Australian National Airways was a short-lived

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

, founded on 3 January

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was b ...

and

Charles Ulm Charles Thomas Philippe Ulm (18 October 1898 – 3 December 1934) was a pioneer Australian aviator. He partnered with Charles Kingsford Smith in achieving a number of aviation firsts, serving as Kingsford Smith's co-pilot on the first transpaci ...

. The airline began operations in January 1930 with five

Avro 618 Ten The Avro 618 Ten or X was a passenger transport aircraft of the 1930s. It was a licensed version by Avro of the Fokker F.VIIB/3m. Development In 1928 Avro came to an arrangement with Fokker to license production of its successful F.VIIB/3m fo ...

s, similar aircraft to Kingsford Smith's famous ''

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...

''. However, the airline folded in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

after the crash of VH-UMF '' Southern Cloud'' in the

Australian Alps The Australian Alps is a mountain range in southeast Australia. It comprises an interim Australian bioregion,

between

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, and VH-UNA ''Southern Sun'' in

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

Aircraft

:VH-UMF ''Southern Cloud'' ( crashed March 1931) :VH-UMG ''Southern Star'' :VH-UMH ''Southern Sky'' :VH-UMI ''Southern Moon'' :VH-UNA ''Southern Sun'' (crashed November 1931) On the airline's dissolution, ''Southern Moon'' was bought by Ulm, refitted for long-distance flight and reregistered as VH-UXX ''Faith in Australia''. The other two aircraft were sold to

Keith Virtue Keith Allison Virtue MBE (23 June 1909 – 7 February 1980) was a pioneer Australian aviator. Sir Lawrence Wackett, in the foreword of Keith Virtue's biography, writes that he was an experienced airman himself but he marvelled at the ability an ...

's New England Airways.

References

{{Airlines of Australia Defunct airlines of Australia Airlines established in 1930 Airlines disestablished in 1931 Australian companies established in 1930

Aircraft

See also

References