The F.27 Friendship In Australian Service

The airline environment in Australia in the mid 1950s was a pointer to the Friendship’s future. Despite the increasing contribution made by the Viscount on the TAA network, with it’ accounting for 67% of total passenger miles during 1956/57, the DC-3 was still responsible for lifting a sizeable number of passengers. Of the 79 DC-3s still on the civil register at the end of 1956, i:ymost all were airline operated and of these, 22 were in the TM fleet. However, rising maintenance costs and questionable comfort, when compared with more modern types, made their replacement a pressing need. The emergence of Friendship was a classic case of the right aircraft at the right time. Coupled with this was TAA’s happy experience with the Rolls Royce Dart. By the end of 1956 TM had accumulated 140,000 Dart engine hours without experiencing any sudden power loss in flight. The configuration offered by the Friendship matched to the super reliable Dart seemed to TAA, the way to go for that elusive DC-3 replacement.

The historic first order from any airline for a Friendship came from TM and was placed on 9 March 1956 for six aircraft at a cost of £1. 2m, with the first delivery expected in 1959. Based on the then 21 DC-3s in TAA service, a fleet of 12 Friendships would have been able to cope with the DC-3’s workload and a further Friendship order was thought likely. The negotiating of the sale of some of its Convair 240 fleet ti_ad commenced and the phasing out of the DC-3 was under investigation, as a prelude to the Friendship’s arrival.

During August 1958, a series of cracks developed in the lower skin of the centre section during tank testing of a pressurised fuselage at Fokker. This had occurred after the equivalent of 16,000 one hour flights and indicated the need for a fix to be developed. When news of this reached Australia, DCA and TAA conferred and sent John Watkins and DCA’s Director of Airworthiness, Peter Langford to Holland to investigate the problem. The subsequent Australian modification which was incorporated into all Friendships was to raise the ‘safe life’ of the section to 30,000 hours.

This involved the replacement of the previously fitted 75ST skin material which was 2mm thick with a skin of 24ST of 3mm thickness. The effect of this was estimated to reduce the 1 g stress level from 12,300lb/sq inch to approximately 8,500Ib/sq inch. Although this modification added 115Ib to the aircraft’s weight and delayed the delivery of TAA’s initial Friendship by five weeks, this was considered a small penalty considering the improvement in strength of the area concerned. Fokker appreciated the assistance from the Australians and the benefits which accrued were substantial – no Friendship has ever been withdrawn from service because of cracks developing in important structural elements, a proud record indeed.

The first TM Friendship VH-TFB ‘Abel Tasman’ arrived in Melbourne on 16 April 1959 after a nine day flight from Schipol involving 22 stops. This aircraft, the forerunner of so many other Friendships to make the delivery flight to Australia, was immediately used for intensive crew training prior to its introduction into service. At the time of the delivery the Australian order book had grown to 18, TAA had increased their order to 12 and 6 were on order for Ansett. (The Ansett order for 6 aircraft signed on 28 June, 1958, was the last order received by Fokker prior to the 1958 order drought until the Dutch military order was received during July 1959. ) The initial TM passenger service took place the following month flying Sydney/Canberra/Corowa/ Wynyard and the second aircraft delivered commenced operations on Queensland routes on 28 May to be joined by the third aircraft on 19 June. By the end of July, four of the TM Friendships were engaged on Queensland routes, both coastal and inland.

The Friendships were an immediate and outstanding success meeting with unanimous approval from the passengers. The panoramic windows, air-conditioning and comfortable seating were a huge step forward from the DC-3. The seats were an Australian inclusion, built by Chromsteet NSW and shipped to Holland for installation prior to delivery. By the end of 1959, all 12 TAA Friendships had been delivered and the receipt of the Ansett aircraft had commenced. The Friendships were introduced onto numerous services in many states, both in areas to replace the DC-3s and also to augment schedules on some trunk routes. The orders for additional aircraft continued, with three more for Ansett during July 1960, typical of so many follow up orders to come in the years ahead.

