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Read more about the article Newcastle aviation history and the Walsh Island aerodrome
The Codock in Newcastle in 1934. From a glass negative.

Newcastle aviation history and the Walsh Island aerodrome

Early efforts to bring commercial aviation to Newcastle, NSW, were many, but largely unsuccessful. A push by Charles Kingsford Smith and some of his supporters to create Australia's biggest aerodrome at Walsh Island were almost successful, but fell victim to politics and - most likely - the onset of the Great Depression. The first reference I've found to a commercial air service being offered to Newcastle residents is this article in The Sydney Morning Herald on January 29, 1920, in which "Mr H. E. Broadsmith, engineer-in-chief to the Australian Engineering and Aircraft Company, who accompanied Mr…

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Read more about the article Frank Wainman, Cooranbong’s intrepid aviator

Frank Wainman, Cooranbong’s intrepid aviator

In my collecting travels I have sometimes found interesting real-photo postcards depicting aerial views of parts of the Hunter Region and Central Coast - mostly in the 1960s - with the business name "Avion Views, Cooranbong NSW" rubber-stamped on the back. My search for information about this postcard publisher led me to Judy and Perry Jackson, of Cooranbong, who filled me in on the story. Avion views was just one business run by Judy's father, the apparently indefatigable Franklyn (Frank) Wainman, a mechanic, garage proprietor and flying enthusiast. Born on December 18, 1910, Frank was a…

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Read more about the article Planespotters on the job in World War 2

Planespotters on the job in World War 2

ONE of Australia's military problems in World War 2 was trying to keep track of the movements of large numbers of aircraft over the giant land-mass. Planes, both friendly and hostile, crossed the skies at all hours, and it was important to try to keep tabs on as many of them as possible. A big part of the solution was the Volunteer Air Observers Corps, an organisation of thousands of civilian men, women and children who spent untold hours in observation posts they built on top of houses, on handyman-created towers in backyards, in the middle…

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