aviation - the past, present and future of flight

T

he ‘Kangaroo Route’ is one of

the most historic and storied air

journeys in the world. However,

despite the pioneering work by

Qantas from the 1930s, it took the innovative

and cutting-edge Lockheed Constellation to

enable the carrier to operate the service in its

own right.

The distance between Australia and the

rest of the world meant that Qantas Empire

Airways had long been on a quest to connect

nations separated by land, oceans and

thousands of miles.

The journey by sea from Britain took

at least three weeks and ships were often

overcrowded. Advanced bookings were

quickly taken up by government allocations

for the emigrants, most of whom travelled

tourist class.

But the movement of people also

led some business travellers, as well as

the wealthy, to turn to the airlines as a

viable alternative. Qantas had long been

established on overseas air  ghts. Founded

in late 1920, the operator quickly pioneered

long-duration  ying. But on the ‘Kangaroo

Route’ it relied on a partnership with BOAC

(Imperial Airways) to connect Australia to the

Empire.

The partnership saw Qantas aircraft

operating  ights as far as Asia, where

passengers connected to British aircraft for

the onward journey.

Aviation technology had advanced

signi cantly since World War One, and

the airline was eager to bene t from

improvements in aircraft design, with

developments made by the USA’s Lockheed

Corporation showing potential.

The manufacturer had been working on

a long-range, pressurised aircraft since the

1930s. Designated the L-044 Excalibur,

the four-engined design was of particular

interest to Pan American World Airways –

but it lacked capabilities to offer the long-

range, non-stop services desired by many

operators.

TWA, under the direction of Howard

Hughes, requested a longer-range, high

capacity airliner in 1939. Lockheed

responded with the development of the L-049

QANTAS ‘CONNIES’

TRAVERSING THE GLOBE

Chris Frame considers how the Lockheed

Constellation transformed Qantas operations.

42 Aviation News incorporating Jets March 2018

PROPLINER SPECIAL

Above: Constellation L-1049E Southern Wind

was delivered to Qantas in 1955 and  ew with

the airline until 1963. zoggavia collection

42-46_prop_quantasDC.mfDC.mfDC.mfDC.mf.indd 42 05/02/2018 14:52