A tragic event for TM was the loss of their first Friendship VH-TFB when it crashed into the sea seven miles southeast of Mackay on 10 June 1960 with the loss of all 27 on board. The Friendship had arrived at Mackay at 8. 40pm but when the airport had been closed due to fog, it had circled until a landing clearance was received at 10:05pm. It was during the landing approach that the Friendship hit the sea. This was the first accident TAA had been involved in resulting in the loss of passengers since their formation in 1946. Despite an exhaustive investigation no cause for the accident could be identified. Amongst the recommendations arising from the inquiry were that the presentation of height on altimeters be improved and that the development of flight recorders be investigated. During the 1960s as more Friendships were· delivered in Australia they gradually became the principal aircraft used by the airlines on intra-state routes. The Ansett group in particular, together with East-West as the main independent airline, were transforming the standard of air services on country routes. The familiar DC-3 was being ousted by the Friendship as shown in the following table of the number of both types on the Australian Civil Register during the 1960s and early 1970s (includes DC-3s operating in PNG). Baggage compartment and/or wardrobe adjacent to the toilet, which is at the front of the cabin between the entrance door and seating area. A galley unit is located at the rear, adjacent to the door on the port side. With these basic arrangements, and provision for two cabin attendants, the Fokker 50 can carry 46, 50 or 54 passengers at 34, 32 or 30-in (86, 81 or 76-cm) pitch; if the forward baggage compartment is reduced in size, the high-density layout provides for 58 seats at 30 in (76 cm).

As Fokker improved and developed the Friendships, additional aircraft were ordered by the Australian airlines. Some were acquired to carry a combination of freight/passengers but most were employed purely as passenger aircraft for intra-state use. As airfields have been improved the F. 28 Fellowship has partially displaced the role of its older family member. By mid 1986 there were 17 F. 28s in operation while the number of F. 27s had declined to 32 as several Friendships were sold abroad or traded in on new equipment.

The greatest impact of the Friendship’s introduction has been the major improvement in the standard of service offered to communities located in rural and remote areas. Generally the Friendship could operate anywhere the DC-3 could, even from unsealed airstrips in high temperature conditions. One of the reasons TAA was attracted to the type was its ability to use water injection to yield full power in a variety of temperatures. This permitted it to lift a full load with a superior performance from any airfields served by DC-3s. The widespread sale of Friendships to all the major domestic airlines in Australia and their use in Papua New Guinea testifies as to their abilities to perform ‘in the rough’.

We thought it appropriate to examine the revolution brought about by the Friendship in rural Australia and to ask one airline how it felt about the benefits which flowed from its introduction. We sought the opinions of East-West, as it seemed to typify the regional rural airlines in Australia in the late 1950s.

East-West Airlines commenced operations on 23 June 1947 with Avro Anson VH-ASM ‘Hinkler’. From that humble beginning the airline steadily expanded using a variety of ex-military aircraft including six Avro Ansons, three Lockheed Hudsons and four DC-3s. Avro Anson VH-ASM remained in East-West service until 6 May 1955 when it was sold to Marshall Airways. It is presently in Tamworth undergoing restoration. The Hudsons continued in passenger use until 1957 and the DC-3s continued making a valuable contribution until the last scheduled DC-3 passenger service was flown Tamworth/Quirindi/Scone on 13 October 1968. All these aircraft played a vital role in expanding East-West services, but it was not until the introduction of the Friendship that it was in a position to effectively and economically expand. Four aircraft were on East-West’s short list as a DC-3 replacement. They were the Avro 748, a Dart-engined version of the Convair 440, Nord 262 and Fokker Friendship. The decision was made in favour of the Friendship and an aircraft originally ordered by TM was diverted to East-West. This first East-West Friendship VH-EWA was handed over to an East-West crew at Schipol on 28 July 1959 and the aircraft arrived in Tamworth on 12 August. It entered service on 26 August and until the arrival of the second Friendship VH-EWH on 14 September 1963, which was on charter from NZNAC, was East-West’s sole Friendship. From then on a steady flow of Friendships joined the fleet and EastWest ultimately became a very major user of the type with a total of 23 entering service with them at various times. Considering the fleet stood at four DC-3s in 1959 prior to the Friendship’s entry into service, the expansion of East-West services has been quite remarkable.

To get an indication of the Friendship’s contribution to EastWest’s success, its past, present and future role in the network and general views on what the type has meant to the airline, we recently visited Tamworth and sought the opinion of John Murphy, East-West’s Manager Engineering Services. Of the impact to the airline he said, “From a technical point of view the F. 27 was the making of East-West. It enabled an expansion which was to ultimately lead into other states. Prior to its introduction, we had operated ex-military aircraft and with the Friendship we were able to provide a move into equipment that enabled more people to be carried. We were thankful for an aircraft of this quality which enabled us to provide a means of comfort improvement. ”

Of changes necessary to introduce the Friendship Murphy said, “We had to implement various changes although we already had a good maintenance set-up from which to expand. We obtained a large stand to gain access to the tail area and another one for access to the engine gear box. Wheel and brake maintenance was changed to be able to cope with the need to overhaul the Friendship’s pneumatic system. Apart from that, the instrument shop was upgraded and we obtained some equipment so we could recharge the oxygen bottles. ”

