Above is a pair of stereo photos kindly sent to me by Tim Lees, who found them in his father’s collection. There’s a slight mystery as to the occasion. The label at the top reads ‘Hendon – July ’28’, which suggests they were taken at the RAF Display at Hendon in 1928, but that year
C. D. Coulthard-Clark. The Third Brother: The Royal Australian Air Force 1921-39. North Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1991. The classic history of the early RAAF (not that there is much serious competition). People, policies, institutions, infrastructure — it’s all here, even air displays! Richard P. Hallion. Strike from the Sky: The History of Battlefield Air
In an earlier series of posts I discussed Australia’s first airship, the White Australia, which flew in 1914. It turns out that there was an earlier Australian airship, of a sort: the Airem Scarem. Indeed, according to a 1907 newspaper advertisement it was the ‘First Airship below the line’ (equator, presumably). From the above photo,
