lester Brain
Lester Brain
Lester Joseph Brain, AO, AFC was a pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive. Born in New South Wales, he trained with the Royal Australian Air Force before joining Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services as a pilot in 1924...
, then Operations Manager at Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
. Brain had 22 years of pioneering aviation experience behind him and was regarded as the man behind Qantas' reputation for technical excellence. He applied for the advertised position of TAA Operations Manager, but to his surprise and delight, was instead offered an appointment as General Manager — though at £3,000 pa, not the £10,000 that had been offered to Holyman.
TAA acquired its first two aircraft in mid-June 1946, both Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
s. A dozen more DC-3s would be added over the next few months, all ex-RAAF
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
aircraft originally bought by the Australian Government under lend-lease
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...
. In July, the Treasury released £350,000 to allow TAA to order four larger, more modern DC-4
Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
s from Douglas
Douglas Aircraft Company
The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas...
in the United States, and Brain appointed John Watkins
John Watkins
John Watkins may refer to:* John Watkins , former Deputy Premier of New South Wales, Australia* John Watkins , Canadian diplomat and ambassador...
as Chief Technical Officer. Watkins would become one of the key figures in TAA success. His first task was to travel to the USA to accept delivery of the DC-4s. He later wrote:
- To my utter astonishment Arthur Coles, after the expected pep-talk about the DC-4 assignment, said he was relying on me to find out what new equipment was being developed that would enable us to offer our passengers a better product than our established rival, at a competitive price.
It was typical of Coles, who knew nothing about aircraft, to reason that quality equipment would be vital, and then select the best man for the job of finding it and be prepared to back his judgement.
At this point, political considerations came to the fore again. TAA planned to start regular services on 7 October, but there was a federal election set for 28 September. Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
had been enormously popular during the darkest hours, but was voted out at the first post-war opportunity. There was no certainty that the Chifley Government would not be treated likewise, and the opposition was opposed to government ownership. Coles addressed the Commission at a meeting on 2 September 1946.
- Gentlemen, the Government wants us to start services as soon as possible. There is a Federal election on 28 September. If we don't have an airline up and running by then and Labor loses the election there'll be no airline. We'll be out of a job. Any suggestions?
After some discussion it was agreed that the airline was not ready. It had a name, some excellent pilots, and some aircraft, but no ground facilities, no sales staff, no documentation, not even tickets. With a great deal of effort, it should be possible to make the planned start date of 7 October. With the discussion complete, Coles said I have news for you. We start next Monday.
After a week of frantic effort hiring staff, borrowing a tin shed at the RAAF base at Laverton
RAAF Williams
RAAF Williams comprises the two bases of Point Cook and Laverton. Both establishments previously existed as separate RAAF Bases until 1999 when they were amalgamated to form RAAF Williams...
because Essendon Airport
Essendon Airport
Essendon Airport is located at Essendon, in Melbourne's northern suburbs, Victoria, Australia. It is located next to the Tullamarine Freeway on , from the Melbourne Central Business District and from Melbourne Airport.-History:...
had been turned into mud by heavy rain, creating operations manuals, passenger manifests, tickets, and load sheets — even making passenger steps and baggage carts because there was no time to buy them in the ordinary way — Captains Hepburn and Nickels took off from Laverton at 5:45 am bound for Sydney. TAA's first scheduled flight carried a full load of VIPs and just one paying passenger.
Rapid expansion
Much of the growth in domestic aviation in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was dominated by the rivalry between the privately owned Ansett-ANA and the government-supported TAA. A major factor in the success of the government airline was the wise choice of aircraft. After initially utilising the venerable Douglas DC-3, TAA was able to acquire the revolutionary pressurised Convair 240. Popular with the travelling public because of its ability to fly above much of the weather, it was really this aircraft that established the airline's reputation for excellence and service reliability.
East-coast services were continually expanded and TAA soon earned its title as a true 'trans Australian' airline with services to Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
on the west coast of the continent, using Douglas DC-4
Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
aircraft. Vickers Viscount
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...
turboprop aircraft were introduced in the 1950s and again proved immensely popular as a result of their smooth, vibration-free ride.
