History Of The Australian Aircraft Industry

Although there were a number of other attempts to establish aircraft manufacturing In Australia during this period, such as those of the Larkin Aircraft Company of Melbourne, none of them survived the Depression.

During the period covered by this phase, a combination of the pioneering efforts of many fine aviators, the vast size of the Australian continent, its good flying weather and its inadequate means of surface transport, led to a rapid growth in the use of aircraft. By world standards, it was an early growth in the use of aircraft and laid the foundations for the image of Australia as an “air-minded” nation, which it retains today.

Pre-War and Wartime 1936-1945

Concern at the threat of war brought about a major ex­pansion of the Australian aircraft industry in the late 1930’s.

The de Havilland Company commenced in 1936 to manufacture aircraft in Sydney, first of all in limited numbers and later at high production rates.

In 1937 the Air Board placed an order with de Havilland Aircraft for 20 Tiger Mottis – the Board’s first order for locally built aircraft. This order was completed a few months before war began and de Havilland sought further orders to keep its production organisation and labour force intact. The Department of Supply then placed an order for 59 Moth Minors, since at that stage, it was impossible to obtain trainer aircraft from overseas. This was followed in November 1939 by an order for 350 Tiger Moths with Gipsy Major I engines. (Most engines were manufactured in Australia by General Motors).

Further orders eventually brought the wartime Tiger Moth total to 1085, several hundred of which were exported.

For RAAF navigational training and communications, de Havilland also built 87 twin-engined de Havilland Dragons, commencing production early in 1942. Later in that year, a troop-carrying glider was designed, structurally tested, built and flown and eight of these were completed before the changing military situation led to the abandonment of the project.

Shortly after Pearl Harbour, de Havilland Aircraft submitted proposals to manufacture the Mosquito Fighter/Bomber in Australia. The first drawings arrived in Australia in June, 1942 and an order was received for 150 Mosquito intruders. A new facility for Mosquito manufacture was constructed on Bankstown Airport and de Havilland occupied the facility in 1942. The first aircraft was delivered just 13 months after the first drawings were received. By war’s end, de Havilland had delivered’ 108 Mosquitos. The Mosquito project continued until 1948 by which time 212 Mosquitos were delivered;

In 1936, concern about the potential danger that Australia was facing led to the formation of Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation by a consortium of major industrial companies. Airframe and engine manufacturing facilities were established at Fisherman’s Bend, Melbourne.

Following modifications to suit Australian conditions, Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation commenced production of the North American NA 33 which was named the Wirraway. A total of 757 Wirraways and their Pratt & Whitney engines were, built. C. A. C. also designed and built 250 Boomerangs, 200 Wackett trainers and their engines and by the end of the war were building the North American Mustang.

In 1942, Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation established an additional plant in Sydney to build the Pratt and Whitney R. 1830 engine for use in the Beaufort. In addition to the Boomerang and Wackett trainers, which were both designed and put into production by CAC, prototypes were designed and built for the CA4/CA11 torpedo bomber, the CA12 which was a turbo-supercharged Boomerang, and the CA15 fighter. The CA15 was an interesting fighter aircraft. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon engine of 2035HP, it was the fastest propeller-driven aircraft of its time, capable of 442mph. Although it flew in prototype form, it did not go into production.

In 1939, when War was imminent, the Government decided to establish another aircraft manufacturing organisation. The Aircraft Production Commission was set up and, under it, the Government Aircraft Factories were established to produce the Beaufort bomber and subsequently the Beaufighter.

Essington Lewis was appointed Director-General of Munitions by the War Cabinet on May 21, 1940, five days before Dunkirk, and was given wide-reaching powers and authority. The Commonwealth war historians record that it was perhaps the most responsible position of its kind ever allotted to an Australian. He could acquire factories, machine tools, inventions or materials, and could issue contracts without calling tenders as well as spend $500,000 without a Minister’s approval. The effect on the aircraft industry was significant.

By July, 1940 Britain could not deliver further materials or components for Beauforts and apart from substituting Pratt and Whitney Twin Row Wasp engines for the Bristol Taurus, the industry had to look to locally produced raw materials and production of assemblies previously imported.

Government annexes were established for the manufacture of engines, propellers, undercarriages, aero-electrics, heavy forgings, etc. A special factory was set up for manufacturing gun turrets. In addition, over 600 sub-contractors covering all fields of industry were recruited and organised to supply products and develop new techniques.

The mobilisation of industry generally in support of the aircraft industry in particular was dramatic and the first Beaufort made its initial flight in May, 1941, production peaked to 30 aircraft per month in 1943 and by July, 1944 the 700th Beaufort was delivered. Early in 1943 the Beaufighter went into production and the first one was delivered in May, 1944, three months before the 700th Beaufort. In all, a total of 700 Beauforts and 364 Beaufighters were produced.

