The History of Qantas - 1920 to WWII Quiz

Answer: Driving a Model T Ford around the outback on a work assignment for the Defence Department

Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness were both magnificent men in flying machines in WWI. They lost none of their daring spirit after the war. Both were keen to enter the England to Australia Race in an aeroplane but were unable to find a financial backer in time for the venture. Instead, they took a job surveying the outback of Queensland for the Defence Department, scouting out the route for the air race so supplies could be left for competitors. They did this in a Model T Ford laden to the gills with supplies for them and the race entrants. It was while they crossed some harsh terrain that the pair realised how valuable an air service could be in the area. Distances are vast, the roads were rough if they existed at all, and subject to flooding and the damage from floods. An aerial service seemed the ideal way to make life in the bush for the early settlers a little easier.

Hudson Fysh was later knighted for his services to aviation, becoming Sir Hudson Fysh KBE DFC.
Paul McGinness was awarded the DFC and DCM for his military service in WWI.

Answer: Grazier

Fergus McMaster was a grazier in the Queensland bush. He'd fought in the Great War and returned to Queensland to resume farming. He was driving through a dry creek bed when his axle broke and he was stranded. In one of those serendipitous chance meetings that changes history, Paul McGinness was in the area and helped him out. McMaster, impressed by the young man's spirit, integrity and vision, started accumulating funds through a prospectus to start an airline. His enterprising nature saw the airline sign air mail delivery contracts, securing them a regular income.

Fergus McMaster was the chairman of Qantas for most of the next 27 years, and was knighted for his services to civil aviation in 1941.

Answer: The Western Queensland Auto Aero Service Limited

As a company name, The Western Queensland Auto Aero Service Limited didn't last very long. It was the name under which Qantas purchased their first plane, but was changed within months to QANTAS. TWQAASL doesn't exactly roll off the tongue as an acronym so I'm glad it was changed to Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited, or QANTAS. As can be garnered by the name, Qantas' first area of operation was in western Queensland and the Northern Territory. The airline flew mail to remote regions of the state along with performing other activities designed to generate income. Winton was the initial home of Qantas but after the first meeting of the board, it was decided to move the company's headquarters to nearby Longreach, a town closer to the railway. This gave customers easier access to them, and gave the company easier access to spare parts that might be shipped in.

In 1934, QANTAS became Qantas Empire Airways Limited.

Answer: Joyrides and flight demonstrations

So, it's 1921, and you have two planes which may or may not have fought in the war. How are you going to make money? You take the brave and fearless up in the air with you. Joy rides and flying demonstrations were the order of the day to bring in money. The planes weren't exactly reliable with pieces of them falling to the ground while in the air. W. Arthur Baird, while not a founder of the airline, was the engineer tasked with keeping the planes airworthy. Somehow, those aeroplanes which appear to modern eyes to be made of matchsticks and glue held together, flying 54,000 kms without any major incidents.

Baird was in the Australian Flying Corp during WWI and knew both Fysh and McGinness from their time in the war. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his skill and diligence in aeroplane maintenance. Fysh and McGinness invited Baird to be a part of their venture and he left his business in Melbourne to join them. He learnt to fly while in Longreach and took the planes in the air for demonstrations. As the company grew, he moved to Sydney to be the Works Manager for all the airline's fleet of planes.

Answer: The Royal Flying Doctor Service

Roads were rough in the Australian bush in the 1920s (in many places they still are), and the distances significant. Getting people with medical emergencies from remote homesteads to medical attention was extremely difficult and time consuming. Lieutenant J Clifford Peel of the Australian Flying Corp had proposed using aeroplanes as 'ambulances' to transport the sick and injured to hospitals. Peel was lost in WWI but Reverend John Flynn took up the idea, speaking with Qantas about it. It wasn't an overnight sensation however. Aeroplanes available to Qantas weren't closed in so patients would have to fly in the open air, and those with closed cabins weren't robust enough to deal with the rough conditions in which they'd have to land. It wasn't until 1924 that a suitable plane became available, and not until 1928 that the first flight of the Australian Aerial Medical Service took off from Cloncurry, Queensland. Qantas charged the organisation two shillings for every mile they flew while transporting a patient.

