The Yellow Canary
 

An interesting read about the story of Butler Air Transport through to its final days as Ansett Express.

Arthur Butler must have been one of those unique characters that could see aviation would open up this great nation. He certainly had his battles with the government of the day, beauracy, beaurecrats, DCA and Reg Ansett to keep his airline running.

Butler operated a range of aircraft including Vickers Viscounts, DC-3's, Dragon Rapides, DH114 Herons and Airspeed Ambassadors.

Ansett took control of Butler and formed Airlines of New South Wales and built an extensive network through NSW including flying boat service to Lord Howe Island.

Ansett NSW went through various name changes until the final name of Ansett Express.

Ansett NSW operated Fokker F27, F28 and F50, plus Dc-3, DC-4, Piaggio P166 and even the Nord Mohawk.

Must be a few stories in ppruneland about the Yellow Canary.

Re "Arthur Butler must have been one of those unique characters that could see aviation would open up this great nation"

I remember that at one time, Mr Butler wanted to import the Sud Aviation Caravelle jet airliner here, but was firmly told 'NO' by the Feds of the day.
I believe it would have been the first jet airliner to operate in OZ.

And those scenic windows in the DC-3....WOW!
Was it 'Viewmaster' windows..?

Cheers:ok:

To the best of my knowledge Ansett didn't operate the Nord. Lloyds, Queensland Pacific, Southern Pacific and Majestic were the Nord operators. They certainly operated services on behalf of Ansett (I can't remember which subsidiary) between Dubbo & Sydney and Tamworth & Sydney.

The Airspeed Ambassador would have beaten your Viewmaster DC-3 hands down Unicom Griffo!

Also mentions Masling and Davey air services pioneering the reg 203 ops.

Even the mention of Cessna C411 BBV being used to pioneer some of the feeder routes.

The Ambassador was known as the Elizabethan by Butler.

1955
The Flying Doctor Service had "Royal" bestowed upon the service becoming the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).
1955
MacRobertson-Miller Aviation Co. Pty. Ltd. & Airlines (W.A.) Ltd. were merged, to form MacRobertson Miller Airlines Ltd. at the request of the Western Australian State Government.
1956
Ansett Transport Industries Australia's first airline to move into airfreight and imported its first Carvair nose-loading freight aeroplane
1957
Ansett Transport Industries buys out Australian National Airlines (ANA) to create Ansett-ANA.
1958
The Australian Commonwealth Government hardened Australia's two airline policy by introducing the Airlines Equipment Act 1958 which specified which aircraft they could buy amongst many other things.
1959
Butler Air Transport absorbed into Ansett Transport Industries as Airlines of New South Wales.
1959
Hazelton Air Services Pty Limited, trading as Hazelton Airlines, relocated to Cudal (near Orange) in NSW.
17 January 1960
Guinea Airways became Airlines of South Australia (ASA) after a successful takeover by Ansett Transport Industries on 1 July 1959.
1963
Carnarvon Air Taxis established flying charter flights with small general aviation aircraft out of Carnarvon, Western Australia.
1963
Rossair Charter Commenced brovidng charter services from Adelaide South Australia.
1 June 1963
MacRobertson Miller Airlines Ltd. was renamed MacRobertson Miller Airline Services & became a division of Ansett Transport Industries (Operations) Pty. Ltd.
1964
Macknight airlines commenced by John Macknight.
October 1964
Ansett began flying domestic services with jet aircraft, using the first of many Boeing 727's imported into Australia, following a "toss of the coin" between Reg Ansett and the General Manager of TAA for the honour.

