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