300 and counting

So much has changed in those 35 years. The Australian airline industry has evolved almost beyond recognition with names like East West, Ansett and TAA long gone. And on the military side the RAAF no longer operates Caribous – the replacement of which has been a staple story in Australian Aviation in all that time! The back cover of issue number 1 featured an ad for the Grumman F-14 Tomcat – ‘World’s Best Interceptor. . .

By Design!’ – which was being pitched for the Air Force’s Mirage replacement project. The inside back cover features an ad for Pan Am, tagline ‘Experience makes the difference’.

Inside is an ‘Airline Analysis’ that details the key stats for Australia’s then major airlines of Qantas (fleet – 12 747-200s and 11 707s), TAA, East West and Ansett. “Indeed, 1975/76 was not a kind one to our commercial airlines,” it reads. From the small feederliners to the giant that is Qantas they all felt the savage impact of reduced passenger traffic alongside rapidly escalating fuel and service costs. Government imposed still higher taxes, aviation fuel continued to soar in price, rents on premises increased and wages became the greater portion of overall expenditure. All this in a year of zero growth. ” The more things change, the more they stay the same! A few pages before is Jim’s review of the contenders for the Mirage replacement.

“Today the primary requirement is for an aircraft to provide full ground support in addition to the entire range of interdiction and air superiority tasks,” it reads. Sounds like the requirement for the F-35 Joint Striker Fighter! A caption summarises a jet called the Northrop F-18L Cobra. “Northrop Grumman and McDonnell Douglas have teamed together to develop the F-18L. If the RAAF can wait ’til the mid 1980s then this might just be the aircraft to win selection. Due to its naval heritage the F-18L embodies all the desired qualities so important for our environment – GA [ground attack] capability, very good range, excellent air-to-air capabilities, twin engines and relatively low cost. ” While the F-18L was one of those ideas too logical to see the light of day, the basic F/A‑18 Hornet did mature to offer the RAAF most of the F-18L’s promise.

The magazine itself was intended as an annual: “Our objective is simple. To report on what is occurring in the Australian aerospace environment during the current year”, Jim wrote in his introductory editorial.

Back then the magazine had a different name Australian Aviation and Defence Review (shortened to Australian Aviation, for brevity’s sake, in the early 1980s, but interesting now that Australian Aviation’s sister publication since early 2011 is Australian Defence Business Review). And the cover price was just $2. 50.

The aviation industry of 1977 seems a world away from today’s, but I hope in carrying on Jim’s original mission of “report[ing] on what is occurring in the Australian aerospace environment” through all 300 issues Australian Aviation has reported on all that change, and more importantly, explained that change.

The magazine too has changed much in those 300 issues, but I think the basic formula, the core DNA if you like, remains the same. A commitment to covering the key issues in aviation, in depth and in detail, with a commitment to quality and a passion for the industry.

With our 301st issue, January/February 2013, we will build on that commitment and passion as we start the new year with a refreshed layout, a new, larger format, and some tweaks to our content.

We are as excited about where we go with the 301st issue of Australian Aviation, and beyond, as Jim was back with issue number 1 in 1977. I think I, and all the AA team, are as driven by the same principle as Jim was back in 1977 – to make Australian Aviation as good as it can be.