I asked John Murphy about any problems encountered. “We struck some cracking but these were defects well documented and known to Fokker and not just related to us. Examples were cracks around fuel tank rebates and minor cracking in brackets in non-structural areas such as under the floor and around the toilet. Cracking at the chine line was corrected by covering the areas with full section patches of one gauge thicker skin. We found that it was prone to corrosion in some areas·such as the forward freight area adjacent to the entrance, under the floor, toilets and galley and at the top of the fuselage around the dorsal fin. On the operational side when we initially were using some unsealed strips, we struck some leading edge propeller damage and pitting and scouring on the blades. We also did suffer some minor stone damage to fuselage sides and nacelles. ” East-West has introduced some changes to the Friendship since their entry into service. The water methanol refuelling access panel has been changed from side swinging to a fore and aft arrangement and this alteration was adopted by Fokker. To ease access to the rudder peddle grease nipples with a grease gun, a small oval access panel was designed and installed and this also was taken up by Fokker. The original Fokker toilet on the starboard side which necessitated entry through the toilet to gain access to a service door was replaced by an Australian centre position toilet. This was designed by Fokker and introduced by East-West. On some aircraft, oven/galley arrangements which were designed by East-West and built in Tamworth were installed.

Maintenance of the F. 27 fleet is split between East-West and outside contractors. While 75-80% of aircraft component overhaul is carried out in Tamworth, other items are sent out where their overhaul by East-West c1,\nnot by cost-justified. Amongst these are Dart overhaul performed by Air New Zealand and the propeller overhaul by Air New Zealand’s Safe Air subsidiary. It is interesting to note that this used to be undertaken locally by the domestics but was terminated by them once East-West began to expand its horizons during the early eighties. A major spin-off from the Friendship fleet for East-West has been the strengthening of its own maintenance capabilities. This has enabled it to perform overhaul work for a variety of clients including the CSIRO’s Friendship, (refer p88, May 87 AA) the NSW Health Commission’s Queen Air and King Air fleet and maintenance support for Skywest.

By the early 1980s, increasing maintenance costs of earlier F. 27s prompted East-West to order a batch of new Friendships which were received during 1983/84. The earlier aircraft had certainly proven themselves to be reliable and durable performers. When their first Friendship VH-EWA was sold in 1977 it had notched up an impressive 53,818 landings and 43,277 hours. The current Friendship utilisation rate is running at 2600/2800 hours and shows no sign of diminishing, even with the growing number of F. 28s in the fleet. The gradual increase in schedules has been keeping the Friendships quite busy.

The F. 27 has shown itself to be a particularly flexible aircraft as evidenced by their use on the Norfolk Island service which was possibly the longest regular overwater Friendship service carried out anywhere by a civil F. 27. Two Friendships VH-EWP and VH-EWQ were fitted with long-range tanks and operated the route as 44/46 seaters instead of the usual 52 passenger configuration. Apart from the carriage of a life raft in the rear of the cabin no other changes were necessary. The Friendships carried out this service for four years until the Fellowship’s arrival.

And what of the future of the Friendship with East-West?

According to John Murphy they will be around for several years yet, particularly due to the East-West network structure. Many ports served such as Armidale, Glen Innes, Grafton, Inverell, Kempsey and Taree cannot accommodate the larger F. 28. On others, the F. 27 is too large but the high per seat price of current smaller equipment still necessitates the Friendship’s use. Also the Dart in not particularly fuel efficient and as a consequence high operating costs are a problem into ports with marginal loads. Production of the redoubtable Dart ceased at the end of 1986 although spares will be available for decades to come.

Once the two airline policies is modified, it would not be surprising to see East-West purchase a smaller turboprop to overcome the cost problems of operating into currently uneconomic destinations. On other routes such as to Tamworth, the Friendships are frequently fully booked and a few extra seats would be handy. Certainly the life of an airline scheduler is not an easy one given the disparity of loads out of different points.

East-West airlines celebrates 40 years of service this year. It has progressed from a tiny Avro Anson operation into a full fledged airline with a fleet of seven Friendships and six Fellowships flying across several States and Territories. The contribution of the Fokker Friendship to this outstanding success story is beyond question.

In 1987, after 28 years of service, the Fokker Friendship continues to play a vital role in Australia’s civil aviation industry. Its versatility and reliability have made it a worthy successor to the DC-3 which in so many areas it replaced. Just like the DC-3, there would be few areas of Australia not touched by the Friendship. A dictionary definition of ‘friendship’ says in part ‘friendly disposition felt or shown’ which in many ways seems to sum up just some of the sterling virtues of this fine aircraft.