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Critical Reynolds No
17th Nov 2008, 01:14
Mr Ansett?:eek:

Qantas A380s to Honour Our Aviation Pioneers Latest News
Sydney, 16 November 2008
Qantas today announced the names of its fleet of 20 A380 aircraft, honouring pioneers of Australian aviation.

Qantas Chief Executive Officer Designate, Mr Alan Joyce said that today - the airline's 88th birthday - was a fitting date to honour men and women who had contributed to the development of aviation in Australia.

"I am delighted that some of our greatest aviation trail blazers and their families have agreed to allow Qantas to name our A380 fleet in their honour," he said. "Today, we are bringing aviation's past together with its future."

"We have been overwhelmed with the support from the public since we announced the A380 naming program and all of the names that people have suggested have been very worthy.

"We have taken some of those suggestions, and also consulted aviation experts, to ensure we chose people who have not only made a great difference to flying in this country, but who represent the courage, tenacity and determination of the real spirit of Australia.

"Among them are Qantas' founders Fergus McMaster, Paul McGinness and Hudson Fysh, who gathered at the Gresham Hotel in Brisbane and signed the formal papers to establish Qantas 88 years ago.

"Others include engineers, inventors, navigators and business leaders - but all are pioneers, and all are very deserving."

The full list of people who will have an A380 named after them are:

* Nancy-Bird Walton - the first woman to fly a commercial aviation service in Australia.

* Hudson Fysh - one of the founders of Qantas and the airline's first Managing Director.

* Paul McGinness - one of the founders of Qantas.

* Fergus McMaster - one of the founders of Qantas and the first Chairman of the Company.

* Lawrence Hargrave - inventor of the box kite, linking four of these together in 1894 to fly 16 feet.

* Charles Kingsford Smith - Australia's most famous aviator, who made the first trans-Pacific flight from the USA to Australia in 1928, and founded Australian National Airways Limited.

* Charles Ulm - Co-pilot, on Kingsford Smith's record-breaking trans-Pacific flight between the USA and Australia in 1928 and co-founder of Australian National Airways Limited.

* Reginald Ansett - Founder of Ansett Airways Pty Ltd.

* David Warren - Inventor of the Black Box Flight Recorder.

* Bert Hinkler - Pilot of first solo flight from Britain to Australia in 1928.

* John and Reginald Duigan - First Australians to design, construct and fly a powered aircraft, in 1910.

* Phyllis Arnott - First Australian woman to gain a commercial pilot's license.

* Keith McPherson Smith and Ross McPherson Smith - winners of the famous 'Air Race' between London and Australia in 1919.

* Lester Brain - Piloted one of the first Qantas routes in 1925 and ferried the first wartime Catalina Flying Boat delivered by Qantas Empire Airways in 1941. Later appointed General Manager of Trans-Australia Airlines in 1946.

* Lores Bonney - First woman to fly solo around Australia in 1932 and the first woman to fly solo from Australia to England, in 1933.

* Norman Brearley - Founder of Western Australian Airways Limited, which operated Australia's first scheduled air service on 5 December 1921.

* P G Taylor - Navigator and co-pilot alongside Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm on many record-breaking flights between Australia and the United States and England and Australia. Taylor was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal in 1937 for one of the most revered acts of bravery in the history of aviation.

* Scotty Allan - Co-pilot alongside Charles Ulm and P G Taylor on the 1933 record-breaking flight from England to Australia and later joined Qantas and flew DH86 aircraft on the Brisbane-Singapore route.

* John Flynn - Founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

* Gaby Kennard - First Australian woman to fly solo around the world in 1989.

Buster Hyman
17th Nov 2008, 01:33
Well, at least the Ansett name will be in the air again...not how I expected or hoped though...

Suprised I didn't see Dick Smith in that list...they must've run out of A380's I'd say! ;):p

airtags
17th Nov 2008, 02:00
nice to see the pioneers getting a run
- much better than naming a/c after sports stars, would be celebs and unkown places.

It would also be really nice to find the longest serving ever non-exec employee and name one after him/her.

Jabawocky
17th Nov 2008, 02:30
Sir Reg?

J:ok:

ForkTailedDrKiller
17th Nov 2008, 03:18
Lawrence Hargrave - inventor of the box kite, linking four of these together in 1894 to fly 16 feet

What about his brother Victor?

