Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T05:25:09.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Australia's Internal Air Transport

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

John L. Watkins
John L. Watkins*
Affiliation:
Trans-Australia Airlines
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Eighteenth British Commonwealth Lecture, “Australia's Internal Air Transport” by Mr. John L. Watkins, O.B.E., B.E., D.I.C., F.R.Ae.S., Director of Engineering, Trans-Australia Airlines, was given in the Lecture Theatre of the Society on 11th October 1962. The President of the Society, Mr. B. S. Shenstone, M.A.Sc, F.R.Ae.S., F.I.A.S., F.C.A.S.I., presided.

Before the lecture Sir Roy Dobson, President of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors, presented certificates of S.B.A.C. University Scholarships to the following who had completed, or were about to complete, their courses: J. M. Chaney (Blackburn Aircraft, College of Aeronautics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology), B. C. Latter (Blackburn Aircraft and College of Aeronautics), R. A. Newnham (Handley Page—College of Aeronautics), R. A. Williamson (A. V. Roe & Co.—College of Aeronautics), D. F. Pilkington (A. V. Roe & Co.— Imperial College), R. J. G. Archer (de Havilland Engine Co.—Imperial College) and C. E. H. Joy (Bristol Siddeley—Imperial College).

Introducing the Lecturer, Mr. Shenstone said that unlike many of the lecturers in this series, Mr. Watkins had been raised in the country of which he was to speak. He had taken his degree of Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Adelaide in 1930 and then took a post-graduate course at Imperial College, London. In 1932 he joined Vickers-Armstrongs and worked on early geodetic work under Dr. Barnes Wallis. Returning to Australia in 1934, Mr. Watkins joined the Air Board, which later became the Australian Department of Civil Aviation. During the war Mr. Watkins had worked on special projects for the RAAF in the Australian Department of Aircraft Production, with the Army Inventions Directorate, and on many other projects. When Trans-Australia Airlines was formed in 1946 he was appointed Technical Superintendent and since 1953 had been Director of Engineering. One of the jobs he was most noted for outside Australia was his responsibility for choosing aircraft for TAA and also for British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines when that Airline existed as a separate entity. In 1950 Mr. Watkins had been loaned to the Government of India as Technical Adviser to the Indian Air Transport Inquiry Committee.

Mr. Watkins had been awarded the O.B.E. for his services to Australian Civil Aviation in 1958 and had been a Fellow of the Society since 1956. He was a past Chairman of the Melbourne Branch of the Australian Division.

Type
Eighteenth British Commonwealth Lecture
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 67 , Issue 625 , January 1963 , pp. 11 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1963

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Fysh, W. Hudson (1945). Australia in Empire Air Transport. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, January 1946.Google Scholar
2.Coombes, L. P. (1956). Aeronautical Development in Australia and Potential Contributions to the British Commonwealth. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Feb. 1957.Google Scholar
3. Australian National Airlines Act, 1945–61, No. 31 of 1945, as amended, No. 71 of 1961. Commonwealth of Australia, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra, 1961.Google Scholar
4.Paltridge, Senator the Hon. Shane D. (1961). Report by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation for the year ended 30th June 1961. Commonwealth of Australia, Civil Aviation Report 1960–61. Government Printer, Hobart, 1961.Google Scholar
5.Brogden, Stanley (1961). T.A.A. is Fifteen. Aircraft, Vol. 40, No. 12, September 1961.Google Scholar
6. T.A.A. 16th Annual Report and Financial Accounts 1960–1961 Australian National Airlines Commission—October 1961.Google Scholar
7. T.A.A. 17th Annual Report and Financial Accounts 1961–1962 Australian National Airlines Commission, October 1962.Google Scholar
8.Wettenhall, R. L. (1962). Australia's Two-Airline System under Review. The Australian Quarterly, Vol. XXXIV, No. 1, March 1962. Published by the Australian Institute of Political Science.Google Scholar
9. Airlines Agreement Act. 1961—No. 70 of 1961. Commonwealth of Australia. Commonwealth Government I Printer, Canberra, 1961.Google Scholar
10. Transport Costs in Australia. Prepared by the Department of Shipping and Transport, Commonwealth of Australia, for the Australian Transport Advisory Council, March 1959.Google Scholar
11.Australian Airlines and a Rational Policy?Current Affairs Bulletin, Vol. 30, No. 3, 18th June 1962, Published by the Department of Tutorial Classes, University of Sydney. 1962.Google Scholar
12. Australian National Line—4th Annual Report, 1960, The Australian Coastal Shipping Commission, October 1960.Google Scholar
13. Australian National Line—5th Annual Report, 1961, The Australian Coastal Shipping Commission, October 1961.Google Scholar