HON SECRETARY, PAUL EWOLDT : E [email protected] A … Skies/later... · AHSA Inc Victoria....

AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA (NSW) Inc

ABN: 83 295 759 224 HON SECRETARY, PAUL EWOLDT : E [email protected]

13/40A ROSLYN GARDENS RUSHCUTTERS BAY NSW 2011

A H S A Southern Skies THE NEWSLETTER OF AHSA (NSW) Inc

DECEMBER 2019 ~ No 545

Honorary Life Members AHSA (NSW) Inc: Ian Debenham OAM : Senja Raymond Robey BEM : Dr Ronald Houghton DFC, LdH _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND

THE ANNUAL DECEMBER

CHRISTMAS DINNER

which will be a relaxing function

at the

SYDNEY ROWING CLUB'S

WATERSIDE GRILL,

613 Great North Road, Abbotsford.

Wednesday, 4th December 2019

6.30 pm for 7.00

~~~~~~~~~~~

Come and join us for our final event of the

year. Families and friends welcome.

Meals and drinks at member's own expense

choose from the menu at servery. No RSVP

2020 MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

AHSA (NSW) Inc members please note: Your 2020 Membership Renewal form is included with this newsletter. The $35 annual subscription remains unchanged. To minimise our costs we encourage members to receive Southern Skies by e-mail. NSW members have been offered a subscription to the 2020 issues of the AHSA Inc Journal, Aviation Heritage, for $65. Payment of this subscription does not grant membership of the Victorian AHSA Inc. Your committee suggests that, when contemplating this offer, you consider becoming full members of AHSA Inc Victoria. The cost of membership 2020 is $75, and includes the Journal Aviation Heritage mailed directly to you. All Journal subscription and AHSA Inc membership enquiries should be made directly to David Knight, the Victorian Membership Secretary of AHSA Inc, at [email protected]. Members of AHSA

(NSW) Inc should expect to receive a separate membership renewal form directly from AHSA Inc. The AHSA NSW (Inc) Committee

The 37th ANNNUAL ARTHUR BUTLER MEMORIAL LECTURE 2019

The November meeting of the Society, held at North Ryde RSL, was well attended by members and guests. Our guest speaker this year was John Vincent, Chairman of the Qantas Founders Museum at Longreach. He focused on the rescue and restoration of their “Connie” aircraft which had been disassembled in the Philippines, shipped to Australia, and then trucked to Longreach where it has been almost completely restored to static display condition. Volunteers both in the Philippines and Australia worked hard in challenging weather conditions - from the heat of the Philippines to the harsh outback region at Longreach - with no real protection from the elements. Volunteers raided the local shops for fly nets to cope with aerial attack by outback flies! The interior of the aircraft is a display of seats and an exhibition along the walls of the fuselage depicting the bygone days of the “Connie” in service during the 1950’s and 1960’s. John then gave a short overview of the Museum itself and the future plans to place a roof over the B747 and other aircraft. A wonderful and comprehensive slide show accompanied John's talk, which was followed by a Q and A session to complete a great evening's entertainment. Members were also able to purchase some QFM merchandise which will in some small way contribute to the continuous running of the QFM. PW

The President and Committee wish all Members and their Families a joyful

CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR in 2020

MMXIX

Southern Skies December 2019

~ ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO ~

DECEMBER 1919 - 2019 Chronology JR

Chikuhei Nakajima and Seibi Kawanishi dissolve Japan's first aircraft manufacturing company, the Japan Aeroplane Manufacturing Work Company Ltd. Nakajima buys the company's factory and founds the Nakajima Aircraft Company. The U.S. Navy establishes its first aviation unit in the Pacific Ocean west of the United States West Coast when it forms the Pacific Air Detachment at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard in the Territory of Hawaii.

01 The Wright-Martin Corporation changes its name to Wright Aeronautical Corporation.

05 Avianca is founded as the Sociedad

Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aéreo in Barranquilla, Colombia. From 2007 it will be the oldest operating airline in the Americas.

10 Second Assistant United States

Postmaster General Otto Praeger testifies before the United States House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, requesting US$3 million for the creation and operation of airmail routes between New York City and San Francisco, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; New York City and Atlanta, Georgia; and St. Louis, Missouri, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, saying that inaugurating these routes would meet the United States Post Office Department goal of "develop[ing] aviation to that point where corporations will come in and run the lines. Then we will make contracts with them as we do with power boat or steamship lines." The United States Congress agrees with the Post office Department′s goal, but instead allots Praeger only US $1,375,000 and told him to focus on creating the transcontinental route between New York City and San Francisco.

