Gallery

The Indefatigable Parer

"By Jove, look at this!"

Two Australian aviators aboard an ex-World War One reconnaissance bomber, with the letters “PD” emblazoned on its sides, had climbed their ‘old bus’ to 7,000ft on an easterly course to cross the coastal mountains of Burma. An unending panorama of dense green jungle slowly unfolded before them, broken only by the sight of the majestic Irrawaddy River pointing the way south to Rangoon.

Bert Hinkler

Bundaberg's Brilliant Star

In 1921 Bert Hinkler intended to fly solo to Australia in his tiny Avro Avian, a plane in which he had already created a record flight across Europe. Unfortunately, a war in the Middle East prevented it so he shipped the Avro ‘Baby’ to Sydney and, on 11th April 1921, he made a record for light aircraft by flying non-stop from Sydney to Bundaberg in Queensland.

Haslope's Komet, 1945

RAAF Mustang pilot, Flt Lt Haslope, dispatches a Luftwaffe rocket-powered Me163 fighter.

Flt Lt Haslope, RAAF, flying with 165 Squadron RAF, was escorting British Lancasters and Halifaxes during a daylight raid on Leipzig on April 10th, 1945 when he sighted an Me 163 rocketing down through the bomber formation. He immediately put the Mustang into a steep dive; ignoring the speed limits imposed by the manufacturers, he plummeted down, turning and twisting to follow his adversary, firing at every opportunity.

Hawker Sea Fury

The ultimate piston-engined fighter

During the Korean War in the 1950s, four Sea Furies of the RN fought eight MiG-15 jet fighters. They shot down one and damaged two more for no loss to themselves. During the same conflict under difficult conditions, the Australian aircraft carrier Sydney, operating alongside other allied carriers, flew a record number of daily operations with her Sea Furies and Fireflies on combat air patrols and bomber missions.

Qantas Boeing 707/338c over Rome

On October 13th, 1955 Juan Trippe, influential President of Pan American World Airways, placed an order with Boeing. It was worth US$296,000 and was the largest order for a commercial airliner ever placed. The airliner was the untried 707.

The Boeing 737

The world's most successful jetliner

When Qantas and TAA merged in 1994, it found itself the owners of the TAA Boeing 737 fleet. It was with these aircraft that Qantas ran its inaugural 737 flight to New Caledonia. The first flight of Boeing’s 737 took place in 1967 and was the result of the highly competitive situation that had developed in the short-range jetliner market some years earlier.

Qantas 747/400 over Hong Kong

As every airline captain would know, beneath the scattered clouds that so often carpet lies Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport. At the time this painting was completed, Kai Tak had the reputation of being the most demanding for pilots of jet airliners.

RAAF 'Magpie 228' takes a fatal hit

On March 14th, 1971, “Magpie 228” was struck by a North Vietnamese Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) while on a radar-controlled high-altitude mission known as a “combat sky spot”.

Qantas Double Sunrise "Altair Star" deparats Perth for Ceylon, 1943

From 1943 until 1945, Qantas Catalina flying boats carried out some of the most remarkable flights of the Second World War. One of these aircraft, “Altair Star”, is depicted leaving Perth at dawn for its long and hazardous 3,513 miles flight across the Indian Ocean to Lake Koggala in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) is the subject of this painting.

Mrs Chubby Miller, 1930

The Darling of the American Press

Australian Mrs Keith “Chubby” Miller was better known in America than in her own country. After first flying as a passenger from England to Australia in a two-seat Avro Avian biplane with fellow Australian, Keith Lancaster, she became obsessed with flying.

The Fabulous RAAF Phantom

6 Sqdn RAAF F-4Es over Evans Head Bombing Range, NSW

The Royal Australian Air Force flew Phantoms only by force of circumstance. The RAAF was awaiting delivery of the General Dynamics F-IIIC low-level bomber but because of a delay in its delivery, the Australian Government were leased 24 F-4E’s by the USAF to fill the gap.

Korean War Battler

A RAN Firefly V makes a low pass over HMAS Sydney

The RAN operated Firefly Mk Vs in a ground-attack role during the Korean conflict. Under tough conditions, maintenance and aircrews on HMAS Sydney distinguished themselves with very high sortie rates, and their Mk Vs made highly successful raids over the Korean Peninsula.

