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The History of Aviation in the Albany Region
Author: Author: Author: Author:
Jarvis Dekker Jarvis Dekker Jarvis Dekker Jarvis Dekker
Table of Contents
1. Introduction Pg. 3
2. Pre 1930’s Pg. 4
3. 1930’s Pg. 4-5
4. 1940’s Pg. 5-6
5. 1950’s Pg. 6
6. 1960’s Pg. 6
7. 1970’s Pg. 6-7
8. 1980’s Pg.
9. 1990’s Pg.
10. Phone call list Pg.
11. Anecdotes Pg.
12. Sources Pg.
Introduction
About ten kilometres out from Albany, give or take as the town has expanded, the Albany
aerodrome is positioned at an elevation of seventy one meters above sea level. With two
runways forming a rough X shape. It has a fully air-conditioned terminal, with a full view of
the two runways through big glass windows in the cafeteria area. It also pumps out about
two and a half thousand planes a year. But before it became the busy airport it is today, it
started off as one hundred and twenty acres of cleared land, with not much apart from a
grass runway.
Pre 1930
The first plane in Albany was built by a
syndicate in 1915. They started the motor
up and it lasted a few seconds before the
propeller splintered into little pieces. The
plane never flew. Another plane was
built, possibly by the same group, and this
one flew, but crashed into the ocean.
The first actually flying plane flew over Albany in 1919. The plane was owned by Mr Norman
Brearley and the plane was an Arvo 504K. He would take people for flights in his plane
charging five pounds for a ten minute flight. (A handsome figure at the time).
In June 26, 1926, the Southampton flying boat squadron led by Captain Cave-Browne-Cave.
landed near the town, and quite a crowd came out to see the flying boats. The captain was
quite a figure and had done a lot of things in his life, so that in its self would have attracted
many people. It is unknown why the Southampton squadron visited Albany from England, as
it would have been quite a long trip.
1930’s
In the 1930s a dairy farmer called
Green made plans to provide an
aerodrome on his 120 acre property,
which would have been quite exiting
for the town, as the only airstrips in
the area were the tidal flats
somewhere in the harbour area and at
what was then known as Shelley
beach. By 1935, Green’s aerodrome
was being used by light planes such as the local doctor, H J C Hanrahan, and his tiger moth.
Greens aerodrome was on what is now called Drome road. Looking at the slopes and hills in
the area, it seems like a perfect runway.
The first airline to service the Albany was set up in 1935. It joined up with MacRobertson
Miller Airlines Ltd in 1955.
By 1938, one hundred and twenty acres had been cleared for the New Albany Aerodrome,
and one of the first pilots to land there, Mr V James who was from Perth, said that the
aerodrome was a menace to aviation, as his plane got stuck in the mud for several days. Mr
James was planning on landing at greens aerodrome, but was unable to decipher the
landing signals, so he headed to the newly cleared patch of land, where he ended up stuck.
That picture there is of a de Havilland DH.104 Dove. It
was the plane that Airlines used to fly people to Albany
and the booking office was the Barnesby Ford office, due
to the fact that all of the bookings, freight, passenger
taxiing and mail were handled by Mr John Barnesby.
After the war broke out in 1939, the RAAF took over the
airport and started using is as a base. The first RAAF
plane to land there was a Wirraway bomber, which was
closely followed by an Avro Anson twin engine bomber.
1940’s
The period of the war had brought a lot of air traffic
with it. There were planes taking off and landing
each day, all closely watched by a group of
enthusiasts. These enthusiasts were the first
members of the Air Training Corps (ATC).
At one time, HMAS Indefatigable launched twenty six
sea fires, the carrier version of the spit fire. These
twenty six planes did a display over Albany, with five
of the sea fires having to land at the airport due to
engine troubles.
During one of the worst times of the war, when it was greatly feared that the Japanese
would invade, holes were dug in the runway. It is unclear of exactly where they are, whether
they are underneath or in the actual runway it’s self, but these holes were a cause for
structural problems a bit further down the track. The holes were filled with explosives, so
that in case the Japanese did invade, then they would have some form of defence.
With the end of the war having arrived, the control tower near the camp was disassembled,
leaving only a small, three meter high stump. The communications/control bunker was now
empty and an old terminal from the Busselton aerodrome was shipped down and placed at
the Albany Aerodrome.
The airport was soon after taken over by the Civil Aviation Authority, and Mr Cliff Croxford
was appointed groundsman, and later senior grounds man. The job included handling the
machines, placing oil lamps at the edges of the runway for night flying, and manually
attending to the constant red warning light on Mt Wilyung, which was three kilometres
away.
By the mid 1940’s, Airlines WA LTD (AWA) (
possibly the same company as MacRobertson
Miller Airlines LTD) had included Albany in its
service, and John Barnesby was in charge of all
the bookings. AWA were offering flights for
people in their five seater Dragon Rapide
aircraft, return, for eight pounds eleven
shillings with thirty five pounds of luggage
(passengers and luggage were weighed). These
flights were operating four times every week.
1950’s
In 1950, the runway heading east-west was phased out, and can still be roughly seen from
aerial pictures.
