Early Cairns

[cristo]

A couple of photos of early Cairns airstrip. The first one c1937 from the Cairns Historical Society collection.
The DH60 Gypsy Moth VH-UKU on the top left was owned by Tom Mcdonalds North Queensland Airways from 2/5/31 to 9/4/35 and from 26/2/37 to 5/10/37 by W H Land in Cairns. It was impressed into the RAAF in 1940 as A7-87.




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[cristo]

The second photo c1938 is from the State library of NSW “ At work and Play “ collection image no. 04244 taken by Ella Major.
The Gypsy Moth VH-UPV behind the Monospar was another NQA aircraft from 1934 to 1938. It was previously owned by Rose “ Lores “ Bonney and used on her solo flight from Brisbane to England. It was impressed into the RAAF in 1940 as A7-81.

The GAL ST12 Monospars are almost certainly Airlines of Australia aircraft. They operated three of them ( UTM UTH and UTK ) which were used on North Queensland routes in competition with NQA.

The DH 84 Dragon VH- UXK was owned by NQA from 1/10/36 until it crashed at Innisfail on 29/8/38. After this crash NQA was sold to Airlines of Australia which later became ANA and then Ansett.
The DH90 Dragonfly UXA was owned by Foster Shoes Air Transport Pty Ltd of Sydney from 1937 to 1938 when it went back to the UK and ended up in the RAF in 1940.
The DH80 Puss Moth VH-UQL behind the right wing of the Dragonfly was also a NQA plane from 1936 until it went to A of A in 1938. it crashed at Coen on 27/8/41 on a flight from Thursday Island to Cairns when a wing broke of in flight.
The other Gypsy Moth in front of the small hanger is probably another NQA aircraft as they owned a number of them during this time.

Tom McDonald who founded NQA was the first to land a plane at the currant Cairns airport location. In 1928 he bought a DH 60 Moth in Brisbane and flew it back to Cairns landing on an open salt pan north of the city. This area which became known as the salt pan strip is the large open area in the background of the photos. The photos are taken looking roughly south-east toward the city. The mountains in the background are the ones across the inlet from the city. The southern end of the new sand ridge strip completed by the council in 1936 can be seen behind UKU. It then continues to the north out of the shot to the left.
The aircraft are parked in what is now the general aviation area.
The Council engineers report of 23/4/36 describes the airstrip superintendents residence as being built with a 12 feet by 8 feet platform on the roof with a flagpole above to be used as a control tower . You can see the shadow of the platform and flagpole on the bottom right corner of the photos so they would have been taken from the platform. This would have been the first control tower at Cairns.
The access road out to the Cook Highway can be seen behind the hanger . It would have turned right to cross the railway line and join the highway.

I have since done a bit of searching in the local paper and found three reports of UXA delivering shoes to Cairns (2/2/37 arriving and departing on the same day, arriving 31/3/37 departing 1/4/37, arriving 26/8/37 departing 27/8/37 ) so either the locals had lost interest in aerial shoe delivery or the 1938 date on the photo is incorrect

This post has been edited by cristo on Nov 24 2019, 04:23 PM

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[Brenden S]

Some lovely photos.

[cristo]

Another visitor was A14-1 which had a minor drama on 20/6/37. The Cairns Post on 21/6/37 reported

"Gannet Tips on Its Nose.
The RAAF. Gannet plane, which is engaged in aerial survey work in the Far North, yesterday afternoon met with a slight mishap at the' Cairns aerodrome, when, after landing in a tricky wind it bounced off the edge of the runway, ran into the loose sand for 100 yards and then became bogged and slowly tipped on its nose. Flying Officer D. McLean and Leading Air- craftsman Everingham were uninjured, and the only damage to the plane was that the nose was crushed. The plane taxied to the hangar, and
it is expected it will be in the air in a few days. The plane had been doing survey work yesterday."

The nose job can't have been serious as there was no further reports. This photo from the Queensland State Library collection show it in the new NQA hanger. This hanger was converted to the ANA terminal around 1950 and then to the Ansett ANA terminal. It became a hanger again around 1970 after the new Ansett terminal was built.



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[cristo]

Another photo of A14-1 from the Cairns Historical Society collection taken at Cairns Aerodrome 1937. A14-1 was doing a photo survey in Cairns from April to July 1937.

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[cristo]

A photo of the former NQA hanger at Cairns c1939 then owned by Airlines of Australia with three aircraft and the staff of Aof A. On the right is DH 89 Dragon Rapide c/n 6253 VH-UBN . Formally owned by Rockhampton Aerial Services which was taken over by A of A in 1936. It was impressed into the RAAF in 1940 as A33-5 then went to Guinea Airways in 1942 where it was destroyed with all seven onboard killed when it crashed on a flight from Renmark to Adelaide in 1944.

On the left is DH 89 Dragon Rapide c/n 6270 VH-UFF “ Memma “. Originally imported for the RAAF as A3-1 in 1935 it was sold to Holymans Airways in December 1935 and became UFF “Memma “. It went to ANA in 1936 and then to Aof A in 1938 then back into the RAAF in 1940 as A33-3. Then to Guinea Airlines in 1943 and passed through several owners before ending up in New Caladonia in 1956 were it was retired in 1957 and used for parts.

I cannot be sure of the rear aircraft in the hanger but it looks like a DH84 Dragon possible URG or URE.

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