HARS Lockheed Super Constellation arrives at Australia's Museum of Flight

On February 3rd, 1996, the Lockheed Super Constellation VH-EAG “Southern Preservation” appeared in the skies over Sydney resplendent in the Qantas trim of the 1950s. This beautiful aeroplane had been reborn in Tucson at the skilled and dedicated hands of Australian enthusiasts who were members of the Historic Aircraft Restoration Group (HARS) under the stewardship of Bob Delahunty.

Night reconnaissance flight reveals USN Chicago Sydney, May 30th 1942

Without this daring night flight, Japanese midget submarines would not have attacked warships in Sydney Harbour.

A few nautical miles north-east of Sydney Heads on May 30th, 1942, a large Japanese submarine, the I21, surfaced onto a choppy sea. Within seconds, the glistening foredeck became a hive of activity while several crewmen busied themselves around a structure situated in front of the conning tower.

"Corkscrew!"

“We Dood It Too” takes evasive action over the Ruhr, Germany, 1944.

Avro Lancaster “We Dood It Too” of 150 Sqdn RAF corkscrews violently away from a German Me 110 night-fighter which has approached from the shadowy side of its flight path. This was the classic avoiding action taken by RAF heavy bombers of World War Two when being attacked by German night-fighters. That was over 70 years ago.

Shipping Strike in the Flores Sea, 1944

B-24J Liberators of 82 Wing RAAF

The subject of this painting is a Liberator B24J, “G” George, serial No A 72-38, which took part in convoy strikes on Japanese shipping. Typically, as part of 24 Squadron 82 Wing, RAAF, on 10th November 1944, it was one of six aircraft to attack shipping on a sweep covering Bali, Lombok and Soemba.

“G’day mon ami!”

An Australian Recce pilot’s fleeting greeting in Northern France, April 27th, 1944.

*"Flg Off Clarke RAF in FD 447 and Flg Off Rachinger RAAF in FD 507 took off at 15:40hrs and flew a very low-level reconnaissance flight over France, with the targets being two bridges over the Somme, east of Amiens. They obtained the required photography of the bridges, shot up a beacon near Amiens and also obtained photographs of French field workers as they passed."*

Yet another record for Smithy

Is it a bird or is it a plane? The Percival Gull was certainly a plane, but the question often asked is, was it Percival or Basil Henderson who designed it? The Gull 4 first appeared in 1932 and was a beautiful aeroplane that quickly established itself as a successful racing aeroplane though it had been designed as a three-place private ‘air taxi’.

RAAF Lockheed F-35A over Sydney

The F35 is the first multi-role 5th generation fighter attack aircraft and will be at the forefront of defence forces of many nations well into the mid-21st Century. The aircraft employs leading-edge aerospace technologies including stealth, data fusion and advanced weapons, to deliver unprecedented capability in hostile operating environments.

RAN Gannets over HMAS Melbourne

When HMAS Melbourne sailed from Glasgow in 1956, she was at the forefront of modern naval warfare, onboard were her new jet fighters, the Sea Venom and the double turboprop, anti-submarine aircraft, the Fairey Gannet. The Gannet had a long and distinguished lineage.

Ansett Sandringham "Beachcomber" over Lord Howe Island, 1972

The Ansett “Beachcomber” featured in Marshall's painting is an ex-RAF Sunderland, serial no JM 715. It was converted to a Sandringham Mk V in 1944–its fore and aft gun turrets were removed and replaced with streamlined fairings and the hull partitioned off into cabins.

RAN Sea King over HMAS Melbourne

The S-61 ‘Sea King’ was delivered to the U.S Navy in 1961 and is a direct descendant of the famous R4, shown below. It demonstrates how far helicopter technology had advanced in twenty years since the first flight of the original prototype VS-300.

Sailing out of Disaster

Frigate Bird II at Easter Island, 1951

P.G. Taylor flew as a fighter pilot in World War I and later made many long-distance flights including some pioneering ones with Charles Kingsford Smith. This gained him a well-earned reputation as one of Australia’s greatest navigators.  

Great Barrier Reef Survey, RAAF 101 Flt Seagul IIIs

While there were many individuals who made enormous contributions to aviation history there were many whose names never hit the headlines. For instance, the crews of the amphibian Seagull IIIs of the Royal Australian Navy, from HMAS Moresby and Albatross.