Although government-owned, the Liberal conservative government of the 1950s had a philosophical leaning towards the needs of the privately owned Ansett airlines and the requirements of TAA suffered as a result. The controversial Two Airlines policy
Two Airlines Policy
The Australian Two Airlines Policy was a policy of Australian Federal Governments from the late 1940s to the 1990s. Under the policy, only two airlines were allowed to operate flights between state capital city and major regional city airports...
was introduced and effectively seriously limited growth and expansion opportunities for the airlines without government approval.
Flight numbers and schedules were strictly controlled, and TAA and Ansett-ANA invariably had flights departing airports for the same destination at exactly the same time with exactly the same equipment. The policy was so strict that even newly purchased identical aircraft (one from each airline) were required on their delivery flights to enter Australian airspace at exactly the same time.
The conservative government's benevolent attitude towards Ansett was epitomised in the 1950s when it forced TAA to swap a number of its popular turbo-prop Viscount aircraft with Ansett-ANA in return for slower and older, piston-engined Douglas DC-6Bs. In another instance, TAA had planned to re-equip with the revolutionary Sud Aviation Caravelle
Sud Aviation Caravelle
The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle was the first short/medium-range jet airliner produced by the French Sud Aviation firm starting in 1955 . The Caravelle was one of the more successful European first generation jetliners, selling throughout Europe and even penetrating the United States market, with...
pure-jet but as Ansett felt this was too advanced at that stage for their own needs, both airlines were required to purchase the Ansett preference; the less advanced turbo-prop Lockheed L-188 Electra
Lockheed L-188 Electra
The Lockheed Model 188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flying in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner produced in the United States. Initial sales were good, but after two fatal crashes which prompted an expensive modification program to fix a design...
.
Nonetheless the Electra proved a reliable aircraft and TAA continuously grew and prospered. In the early 1960s it introduced the Boeing 727-100
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
and Douglas DC-9
McDonnell Douglas DC-9
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is a twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner. It was first manufactured in 1965 with its maiden flight later that year. The DC-9 was designed for frequent, short flights. The final DC-9 was delivered in October 1982.The DC-9 was followed in subsequent modified forms by...
as well as the Fokker F27 Friendship
Fokker F27
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker.-Design and development:Design of the Fokker F27 started in the 1950s as a replacement to the successful Douglas DC-3 airliner...
for regional routes.
By the late 1960s it had a massive network criss-crossing the continent, as well as an internal network within Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
and flights from Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
to Baucau
Baucau
Baucau is the second-largest city in East Timor, after Dili, the capital, which lies 122 km east of Dili.Baucau has about 16,000 inhabitants, and is the capital of Baucau, located in the eastern part of the country...
in Portuguese
Portuguese Timor
Portuguese Timor was the name of East Timor when it was under Portuguese control. During this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Netherlands East Indies, and later with Indonesia....
Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
. At this time the airline's livery was the famous white T on a blue tail, and one of the more memorable television advertisements of the period was the jingle "Up, Up and away, with TAA, the Friendly Friendly Way". , whose lyrics and music were a variation on the 1967 song Up, Up and Away
Up, Up and Away (song)
"Up, Up and Away" is a 1967 song written by Jimmy Webb and recorded by The 5th Dimension, that became a major pop hit, reaching #7 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart and #18 in Canada...
, written by Jimmy Webb and also used by the US airline TWA
Twa
The Twa are any of several hunting peoples of Africa who live interdependently with agricultural Bantu populations, and generally hold a socially subordinate position: They provide the farming population with game in exchange for agricultural products....
.
Further expansion occurred in the 1970s and larger 727-276
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
s, (simultaneously with Ansett) were acquired. Once again the terms of the introduction were restricted by the two-airline policy.
The policy was marginally relaxed in the early 1980s when TAA was able to introduce the then huge Airbus A300B4
Airbus A300
The Airbus A300 is a short- to medium-range widebody jet airliner. Launched in 1972 as the world's first twin-engined widebody, it was the first product of Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European aerospace companies, wholly owned today by EADS...