The AWA was taken over by MacRobinson Miller Airline
LTD. They introduced the DC3 Douglas Dakota, which
could seat twenty one passengers.
In the late 1950’s the runway was used by the Southern
Districts Car Club. They used it for their Motorcanas which
was held every two months.
1960’s
In April 1965, the New Albany meteorology building was opened adjacent to the airport
terminal. This meant that pilots could get an up-to-the-minute weather reading from the A-
class station. Following after the opening of this
building was almost one hundred years of weather
reading and recording in Albany.
The MMA were pumping out four flights a week in
their DC3’s and also with the occasional visit of the
Fokker Friendship.
1970’s
The 1970’s saw a large increase in the variety of people
carrying aircraft. There was the Barren, the Queen air and
the King Air. Its unclear how many passengers the first two
held but the King air was capable of holding twelve
passengers.
Later on in the decade Stilwell Airlines started servicing Albany using the Metro Liner.
SkyWest also started servicing Albany using the Bandeirante. Both of these planes could
hold fifteen people, a nice increase from twelve.
In November, 1973, the Duke of Edinburgh visited Albany. With him came the heavier air
force, with the duke at the controls. His would have brought some excitement to Albany and
some money into the Airport.
At the time of the Dukes visit to Albany the full-time staff at the airport was a single
groundsman and some Aeradio Operators.
At this stage in time, the runway facing north-south was no longer in use.
1980’s
1985, the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) changed their name to Department Of Aviation
(DOA). With this change of name came the change of ownership of the airport. The DOA
handed it over to the Shire of Albany under some terms. These terms were called the
Aerodrome Local Ownership Plan (ALOP). These terms included the liability that the Shire
was responsible for half of the running costs for the airport. A Manager was also put in place
instead of a Groundsman.
In 1988, the new terminal at the airport was
opened, the old one having been donated to a
local scout camp.
1989 brought about another change to DOA. It
was split into three separate groups. The
airport then became under the control of the
Department of Transport and Communication.
Meanwhile, Ansett had started taking flights
from Albany using a Jetstream 31, as well as the occasional visit of an Ansett four engine,
F28.
1990’s
The late 1980’s-early 1990’s saw the start of the earlier mentioned structural difficulties
begin to occur at the airport. Bubbles in the sealed runway began to appear in winter. Many
of these bubbles were large enough to become a cause for concern for the airport officials.
Many people came up with theories, that the holes drilled under the airport to fill with
explosives were filled with water, and they were causing the bubbles, but the holes were in
fact filled with air. The problem was quite unique to the Albany airport, as it didn’t happen
anywhere else, but they have managed to get the problem under control today.
A kiosk was built in the Albany airport terminal. It was opened in 1990, and in 1992, a deed
of withdrawal was signed by the ALOP, and they handed the full possession of the airport to
the Shire of Albany, along with a payment of three hundred and sixty one thousand dollars.
The reason that this sum of money was handed to the Shire is unknown
Anecdotes
Mr John Bell:
John bell was a fantastic pilot by all means. He flew planes most of his life and ended up
dying in a plane. A lot of his life was spent as a spotter pilot for the whale boats. The spotter
pilots were flying in flying boats, and spotted whaled from the air, then radioed the whales
position to a whale chaser then went after the whale. A interview with an ex-whaler, Mick
Stubbs revealed what really happened.
The Captain, Ches Stubbs (Mick Stubbs father), of a whale chaser had fired a harpoon at a
whale, but a wave had washed the rope attached to the harpoon around. As the captain
pulled the trigger, a loop of rope wrapped around his leg and tore his leg off. The crew
bandaged it the best they could, then sent out a mayday on the radio. John bell heard the
mayday as he was flying back to base due to low fuel levels. He turned around and headed
out to the whale chaser and landed next to it. John bells plane had a small inflatable boat in
it, so he floated that across to the ship. The crew lifted Ches into the inflatable, and the chief
engineer went with him, to paddle the inflatable across to the plane. The chief engineer
couldn’t make the inflatable got straight, so a deckhand jumped in the inflatable as well.
They managed to get the inflatable to the plane, and the deckie swam back to the ship. John
then tried to take off with three people in the plane and an 18 knot cross wind and about
two meter swells. The attempt failed, as a wave knocked the plane around. They then
decided that there were two many people in the plane, so the chief engineer had to get out.
But he couldn’t swim, so they had to float the inflatable to the plane, so the chief engineer
could get out. The whale chaser then did a lap around the plane, to flatten the sea and give
the water an oily surface, stopping the tops of waves from breaking. John managed to get
the plane airborne and back to land safely, when Ches Stubbs was brought to hospital b a
waiting ambulance.
John bell died not very long ago, while on a patrol route along our coast, working for
customs.
Dr H J C Hanrahan
Dr Hanrahan was, of course, the local doctor, except that he could fly, very well. He was the
acting royal flying doctor service in Albany for quite a while. He had a little tiger moth, and
he was quite a brave pilot. Dr Hanrahan once took off in such strong winds, that he was
blown backwards for two kilometres. He ended up semi crash landing on centennial oval.
Sources
Albany Local Airport
Local History Section, Albany Library
Zarik- www.aviationcollection.org