15 The Swiss airline Ad Astra Aero S.A. is

founded in Zürich, Switzerland.

16 Construction of the Imperial Japanese

Navy aircraft carrier Hōshō begins. She is the second aircraft carrier in the world designed and built as such to be laid down, and will be the first to be completed.

18 Sir John Alcock is killed in a crash

at Rouen, France.

31 President of Colombia Marco Fidel Suárez

sanctions Colombia′s first law dealing with aviation. The law makes aviation companies and everything else in Colombia related to aviation subject to government regulations.

DECEMBER FIRST FLIGHTS

02 Handley Page Type W8

Twin Eagle engined W.8b

Role Airliner

Manufacturer Handley Page

First flight 2 December 1919

Introduction 1921

Retired 1934

Primary users SABENA Imperial Airways

Number built 25

Variants Handley Page Hyderabad

The Handley Page W.8, W.9 and W.10 were British two- and three-engine medium-range biplane airliners designed and built by Handley Page.

The W.8 (also known as the H.P.18) was the company's first purpose-built civil airliner although it was a development of the wartime Handley Page Type O/400 bomber via the O/7, O/10 and O/11 transports. It had an enclosed cabin for (in most versions) 12 passengers, along with two crew in an open cockpit, and has the distinction of being the world's first airliner to be designed with an on-board lavatory. The prototype first flew on 4 December 1919, shortly after it was displayed at the 1919 Paris Air Show at Le Bourget. The W.8 was subsequently revised to give the W.8b, W.8e (H.P.26), W.9 (H.P.27) and W.10 (H.P.30). It was also the basis for the W.8d (H.P.24), the Handley Page Hyderabad bomber.

27 – Boeing Model 6, Boeing's first commercial

design.


DECEMBER FIRST FLIGHTS (Cont’d)

Boeing B-1 (Redirected from Boeing Model 6)

Model 6 on display at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle

Role Utility flying boat

Manufacturer Boeing

Designer William Boeing

First flight 27 December 1919

Produced 1919 - 1927

Number built 1

The Boeing B-1 (company designation Model 6) was a small biplane flying boat designed by William Boeing shortly after World War I. Design and development The Model 6 was the first commercial design for Boeing (as opposed to military or experimental designs), hence the B-1 designation. Its layout was conventional for its day, with a Hall-Scott engine driving a pusher propeller mounted amongst the cabane struts. The pilot sat in an open cockpit at the bow, and up to two passengers could be carried in a second open cockpit behind the first. The design was reminiscent of the Curtiss HS-2L that Boeing had been building under license during the war. Operational history Only a single aircraft was built, as Boeing had trouble selling it in a market flooded with war-surplus aircraft. In 1920, it was purchased by Edward Hubbard, who used it to carry air mail between Seattle, Washington and Victoria, British Columbia. Air mail service began on 27 December 1919, and continued for eight years.

The plane flew until 1930 before being preserved and put on display at Seattle's Museum of History and Industry in 1954.

GOOGLE is celebrating a trailblazer in aviation, the one and only Maude Rose 'Lores' Bonney, who was the first woman to fly solo from Australia to England, with a new GOOGLE DOODLE.

TODAY IN HISTORY, NOVEMBER 20 IS MAUDE ‘LORES’ BONNEY’S 122ND BIRTHDAY

On this day in 1897, Maude Bonney was born. She later became the first woman to fly solo from Australia to England. solo.Source:News Corp

Australia

Lores, who would have turned 122 on November 20, was a role model for female aviators around the world, making the first east-to-west 157-hour Brisbane-England solo journey in 1933. Lores was a rebellious and independent child who was sent to a ‘Finishing School’ in Frankfurt, Germany, to be groomed for a social marriage. She returned and married Harry Barrington Bonney, a wealthy Australian leather merchant. It was Bonney's cousin, Bert Hinkler, who took Lores on her first flight in 1928. That one flight was enough for Lores who was hooked on flying. She ‘secretly’ had flying lessons and when she gained her private pilot's licence a year later her husband bought her a Gipsy Moth aircraft. Lores named it My Little Ship. She had already set 2 Australian records, surviving an air collision near Wangaratta, compass deviations in WA and weather problems that would daunt the most intrepid aviator. Lores faced grave danger during her record-setting UK trip, flying through heavy storms, crashing upside down in the ocean and hanging in her straps underwater, negotiating languages and organising repairs and aircraft transport on barges and shipping. Extremes of heat and cold, orbiting for hours in cloud in the midst of mountains, all in an open cockpit with basic instruments, demonstrated her careful preparation and determination to continue flying despite so many obstacles, not the least of which was the social opinion that women were ‘homemakers’ and not aeronauts. Lores kept setting records .......... On 10 April 1933 Lores set off from Brisbane, Australia to complete her trip to England. A crash during the early days delayed her but she resumed her flight on 25 May and landed in Croydon, England on 21 June. Lores returned to Australia by ship, but after the flight to London she continued to push the boundaries.