, whilst Ansett chose to purchase the Boeing 767
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
. The A300 was a revolutionary aircraft at the time for the domestic airline industry, in that it was a wide-body (twin aisle) aircraft and provided significant extra capacity on the trunk east coast network and to Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. In 1986, Trans Australia Airlines was controversially rebranded as 'Australian Airlines'.
Rebranding
In 1986, after a change of airline management, the name Trans Australia Airlines was controversially dropped, in favour of Australian Airlines. Associated with this image change was a new livery for the airlines' aircraft, which wore the title Australian.Australian Airlines was the travel sponsor for Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
, Wheel of Fortune & Sale Of The Century
Sale of the Century
Sale of the Century is a television game show format that has been screened in several countries in various incarnations since 1969. The show found its biggest success in Australia, where it aired weeknights from 1980 to 2001...
between Late 1987 and 1994.
By the end of the 1980s, there was some thought that the Two-Airline policy had outlived its usefulness and a radical shake-up of the industry was undertaken. A by-product of this impending change was the 1989 Australian pilots' strike
1989 Australian pilots' strike
The 1989 Australian pilots' dispute was one of the most expensive and dramatic industrial disputes in Australia's history. It was co-ordinated by the Australian Federation of Air Pilots after a prolonged period of wage suppression, to support its campaign for a large pay increase The 1989...
. As the result of a prolonged wage-suppression, this saw the resignation of the majority of the airline's aircrew and the basic structure of the airline was changed forever.
Downturn
The early 1990s were essentially the dying years for TAA/Australian. The Federal Government, although technically having deregulated the domestic aviation sector, made it effectively impossible for a new entrant Compass AirlinesCompass Airlines (Australia)
Compass Airlines operated in Australia for two brief periods in the early 1990s. The two incarnations of the airline were quite separate with different management and aircraft.-History:...
to succeed. In 1987 the Labor Government announced that the then government-owned domestic air terminals would be effectively privatised, and leased to the two domestic airlines. Compass, a threat to the TAA/Ansett duopoly, was granted severely limited access to aircraft parking gates.
The ambitious new airline was allocated what were clearly the worst gates, in the least desirable sections of domestic terminals across the country (in some cases, Atco huts were used),And also having to operate from the international terminal at Perth airport. As the result of liens placed over the Compass aircraft (due to alleged non-payment of airways expenses), the government's Civil Aviation Authority effectively caused the shutting-down of Compass on 20 December 1991 – 5 days before what would have been the immensely profitable Christmas travel period. A seemingly well-orchestrated plan saw the Compass aircraft quickly flown out of the country and with them, potentially the demise of a truly deregulated domestic aviation sector.
Ansett and TAA/Australian were the sole remaining players, in effect a de-facto two-airline policy yet again.
Acquisition by Qantas
Although Compass was controversially and perhaps inevitably forced out of business, Australian's days, and those of Ansett were numbered. The decision had been made at Federal Government level to merge the airline into the network of Qantas and subsequently privatise the entire operation.Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
acquired Australian Airlines in September 1992, in preparation for its closure on 30 April 1996.
Rebirth
In October 2002, Qantas revived the Australian AirlinesAustralian Airlines
Australian Airlines was a full-service airline based in Australia, servicing Australian and Asian destinations between 2002 and 2006. It was an all-economy, full-service international leisure carrier and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, although run independently of the mainline carrier...
brand for targeting the low-cost leisure market, flying out primarily out of Cairns and Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
. This airline was disbanded in 2006 and assets absorbed back into the Qantas group.
In Popular Culture
The tail number VH-TAP on the aircraft featured in the photograph on the album cover of Angus & Julia StoneAngus & Julia Stone
Angus & Julia Stone are an Australian brother-sister duo from Newport on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Forming in 2005, their parents are both musical and played as a folk duo before Angus and Julia were born. At very young ages, their father introduced them to music and encouraged them to join...
's EP Big Jet Plane
Big Jet Plane
Big Jet Plane EP is a 2010 extended play by Australian sibling singer-songwriter duo Angus and Julia Stone. The EP includes four tracks, three of which can be found on other Angus & Julia Stone albums ....
identifies the aircraft as a Trans Australia Airlines Convair CV-240 piston-powered aircraft and is not a jet plane.