On the research side, at the instigation of the Australian Government, an English Scientific Adviser made a study of the Australian aviation potential and there evolved from his deliberation a document known as the Wimperis Report. As a result of this report, a Chair of Aeronautics was established at Sydney University in 1939 and what is now known as the Aeronautical Research Laboratories was established at Fisherman’s Bend, Melbourne.

Summing up this period: Australia demonstrated its capability to mobilise its industrial resources to establish air­ . craft production, to mass produce aircraft, engines and propellers and to design new aircraft. This was the period in which an aircraft manufacturing industry really became established. It began under the threat of, and because of, the War. During this period, the cost and economics of production took second place to the urgent need for quality and quantity for the purposes of survival.

Postwar to 1960

When the War ended, the spread of sub-contractors and of industrial organisations that had been involved in aircraft manufacture in place of their normal activity, was run down as quickly as was compatible with an orderly result. Aircraft manufacturing contracted in size and soon became restricted to the plants that had been built specially for the purpose of aircraft manufacture. These were still occupied in producing aircraft at a slow rate. Including sub-contractors, the number of people directly employed in the industry had peaked at about 44,000 during the War. By 1948, the workforce had shrunk to about 4100. At the beginning of the postwar stage, it seemed that the Government, having embarked upon an aircraft industry under the urgent pressure of war, was determined to retain the capability of making its military aircraft in peacetime. However, whether or not this was the intention, the application was poorly planned. Each new aircraft manufacturing project was looked upon as a new and isolated demand upon Commonwealth funds and resources. Orders, even for the same type of aircraft, were placed upon the industry piecemeal; the orders for additional numbers of aircraft were often not being placed until the “thruput” on the preceding order was seriously running down. There was little attempt to balance the workload across the industry.

The result of this was that the workforce employed in the industry as a whole, and, even more, the workforce employed by the individual elements of the industry, underwent large, short-term fluctuations in size. To those employed within the industry, there was little sense of continuity and security and many good people left it for this reason. It also handicapped the industry in terms of economic efficiency.

In spite of these problems, several new types of aircraft were put into production and design work proceeded.

As a result of proposals put to the Australian Government, de Havilland was awarded a contract for the manufacture of single-seat Vampire Jet Fighters in 1947 as a follow-on to Mosquito production. This Vampire production, with deliveries commencing in 1949, was the first manufacture of jet aircraft in Australia.

Eighty Vampire Fighters were manufactured.

In February 1952, a small order was received for Vampire Trainers and this was followed in September 1952 by another order bringing the total to 41 Jet Trainers for the RAAF and RAN. The last machine was completed in November, 1955.

In 1955, an order was received for 68 MK35 Vampire Trainers. The specification for these aircraft necessitated major redesign of the cockpit, fuel system, and braking system and embodied many different accessory components. The first MK35 Vampire Trainer was delivered in September, 1957 and a total of 110 Trainers were built, deliveries finishing in 1960.

One of the many problems with Australian production of military aircraft in the early postwar years was that the RAAF always insisted on numerous major local modifications being incorporated. This applied to the Vampire Fighter, the second order for Vampire Trainers and the Sabres built by Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation and it caused substantial price increases.

However, when the first order for Vampire Trainers was received in 1952, they were required urgently and on these grounds the Company was able to persuade the RAAF to accept the English design without alteration. These particular aircraft were then made at the Bankstown factory at a price within 10 per cent of the landed cost of the English aircraft.

Postwar, Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation continued to manufacture Mustangs for some time and commenced production of its first turbine engine, the Rolls-Royce Nene for de Havilland manufactured Vampire fighters.

Government Aircraft Factories at Fisherman’s Bend commenced to build the Lincoln bomber and the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines for these aircraft were built at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation engine plant in Sydney.

Of long term significance was a decision taken late in 1947 to undertake the design and development of a pilotless target aircraft for use at the guided weapons testing range then being established at Woomera, South Australia. This project was put in hand at GAF, became known as Jindivik and commenced production in the early fifties. At the beginning of 1950, 48 Canberra bomber aircraft were ordered from GAF and in May, 1951, 72 (later increased to 112) Sabre fighters were ordered from CAC together with the Avon engines for both these aircraft types. At the end of 1951 orders were placed with CAC for the manufacture of 62 of the locally designed Winjeel primary trainer aircraft, with de Havilland manufacturing the wings and centre section. In 1953 work commenced at GAF on the design of a heavy antitank guided weapon to meet a British War Office requirement. The resultant Malkara project was put into production later in the fifties against a British Army order.

