048494PD: DH66 Hercules Airplane at Maylands Aerodrome about to begin the 1st west to east overseas airmail trip 5th of June 1929

Summary

Note the wickerwork seats.G-AUJO De Havilland DH.66 Hercules (manufacturer's construction number 344), named City of Perth. The D.H.66 was built to an Imperial Airways (UK) specification for a three-engined seven-passenger aircraft to fly the Cairo to Baghdad air mail route. Major Norman Brearley was the founder of West Australian Airways (in 1921) - it was Australia's first regular revenue passenger airline, starting operations before Qantas. In 1928, Brearley won a tender to operate a subsidised air mail service between Perth and Adelaide, a distance of 2,400 kilometres. To operate this service the company purchased four de Havilland DH66 Hercules aircraft, each capable of carrying 14 passengers and considerable cargo, at a speed of 160 kilometres per hour. Under the terms of the contract Brearley was forced to buy aircraft from Britain, as there was a ban on American aircraft entering Australia. While the Hercules were the best available at the time, they were slow, difficult to maintain and expensive to operate. They were ordered for the commencement of the first Perth/Adelaide air service, and were the first multi-engine airliners to enter service in Australia. It was Australia's first trans-continental air service and the West Australian Airways services from Wyndham to Adelaide via Perth was one of the world's longest scheduled air routes, at a total of 5,300km. The first DH.66 Hercules arrived at Fremantle on board the SS Taranaki on 19 April 1929. After assembly, it was registered G-AUJO on 28 May 1929, and delivered to WAA on 1 June 1929. A large crowd went out to Maylands Aerodrome to view the Giant Airliner. On 5 June 1929, G-AUJO flew the first West to East airmail service across Australia. The aircraft was later placed on Australia's own aircraft register as VH-UJO. In May 1934, West Australian Airways lost their north-west service (Perth-Wyndham) to MacRobertson Miller Aviation, and soon afterwards was told that the East-West (Perth-Adelaide) service would no longer be subsidised by the Government. Two DH.66 Hercules had by then been sold to Imperial Airways and the remaining two Hercules were used to operate the Perth to Adelaide service until two cheaper to operate De Havilland DH.84 Dragon aircraft could be obtained. VH-UJO was later sold to Stephens Air Transport (later renamed Stephens Aviation) in New Guinea in 1936. It went missing on a flight from Salamaua to Wau on 6 February 1941. The wreckage was found four days later by searching aircraft. Pilot Frank Buchanan and his passenger were found dead with the wreckage. (From D. Eyre, 2007: Extra info courtesy of Geoff Goodall and http://www.ozaviation.com )