Fleet
Over the years, the airline operated the following aircraft types:| Aircraft | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A300 Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is a short- to medium-range widebody jet airliner. Launched in 1972 as the world's first twin-engined widebody, it was the first product of Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European aerospace companies, wholly owned today by EADS... |
wide-body aircraft Wide-body aircraft A wide-body aircraft is a large airliner with two passenger aisles, also known as a widebody aircraft or twin-aisle aircraft. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabin, passengers are seated seven to ten abreast, allowing a total capacity of 200 to 850 passengers... |
||
| Beechcraft Queen Air | light utility aircraft | ||
| Bell 47 Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a two-bladed, single engine, light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. Based on the third Model 30 prototype, Bell's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young, the Bell 47 became the first helicopter certified for civilian use on 8 March 1946... |
light helicopter | ||
| Boeing 707 Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on... |
leased from Qantas Qantas Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport... |
||
| Boeing 727 Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced... |
|||
| Boeing 737-200 | |||
| Boeing 737-300 | |||
| Boeing 737-400 | |||
| Boeing 757-200 | leased from Monarch Airlines Monarch Airlines Monarch Airlines, often shortened to and trading as Monarch, is a British charter and scheduled airline based at London Luton Airport in Luton. It is one of the United Kingdom's largest charter airlines, operating to Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, India and Africa, serving mainly leisure... |
||
| Bristol Freighter Bristol Freighter The Bristol Type 170 Freighter was a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and airliner, although its best known use is as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively short distances.-Design and development:The... |
cargo aircraft | ||
| Cessna 182 Cessna 182 The Cessna 182 Skylane is an American four-seat, single-engine, light airplane, built by Cessna of Wichita, Kansas. It has the option of adding two child seats, installed in the baggage area.... |
light utility aircraft | ||
| Cessna 185 Cessna 185 -Specification for differing configurations:-References:* Jan Churchill, Hit My Smoke: Forward Air Controllers in Southeast Asia, Sunflower University Press, Manhattan KS, ISBN 0-89745-215-1... |
light utility aircraft | ||
| Cessna 404 Titan | light aircraft | ||
| Consolidated PBY Catalina | flying boat Flying boat A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage... |
||
| Convair CV-240 | |||
| de Havilland Dragon De Havilland Dragon |-See also:-References:Bibliography ISBN 0-85177-813-5... |
|||
| de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, STOL aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada. It was conceived to be capable of performing the same roles as the earlier and highly successful Beaver, but was overall a larger aircraft.-Design and... |
STOL STOL STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.-Definitions:There is no one accepted definition of STOL and many different definitions have been used by different authorities and nations at various times and for a myriad of... aircraft |
||
| de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian 19-passenger STOL utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada and currently produced by Viking Air. The aircraft's fixed tricycle undercarriage, STOL abilities and high rate of climb have made it a successful cargo, regional passenger airliner and MEDEVAC... |
STOL STOL STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.-Definitions:There is no one accepted definition of STOL and many different definitions have been used by different authorities and nations at various times and for a myriad of... aircraft |
||
| de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover De Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover The de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover is a small transport aircraft that was built by de Havilland Australia in the 1940s and 1950s. The aircraft had some similarities with the two-engine British-built de Havilland Dove but used a trimotor configuration.-Design and development:Design work on the... |
transport aircraft | ||
| Douglas DC-3 Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made... Douglas C-47 Skytrain |
|||
| Douglas DC-4 Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role... Douglas C-54 Skymaster |
|||
| Douglas DC-6 Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range... |
|||
| Fokker F27 Friendship | |||
| Grumman G-73 Mallard | amphibious aircraft | ||
| Handley Page Jetstream | regional airliner | ||
| Hiller OH-23 Raven | helicopter | ||
| Lockheed L-188 Electra Lockheed L-188 Electra The Lockheed Model 188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flying in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner produced in the United States. Initial sales were good, but after two fatal crashes which prompted an expensive modification program to fix a design... |
|||
| Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar | |||
| McDonnell Douglas DC-9 McDonnell Douglas DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is a twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner. It was first manufactured in 1965 with its maiden flight later that year. The DC-9 was designed for frequent, short flights. The final DC-9 was delivered in October 1982.The DC-9 was followed in subsequent modified forms by... |
|||
| Piper PA-23 | light utility aircraft | ||
| Vickers Viscount Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world... |
|||
Fatal
- On 8 August 1951 at around 9 p.m. local time, a Trans Australia Airlines Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registeredAircraft registrationAn aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
VH-THT) crashed into the sea shortly after take-off from Cambridge AerodromeCambridge AerodromeCambridge Aerodrome , also known as Cambridge Airport, is a minor airport serving Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is located only a few kilometres from the primary airport, Hobart International Airport....