On the civil scene de Havilland had become acutely conscious of the need for postwar civil production to maintain the skills and resources built up in the 1940/45 period. At the same time, new airworthiness standards were being developed by the Department of Civil Aviation and the Company decided to invest a substantial part of its capital reserves into the design and production of an all-Australian aircraft aimed at meeting the new safety levels.

The design of this aircraft, the de Havilland Drover, was commenced in 1946 and 20 were built. It went into service in 1949 and was operated in Australia, New Guinea and the South Pacific by Australian and Fijian airline operators and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The Drover was the first Australian-designed civil aircraft to enter quantity production and the first one to be operated on airline service. Despite financial losses, the Drover project gave the Company valuable engineering, production and cost control experience which benefited subsequent Vampire Fighter and Vampire Trainer development and production contracts.

Summing up this phase: It is seen as one. in which the aircraft manufacturing industry, buoyed up by enthusiasm, continued to produce military aircraft of progressively more modern types and continued to demonstrate its design capability in spite of the lack of an adequately clear Government policy and in spite of the lack of adequate planning for the industry.

1960-1970

This can be regarded as a new phase because it represented the beginning of a new era in general aviation growth, rather than for any other reason.

It was also a period when increasing overseas procurement of defence equipment set the stage for a serious decline in the aircraft industry workload in the late 1960s and the 1970s.

The 1960s saw an enormous increase in general aviation activity in Australia with light aircraft imports increasing from 150 per annum in 1961 to almost 400 in 1968. Hours flown per year trebled in the same period.

These general aviation aircraft, largely of US origin, were used in an increasing variety of roles including flying training, charter, corporate transport, aerial agriculture, commuter airlines, mineral survey and oil exploration.

They ranged in size from two seat piston engine, training aircraft costing less than $10,000 to executive jet aircraft equipped like airliners and costing in excess of $1 million.

This naturally became the period in which a number of attempts were made to design and develop civil light aircraft in Australia in response to the apparent demand.

However in the military aircraft manufacturing area, the only change from the past was that the practice of sharing projects between the three elements of the industry became

• more common.

In the early 1960s, the Government Aircraft Factories were chosen as the prime contractor for the partial manufacture of the RAAF’s Mirage III fighter, manufacturing the fuselage and assembling the complete aircraft at Avalon, outside Melbourne. Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation manufactured the Mirage wings and the Atar engine which powered the aircraft. De Havilland, now named Hawker de Havilland, following the merger of the parent company in England into the Hawker Siddeley Group, was given the opportunity to manufacture minor assemblies.

Although the initial order was for 30 aircraft it was subsequently increased to 100 single-seat and 16 dual seat aircraft and the program was eventually completed in 1968. Local content in terms of manhours reached 65 per cent in the aircraft and about 85 per cent in the engine but less than 5 per cent by value of the equipment, including avionics, was produced locally. When the decision to replace the Vampire Trainer with the Macchi was made in October, 1965, Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation was chosen as the prime contractor for both the aircraft and the Viper engine and Hawker de Havilland as the main subcontractor, responsible for wing and empennage manufacture. The initial order for 75 aircraft was subsequently lifted to 97 and the production was completed towards the end of 1972. Local content in terms of manhours was about 90 per cent in the airframe and engine. However less than 10 per cent by value of the equipment was produced locally.

In the field of indigenous design and development, Government Aircraft Factories continued to manufacture Jindivik target aircraft. The Malkara program was terminated in 1960 after the production of about 1000 missiles for the UK. The kara anti-submarine guided weapons system design and development program was started in 1960 under the project responsibility of the Aeronautical Research Laboratories. The Missile design was done by ARL in conjunction with GAF, the guidance system by Weapons Research Establishment and the ship handling and launching equipment by CAC. The system is still in production for the RAN, the RN and the Brazilian Navy. Based on the lkara missile GAF became engaged in 1969/70 in the design and development for the RAN of the Turana target drone powered by a small jet engine in place of the solid fuel motor in lkara.

In 1967 a Guided Weapons and Electronics Support facility (GWESF) was established at St Marys NSW to carry out the testing and repair of RAN Improved Tartar (IT) ship-to-air missiles. Further capability was provided in 1969 to cover the Improved Tartar Retrofit. Current work involves missile and systems repairs and calibration services.

In the area of civil light aircraft manufacture, having always been committed to the philosophy of Australian manufacture if this was economic, Hawker de Havilland carried out a continuing series of technical and economic feasibility studies on such alternatives as:

Manufacture of light aircraft in Australia from CKD kits supplied by overseas principals.

