Sunday History Photo / Vic

Another good one Doug

Thanks

Alan

Good one Doug.

Here is a little addendum.

Who holds the record for the longest non-stop commercial air route and the record for the longest ever non-stop commercial flight – 32 hours 9 minutes... 5632km (3520 miles)?

The Double Sunrise: Qantas’ secret Perth–Ceylon wartime service

When Singapore fell to Japan in February 1942 Australia lost its air connection to Britain. A new route was urgently needed.
Hudson Fysh, co-founder of Qantas, wanted to establish a civilian service between Australia and Ceylon, despite the fact that at this time Japan had complete domination of the Indian Ocean, but civil aviation authorities ruled that this route was too dangerous to attempt.
In 1943, at the urging of the British Government, the Royal Air Force in Britain supplied Qantas with five Catalina aircraft, if Qantas agreed to open a flying route from Perth to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). It was to be the world's longest regular non-stop service – a total distance of 5632km (3520 miles). The weight of fuel limited the Catalina's load to only three passengers and 69kg of diplomatic and armed forces mail. The flying boats travelled at 160 miles an hour.
Qantas Empire Airways began to operate the Catalina flying boats between Perth and Koggala Lake in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
This extraordinary, top secret, civilian service made 271 crossings of the Indian Ocean with no loss of life, continuing right through to the end of the war. In the process they delivered 860 high priority government and military passengers, large quantities of microfilmed mail, and urgent war-related freight – a major contribution to the war effort.
These Catalinas were completely defenceless, carrying no weaponry, and with all armour plating removed so that the planes were sufficiently light to make the long crossing of more than 6480 km. In order to remain undetected by the Japanese, they flew by night using celestial navigation and without radio, except for a very brief midnight weather bulletin in Morse code. The average length of the flights was 28 hours. Because the journey was made by night, the crew and passengers saw the sun rise twice, hence the name 'Double Sunrise' service.
The Double Sunrise service still holds the record for the longest non-stop commercial air route and the record for the longest ever non-stop commercial flight – 32 hours 9 minutes. The last Double Sunrise flight departed from Sri Lanka for Perth on 17 July 1945.

Thanks Doug, for another interesting article.

Stu & "Bob" - I have a copy of the 64 page booklet "Qantas Empire Airways - Indian Ocean Service - 1943-1946" - the story of the Qantas Catalinas and the Perth-Ceylon (Sri Lanka) regular air service during WW2.
It's a great book, it was produced as a limited edition, and it's very difficult to find copies of it today.
Geoff Goodall is apparently doing a long-term revision of the booklet with much more additional information.

Geoff Goodall's website and the Qantas Catalinas story

Anyone travelling near Swan Hill should make an effort to visit the museum. A morning or afternoon should be enough time. Part of the museum is the old radio and command building. They have attempted to recreate it as it looked during the war. There are plenty of other displays there and a good film about its operation during the war.

The caravan park is very nice with a fairly new amenities block. It stretches along the lake foreshore a little over 1 km from the museum. It's also close enough to Swan Hill to camp there for a day or two in that town.

Another good subject Doug.

Not far from there was a wartime airfield that reportedly had the longest runway in the southern hemisphere during WW2. It was a major flight training school I think.

It was at Tocumwal NSW, right on the Murray at the bottom of the Newell Highway, and was the home more recently for a glider training school. I think the Glider school ceased operations about 2008 or something.

Most of the old long runway is missing now but there were maps at the tourist info centre telling some of the story and a couple of other highlights in the area.

Cheers, Bruce.