Selling her Gypsy Moth she purchased a Klemm with enclosed cockpit and in 1937 achieved her next goal – the first aviator to fly solo from Australia to South Africa, her birthplace. Her accomplishments and challenges continued as she planned to follow Francis Chichester’s route to the USA. However, a fire in the Qantas hangar destroyed her aircraft and WWII defence orders banned civilian flight. Lores was confirmed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (1934), and recognition in the American Hall of Fame. Much later she received an honorary doctorate from Griffith University, but not till 1991 made a Member of the Order of Australia only a few years before her death in 1994 age 96. The Bonney Trophy is still awarded each year to female British pilots who achieve outstanding achievements. Despite her accomplishments, Lores Bonney’s four Australian records are forgotten as other female pilots garner all the attention and fame.

A GOOGLE DOODLE gives a modern recognition of our Australian icon. 20.11.1897 - 1994

CALENDAR OF EVENTS - 2019

TEMORA AVIATION MUSEUM Aircraft Information: Email: [email protected]

Website:

http://www.aviationmuseum.com.au/event/aircraft-

showcase/

THE 2020 FEBRUARY AHSA (NSW) Inc MEETING

WILL BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 5th COMMENCING at 8:00 pm. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE IN THE GRAND PITTWATER ROOM AT

THE NORTH RYDE RSL COMMUNITY CLUB The club is located at the corner of Pittwater and Magdala Roads, North Ryde. There is ample free parking and visitors are most welcome. The facilities of the club are available to members and visitors for pre and post meeting refreshment and conversation.

MEMBERS MEET FOR DINNER IN THE RIVERVIEWS RESTAURANT ON THE TOP FLOOR AT 6.30 pm.

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ASK'nANSWER People who want

INFORMATION on a particular question are invited to list the question, and anyone with

information or suggestions can reply - with the question and the reply printed in future SSkies' issues. Students researching a topic and those with ideas and answers can support, clarify and question aviation facts and records. This can publicise research, which is always good for both aviation researchers and readers. TL ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

A NSW COMMITTEE MEETING held on 20th November 2019 discussed: The replacement of present awards and trophies: 1. The Brian White Trophy – A lead crystal ‘block’

incorporating an internal object, eg aircraft or aviation object;

2. The Slipstream Trophy – A brass object, eg model of an aircraft;

3. The President’s Prize to remain as a book. It was agreed that these prizes would be more suitable for home display! Quotes are being obtained. Tom Lockley reported on the progress of arrangements for the ROSS & KEITH SMITH FLIGHT CELEBRATIONS in 2019/20. Anthony Coleiro has completed detailed route flight plans and is preparing a comprehensive handbook for pilots.

President, Paul Ewoldt, tabled a letter of thanks from the Philatelic Group of Australia Post expressing appreciation for his assistance in the development of the Ross & Keith Smith Centenary Flight stamp issue. Christine Ewoldt reported that a new filing cabinet has been acquired for AHSA paperwork. LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE REPORTS were received. A number of objects and artifacts have been presented to AHSA and it was suggested that a display be organised at a monthly meeting so that members were able to inspect them. The TREASURER reported $4858.15 in the cheque account; $5667.41 in term deposit and $100.41 interest for the 2018/19 year.

It was affirmed that 2020 NSW subscriptions will remain at $35 and not increase to $40 till 2021. NEWSLETTER – It was agreed that members still receive copies of Southern Skies by post but members be encouraged to use email to minimise costs. Postal copies are in black and white, whilst email copies in colour can also be enlarged on the computer for greater detail. GRATITUDE was expressed to those members who have contributed to the NSW Society during the past year. JR


FACT VS. FICTION: ROLLING AN AIRLINER

IN ROBERT ZEMECKIS'S LATEST MOVIE

FLIGHT, Denzel Washington plays Whip Whitaker,

a regional-airline pilot who heroically rolls the

airplane he's flying upside down to rescue it from an