Part of complete licence manufacture by Hawker de Havilland.

Design, development and manufacture by Hawker de Havilland.

Development and manufacture of Australian designs (eg the Airtourer ultimately produced by Victa).

The conclusion of all these studies was that Australian manufacture, while technically feasible, would be uneconomic because of the high initiating costs involved, low production volumes available in markets reasonably accessible from Australia, the wide diversity of aircraft types required by varying roles and the significant economies of scale available to overseas manufacturers.

These studies were based upon optimistic predictions of the high general aviation market growth evident up to 1968. However, it became apparent that a significant element of the growth had been artificial due to build-up of dealer stocks and under-utilisation of aircraft by operators. A serious recession in the market began with new aircraft sales of all types falling to little more than 100 units in 1971 and 1972.

It was during this period that the Victa Company redesigned in metal, the two-seater Airtourer designed in timber by Henry Millicer, and put it into production. About 150 were built in Australia and sold. However, evidence given at a Tariff Board inquiry indicated that average unit production cost was approximately double the selling price dictated by market forces. Production ceased late in 1966; From this aircraft was developed a four-seat prototype, known as the Aircruiser, but this was not put into production. The Victa Company also developed a Gyroplane, of which a research prototype was built and flown. Hawker de Havilland subsequently investigated the economies of production of this aircraft, but economic production again could not be shown to be possible.

Arrangements were made by the Victa Company to transfer manufacture of the Airtourer to New Zealand and recently, orders have been placed by the Australian Government with the New Zealand firm to manufacture 37 Airtrainer aircraft – a development of the original Airtourer – as an abinitio trainer for the RAAF. Manufacture in New Zealand takes place in a far lower labour cost environment than in Australia.

The Cropmaster agricultural aircraft conversion of the Wackett Trainer was designed and a few were built and sold, but the project was inherently unprofitable.

Transavia Corporation situated at Seven Hills about 25 miles west of Sydney have designed and put into production the Airtruk, an agricultural aircraft which is still being produced, a significant number being exported. During the past 10 years a total of 80 aircraft have been produced.

In addition, this phase received added colour as a result of a number of attempts being made to design and build aircraft locally by dedicated enthusiasts. The first, around 1956, was the Fawcett monoplane, a four-place, all-metal aircraft, with a tricycle undercarriage and a Gipsy Major engine. Then came the PL? tanker, an agricultural aeroplane, built by Kingsford-Smith Aviation Services Ltd. There was the Southern Cross monoplane, an aircraft built by the Toowoomba Iron Foundries in Queensland and the R 3, a four-seater retractable undercarriage aircraft built by Victa. None of these projects continued beyond the prototype stage and none of them received Type Approval.

During 1960, on the initiative of Hawker de Havilland and after prolonged negotiation with the Australian Government Hawker de Havilland took over the under-utilised Lidcombe facility previously operated by Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation. The Lidcombe plant had always been aero-engine and machine shop oriented and Hawker de Havilland transferred to Lidcombe, the engine activities which had previously taken place at Bankstown and the propeller activities from Alexandria. At about the same time, falling workload in the aircraft industry in NSW convinced Hawker de Havilland that it should take initiatives towards further rationalisation and Hawker de Havilland bought the share capital of Bristol Aircraft and took over the NSW activities of Fairey Aviation. This left Hawker de Havilland as the only major aviation contractor in NSW.

Missile trials activities at Salisbury and Woomera increased during the 1960s with Hawker de Havilland personnel being involved in such major programs as Blue Streak, Black Arrow, Sea Dart, and the ELDO programs. Under contract to Hawker Siddeley Dynamics, UK, Hawker de Havilland was the largest missile trials civil contractor in the Woomera/Salisbury complex, employing a large number of specialist scientists, engineers and technicians.

Experience with manufacture of a large variety of nonaviation products in the early years of this decade led to the realisation that the best things to make within an aircraft factory are aircraft parts and Hawker de Havilland spearheaded a determined effort to obtain sub-contract work from the American aerospace industry. Orders were obtained from several US companies and were executed satisfactorily in terms of quality and delivery schedule. It was soon learned from these activities that Australia was handicapped by not having an “offset” policy such as other countries had invoked for some years.

By “offset” is meant the requirement to place subcontract manufacturing orders with Australian industry to an agreed value against major equipment purchases overseas by the Australian Government.

The first reference to a Government policy was made by the Minister for Defence, then Sir Allen Fairhall, in January, 1969, when he said “that there can be no major procurement program in the future with any country, that does not include offset arrangements as part of the deal”.