FLYING THE ROYAL MAIL - Samuel Brimson - HCDJ

1984

224 paged hardcover book with dustjacket in fair to good condition.

THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA'S AIRLINES

FLYING THE ROYAL MAIL is the story of Australia's airlines from the pioneer days just after the Great War of 1914-1918 to the present. It tells of a courageous band of individuals most of them veterans of the Australian Flying corps, who had the foresight to realise that the aeroplane would one day dominate travel inside and outside Australia; and of the people who worked hard to build a respectable industry in the face of the gung-ho, 'get the mail through at any cost' brigade. It records the tragedies and disasters, and the great achievements.

This book provides an insight into the lives of those who made names such as Ansett, Qantas, and TAA synonymous with commercial aviation in Australia. And there are other names, ones which have passed into history, such as Larkin Aircraft Supply Company, Butler Air Transport, Guinea Airways, Western Australian Airways, Queensland Air Lines, Airlines of Australia, Australian National Airlines, McRobertson Miller Aviation, British Commonwealth Pacific Airways and many others.

The many heroes and villains of Australian aviation - people like Hudson Fysh of Qantas, Ivan and Victor Holyman of ANA, Reginald Ansett, Arthur Butler, Norman Brearley and Horrie Miller (who was given his start in the airline business by a chocolate millionaire) - are all here. So is the story of how the illustrious British aircraft manufacturers like deHavilland, Avro, Vickers, Handley Page, Hawker Siddeley and Armstrong Whitworth lost their markets slowly but surely to the more innovative Americans in the form of Boeing, Douglas, Lockheed and Convair.

FLYING THE ROYAL MAIL chronicles the history of the airlines of Australia in a comprehensive text and a fabulous collection of photographs from many sources.

CONTENTS:

BARNSTORMERS, JOY-RIDERS AND AERIAL TAXIS - 1919 - 1930

EMPIRE FLYING BOATS AND DOUBLE SUNRISES - 1930 - 1945

PISTONS PRESSURISATION AND PROP-JETS - 1945 - 1959

FROM FAN-JETS TO BUSES THAT FLY - 1959 - Today (1984)