uncontrolled descent. The inversion sequence—

especially an extreme long shot of the aircraft

soaring, engines up, over a suburban Atlanta

apartment building—stuns. But is it real science?

The Basics: At 30,000 feet, airplanes operate on autopilot, with computer software adjusting pitch, power, speed, wing level, and altitude. They stay aloft thanks to engine propulsion, which overpowers air resistance, or drag, and the way air streams over their aerodynamically shaped wings to generate lift. The wing flaps, structures that supplement lift but create drag, would be retracted. Rolling an airplane, even a big one like an MD-80 (which, by the way, is not recommended by its manufacturer) would involve turning the yoke all the way to one side. The sight certainly would be unusual, but it wouldn't make for a groundbreaking stunt: In 1955, Boeing chief test pilot Alvin "Tex" Johnson executed two barrel rolls in a Dash 80, the 707 prototype, over Seattle's Lake Washington as part of the company's U.S. tour to promote jets as the future mode of air travel. The spectacle worked, notes Boeing historian Mike Lombardi. "Within a month of the barrel roll, the Dash 80 had done its job," he says. "Pan Am ordered 20 of the Dash 80's offspring—the 707." Inverting an airplane to regain altitude and balance, as Whitaker does in Flight, would make sense, at least theoretically. Tom Aldag, director of research and development for the National Institute for Aviation Research in Wichita, Kan., explains it like this: If you stick your arm out the window of a moving car and tip your hand up, the air will push it farther up; if you angle it down, the air will push it farther down. When a force pins down a surface (hand or airplane), what's the last-ditch way to counteract that force? Flip the surface. "In theory, it might work," Aldag says, emphasizing might.

The uncontrolled dive situation certainly complicates things. In the film, Whitaker shouts to his cockpit crew to retract the landing gear, flaps, and speedbrakes, and hit full throttle. But decreasing speed would lessen stress on the airframe, a critical factor. Speedbrakes increase drag and slow the aircraft, says Russ Williams, an experienced test pilot and airline pilot. Flaps do the same, though they're not designed to deploy at such high speeds. It'd be better to pull back the throttle to power idle while losing altitude, he says. So now—theoretically—you're piloting an upside-down airliner. Normally, you'd just keep rolling over until you completed a full 360 degrees, Williams says. Inversion risks engine failure, because fuel pickup tubes draw from the tank's bottom. But if your airplane had a broken jackscrew and dysfunctional horizontal stabilizer, like Whitaker's, inversion could help it regain altitude and slow down; its nose would remain stuck pitched down—but now "down" means up, toward the sky. You'd want to increase power if needed, flip, and land quickly; once righted, the airplane would jolt earthward again. The reaction speed required to execute all that makes this a true Hollywood feat. "If you know what you're doing, sure, you could roll an airplane," Williams says. "But your timing would have to be pretty perfect to judge all the pitching up and pitching down and touch down at the right attitude." But airline pilots have a long history of remaining cool under pressure. Consider Sully Sullenberger—or Al Haynes, the captain of United Airlines flight 232, a DC-10 that crash-landed on July 19, 1989, after the catastrophic failure of its tail-mounted engine led to the loss of all hydraulic flight controls. Haynes and his flight crew used the power of the wing-mounted engines to guide the airplane's descent. (On approach, Haynes stayed calm and collected—he even kept his sense of humour. After air traffic control cleared Flight 232 for an emergency landing at Sioux City, he quipped: "Roger. You want to be particular and make it a runway, huh?") His DC-10 cartwheeled off the runway into a cornfield, but 185 of the 296 passengers and crew on board survived. No doubt Hollywood wants to craft an exciting visual experience, and Flight definitely achieves that by raising the stakes for Whitaker (in more ways than one, as moviegoers will see). "It's looking for the dramatic without crossing the line to the ridiculous," says Craig Hosking, a pilot who's flown at least 300 different types of aircraft and who worked as an aerial coordinator on the film. "Nobody would've ever believed you could land on the Hudson River and not hurt a soul. If you'd seen that in a movie, you wouldn't have believed it." Website: http://www.aviationmuseum.com.au/event/aircraft-

showcase


INTERSTATE NEWS

MELBOURNE MEETINGS are held on the fourth

Wednesday of the month in the auditorium of the RAAF Association, 24 Camberwell Rd, Hawthorn East. Parking is available under the building - enter from the lane at the south end. The meetings start at 7.30pm - ring the bell if the front door is shut. A number of members meet casually for dinner from 6.00pm at the Tower Hotel opposite the RAAFA. Visitors are welcome. Website http://www.ahsa.org.au/ Contact Dave Prossor, President, [email protected]

