Happy Birthday "Tullamarine Airport"
 

Fifty years ago today I stood with a number of fellow QANTAS and other airport staff watching as the them Prime Minister Sir John Gorton formally opened Melbourne Airport, Tullamarine.

Happy Birthday Tulla

CC

Pity it has hardly changed...

One of the worst pieces of infrastructure that exists in this country.

Kerbside...Airside...Runway side, Airspace, it’s all just a giant ballsup.

A true embarrassment to International standards. I remember the one time a group of yanks asked me where the train station was. 😂

Isn't it a secret; hidden deep under the terminal in case someone wants to use it!

IF it's an embarrassment, then it's because private interests have tried to turn it into a shopping centre rather than a modern transport hub.

In its day, it was a great place. All Terminals connected, beautiful gardens you would walk through on your way to the INTL Check in, decent restaurants, Cinema, etc, etc. I do lament what it was compared to what it is now, especially the glorified shed that passes as a Terminal.

There’s a lot to dislike about Tullamarine for sure. But... compared to other major Australia airports is very nice to be able to walk from international to domestic (or vice versa) in 3 minutes. The goat rope of transferring in Sydney (if not on Q) is such a pain.

Yes, it is the cleanest third world airport in the world.

I missed the opening as I was a 6 year old though I didn't miss the NASA C-141, BOAC VC-10s, Pan Am B707s, Alitalia DC-8s, ANZ L188s/DC-8s/DC-10s, JAT B707s/DC-10s, RAAF BAC-111s, Qantas HS-125s/707s/747s
Cargolux DC-8s, IAS Cargo DC-8s, Emery DC-8, FlyingTigers DC-8/747s, Transamerica DC-8s, Garuda DC-8s, Thai DC-8s, MSA/SIA/MAS B707s that will do like a kid in a lolly shop the observation decks was like home.
During pushback and engine starts you get that beautiful sweet fragrance of kero.

I wouldn’t really characterise it as an airport, it’s more of an overpriced shopping centre with overpriced parking that has a few aero bridges and a runway.

Ugh, DC-8's. My ears still hurt from the TE DC-8's! :uhoh:
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b877b10afa.jpg

Cheers Tullamarine...I'll celebrate also my "wings" on 1st july...1970... somewhere 10k miles away...:ok:

That place was a stuff up from day one! Now an almost unworkable expensive mess!

Its a discrace and the fact the govenment sold it even more so .

The worst taxiways of any major airport in Australia, especially down towards runway 34. Some of the joints between the concrete taxiway sections are like ski ramps.

Happy Birthday Tulla, I hope you had a great day and managed to change the ATIS 50 times by midday. Thanks for all the runway changes, hoss
🥳

Perfect for snapping shear pins on tow bars.....

Early Days
 

Interesting posts here and especially from Buster Hyman and Checklist Charlie. As a boy in the 1960's flew into Melbourne Airport a number of times as it was known prior to the construction of Tulla. The runways were too short for fully laden B707 and DC8 type aircraft operating international flights so one had to fly to Sydney to fly overseas with the exception of Qantas and Teal Electras etc. The exception being the BOAC Comet 4's with the howling Rolls Royce Avon engines. AT least Tulla opened up international travel from Melbourne using long range jet aircraft. As a boy the observation decks/areas (Syd and Mel) were a favourite haunt of mine and the sound of the early turboprop and jet powered aircraft starting up was exciting and especially so the Viscounts, Comet 4's and DC8's (with the high/low starts). The one good thing about Tulla was being able to get from the Domestic to International areas without having to transfer to the other side of the of the airport like Sydney. Years later as a Captain I operated in and out of both Melbourne airports and must agree that the frequent changes of ATIS at Tulla during marginal weather conditions early morning/hours of darkness lead to near fuel emergencies despite the Metar/Speci reports prior to departure. At least one could divert to EN and usually get in on the ILS or Twin Locator Approach!!

There was a belief, for a short time, that there was no call for 747's to operate out of Tulla. Even on QF, one had to travel to SYD on a 707 to connect to the 747 operating the Kangaroo Route.

Spent a lot of time talking to Vic back in the day when he was allocating INTL gates. Worth a read... https://www.theage.com.au/national/v...30-p557ns.html

Tulla's design was behind the times from the get-go. The only good thing about the joint is its not curfewed, yet!

Good old JAT
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2d8bda1fc.jpeg