From one plane in Cloncurry in 1928, the Royal Flying Doctor Service expanded to become the fantastic resource it is today. Today the RFDS looks after the medical needs of a immense proportion of Australia, providing emergency medical care as well as routine services such as vaccinations. The RFDS on an average day flies 72,000 km landing 203 times, sees 750 patients, transports 112 patients for ongoing care, and runs 39 healthcare clinics for things such as vaccinations, checkups, baby health checks and the like. In the financial year 2011-12, they had 61 aircraft in 21 bases run by 1,150 staff.

Answer: Longreach

Longreach is a small town in Queensland about 1,200 km northwest of Brisbane. With a population today of around 3,000, it would have been a very small town in the early days of Qantas. Nevertheless, it was home base for Qantas until 1930 and remains an important part of Qantas' history. 'Longreach' was emblazoned on all Qantas' 747-400 series aeroplanes to honour the town so important to Qantas, and the name also denoted the plane's ability to fly long distances.

Qantas moved to Brisbane after Longreach became unviable as a home base. A move to Sydney followed in 1938. Moving an entire company such a distance seems remarkable but they managed to move all vital staff, filing cabinets and sundries down to Sydney in one afternoon using two flying boats.

Answer: Mail

Alexander Kennedy wasn't just Qantas' first passenger. He was one of the businessmen that subscribed to Fergus McMaster's prospectus, putting money into the new business. As a farming pioneer in Queensland, he could see how an airline could improve the lot of isolated farming communities. He put his money in and joined the board with one proviso - he wanted the first ticket! He duly became the first passenger on a scheduled flight which also dropped off the mail to towns such as Cloncurry, McKinlay and Winton.

The flight didn't go totally to plan though. Fysh, Baird and Kennedy boarded the plane containing the mail. They tried to take off but the plane didn't have the get up and go needed. It refused to take off with such a load despite four attempts. They all disembarked, the mail was loaded onto the other plane, and finally took off 35 minutes late.

Answer: Stanley Bruce was the first Prime Minister of Australia to travel in an aeroplane for official business

Stanley Melbourne Bruce was Prime Minister of Australia from 1923-29. Son of a wealthy businessman, he was well educated and practiced law in England. World War I intervened and he joined the British Army, serving at Gallipoli. His military career saw him awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre before he was wounded in France, only to be invalided out. He spent two years on crutches while rehabilitating.

Returning to Australia, he went to work in the business sector but before long, a political career beckoned. When Qantas was in its infancy, in the second year of his premiership, Bruce became the first Australian PM to fly with the airline.

Answer: Singapore

This may well have been the start of Qantas' Kangaroo Route to London which included a stop in Singapore. For three years the Singapore flights were conducted successfully in a DH86 aeroplane. These flights were also used to transport mail to Singapore which was picked up by another airline and taken to the UK. Despite the depression, business was brisk and in three years it was decided larger planes were needed to carry more passengers. Enter the Short C Class Empire flying boats. At last Qantas had a plane able to take passengers all the way to the UK. Being flying boats, they needed minimal infrastructure on the ground to operate, just a mooring buoy, a terminal building, and somewhere to fuel. Rose Bay, a suburb of Sydney on the harbour foreshore, was the venue for Qantas' expansion around the world.

On July 5, 1938, a plane called 'Cooee' piloted by Captain P W Lynch Blosse took to the skies on Qantas' first Australia to England flight. Prior to these aeroplanes, passengers were taken from Singapore to England with another airline. Now you could fly to England with the one airline for the first time.

Answer: Ceylon

The flights to Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka in 1948 when it became independent) started in Perth, Western Australia, and the passengers took another flight from there to England. The distance of 5,652km, all over the Indian Ocean, would be the longest non-stop flight with passengers in the world at the time. The flights took anywhere from 28 to 32 hours to complete depending on the winds the plane faced. You had to really want to get to England! Only three passengers could be taken per flight thanks to the extra fuel that was needed. A large amount of diplomatic mail and paperwork that had been microfiched was also carried, destined for London's war bureaucracy. Radio silence was imperative due to the possible presence of enemy aircraft so celestial navigation was essential.

By the end of the war, the Catalina planes had made 271 crossings of the Indian Ocean, ferried over 600 passengers, and travelled over a million kilometres without incident. Qantas continued to use Catalinas for flights to places such as Fiji and Lord Howe Island until 1958.