The History of Qantas post WWII Quiz

Answer: Constellation

In 1946, Qantas bought four Constellations for long range flying. They also bought some Douglas DC3s and DC4 Skymasters for shorter trips to places such as New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. Boeing 707s wouldn't become a part of Qantas until the late 1950s.

From 1947, an Australian could hop on board a Qantas Constellation (known as a Connie) and head off to England. The Connies began a weekly service to London which became known as the Kangaroo Route. The trip, despite being in a modern plane, still took four days. It was certainly faster than a ship though. The cost? Hmm. You may complain about the cost of airfares now but back in 1947, if you wanted to fly from Sydney to London one way, it would have cost you the equivalent of 85 week's pay of an average worker. One way. If you wanted to come back, you had to pay another 85 weeks' average salary. Today it would cost you a little over one week's average pay to fly to England from Australia, and back, depending on what sort of deal you could make, the time of year etc.

Answer: The Southern Cross Route

None of the named routes used by Qantas had a fixed definition. The Kangaroo Route started off with six stops initially but as some cities became less popular and others grew in importance, the cities on the flights varied as time went on. The Kangaroo Route flew in the Eastern Hemisphere while the new Southern Cross Route traversed the Western Hemisphere. Leaving Sydney, a typical route for the Constellations flying to London would have stops at Nadi, San Francisco or Vancouver, New York and then London.

In 1958 to launch Qantas' around the world service, two Connies left Melbourne, one heading east, the other heading west. They flew around the world and met back up in Melbourne six days later. The Southern Cross Route was only in operation for fifteen years, the service stopping in April, 1973, due to its unprofitability.

Answer: He designed the winged kangaroo logo

The first logo the airline used incorporated a boomerang. In 1934, a kangaroo appeared on the logo. The design was a kangaroo in mid-air as it bounced along in the bush, and is similar to the kangaroo on the penny coin at the time. It was a simple logo but unmistakably Australian. In 1947, Gert Sillheim updated the logo. Now the kangaroo had wings with which to fly around the world, and a globe at its feet. This stood the test of time for 21 years when it had a turn at being updated. The globe at the roo's feet went by the wayside, and the kangaroo, still with wings, was placed in an circle.

In 1984, the logo was changed to a sleeker, more modern design. The wings disappeared and the roo became more streamlined. It's had minor adjustments since then, but it remains a sleek, white kangaroo on a brilliant red background.

Jack Grant, a Qantas employee, invented the inflatable slide for emergencies in 1965.

Answer: Wallaby Route

International travel with Qantas really took off (pardon the pun) after World War II with new routes to destinations that only the richest or most adventurous of Aussies could have dreamt of prior to this era. The southern part of Africa was one such destination. Qantas had the Kangaroo Route, the Southern Cross Route, and now with air travel to Africa, they had the Wallaby Route, so named because of the small hops involved in taking the journey. Passengers could start in Sydney and fly to Perth. From there, they hopped to the Cocos Islands, Mauritius, and finally Johannesburg. Compared to today's flying times, this trip was a drag, taking three days to complete. Qantas also flew to Harare for a few years but the political situation in Zimbabwe meant the cancellation of that service.

Answer: False

American airlines had already taken delivery of 707s but Qantas was the first non-American airline to acquire one. Qantas had entered the jet age with the purchase and delivery of seven 707-138 Boeings. This occurred in 1959 and started changing the way we flew.

The new jet planes had a greater range (important to reach Australia at the bottom of the map), better fuel economy, and large payloads. It was only few years later that Qantas began to sell off their propeller-driven planes and was buying more jets. By March, 1966, Qantas owned thirteen of the large planes, with more having been purchased and awaiting delivery.

Answer: True

Qantas waited for two years after the launch of the 747 to purchase one. The company waited for 747Bs to roll out of the hangar as they judged them to be more suited to Qantas' needs in long haul flights than the first 747s released in 1969. By March, 1979, Qantas had sold off all of the 707s to be left with seventeen 747s, making it the first airline in the world to work exclusively with "Jumbo Jets".