BRISBANE MEETINGS are held on the last Friday

of each month in the Lounge Area, Terminal Building, Archerfield Airport, Brisbane. Visitors are welcome. Next Meeting: Friday 27th November 2019 - 7:00 for 7:30pm. Peter Dunn, Secretary, advised that the AHSA Q’land

website can be found at - http://ahsaqld.org.au/ Contact: [email protected] or Warwick Henry at 0417 771 563

Thank you, Gordon Lasslett, John Scott, Paul & Christine Ewoldt, Tom Lockley, and aviation friends for submissions to this newsletter. Contributions should be sent to the Newsletter Editor: [email protected]

jr75 AHSA (NSW)

Cut here

AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY of AUSTRALIA (NSW) Inc ABN: 83 295 759 224

13 / 40A Roslyn Gardens Rushcutters Bay NSW 2011

AHSA

2020 MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

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Please insert your name in the Reference box and advise that you have paid to the Membership Secretary by Email at [email protected] along with your current address, contact details or any changes, and whether you wish to receive Southern Skies via Email or hard copy.


Countdown to 10 December 2019: Getting closer!

The Sea Bear, being flown over the Smith route of 1919 by Michael Smith, left White Waltham airfield on 18 November and is on schedule for its rendezvous with history at Darwin airport at 3 45 pm Tuesday 10 December. 14,000 miles Through the Sky and Grenfell Price’s book The Skies Remember clearly indicate that the arrival time was 3 pm but Darwin historians are certain that this was wrong, and arrival time was 45 minutes later.

His flight can be followed on this link: https://public.tracplus.com/public/southernsun.aspx . On my computer at least this link does not bookmark accurately so I have to return to the original every time I want to use it. An alternative to get the tracking is to go to the website: http://www.southernsun.voyage/ and follow the prompts.

Left: It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to do it – the

‘office’ of the Sea Bear.

Below: The shape of things to come? The aircraft weighs only 839 kg and carries a useful load of 630 kg at a cruising speed of 118 knots, driven

by the two Rotax 914 engines of 115 hp each.

Two four-passenger aircraft, 100 years apart, to similar scale. Wingspan of Vimy is 20.75 metres and wingspan

of the Sea Bear is 13.75 metres. The Vimy weighed 3.2 tonnes unladen and 4.9 tonnes fully laden, and it

required 2 360 hpEagle engines to propel it at 87 knots.

Trackplus image, English Channel crossing, 17 November at 1204 hours GMT.


ITINERARY FOR THE MARCH FLIGHT Anthony Coleiro has worked hard to produce what could be the final version, subject of course to the weather! He has sent me a version written in airman talk, four letter words beginning with Y, but I think this is pretty accurate and simpler for those of us who don’t speak the airfield language… DAY ROUTE ARRIVAL DATE NM NOTES

1 Darwin to Daly Waters Sunday 8/03/20

200 Stop at Katherine (Tindal RAAF), overfly Warlock Ponds (Elsey)

Alternatives for slow aircraft available

2 Daly Waters to Cloncurry

Monday 9/03/20

555 Stops – AACo stations Anthony Lagoon, Brunette Downs and Avon Downs

3 Cloncurry to Longreach Tuesday 10/03/20

270 Evening at QANTAS Heritage Museum

4 Longreach to Charleville Wednesday 11/03/20

235

5 Charleville to Caboolture

Thursday 12/03/20

368

Friday 13/3/20 Day event at Caboolture /Brisbane; optional route to Sydney for slow aircraft

7 Caboolture to Narromine

Saturday 14/03/20

594 Via Bourke (otherwise 444 NM),

Sunday 15/3/20 Day event at Narromine

8 Narromine to Wollongong (HARS)

Monday 16/03/20

265 Via Richmond or Luskintyre, then V1 to HARS Albion Park

Landing at Rose Bay by seaplanes

9 HARS to Cootamundra Tuesday 17/03/20

203 Option via Temora

10 Cootamundra to Melbourne

Wednesday 18/03/20

250 Henty optional stop, Benalla an optional departure point for flight to Gawler via Nhill, Saturday 21/3/20

11 Melbourne (various airfields)

Thursday 19/3/20

Contingency days and Melbourne events

12 Melbourne Friday 20/03/20

Melbourne events; aircraft at various airfields

13 Melbourne airfields to Adelaide (Gawler)

Saturday 21/03/20

445 Nhill as staging point fuel etc

14 Adelaide Sunday 22/03/20 Adelaide event Gawler to Aldinga to culminate flight

15 Anniversary day: possible event at Adelaide airport if desired.

Incidentally, Peter May, ex RAAF Neptune navigator and meteorologist has calculated that we have a better than 80% chance of getting through at this time of year without a delay to the overnight stops. Wish us luck!

Tom Lockley

HON SECRETARY, PAUL EWOLDT : E [email protected] A … Skies/later... · AHSA Inc Victoria....

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