Day 58: Longreach

The Qantas Founders Museum was the reason we came on this path, and it was worth the trouble. I got to see all my favourite planes and learned a lot on the way.

DC-3

Even from behind, DC-3s just look cool

The DC3 is my all-time favourite because of the look of it but also because of its role in aviation history being the first really reliable, efficient, comfortable plane that was also much faster (partly due to the twin engines and the retractable undercarriage) and longer range. They were in mass production during WWII as military planes (badged as c-47s or Dakotas) and when the war ended, there were heaps left over that could be converted back to civilian use. They are so indestructible that many are still flying today. The big silver model plane in our lounge room at home is a DC3.

The Catalinas are also pretty cool, as they provided the first Sydney to London flights and used to fly out of an airport at Rose Bay, near our place.

Catalina flying boat

I love the Super Constellations, again because of the styling - kind of dolphin shaped and with a triple tail (which allowed it to fit into conventional hangars). It obviously carried many more passengers than the DC3 and was faster and went further. It was also pressurised, allowing it to fly higher, over bad weather. They gave Qantas the first round-the-world flights, which took 6 days.

Lockheed Super Constellation

The jet age for Qantas started with the (again, beautiful) 707, which brings us up to my childhood - I remember these well, and even flew on one in the 1980s when I flew Air Zimbabwe. Interestingly, Boeing built special models for Qantas (slightly shorter) because they needed longer range, and to be able to use shorter runways on the islands when refuelling in the Pacific.

Everyone knows the 747, which was in service for nearly 50 years, so not much to report there except that I didn't know that the upper deck was built simply to raise the cockpit above the main compartment to allow them to be converted to cargo planes by having the nose converted into a giant door. Consequently they were very successful as cargo planes because of their size and the extra power from 4 engines. Their massive wings also held a lot of fuel, allowing longer trips and again Boeing built special long-range versions for Qantas allowing them non-stop trans-pacific flights. In the end, they were not as efficient as the twin engine planes of today but were only pulled from service by Qantas when Covid hit. What is hard to believe is that the 747 took only 18 months from design to construction (compared to 20 years for the A380) and that they first rolled off the production line only a little over 30 years after the first DC3 were produced and less than 50 years after Qantas first started flying biplanes in 1922. Look at what has happened in the 50+ years since then - not a lot. In fact, the 747 remained inservice longer than the gap between Qantas's first AVRO biplane being bought the the jumbo being produced.

The engines were also pretty cool. The early ones (for the biplanes) were, like, V8 engines putting out about 90 horsepower (modelled on car engines). The radial engines were also cool and it was interesting seeing how a lot of engines were just no good - either unreliable or too weak to reach the altitude required, or unable to cope with the outback heat.

A 90hp V-8 engine

Radial engines

Other fun facts: Qantas built their own planes in the hangar at Longreach in the 1920s.

Building planes in the hangar

BTW, I got the local windscreen guy to check our recent chip and he said that my repair job was so good that he would give me a job! Anyway, no need to replace it now.

Also ate at the local Chinese restaurant last night - hadn't had good old Aussie Chinese food for a while.

Went shopping today and saw lots of country gear, like swags, saddles, horse blankets, whips, boots etc. Got Michele a nice country hat.