for a cargo flight to MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, killing the two pilots. They had lost control of the aircraft due to a severe ice build-upAtmospheric icingAtmospheric icing occurs when water droplets in the atmosphere freeze on objects they contact. This can be extremely dangerous to aircraft, as the built-up ice changes the aerodynamics of the flight surfaces, which can increase the risk of a subsequent stalling of the airfoil...
. - On 31 October 1954, a Vickers ViscountVickers ViscountThe Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...
(registered VH-TVA) crashed shortly after take-off from Mangalore Airport. Three of the eight crew members that had been on the training flight were killed. - On 10 June 1960, Flight 538 from RockhamptonRockhamptonRockhampton can refer to:* Rockhampton, Queensland is a city in Queensland, Australia* Rockhampton City, Queensland, a suburb of Rockhampton, Queensland* Electoral district of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia...
to Mackay, QueenslandMackay, QueenslandMackay is a city on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is nicknamed the sugar capital of Australia because its region produces more than a third of Australia's cane sugar....
, which was operated by a Fokker F27 Friendship registered VH-TFB, crashed into the sea while approaching Mackay AirportMackay AirportMackay Airport located in Mackay, Queensland, Australia is a major Australian regional airport that services the city of Mackay, with flights to the cities of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns...
, killing the 25 passengers and four crew on board. It was the worst accident in the history of the airline. - On 24 May 1961, a Douglas DC-4Douglas DC-4The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
registered VH-TAA was destroyed when it crashed on Bulwer IslandBulwer Island, QueenslandBulwer Island is a reclaimed tidal mangrove island at the mouth of the Brisbane River in the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is named for Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the British Colonial Secretary who separated Queensland from New South Wales in 1859 and made Sir George Bowen its first...
whilst on approach to Brisbane AirportBrisbane AirportBrisbane Airport is the sole passenger airport serving Brisbane and the third busiest in Australia, after Melbourne and Sydney Airports. Brisbane Airport has won many awards. Located in the suburb with the same name, the airport serves the city of Brisbane and the surrounding metropolitan area...
, killing the two pilots that had been on the cargo flight from Sydney. The captain had suffered a heart attack and collapsed onto the throttles, and the co-pilot had thus been unable to see large trees in front of him because he could not reach the switch for the landing light. - On 28 April 1970, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin OtterDe Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin OtterThe DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian 19-passenger STOL utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada and currently produced by Viking Air. The aircraft's fixed tricycle undercarriage, STOL abilities and high rate of climb have made it a successful cargo, regional passenger airliner and MEDEVAC...
(registered VH-TGR) crashed shortly after take-off from an unpaved airflield near KainantuKainantuKainantu is a town in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. It had some historical significance as an airstrip town during WWII. It functions primarily as a market town for local produce growers and cash croppers. It is located on the "Highlands Highway" approximately 170 km by road from Lae...
, Papua New GuineaPapua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
, killing the two pilots and six of the nine passengers on board.
Non-fatal
- On 29 January 1971, a Boeing 727Boeing 727The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
registered VH-TJA hit the tailfin of a Canadian Pacific Air Lines Douglas DC-8Douglas DC-8The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...
(registered CP-CPQ) right after take-off from Sydney AirportSydney AirportSydney Airport may refer to:* Sydney Airport, also known as Kingsford Smith International Airport, in Sydney, Australia* Sydney/J.A. Douglas McCurdy Airport, in Nova Scotia, Canada...
as Flight 592 to PerthPerth, Western AustraliaPerth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. The DC-8 had not yet cleared the runway following its arrival. The TAA 727 suffered a gash in its fuselage, but the pilots managed to safely return the aircraft to the airport, so that there were no injuries. - On 11 April 1972, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registered VH-PNB) that had been leased from Ansett AustraliaAnsett AustraliaAnsett Australia, Ansett, Ansett Airlines of Australia, or ANSETT-ANA as it was commonly known in earlier years, was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne. The airlines flew domestically within Australia and to destinations in Asia during its operation in 1996...
