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Guide to the Aviation History Souvenir Collection

Collection Number: Souvenirs 11

Summary

Title: Aviation History Souvenirs Collection

Date range of collection: 1900 -

Scope and content note: Contains souvenirs of events in the aviation history of Australia and its allies, including items relating to the First and Second World Wars.

Provenance: Items in this collection have been collected from a variety of different sources and donors.

Extent: 3 folders, approximately 25 items.

Location: Published Collections, Research Centre, Australian War Memorial.

Administrative information

Processing history: Collection re-housed and re-numbered in 2005.

Access: Open. Some items are restricted. Please contact the curator of Published Collections for access. The collection is accessible in the Research Centre Reading Room on the lower ground floor of the Memorial during the Reading Room opening hours. The opening hours are Monday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and on Saturdays from 1pm to 5pm. The Reading Room is closed on Sundays and ACT public holidays. Researches can contact the Research Centre to plan a visit. To access the collection the user will need to register as a client and agree to the Reading Room’s conditions of use. To contact the Information Services department or to make an appointment to visit the Reading Room call 02 62434315 or send an email to info@awm.gov.au

Copyright: Contact Senior Curator, Published & Digitised Collections.

Preferred citation: Aviation History Souvenirs Collection, Australian War Memorial, Souvenirs 11.

Keywords:

  • Subject:
  • Aviation
  • Souvenirs
  • Amy Johnson
  • Charles Henry Copp
  • Charles Kingsford-Smith
  • Bert Hinkler
  • Air Force
  • Harry G. Hawker
  • Ross Smith

Historical background

Early Aviation

The first documented flight in a powered heavier-than-air aircraft was made by Orville and Wilbur Wright on 17 December 1903 in the "Wright Flyer".

In 1909 the Commonwealth Department of Defence offered a 5000 pound prize for the invention of a "flying machine" that could be used for "military purposes". This competition resulted in the first aircraft designed and built by an Australian, John Duigan, which achieved powered flight at Mia Mia, Victoria in 1910.

Over the next few years the government maintained interest in demonstration flights by people such as DeFries in a Wright biplane, Custance in a Bleriot monoplane and Harry Houdini in a Voisin box-kite, because they recognised the potential of air travel for defence purposes. In 1914 the government established a Central Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria in 1914. This school enabled the operation of the Australian Flying Corps during WWI, which first saw service in May 1915 at Basra, Mesopotamia (now Iraq).

World War, 1914-1918

During WW1 the usefulness of aviation to the military was realised and aircraft and training were greatly improved. It was during this period that the capabilities of aircraft (in observation and reconnaissance, tactical and strategic bombing, ground attack, and naval warfare) were discovered, experimented with, and refined.

Also during WW1, Australia became the only British dominion to set up a flying corps of its own. Known as the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) and organised as a corps of the Australian Imperial Force, its four line squadrons usually served separately under the orders of Britain's Royal Flying Corps. The AFC's first complete flying unit, No. 1 Squadron, left Australia for the Middle East in March 1916. By late 1917 three more squadrons, Nos. 2, 3, and 4 had been formed to fight in France. A further four training squadrons based in England formed an Australian Training Wing to provide pilots for the Western Front. The AFC was a pioneering corps, laying the groundwork for the Royal Australian Air Force and making a significant contribution to Australian civil aviation.

Inter-War Years

The period after WWI saw a period of great aviation development in Australia. Endurance and distance records were set and broken, leading to races, competitions and the emergence of numerous aviation personalities, as well as a steady number of search and rescue missions to recover missing or crashed aircraft.

In 1919, Harry G. Hawker (Australian aviation pioneer and co-founder of Hawker Aviation) attempted to fly across the Atlantic in a triplane and disappeared. Six days later he turned up in Europe aboard a tramp freighter without a radio. 1920 saw Australian brothers Captain Ross and Lieutenant Keith Smith set off from Hounslow, near London, in a Vickers Vimy bomber in an attempt to be the first men to fly from England to Australia. They successfully landed in Darwin on 10 December, having flown a distance of 18,170 kilometres (11,290 miles).

Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, born in Brisbane in 1897, had served with the Royal Flying Corps during WW1. He became a hero of Australian aviation, completing the first Trans-Pacific flight in the "Southern Cross" in 1928, and winning an England to Australia air race in 1930. He also completed the first non-stop crossing of the Australian mainland, and was the first to complete the more difficult eastward Pacific crossing from Australia to the United States in 1934.

The inter-war period also saw the development of civil aviation with regular survey flights across Australia in search of air routes and possible aerodrome sites. It was these flights, conducted by or on behalf of the RAAF, that led to the development of air trade routes within Australia, from which sprung airmail services and air freight services, soon growing to passenger flights.

