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Aviation Historical Society of Australia
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Author: DerekB

I'm a mechanical engineer by training, and I've spent most of my career in materials - engineering plastics first, then composites (fibreglass and carbon fibre materials). My aviation interests are centred on the CAC Wirraway, Boomerang and Ceres. I've published a book about the Ceres and I'm working on a manuscript for a Wirraway book.
DerekB18/11/202006/12/2021

AHSA Monthly Meeting 18 November 2020 (Martin James: Commemorating the RAAF Centenary)

Martin James (Royal Australian Air Force Histrian) gave a presentation describing how the RAAF is planning to commemorate its centenary during 2021, including an...
DerekB08/11/202014/04/2021

Membership subscriptions for 2021 reduced due to COVID-19 situation

At the 21st Annual General Meeting of the Incorporated Society on Wednesday 23rd September 2020, the Committee recommended reducing the annual subscriptions for the...
DerekB21/10/202006/12/2021

AHSA Monthly Meeting 21 October 2020 (Tony Wheeler: The Great Airline Bazaar / London to Melbourne In 22 Hops)

Tony Wheeler (co-founder of Lonely Planet guides) gave a presentation "The Great Airline Bazaar" covering his extraordinary 22-flight journey from London to Melbourne. The...
DerekB29/09/202027/12/2022

Australian-built Aircraft and the Industry (Vol 2) by Keith Meggs

The latest book released by author Keith Meggs Volume 2 of this encyclopaedic work (containing only one chapter, being chapter 15, spread across two...
DerekB16/09/202027/12/2022

AHSA Monthly Meeting 16 Sep 2020 (Derek Buckmaster: The Wirraway “Newspaper War”)

Derek Buckmaster gave a presentation on The Wirraway "Newspaper War". The AHSA September monthly meeting was held online via Zoom. A recording of the...
Cover image: Aviation Heritage Vol 51 No 3
DerekB01/09/202026/04/2021

Aviation Heritage Volume 51 Number 3 contents listing

The latest quarterly edition (September 2020) of the AHSA journal - Aviation Heritage - has recently been hosted to members. Full contents listing: Aviation...
DerekB19/08/202006/12/2021

AHSA Monthly Meeting 19 August 2020 (Phil Vabre: The Empire Air Mail Scheme In Operation 1938-39)

Phil Vabre gave a presentation on The Empire Air Mail Scheme In Operation 1938-39. The August 2020 monthly meeting of the AHSA was held...
DerekB15/07/202014/07/2022

AHSA Monthly Meeting 15 July 2020 (Roger McKay: Jet Fighter Evolution)

Squadron Leader Roger McKay gave a presentation on the evolution of jet fighter design, explaining the development from "first generation" to "fifth generation" designs....
DerekB30/06/202021/12/2021

Aviation Heritage Volume 51 Number 2 contents listing

The latest quarterly edition (June 2020) of the AHSA journal - Aviation Heritage - has been posted to members. Full contents listing: Aviation Heritage...
DerekB11/06/202006/12/2021

AHSA Monthly Meeting 11 June 2020 (Dr Ellen Stoddart: The Record-Setting Flights of the Perlan Glider)

Dr Ellen Stoddart gave a fascinating presentation covering the development and record-setting flights of the Perlan high-altitude glider. Ellen's son Morgan Sandercock is one...

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Welcome to the website of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia Inc.
The AHSA is dedicated to recording and promoting Australian aviation history. We find and tell the stories of how aviation (both civil and military) has contributed to the development of Australia and the experiences of Australian people.
To navigate around the site, select from the menu bar above, click on one of the updates below or choose one of the categories below.

On this day in Australian aviation history:

1919 Captain Henry Wrigley and Sergeant Arthur William Murphy departed from Point Cook and flew to Cootamundra on 16 November 1919 on the first leg of an aerial survey of a suitable route from Melbourne to Darwin. They were flying in the single-engined Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2e B6183. The flight took 4 hours and 5 minutes, along a route which took them over Broadmeadows, Wallan, Broadford, Mangalore, Euroa, Violet-Town, Benalla, Glenrowan, Wangaratta, Chiltern, Wodonga, Albury, Culcairn, The Rock, Wagga and Junee. This flight was the longest flight which had been made in Australia to that date. Source: Tom Lockley, Wrigley and Murphy: Australia’s First Transcontinental Flight; AHSA (NSW) Inc., 2009.
1920 On 16 November 1920 at the Gresham Hotel in Brisbane, formal papers were signed by Hudson Fysh, Paul McGinness, Fergus McMaster and others establishing the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited with McMaster as chairman. Fergus McMaster, a grazier from Queensland, was a key figure in the establishment of Qantas, providing initial capital and lobbying for both private funding and government subsidies. Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness flew together with the Australian Flying Corps in the First World War. After the war, they tried to enter the 1919 Great Air Race, chasing the £10,000 prize money offered to the first Australian to complete a flight from Great Britain to Australia. Unfortunately, after their race sponsor died suddenly, the pair were forced to withdraw their entry. Instead, Fysh and McGinness were commissioned by the Defence Department to complete a survey of suitable landing sites for the race throughout the Northern Territory and Queensland. As McGinness and Fysh struggled to complete their work across the difficult terrain and long distances, their idea for an aerial service across the region and Australia began to form. Source: National Museum of Australia
1963 The first of two Mirages shipped to Australia as fully-equipped major assemblies for completion by GAF, A3-3, was flown for the first time by Squadron Leader (later Air Vice-Marshal) Bill Collings at Avalon on 16 November 1963. Government Aircraft Factories (GAF) were the prime contractor for Australian-built Mirages supplied to the RAAF. Source: Aircraft of the RAAF, RAAF History & Heritage/Big Sky Publishing, 2021.

A Mouse At Moresby Ansett Airways Ansett Flying Boat Services Ballarat Bellanca 28/70 Bill Bedford Boeing Brinsmead Bronco CAC CAC Boomerang CAC Ceres CAC Mustang CAC Wackett Trainer CAC Wirraway CAC Woomera Chartair Cyclone Tracy DAP DC-3 DCA DH.50 DH60 Moth Double Sunrise Duigan Memorial Lecture Eric Bonar Essington Lewis Eyre Peninsula Airways GAF Guinea Airways Halestorm JC Fitzmaurice Junkers F13 Lawrence Wackett Macchi Meteor Michael Smith Outlook Percival Proctor Qantas RAF 205 Squadron RFD Winged Target Roy Goon Sid Marshall Target towing

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