, overran the runway on landing at Madang AirportMadang AirportMadang Airport , is an airport located in Madang, Papua New Guinea.-Airlines and destinations:-World War II:During World War II, occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army in January 1943, as a forward operating airfield for aircraft based at Wewak. Later expanded to a 3250' x 240' runway with a single...
, ending up in the sea damaged beyond economic repair. - On 9 June 1982, a Fokker F27 Friendship was damaged beyond repair when it skidded off the runway upon landing at RAAF Base AmberleyRAAF Base AmberleyRAAF Base Amberley is a Royal Australian Air Force base located southwest of Ipswich, Queensland and southwest of Brisbane. It is currently home to No. 1 Squadron and No. 6 Squadron , No. 33 Squadron and No. 36 Squadron...
. The aircraft with three people on board had been on a training flight, which included a landing with one engine deliberately turned off, during which the pilot lost control.
Criminal occurrences
- On 19 July 1960, Flight 408 from SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
to BrisbaneBrisbaneBrisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, operated by a Lockheed L-188 ElectraLockheed L-188 ElectraThe Lockheed Model 188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flying in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner produced in the United States. Initial sales were good, but after two fatal crashes which prompted an expensive modification program to fix a design...
registered VH-TLB, was the subject of an attempted hijacking. An armed man demanded the flight be diverted to SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, but he could be overpowered by the crew. - On 8 June 1979, a hijacking attempt occurred on board a TAA McDonnell Douglas DC-9McDonnell Douglas DC-9The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is a twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner. It was first manufactured in 1965 with its maiden flight later that year. The DC-9 was designed for frequent, short flights. The final DC-9 was delivered in October 1982.The DC-9 was followed in subsequent modified forms by...
during a flight from Coolangatta, QueenslandCoolangatta, QueenslandCoolangatta is the southernmost suburb of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It has a population of 4,869 and is named after the schooner Coolangatta which was wrecked there in 1846....
to BrisbaneBrisbaneBrisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. The pilots landed at Brisbane Airport, where the perpetrator could be arrested. - On 21 September 1982, Flight 454, operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-9McDonnell Douglas DC-9The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is a twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner. It was first manufactured in 1965 with its maiden flight later that year. The DC-9 was designed for frequent, short flights. The final DC-9 was delivered in October 1982.The DC-9 was followed in subsequent modified forms by...
registered VH-TJS, was the subject of an attempted robbery of $600,000 of the Reserve Bank of AustraliaReserve Bank of AustraliaThe Reserve Bank of Australia came into being on 14 January 1960 as Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority, when the Reserve Bank Act 1959 removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank to it....
. The robbery involved four men consigning themselves as freight, which had intended to steal the money during two flights of the aircraft. - On 13 February 1983, an Airbus A300Airbus A300The Airbus A300 is a short- to medium-range widebody jet airliner. Launched in 1972 as the world's first twin-engined widebody, it was the first product of Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European aerospace companies, wholly owned today by EADS...
was hijacked enroute a flight from Perth to Melbourne and demanded to be flown to AdelaideAdelaideAdelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
instead. The pilots continued to Melbourne AirportMelbourne AirportMelbourne Airport , also known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne and the second busiest in Australia. It was opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is the sole international airport of the four airports serving the...
, though, were the hijacker could be taken down.
External links
- Trans Australia Airlines crashes
- Trans Australian Airlines (TAA) ephemera held and digitised by the National Library of Australia
- Wings Away organisation for former TAA airline hostesses
- List of TAA Aircraft with Serial Numbers and dates utilised: http://aerobernie.ae.funpic.de/TAA.html
- Aussie Airliners: http://www.aussieairliners.org/
- Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi0A2v3E8io
- Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F58hRkcL78k
- Video 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wp__x6qVyI&feature=related