Dr :8

QF22
17th Nov 2008, 04:19
They can call them anything as long as it's not Darth Dixon !

blow.n.gasket
17th Nov 2008, 06:58
Seeing the type of flying circus Qantas is degenerating into, how about the following names for the Dugong if Qantas gets more of 'em.
Moe
Larry
Curly
or Shemp?:ok:

tail wheel
17th Nov 2008, 07:18
"Lores Bonney - First woman to fly solo around Australia in 1932 and the first woman to fly solo from Australia to England, in 1933."

Indeed, a fitting, worthy and justified addition! I think Lores still holds the Australia to South Africa single engine record? I was fortunate to know Lores before she passed away a few years ago. A wonderful and humble woman pilot whose flying achievements have never been suitably recognised.

Sad to see the first man to fly a powered aircraft, Richard Pearce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse) not on the list. Whilst he flew in New Zealand (and successfully flew a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, some nine months before the Wright brothers), I believe he also spent some time in Australia. Arguably, Pearce is the true pioneering father of powered flight.

Keg
17th Nov 2008, 09:43
That'd be 'George Roberts' I reckon.

George Roberts was born in Ipswich, Queensland in 1909. He saw his first aeroplane, which landed is a paddock near his house when he was eight, and took his first flight is a flying boat on Moreton Bay in 1920 when he was ten.

George, who is now over 90 is the oldest living former employee of Qantas. His life has been both fortunate and adventurous, spanning two centuries and the whole modern history of trains, planes and automobiles.

His father once built the former; George and his elder brother Norm (also a Qantas engineer) spent much of their lives pre-Qantas building, racing and sometimes crashing the latter. They were hot-rodders before the term existed, souping up Model T Fords and speed-trialling them on Soutport's Main Beach before it was the Gold Coast. They built planes too, like the tiny Flying Flea, using clans published in 'Newnes Practical Mechanics' magazine. Their Flea, which really did fly, now hangs in the Queensland Museum.

The Roberts boys were gifted engineers and in Qantas hangars from Perth to Surabaya and Rose Bay, they found the biggest tool shed a kid could ever want. This is the story of an Australian larrikin with a passion for engines, aeroplanes and speed, a man who witnessed and took part in many of the great events of the first century of Australian aviation.

George has forgotten nothing, so his story is absorbing, often wildly funny and uniquely Australian. Many of the stories have never been told before not many of the photographs previously published.

He may be listed as a 'former employee' but my understanding is that he was working with us into his 80s and then volunteered for a while after that. His contribution to Qantas and aviation may not be as well known as some of the others but it was significant none the less.

PyroTek
17th Nov 2008, 10:42
I'm surprised GD didn't squeeze himself in there somehow

QSK?
17th Nov 2008, 21:38
Some great names there which fully deserve the recognition but, unfortunately, there are other great names that are conspicuous by their absence e.g. Keith Holyman of ANA fame, Robyn Miller (Sugarbird Lady) and Horrie Miller, founder of MMA; to name just a few.

Atlas Shrugged
17th Nov 2008, 22:02
Thank **** they didn't call one "John Travolta"!

Track5milefinal
18th Nov 2008, 03:50
Dick didn't get a lookin either!

Howard Hughes
18th Nov 2008, 06:14
Neither John nor Dick would want their names on a Eurotrash aeroplane, they are both waiting for an 'American' airplane! The 787...;)

Capt Wally
18th Nov 2008, 07:33
Careful "HH" comments like that will get you in trouble with the dictators. I guess you & others who leave little sarcastic comments here like I have tried 3 times are lucky whilst they pick on me they are leaving you lot alone :bored:



CW

mustafagander
18th Nov 2008, 07:36
QSK,
You're right about Holyman in the civil transport arena, but where do we draw the line?

Just quickly I can bring to mind quite a few pioneer aviators many of who made our system the envy of the world.

People like Goya Henry, Horrie Brinsmead, Sid Marshall, Tommy Pethebridge (sp?), Shorty Shortridge just for starters. What about our early ATCOs? Gee, my dad used to know these guys - I must be turning into an old bugger!! :{

sms777
18th Nov 2008, 08:37
How about....Sir Donald Dugong Esq. ?

or... Francois Mitterand ?

(taking cover) :\

BrissySparkyCoit
18th Nov 2008, 12:01
I notice Arthur Baird was excluded. Deliberately?

Pontius
19th Nov 2008, 11:07
David Warren

Excellent! So we can continue the baiting-Qantas game :) 'Is that Warren?'