![]() At the time, many major cities around the world already possessed water airports, or marine air terminals as they were called in the United States. The latter had been a highly favoured option due to its proximity to the aerodrome at Mascot, but a water airport at Botany Bay would have required building a breakwater, estimated to cost £60,000. Other sites considered were Rushcutters Bay and Botany Bay. The harbourside suburb of Rose Bay was selected as the site for Australia’s first international airport, primarily because it was a large bay with calm water located close to the city. With the assistance of the Australian Government, Qantas Empire Airways ordered six of the aircraft and, in May 1938, the airline moved its rapidly expanding operations from Brisbane to Sydney. Imperial Airways, then Britain’s major airline, commissioned Short Brothers to build a large, long-range flying boat, known as the ‘Short Empire’. They were also able to alight and take off from any reasonably large body of calm water, so were capable of making the frequent stops that flying long distances required. ![]() Flying boats were the ideal transport as they could carry much larger freight loads than the land-based aircraft of the time. In Australia the Empire flying boat became a symbol of this era, carrying passengers to many exotic locations around the world in a journey of unprecedented airborne luxury.Īt the end of 1934 the British Government decided to implement an air service that would deliver mail to every country in the Commonwealth at a standard rate. ![]() The 1930s were widely considered aviation’s ‘golden’ age, a time when modernity and luxury combined to define an era in world travel that will almost certainly never be repeated. ![]()
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