Melbourne Airport 1945.

[Al E. Vator]

Melbourne Airport 1945.

Taken from an Ad Adstra aircraft

Zoom in for greater detail.....

Fisherman's Bend, Point Cook etc also available in same series from University of Melbourne.

http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/maps/historical/1945melb/l_sheets/838d4c.jpg

Were cows required to wear ASIC cards?

[Al E. Vator]

PS: where was Kelvin Thompson then??

[1a sound asleep]

This is Essendon for those that are not aware

[oicur12.again]

cool. and they used to lay out large white lettering naming certain geographical locations for VFR navigation.

[1a sound asleep]

Some of the hangars are still there if you check a photo from modern era https://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=essendon&ll=-37.725261,144.901321&spn=0.01519,0.033023&hnear=Essendon+Victoria&t=h&z=16

[Al E. Vator]

In the 1945 Photograph, the biggest aircraft on the tarmac were the DC3's.

In the 2012 Photograph, the biggest aircraft on the tarmac were the DC3's.

[Allan L]

The Airways Museum and Civil Aviation Historical Society have some good old stuff on their website Airways Museum / Civil Aviation Historical Society (http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/)

Click on the 'History' tab on LHS, then find the 'Airports and Aerodromes' link on RHS of the next page (scroll down a bit).

Then scroll through the list of individual airports till you find Melbourne/ Essendon.

[Al E. Vator]

1955 Looking SW:
Essendon Airport | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvlslibrary/2433554374/lightbox/)

Looking West:
Essendon Airport | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvlslibrary/2433554370/in/photostream/)

Looking SE:
Essendon Airport | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvlslibrary/2433554376/in/photostream/lightbox/)

Some interesting "Then and now" pictures on this interesting thread:
Essendon Airport : Nostalgia Board - Melbourne, Victorian & Australian Architecture Topics (http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6278)

and a personal favorite, a TAA Lockheed L188 through the masses of gloved and hatted visitors to the terminal. Not a Bogan to be seen....
Digital Collections - Pictures - Sievers, Wolfgang, 1913-2007. [Interior of] Essendon Airport, Victoria [picture] (http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3309554)

[compressor stall]

I took my 93yo grandmother to the historical museum a couple of years back as her father (Gus Hart) had been a radio operator there in the 30's - the first one solely dedicated to aircraft.

As she looked at the large aerial photograph on the wall, she remarked "Yes, I remember father working in that shed there [where the tanks are now], and we used to play on the grass outside."

[clark y]

Is that a tram line to the terminal?

[ringbinder]

IIRC, there was a tramline into the aerodrome. That section was closed some time after Tulla opened and extended further north up towards Gladstone Park shopping centre.