RAN Seahawks over HMAS Sydney

The RAN took delivery of its Sikorsky Model S-70B helicopters in 1988 and the following year began operating them from HMAS Albatross, Nowra, NSW. With their arrival, Australian naval operations underwent a radical change.

RAN Skyhawks joining formation above HMAS Melbourne

No matter how demanding the operational sortie from HMAS Melbourne, a pilot of a Skyhawk had to finish the flight with the mentally bracing task of putting their high-speed jet down on her tiny deck.

The Not-so-Lucky Lady

The first single-engined crossing of the Pacific nearly comes to grief in Fiji

Charles Kingsford Smith bought a Lockheed ‘Altair’ to enter the 1934 England to Australia Air Race. If sailors believe it is unlucky to rename a ship then aviators would have to agree the same could be true of renaming aeroplanes.

Not the best of starts...

Smithy circles the wreckage of the British airship, R101, in a farewell salute to a friend lost in the crash, 1930.

In order to keep up public awareness of his airline interests and Australian aviation generally, Charles Kingsford Smith took every opportunity to make the headlines. The England to Australia route, a trip halfway around the world, was a gruelling test for pilot and plane and made good press copy.

Southern Cross, 1928

First aerial crossing of the Pacific

1928 marked a turning point in the career of Charles Kingsford Smith for it was in that year he achieved the distinction of completing one of the most hazardous long-distance flights; that of crossing the world’s largest expanse of ocean, the Pacific.

Australia's only airworthy Spitfire Mk VIII

Australia’s only airworthy Spitfire arrived in Australia in 1945. It had been test-flown in Britain but had been damaged, so repairs had been carried out to its fuselage and wings before being shipped to Australia as MV239. The RAAF put it into storage–it was never flown. Sometime in 1949 it was put up for sale and passed through the hands of several owners until it was eventually bought by Col Pay in 1983.

RAN Skyhawks of 805 Sdqn climb out over HMAS Melbourne at sunset

No matter how demanding the operational sortie from HMAS Melbourne, a pilot of a Skyhawk had to finish the flight with the mentally bracing task of putting their high-speed jet down on her tiny deck.

Spitfires Defend Darwin, 1943

During World War Two, the city of Darwin was attacked by Japanese bombers for the first time in February 1942. Fifty-one raids followed until January 1943 when Supermarine Spitfire MkVs of 452, 457 and 54 (RAF) Sqdn arrived.

Flt Lt Walker RAAF; a Bay of Biscay Battle, 1943

A Short Sunderland III fights off eight Ju88s

In this heroic encounter during World War Two, a Short Sunderland III of 461 Sqdn RAF, captained by Flt Lt C.B.Walker, RAAF, shot down three and damaged two of eight German Ju88 long-range fighter-bombers which attacked it in the Bay of Biscay. Later, the crew believed that a fourth attacker was also destroyed and two more damaged; none of them reached their home base.

RAN Grumman Tracker takes off from HMAS Melbourne

Run-o-the-mill military flying often has attendant risks and dangers that commercial fliers would never have to meet in thousands of hours flying. The 10 years of RAN operations with the Grumman Tracker were no exception–where every take-off from the tiny deck of HMAS Melbourne, and especially every landing-on, was a real hazard and test of flying skill.

Australians, first across the world, 1919

Ross and Keith Smith, with Jim Bennet and Wally Shiers, fly from England to Australia.

Early in 1919, the Prime Minister of Australia offered a prize for the first Australian-manned aircraft to fly from England to Australia. The Vimy aircraft flown by the Smith brothers was entered by Vickers Ltd who were makers of heavy bombers in the Great War of 1914-18.

RAN Wessex 31B over HMAS Melbourne

The Westland Wessex 31A and the later B model was a carrier-borne anti-submarine and rescue helicopter manufactured by Westland Aircraft Ltd Yeovil, England. The Wessex was developed under licence from the Sikorsky S58 which was designed for the US Navy as an Anti-submarine warfare and transport helicopter by the great American designer, Igor Sikorsky.

The Australian Flying Corps makes the first flight across Australia, 1919

When the famous Vickers Vimy of Ross and Keith Smith completed the first-ever flight from England to Australia in December 1919 it was greeted, albeit two days late, by a small, spindly-looking ex-World War I reconnaissance aircraft shown in this painting. The Be2e two-seater aircraft was flown by Capt. H.N. Wrigley DFC and Sgt A.W. Murphy DFC of the Australian Flying Corps.