World War, 1939-1945

World War II saw 15,746 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners and engineers sent to British squadrons and 11,641 to Australian squadrons. These men exemplified themselves in every major campaign front from the Battle of France, Battle of Britain, Normandy invasion, Egypt, the Middle East, Germany, Battle of the Atlantic, the defence of Malta, liberation of Italy, the Battles of the Coral and Bismarck Seas, Defence of Australia, to fighting in India, Burma, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Pacific. When the armistice with Japan was signed on 15 August 1945, the RAAF in the Pacific had a total strength of 131,662 personnel and 3,187 front line aircraft. In addition, the RAAF had also pioneered the development and operation of radar and operated its own shipping in the South West Pacific Area. The RAAF legacy of the Second World War is a proud one, with it now the world's 4th largest Air Force.

References:

Brogden, Stanley, The History of Australian Aviation (Melbourne: The Hawthorn Press, 1960).

National Archives of AustraliaGuide to the Collection: Transport - Airhttp://www.naa.gov.au/the_collection/transport/air.html

Royal Australian Air Force: History http://www.raaf.gov.au/history/airforce_history/index.htm

Series number Title of Series and Date
1 Peacetime Aviation
2 First World War, 1914-1918
3 Second World War, 1939-1945

SERIES 1: Peacetime Aviation, 1900 -

Description:

The series contains souvenirs relating to aviation before, between and after military conflicts.
File Title/Description
1/1/1

Collectable trading card entitled "Wright Flyer", Picture and History Cards of Aeroplanes
Official Programme: circuit of Britain for the second £10,000 "Daily Mail" prize, July 1911
Souvenir in commemoration of the Safe Return to England of Mr. Harry G. Hawker and Comm. K. Mackenzie-Creive, R.N. (1919) [Oversized Item]
Souvenir Programme of the official reception to Captain Sir Ross Smith and Party, Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, 24th February 1920 [4 copies]
Programme to mark the 60th Anniversary of the flight from England to Australia by Sir Ross Smith and his crew, 10th December, 1979
Souvenir of the slotted wing Avro-Avian "Canberra Pup" as used by Bert Hinkler
Section of ticket for a souvenir flight in 'Southern Cross' piloted by C.E. Kingsford-Smith
Souvenir and autographed of Miss Amy Johnson, celebrating her flight from England to Australia in 20 days, 1930
Souvenir brochure: Unveiling of commemorative marker for Australia's first official air race from Serpentine on 27th August, 1920
Royal Australian Air Force 2010 Heritage Awards, information pamphlet
Penrith Aerodrome Flying Race and Aerial Pagent Anniversary Day Jan 26 1929 [PUB02086]
(14 items)

SERIES 2: First World War, 1914-1918

Description: The series contains souvenirs relating to aviation during the First World War.

Subseries 1 : General Material

File Title/Description
2/1/1

Booklet, "Australia's First Naval Flight: November 1914" first published in 1915 and republished in 1978
Commemoration Dinner: Fiftieth Anniversary of Military Aviation in Australia, 21st August, 1964
"Aviation Medicine and History: Three invited papers on the interface between military aviation and medicine", 29th August, 2001 [2 copies]
(4 items)

Subseries 2 : Personal records in respect of Lieutenant Charles Henry Copp, 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps.

File Title/Description
2/2/1

Small drawing of a biplane from the First World War
Newspaper cutting of "The Fokker Triplane in the Air", 1918
Two drawings of biplanes of the First World War
(3 items)

SERIES 3: Second World War, 1939-1945

Description: The series contains items souvenirs relating to aviation during the Second World War.

Subseries 1: General material

File Title/Description
3/1/1

Top secret German document file, "Unit subdivision of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces" showing the locations of the British, American and Italian units in January 1945.
"High Flight", a poem by John Gillespie Magee Jr. of the Royal Canadian Air Force in September 1941. The reverse contains information about American warplanes: "Our planes can fight".
A souvenir portfolio from F. Dickin Pty. Ltd. (manufacturers of a portion of the D.H. 98, the Mosquito Bomber) of photographs recording the company's war effort, New Year 1946
Drawing of a Hawker Hurricane
Two drawings on a piece of card, "Maintenance work on machine" and a bombing raid.
Summary / Dossier of WW2 related to the service of Squadron Leader P Haberecht in the RAAF
"Captaincy and what it means to you!", leaflet issued to new RAF Captains in the Second World War.
(7 items)

 Subseries 2: Souvenirs commemorating Second World War aviation

FILE Title/Description
3/2/1

"Battle of Britain Memorial Flight 2009: Lest We Forget". Published by the Royal Air Force. [3 copies]
(3 items)

Last updated: 28 February 2020

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