Qantas established a world record in tragic circumstances in 1974. Cyclone Tracy had turned the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, into matchsticks on the night of Christmas Eve. A Qantas 747 left Darwin carrying 673 passengers evacuated from the ruined city, just one of many mercy flights taken from the city by thousands of people. This established a new record for passengers on a single plane.

Answer: City of Canberra

Captain David Massy-Greene flew a 747-400 named City of Canberra from London to Sydney in a non-stop flight, breaking the previous world distance record for a commercial aeroplane. The distance flown was 18,001 km and only took a little over 20 hours of Captain Massy-Greene's time. I'm sure he had nothing better to do that day than to break a world record. To contrast that time with earlier flying times, the early Kangaroo Route trips took up to fourteen days with two overnight stops, and up to 42 refuelling stops.

Qantas has had a long tradition of naming their planes going back to their very early days in outback Queensland. The first planes were named after Greek gods and goddesses. Other themes which have been used include birds, famous Australian aviators, and cities in Australia. All of the options have been Qantas planes at one time.

Answer: Jetstar

Qantas used to only fly internationally but began flying on domestic routes in Australia also. Then along came Richard Branson with his new, friendly airline Virgin Blue which threatened Qantas' domination of the skies in Australia with its cheap fares and smiling staff. Qantas had to retaliate and in 2003, a subsidiary airline was founded to take on Virgin Blue, and it was called Jetstar Airways. The airline is a low cost operation designed to carry passengers on a no-frills type service. As the years have rolled on, the service level has increased, and Jetstar started flying internationally in 2006.

Trans Australia Airlines was an airline flying domestically in Australia until they were swallowed in a business merger by Qantas. Qantas Bargain Basement has never existed, and I hope it never does!

Answer: Nancy Bird-Walton

Nancy Bird-Walton, AO OBE DStJ (1915-2009) had dreamt of flying ever since she knew it was possible. Gaining a commercial pilot's licence at the age of 19 in 1934, she began flying in the outback taking people up for joyflights, performing search and rescue missions, transporting nurses to those who needed them, operating as an air ambulance, doing whatever would pay for her flying time and the aeroplane itself. She later travelled extensively around the world learning about flying through an association with KLM. She flew in the Powder Puff Derby in the USA in the 1950s, an air race for female pilots, becoming the first pilot from outside the USA to compete. During WWII, she assisted as much as possible with the war effort in Australia and became the New South Wales and Australian Commandant of the Women's Air Training Corps. Possibly Australia's best known aviatrix, she was much loved and admired for her derring-do and her generosity of spirit.

Amelia Earhart and Amy Johnson were pioneering aviatrices in their own right. Dawn Fraser is a legendary Australian known for her swimming rather than flying.

The Airbus A380 is a French plane made by the Airbus of Toulouse. There are two decks inside the plane allowing for up to 853 passengers to be accommodated depending on the seating arrangements. First flown in 2005, the first A380 to be used commercially was by Singapore Airlines in 2007. Qantas' first A380 took off from Los Angeles and flew to Melbourne in 2008.

Answer: Longreach, Queensland

The Qantas Founders' Museum in located in Longreach, Queensland. It's a short 1,200 km (745 mile) drive northwest of Brisbane, or 700 km (435 miles) west of Rockhampton. At the museum you can see several planes that were part of Qantas' history such as the Boeing 747-238B VH-EBQ "JUMBO", a replica AVRO 504K, and a Douglas Corporation DC-3 VH-EAP. Other activities include walking on the wing of a 747 as well as a cockpit tour, a flight simulator in which you can be the pilot for a while, and a tour of the museum with a guide.

The town of Longreach is where Qantas really began. A small town even now, Qantas moved its operations to there from Winton within months of the airline's founding. Qantas ran its business from Longreach from 1920 to 1930, and the town remains close to the heart of the organisation.

Longreach is a fair hike for most people, certainly more than a day or weekend trip so you might as well plan to see some of the other things the area has to offer. Other things worthy of your time include The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre in Longreach itself, and the Waltzing Matilda Centre in nearby Winton. A little over an hour's drive from Winton takes you to Lark Quarry. Here you can see hundreds of dinosaur footprints preserved in the rocks, the largest collection of footprints in the world.