1970's and 1980's Aussie Airlines

[relic hunter]

Hi
I am looking for info on:

Southern Cross Airways operated Sydney - Nowra , Moruya and Tumut

Skyway Airlines operated Sydney - Gunnedah, Wee Waa, Quirindi and West Wyalong

Clubair operated Sydney - Maitland

I am after:

Key people
Fleet
Key dates in the airlines operations

Thanks.

[FourStar]

Southern Cross Airways operated 2 Beech Queenair VH-MWH and VH-CLI from memory.

Clubair operated 2 Nomad N22

[dhavillandpilot]

Club air

Owner chief pilot Grahame Swanson, sold out to Davey Air Services.

Grahame is still around playing with the biggest train set I have ever seen - two ex cane trains and 25kms of track.

His verandah is one of the stations.

[irishair2001]

Looking up an Old 1983 edition of JP Airline Fleets,it list the fleet of Southern Cross Air Service as

VH-FMS Beech Baron 95-855 cn/sn TC 1010 ex N57O5V
VH-EYE Cessna 310P cn/sn 310P-0059 ex N5759M
VH-UBZ Cessna 402B cn/sn 402B-0025 ex N542SM
VH-CLI Beec Queenair 65-70 cn/sn LB3 ex N4071A
VH-MWH Beech/Excalibur Quennaire 8200 cn/sn LC-300 ex N8349N
named City of Shoalhaven , a converted Beech A65

JP Airline Fleets 1983 also states that ClubAir and Masling Commuter Services , were bought out by Wings Australia during 1981 and that some aircraft are still operating in odd colours ,it list VH-MWU an EMB-110P Bandeirante cn 11084 as still in Clubair colours at that time,it also lists 2 GAF Nomads 22Bs VH-RCC and VH-WRT in the Wings fleet,so i presume these are the ex Clubair machines

Hope this Helps

[relic hunter]

G'day

Thanks for the replies. :ok:

[Gerko]

I worked for Southern Cross in Moruya. It was owned by two Sydney real estate agents and ran Sydney - Nowra - Moruya, Sydney - Tumut and briefly Moruya - Canberra. It used its two Queen Airs (CLI & MWH) for Moruya and Tumut and the Baron on the Canberra service. Its chief pilot was a gent called Bob Couch. It originally had a maintenance base at Moruya Airport and overnighted its pilots at the Monarch Hotel in Moruya but their chief mechanic, one of few experts on the Queen Air, passed away and so maintenance and the pilots moved back to Sydney. They also owned travel agencies in both Moruya and Nowra. Reservations were hosted in the TAA system and they flew with the code YK. Eventually costs forced the closure of these agencies and finally the airline itself. One of the Southern Cross pilots formed his own short lived airline Waratah Airlines to operate the Tumut route. Moruya was of course taken over by Hazelton and then Rex.

[relic hunter]

G'day Gerko

Thank you so much for the information.
I run the Museum of Australian Commercial Aviation.
I acquired a Southern Cross timetable a while back, and I have been trying to build the story of Southern Cross since.

I got some good info from the Tumut Aero Club, but your information is brilliant.

Thank you :ok: