Aviation has played an important part in shaping Australia’s culture and history through the course of the twentieth century. Australia embraced aviation from its earliest days, eagerly responding to its potential to cover a challenging country, to bring far-flung communities closer and to provide services that could not be delivered any other way. Add the romance of pioneer heroes, the vital role of aviation in wartime and the capacity to deliver aid to people in need in Australia and beyond, and it is clear why aviation is at the heart of Australia’s recent history. This book aims to set out the major themes that characterise Australia’s aviation history for a broad audience and to provide a foundation for a broader discussion, and for further research, about how aviation transformed Australia. Connecting the Nation is a vital and timely introduction to the history of civil aviation in Australia as we prepare for the centenary of civil aviation services in 2020.

Tells the stories of some of the men who placed Australia at the forefront of the aviation industry, and looks at more recent events that have seen the demise of icons such as Ansett and the rise of new players in this most competitive of industries.

When the first hot-air balloons took to the air, the quest to build machines that could carry people safely across the skies captured the imagination of the world. It triggered a surge of daring and ingenuity that saw technological barriers tumble, and by World War One, man was using aeroplanes in combat. Among these young men in their flying machines were Australians Richard Williams, Hudson Fysh, Ross and Keith Smith, Bert Hinkler and Charles Kingsford Smith, who would all become household names on their return home. From becoming the 'father of the RAAF' to winning the inaugural London to Australia air race, from founding Qantas to being the first to cross the Pacific Ocean, these were some of the men who placed Australia at the forefront of the aviation industry. AVIATION IN AUSTRALIA tells their stories but also looks at more recent events that have seen the demise of icons such as Ansett and the rise of new players in this most competitive of industries. This book is part of Exisle Publishing's Little Red Books series. Every title in the Little Red Books series provides an overview of key events, people or places in Australian history. They cover the essentials, bringing the reader up to speed on the most important, fascinating or intriguing facts. Appealing to everyone from students to pensioners who've always wanted to "know a bit about that", they're an essential part of every Australian bookshelf.

This book tells the full story of ANA, the forgotten giant of Australian aviation. Told through the eyes of ANA's pilots, hostesses, engineers and other staff, there are many humorous and dramatic stories, including the pioneering Bass Strait flights of the early 1930s, submarine hunting in DC-3s in 1939-40, a unique courier service to Manila in 1945, some extraordinary migrant charters in the late 1940s, and evacuation flights ahead of the advancing Communists in 1949. As well as describing ANA's key role in the development of safe and reliable intercapital routes, this book covers the airline's lesser known services including the 'Gulf run', the aerial ambulance out of Cairns, and the Riverina milk runs. Filling a major gap in Australian aviation history, this book will make fascinating reading for aviation enthusiasts, students of history and the general reader alike.

"An encyclopaedic, four-volume work on every aircraft type proposed, designed, or manufactured in Australia, from Lawrence Hargrave's experiments in the 1880's, through to the authors self-imposed cutoff point in the mid-1980's. The four-volume work lists over 540 aircraft types as well as detailed histories of the companies involved in their construction. Coverage is multi-faceted, being technical, operational, historical, industrial, and political. Along with the text is the most comprehensive collection of photographs, technical drawings, and diagrams yet assembled into the one reference work, many of which have never before been seen outside the original source. Exhaustively researched over the past 40 years by the well-known aviation personality Keith Meggs, a man uniquely placed to write on all aspects of Australian aviation from construction through to operational flight. All volumes are superbly indexed and cross-referenced with the main text reinforced by extensive and detailed endnotes. Aircraft enthusiasts, pilots, aeronautical engineers, manufacturers, industrialists, universities, and other technical institutions, "Australian-built aircraft and the industry" is a must have for your reference library. In Volume One the fourteen chapters cover the following activities: Hargrave, Taylor, the Commonwealth Prize, Early Experimenters, Duigan, WWI Activity, AA&ECo, 1924 Lightplane Competition, LASCo, QANTAS, WAA, RAAF Randwick, Individual Builders 1918-1939, AMSCo, MSB, Matthews Aviation, General Aircraft Co, Cockatoo Dockyard, Tugan Aircraft, Harkness & Hillier, De Havilland (Aust) - part 1, Industry proposals, and other snippets."--Provided by publisher.

Aircraft of The Royal Australian Air Force tells the story of the RAAF’s first one hundred years by describing the acquisition, operation, and service record of the multitude of aircraft types flown by the RAAF. The 176 aircraft types include the flimsy wood and canvas aircraft typical of World War I, through the technological advances during and after World War II, to modern fifth-generation, complex aircraft like the F-35 Lightning II. Even before its formation Sir Richard Williams, the Father of the RAAF, had decided to employ an alpha-numeric numbering system to identify and account for each aircraft in service. This system started with A1, A2, A3 etc as each type of aircraft came into service. Each individual aircraft within each series was identified as A1-1, A1-2 and so on and the aircraft serial became known colloquially as the ‘A-number’. With some exceptions over the century since the A-number system started, aircraft entered RAAF service in broadly the sequence of the A-numbers, and so this book is intended to assist in charting the 100-year history of the RAAF by listing aircraft operated in A-number sequence, rather than by listing them by role (such as Fighter, Bomber, Maritime, Trainer, Transport etc) or alphabetically by name or by manufacturer. The inclusion of a comprehensive Index and the Quick Reference Guide to aircraft by role is intended to facilitate the location of the entry for any specific type of aircraft for those who may not already know its A-number. Aircraft of The Royal Australian Air Force is a must have for all those who have served in the RAAF, those with a passion for military aviation and aircraft in general, and the broader members of the public wishing to gain an appreciation of the Royal Australian Air Force in its centenary year.