Today, 26 April 2015, Air New Zealand Limited celebrates the 75th anniversary of its founding as Tasman Empire Airways Limited on 26 April 1940. The initial, once weekly service from Auckland to Sydney opened up international travel for all New Zealanders, taking travel time for this 1,341 mile journey, from 3 days by sea, to just 8 or 9 hours by air. As Tasman Empire Airways (or ‘TEAL’ as it was known) expanded over the years, various other airlines were amalgamated and merged to form the international airline of New Zealand as we know it today.
Author Paul Sheehan decided that the 75th anniversary of Air New Zealand was something special to commemorate, and his work has culminated in the most comprehensive collection of photographs ever compiled on this subject. His ‘AIR NEW ZEALAND AIRCRAFT – 75 YEARS’ flash drive is intended to give the reader, an in-sight into the aircraft of those airlines, that one way or another helped make up the Air New Zealand ‘family’ over the last 75 years, and the individual aircraft histories are accompanied by an amazing selection of wonderful historic photographs.
The histories of each aircraft cover the fleets of Cook Strait Airways, Air Travel (N.Z.) Limited, East Coast Airways, Union Airways of New Zealand, British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, Tasman Empire Airways Limited, Straits Air Freight Express/SAFE Air, New Zealand National Airways Corporation, Mount Cook Airlines, Eagle Airways, Air Nelson, Freedom Air International, Amphibian Airways, Tourist Air Travel, and of course, Air New Zealand.
The main sections cover fifty five aircraft types, and are supplemented by a chapter on the historic smaller and lessor known aircraft operated by The Mount Cook Group, Eagle Aviation/Eagle Airways, and Air Nelson. There’s a nostalgic photographic section on early Tasman Empire Airways and the New Zealand National Airways Corporation, both of which were the major players in the formation of Air New Zealand.
In all, this history consists of over 3,100 pages and over 2,300 photographs – far too big to have been produced as a traditional paper book! But by opening up this flash drive on your computer and increasing your viewing to ‘Full Screen’, you will be able to enjoy these aircraft histories and the magnificent photos whenever you feel like it, and as often as you like!
P.S. for Paul... only one problem with your work... it all started with Air Travel in Hokitika in 1934!
Need a Retro Livery
ReplyDelete