Ground Engineers
- Graeme Buntrock
- Bob Harvey‑Hall
- Hans Helberg
- Jim Lattimore
- Ron Mathews
- Ian Johnson
- Bruce Satchell
- Alec Topp
- Alan Thompson
- Fred Nott
The Freighter Comes to TAA
In 1959, the Australian Government transferred responsibility for internal air services in Papua and New Guinea from Qantas to Trans‑Australia Airlines. TAA inherited a network of challenging routes, many of which required aircraft capable of carrying heavy loads into short, sloping, and often muddy airstrips. The Douglas DC‑3, while reliable, lacked the payload capacity needed for the major infrastructure projects planned for the Highlands.
At the same time, Ansett‑controlled Mandated Airlines (MAL) was also operating in the Territory. Both carriers recognised the need for a larger, more capable freighter. Rather than compete for limited aircraft, TAA and MAL jointly purchased surplus Bristol Freighters from Pakistan.
In 1961, Australian crews ferried the aircraft home. Three Freighters were allocated to Mandated Airlines and four to TAA. After arrival, each aircraft underwent extensive servicing and modification before being deployed to New Guinea.
TAA’s four Freighters were registered as VH‑TBA, VH‑TBB, VH‑TBC and VH‑TBD. The airline planned to operate VH‑TBA and VH‑TBB in New Guinea while retaining VH‑TBC and VH‑TBD in Australia as spares sources — a prudent decision given the limited global support for the type.
VH‑TBB commenced operations in June 1961, followed by VH‑TBA in September. VH‑TBA, a 1955‑built Mark 31 Freighter, had previously served with the Pakistan Air Force as S4427 and later as AP‑AME before being sold to TAA. It officially joined the Australian register on 2 August 1961.
The Freighters were urgently needed. The New Guinea Administration had begun planning a major road from Lae to Goroka and Mt Hagen — a route that would eventually transform the Highlands economy. But before the road could be built, the machinery to build it had to be flown in, and only the Bristol Freighter was capable of carrying such loads into the region’s short, high‑altitude airstrips.
Flying in the Machinery of Progress
The Highlands road project was one of the most ambitious engineering efforts ever undertaken in the Territory. The Bristol Freighters carried trucks, bridge girders, bulldozers, graders, tractors, and other heavy machinery — loads far beyond the capability of the DC‑3. The Freighter’s clamshell nose doors and unobstructed cargo hold made it uniquely suited to this work.
TAA also undertook major commercial freight contracts. One of the most notable involved transporting an entire tea factory from Madang to Mt Hagen. The British manufacturer designed every component to fit inside a Bristol Freighter, demonstrating the aircraft’s influence on industrial planning.
Loading was often a complex puzzle. Large cylindrical condensers were eased into the fuselage until they fitted “like a cork in a bottle.” Road graders and Caterpillar tractors were partially dismantled to reduce height and weight. Trucks were sometimes rolled into the aircraft on their brake drums after their wheels were removed.
Even the largest machines could be moved with careful planning. A Caterpillar D8 bulldozer, for example, had to be dismantled into three separate loads before being flown into the Highlands, where it was reassembled on site.
The Gateway to the Highlands
Madang became the operational base for TAA’s Bristol Freighters. Its location — adjacent to a deep‑water wharf and within flying distance of key Highlands airstrips — made it the ideal staging point for heavy‑lift operations.
Madang Airport had a single sealed runway, but most Highlands strips were short, sloping, and surfaced with dirt or grass. In wet weather, they became extremely slippery, demanding exceptional skill from pilots landing heavily loaded aircraft in confined terrain.
Many strips were one‑way operations where aircraft landed uphill and departed downhill in the opposite direction.
TAA pilots assigned to Bristol operations completed ground theory training in Australia before posting to New Guinea. In‑flight endorsement training was conducted in Madang, where pilots quickly learned to appreciate the Freighter’s strengths: excellent power‑to‑weight ratio, forgiving handling, and ease of loading.
These qualities made the Bristol safer than the DC‑3 in marginal conditions and ideally suited to the demanding environment of the Highlands.
The Grit Behind the Glory
The Bristol Freighter was powered by two Bristol Hercules sleeve‑valve radial engines — powerful, complex, and unlike anything TAA crews had previously operated. The engines required long warm‑up periods each morning to bring the thick oil to operating temperature, and high‑altitude starts demanded careful fuel priming techniques.
Fuel gauges were notoriously unreliable at low quantities, so First Officers were required to verify fuel levels manually using a wooden dipstick. After refuelling at Madang, they climbed through a hatch behind the cockpit and walked along the wing to measure fuel by hand — a task that would never meet modern safety standards.
TAA engineers performed outstanding work keeping the Freighters operational with limited facilities. Most maintenance was carried out in direct sunlight, and tools often became too hot to handle, requiring cooling in buckets of water.
The harsh environment also revealed design vulnerabilities. Mud from wet airstrips frequently clogged the electrically operated tailwheel lock. When the mud hardened during flight, the lock sometimes failed to disengage after landing. In such cases, the First Officer climbed out through the top hatch and walked down the fuselage to free the locking pin with the aircraft fire axe.
Completion of the Highlands road network eventually reduced the need for heavy‑lift air transport. Ironically, the Bristol Freighters had helped build the very infrastructure that made them redundant.
In 1967, after five years of intensive service, TAA withdrew its Freighters and sold them to Air Express in Australia. VH‑TBB continued flying, while VH‑TBA was stripped for parts in Brisbane.