1965
Don Kendell and partners establish Premiair Aviation as an air charter provider based in Wagga Wagga.
1965
Tasair commences operations as an air charter, maintenance and flying school operation in Hobart Tasmania.
1967
Don Kendell and his wife Eilish take 100% control over Premier Aviation expanding the operations to include charter Services, a flying school and aircraft maintenance facilities.
1968
Airlines of South Australia (ASA) renamed Ansett Airlines of SA (AASA)
1968
Newcastle-based Hilder family establish Aeropelican Air Services.
1970
Macknight Airlines commence a regular public transport service between Deniliquin, NSW and Wagga Wagga.
1971
Premiair Aviation changed its name to Kendell Airlines which coincided with the launch of scheduled services using Piper PA-31 Navajo aircraft between Wagga Wagga and Melbourne.
1971
Masling Commuter Air Services begin operations providing services from Cootamundra, NSW.
1971
Air Link was formed as an aircraft charter operation based in Dubbo, NSW
1 July 1971
Aeropelican Air Services commence services.
1972
Corporate Air commenced providing charter and freight services from Canberra ACT.
May 1972
Bush Pilots absorbed Queensland Pacific Airways Ltd, taking over its Douglas DC-3 aircraft.
1973
O'Connor Airlines commneced operations at Mount Gambier as a one-aeroplane flight school.
1974
Operations of Ansett Flying Boat Services ceased when the Lord Howe Island Airport was completed
1974
Chartair commenced providing charter services from Darwin Northern Territory.
1975
Hazelton Air Services Pty Limited became Hazelton Airlines and begin scheduled passenger operations between Orange NSW and Canberra ACT.
1975
Midura based Murray Valley Airlines (MVA) established.
December 1975
Businessman Bevan Whitaker commences Noosa Air operations between Maryborough and Brisbane using a Britten-Norman Islander.
1977
Gawne Aviation was established to provide air charter and flight training services from Shepparton Vicoria
1978
Bush Pilots Airways changed their name to BPA.
1978
Airlines of Tasmania was established as a regular public transport operator along with Par-Avion, a different branding used for chartered and sightseeing flights.
4 July 1978
Airnorth established by Capiteq Limited and commences charter flights.
1979
Carnarvon Air Taxis changes name to Skywest Aviation and moved to Perth's Jandakot Airport.
1980
Skywest Aviation changed to Skywest Airlines and based itself at Perth Airport. It acquired Stillwell Airlines and its routes; the combined fleet included 39 aircraft, making it the second largest commuter airline in Australia at the time.
1980
Aeropelican Air Services sold to Masling Commuter Services, a company associated Ansett Australia.
1981
Airnorth commence scheduled services.
1981
Ansett reverted Ansett Airlines of SA (AASA) back to the original name Airlines of South Australia.
1 December 1981
BPA became Air Queensland. Air Queensland was the last airline in Australia to use Douglas DC-3s on regular scheduled services, the last being withdrawn on 7 April 1988.
December 1981
Businessman Bevan Whitaker set up a second airline, Sunstate, serving intrastate routes in Queensland vacated by Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) with Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante aircraft.
1982
Skywest Airlines merged with TransWest Airlines. At the time Skywest operated 16 aircraft and TransWest 25 aircraft.
1982
East-West Airlines aquired by East-West Development Pty Ltd which had been formed by Bryan Grey and Duke Minks.
1982
McDermott Aviation establised at Cooroy Queensland providing heli-aviation services.
1983
Augusta Airways commenced operations.
27th of March 1983
Masling Commuter Air Services ceased operations.
December 1983
East-West Airlines aquired by Skywest Airlines and retained as an independent entity.
1984
Pel-Air Aviation is established and in 1985 acquires its first Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Westwind aircraft.
1984
Hinterland Aviation established in Cairns Queensland as a charter operation servicing the mining industry.
1 January 1984
Noosa Air and Sunstate fully merged and all flights were conducted under the Sunstate name as part of TAA's Queensland network.

RENURPP,

Air charter only. Tasair was the commercial offshoot of the Aero Club of Southern Tasmania and as such only did charter work. The maintenance and flight training was still done by the ACST until much later.

In August 1985 Air N.S.W announced an order for a single DHC8 for delivery in March 1986 and 2 options. The aircraft was to primarily serve Lord Howe Island and appease Neville Wran the NSW Premier at the time who was a frequent visitor to Lord Howe Island.

The order was subsequently cancelled.

Griffo,
It was TAA that wanted to bring in Caravelle, Ansett didn't want to know, and Electra arrived instead.
Probably the right decision for all the wrong reasons.
There is not a single sign at the old Butler home base aerodrome to say they were ever there, very sad.
Tootle pip!!

