qantasempireairways

On 15 May 1928, John Flynn's dream became a reality with the opening of the Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service in Cloncurry, Queensland (later to be renamed the Royal Flying Doctor Service). From the first flight in a single engine, fabric covered bi-plane, the RFDS steadily grew in size, scope and reach. Over the next few years, the RFDS began to expand across the country: Source: www.flyingdoctor.org.au/about-the-rfds/history/rfds-secti...

Men in short trousers and long socks. Must be North Queensland!

trove.nla.gov.au/work/38861739 - the NLA has a slightly better version... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36755347 - this photo appeared in the Brisbane Courier-Mail on 29th May, 1935...I haven't yet managed to find another contemporary publication... I gather the aircraft is a De Havilland DH.86 which Qantas used on the Brisbane-Darwin-Singapore route... During 1935, English playwright/composer, etc Noel Coward made a tour of the Far East...he was evidently a passenger on the the Batavia-Singapore leg of the Qantas flight from Australia... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/32859396 - the West Australian, 23rd May, 1935...brief item re... -------------------------------- www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEfxLIyf_IY - Mrs Worthington...

1934. It seems that "safety" was not really the primary concern, and that QANTAS planes have had accidents: "The D.H.86 had been rushed from design concept to test flight in a record four months to meet the deadlines set by the Australian airmail contracts, and a lot of attention to detail had been ignored. It was a big aircraft for its power, and as a result very lightly built. There was poor response to control movements in certain speed ranges, the wings were inclined to twist badly if the ailerons were used coarsely and, most seriously, the vertical tail surface was of inadequate area. The result was an aircraft that, although quite safe under normal conditions, could rapidly get out of control under certain flight regimes." More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Express

Yes, Qantas has even lost lives, but they have never lost the life of anyone flying in one of their jet aircraft, hence the safety reputation. The last fatal crash (2 crew, 19 passengers) was a Constellation, Mauritius, 1960.

In fact they've lost over 60 lives (most of the fatal accidents are detailed in Hudson Fysh's "Qantas Rising"), but try telling people that and out comes the old "Qantas has never had any fatal accidents" furphy... And according to Wikipedia (which is never wrong..), the 1960 Connie crash wasn't a fatal - last I know of was a DHA-3 Drover which went into the sea off New Guinea on 16 July 1951, with the loss of seven lives...

Whoops, sorry Dr Keats! Quite right, there were no fatalities in the 1960 crash. "During takeoff from runway 13, engine number 3 lost power just before reaching the V1 speed of 115 knots. The captain pulled off the power, braked hard, and pulled selected reverse thrust. The aircraft however, did not decelerate as expected. The flight engineer feathered the number 3 engine and pulled its emergency shut-off valve. The Super Constellation, named "Southern Wave", could not be brought to a stop on the remaining runway and overran the runway at a speed of 40 knots. The airplane bounced over a low embankment, crashed into a gulley and caught fire." Reference: Aviation Safety Network online But what airport has a no. 13 runway!!!! There were fatal accidents, (including one Short Empire Flying Boat shot down in 1942 by the Japanese), from 1927 - 1951. They were relatively few compared to most airlines and involved relatively unsophisticated aircraft. All were in Australia, Papua New Guinea or the Indian Ocean. Reference: Qantas accidents in Wikipedia

Really interesting pic - Also has that high dynamic range look to it. How did you create the image? Singapore Ecommerce Software.