Australian Aviation (1996) - full - from the 1920s to the '70s, through newsreels and news footage

This compilation looks at all sorts of aspects of Australian aviation - from manufacture to 'Smithy' to war to hosties in competition at the town hall in Sydney - via newsreel and news footage.

Newsreels offered a diverse approach to snippets of news during their golden age during the 1930s-1950s, though they did straggle on into the 1960s, until television finally killed them off.

This compilation doesn't offer coherence or completeness of coverage, rather it reflects whatever the newsreel teams felt might titillate punters sitting in darkened theatres before the main feature got underway.

The two main newsreels for different theatrical chains were put together by Cinesound and Movietone, with their rivalry celebrated in Phil Noyce's feature Newsfront, starring Bill Hunter (made before Noyce went Hollywood).

Amongst the topics covered in the footage:

Ross Smith's 1919 flight from London to Australia, filmed by Antarctic and Cinesound legend Frank Hurley
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Ross_Macpherson_Smith
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Frank_Hurley

Amy Johnson arriving in Queensland in 1930 after flying solo from England.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Amy_Johnson

Jean Batten in Sydney in 1934 after breaking the England to Australia record for women pilots.
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Jean_Batten

The Beaufort bomber, Australia's WWII work horse, getting into the air in 1941 (at one point the plane was built in Australia for the RAAF).
See
https://www.shrine.org.au/
remembering-beaufort-bomber-1

The restoration and exhibition of the Southern Cross, the plane used by (Sir) Charles Kingsford Smith (Smithy) in various record-breaking attempts.
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Charles_Kingsford_Smith

The destruction of the Bismarck Convoy, filmed by Damien Parer in 1943 (the man who helped Ken Hall and Cinesound win an Oscar with his footage covering the Kokoda track, before being machine gunned in 1944 while covering the US army in Pilau action in the Pacific).
See https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Damien_Parer

The 50th international air hostess quest, as noted held in Sydney's town hall, with the Mayor of the time in attendance.

A puff piece for aerial ambulance services

The last flight of the DC-3 in 1972, then the oldest flying example of the warhorse. (This writer had the distinction of throwing up - to the horror of the hostie while not knowing about the brown paper bag - on a "treat" first DC3 regional flight from Tamworth to the big smoke of Sydney).

The Moorabbin Air Museum holds a DC-3 in its collection, Douglas DC-3 VH-ANH
See
https://www.aarg.com.au/
dc3.html

The "Kanana" DC 3 was restored to operational flight standard in 2017.
See
https://www.melbournejetbase.com.au/
about/dc-3/#submenu