It was my understanding that there were two main reasons for TAA's Caravelle proposal being knocked on the head.

One was the need for expensive upgrading of some airports to handle the Caravelle's performance and weight.
The other was that Ansett was not yet ready to enter the pure-jet age and thus would be disadvantaged under the two-airline policy.

Other reasons, I'm not too sure about. Any tips?


p.s. As a youngster, I was once in the presence of the legendary Arthur Butler.
I later came to understand why he was so loved and respected by his employees.
And, as for Reg Ansett's disgraceful engineering of the takeover...

Butler Ambassador
 

I was inspired with that good looking aeroplane enough to build a model:
resized
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8601/1...17411339_b.jpg

My dad was a Butler captain on the Elizabetheans along with Russ Stapleton

Dad always said it was the best aircraft he had ever flown and was disappointed when they were replaced with the old Convair 240's

CAC SABRES model is great but I have the original BAT model of the Elizabethan that was Athurs office at home

I just remember meeting Arthur with my dad in the early 60s

He was a visionary who unfortunately trusted people, whereas Reg Ansett was a shark who lived off other people's dreams

As I age, I take comfort from my memories as a child chucking up in a Butler Vickers Viscount.
From this, my first flight, and despite the nausea, I remain as committed to the belief in the magic of flight as I did then.
No one can ever take that from me.

When Ansett took control of his airline, Arthur did look at importing two Caravelle to run on interstate routes including Sydney-Darwn.

DCA and the government seem to impede in anyway possible, which stopped his plans.

Hi Leadie,
I remember a cartoon in the SMH of the time, portraying Arthur Butler sitting on a park bench with a female 'Caravelle' - sort of holding hands - and the caption was something like,
"I 'm sure we could make a go of it Carrie, but daddy won't let me"

Referring to the Feds of the time.....

TAA may well have had an application in as well, but.....'T'was Arthur first....

And I can remember Arthur trying to open up country NSW with services to places like Burren Junction.

After the takeover, these were quickly 'dropped' with an occasional aircraft going u/s if insufficient pax - or so the story went at the time.....
(Rumour....)

Cheers :ok:

Griffo,

Now you are talking ---- about the really "good old days", when you could set your watch by the paper planes that air dropped the Sydney Morning Herald all round the state in the 40s-50's. If I mention the "Herald Hangar" now at Camden, all I get is blank looks. And you get the papers half a day late.
Even Boggabri had an air service.
Thereby hangs a very interesting tale: There was quite a lot of "poaching" of passengers between East West and Butler, who were represented in most towns in NW NSW by the various land companies, Elders, Pitt Son and Badgery's etc., I no longer remember exactly who.
Anyway, what would happen is the Butler agent would find out that EWA had, say, five pax on the "5 o'clock" to Sydney from Gunnedah, and divert an aeroplane in ahead, and offer them all "a quid off and you can leave now".
The state government decided this had to be rationalised, and the "mechanism" was wonderful.
Don Shand, of EWA, and Arthur sat down with the state member (MLA) for the old set of Namoi, in Gleeson's hotel in Narrabri, and half of NSW was divided up on the toss of a coin.
Heads you get Burren, tails you get Moree etc.
No economic studies, quasi-judicial hearings, commissions etc., just the toss of a coin. The only two that were not up for grabs were the home bases, Tooraweena and Tamworth.
The resulting route allocation commercially held together for years, until Neville Wran, with a lot of pushing from Reg Ansett, started mucking the routes around.
Those of you who remember back that far will remember there were three basic modes of operation, IFR, VFR and Butler VFR.

Tootle pip!!

PS: Only having ever operated small aircraft around there, I seldom used Burren strip, too far out of town, we used Cyril Radford's (BP agent) home paddock, just by the level crossing at Burren. Not too far to walk to the RSL for lunch. Likewise the stock route by the hot spring at Pilliga, only a short walk to the pub for lunch.
Just imagine the reaction of the CASA Airstapo to something like that in this day and age, CASA really frown on you parking by the pub at Williams Creek.

CAC .. . . your Elizabethan is too big please resize

Frank .. . . . well said cock