The aircraft fleet consisted of  Lockheed 10's, the original Electra, and Dragon Rapides  plus a Fox Moth.

In 1941 we obtained from Eire Lingus, the Irish airline 2 Lockheed 14's which were flown out over France during the invasion by the Germans.  

A big party was held in the hangar at Parafield when they arrived.  

The routes flown were: Adelaide/Penneshaw/American River/Kingscote, later Kingscote only:  Adelaide/Port Lincoln  Adelaide/Cowell/Cleve: Adelaide/Pt. Pirie/Whyalla: Adelaide/Renmark/Mildura: Adelaide/Broken Hill: Adelaide/Mt. Eba/Oodnadatta/Alice Springs/Tennant Creek/Daly Waters/Katherine/Darwin. 

We were a busy, well patronised airline, however there were none of the trimmings that people came to expect later.  

We had one hostess only, Nell Meyrick, who later became the chief hostess of A.N.A.  

On the Darwin flights we used to prepare bread rolls and boil eggs (at Parafield) and fruit for the passengers to eat at Mt. Eba the first stop on this route.

However on the local routes it wasn't considered necessary to provide refreshments.

As office boy I had to wear a uniform  and forage cap which I thought was similar to the lolly boys at the pictures. 

We had  a strong social club and the company bus that was used to transport passengers and freight to and from the airport was allowed to be used for the staff to have picnics on weekends. 

In 1941 superannuation was introduced into the company which was a rare thing in those days.  However wages were not high, for my first three months I was on 12/6d a week which was a probationary period rising to 17/6d.  When I left in October 22nd 1941 to join the army I was receiving 35/-d.

When I returned to Australia in 1946 the Guinea Airways operation had been taken over by A.N.A. on a Joint Venture basis but the head office staff remained entirely Guinea Airways. 

I became a passenger clerk and freight clerk, in those days we carried out many different functions but as you are aware these functions became more separated as the years went on.

I later became Personnel  Officer in S.A. for A.N.A. Darwin Manager, Brisbane Manager retiring in 1984. 

I have many anecdotes about the company and personnel and would be only too happy to give you as much information as you wish. 

Regards Jim Haynes

Before I forget things that happened so long ago, I thought I would get them down so there is some sort of a record not only for the Ansett Web but my own private recollections.

webmaster: I only hope all ex-employees follow Jim's Lead

All of the Guinea Airways ports in the 1940's were operated by agents, Reg Wearn at Port Lincoln, Jack Nelson at Whyalla, A. E. Zietz (later Doug Shepherd) at Kingscote, A. E. Moody  atPt. Pirie, V. Gaskell at Cleve, G.. J. Payne at Cowell J. Thompson at Renmark, Chaffely Bros at Mildura.   

I can't remember the name of the agent at Ceduna but if I can find out will let you know.

In 1941 we were given a diary by the company that sets out the whole history of Guinea Airways from when it was founded in New Guinea in 1927.  I still hold this diary.

What I will try and give you now is a few anecdotes of what happened in the early days , 1940's and 50's.   We used to charter at cost with free crew arrangements a DC3 to go to Kangaroo  Island to go fishing for the day.  This happened on several occasions, I have a photograph of one occasion showing all those  who took part, a lot of rain but very little fish except from the ice works.

These K.I. trips became a commercial profit making concern  or a short time after those started by the staff.

In 1956 Renmark was very much affected by the flooding of the Murray River and Guinea Airways provided a DC3 to take up as many sandbags as we could stow in the lockers and the staff who were off duty to fill them.  

This operation went off very well and went a long way towards helping to save the town.   

A lot of tired people came back after a long day's hard work.

In the early 1940's with the advent of the Lockheed 14's we received a librascope to be used for loading these aircraft this was to be used instead of the normal load sheet.  A dial was turned to record the weight in each locker and 170 lbs for each passenger seat occupied.  Watching a dial in the middle which gave the centre of gravity.  This piece of equipment was in advance of its time and DCA (Dept. of Civil Aviation) would not let us use it.   

The late Bob Haseldine I believe was going to try and get hold of it before he retired. 

When checking in passengers we had to get each person to step on the scales, weigh their luggage and record the luggage checks on the passenger list.  

The majority of passengers in those days were checked in at the city office and transported to Parafield by our coaches which also carried the freight and mail which they had picked up from the G.P.O.   

With the West Beach Airport coming on line in the 1950's the trend was for more passengers to go direct to the airport although the city office  carried out this function for quite a few years after.  

Each year the Guinea Airways directors used to put on a dinner for all of the A.N.A. supervisors who handled the G.A.L. business.  This was quite a big event, amongst these directors were Ian Potter   a stockbroker from Melbourne, Air Vice Marshal Cole, (my memory has failed me to know the others).

I know you are interested in this, will get the brain active to keep sending you more in the future.   

Regards Jim

Christmas Memories

Like Dickens I would like to share with you" Christmases Past." In the immediate post war years Xmas in the airline in Adelaide was probably spent in a similar manner to which you may have experienced later on. On Xmas Day all of the staff in the terminal in Adelaide were given a substantial lunch by the Strathmore Hotel and a dinner at night, this was paid for by A.N.A. Similarly the people at Parafield airport were supplied with meals from our catering section.

The days leading up to Xmas were always very busy bearing in mind the staff did more than one job, such as physically handling the luggage and freight as well as checking passengers. The Guinea Airways flights from the West Coast and Kangaroo Island arrived laden with turkeys, sides of beef, hams and crayfish( LIVE.) These usually arrived on Xmas Eve and were distributed from the footpath in front of the A.N.A. terminal to the addressees waiting there. These people were always on time because there was not any refrigeration available, however from time to time a few were left for collection eventually being tossed out.

We of course always had Xmas parties prior to the busy period in a large room decorated upstairs in North Terrace . The children's Xmas party at the airport which was organised by Marjorie Bell was always a great success Santa arriving in an aircraft, Santa at that stage was Snow Miller our foreman loader who played that part for many years.

I don't think I have told you very much about Guinea Airways operation to Darwin which was taken over by TAA in 1947, will endeavour to provide you with some details early in the New Year. By the way, my wife Kath who is typing this was secretary to the joint manager of Guinea Airways/A.N.A. (George Archibald) on his return from secondment from Air Ceylon, and later Pat Lilley, so I have her memory to call upon also. Regards Jim.

Xmas 2001

Adelaide to Darwin Route

I promised you some of the history of the Adelaide to Darwin route in the early 40's.   

The route operated was Adelaide/Mt.Eba/Oodnadatta/Alice Springs/Tennant Creek/Daly Waters/Katherine/Darwin.   

The aircraft used up to 1942 were Lockheed 14's and afterwards DC-3's.  

The flight departed at 6.00 a.m. from Parafield and it was usually 8 p.m. before it arrived in Darwin.

As was the case in S.A. all of the ports were operated by agents except Darwin where a Mr. Schubert was manager later during the war Pat Henderson took over this job when the airline operated from Batchelor as Darwin was closed due to the bombing in February 1942 later in the war 2 of our staff from Adelaide Aub.Hillier went to Katherine and Alf. Mellock went to Tennant Creek to manage those ports due to the large amount of traffic generated by the Services.

In 1969 when I was manager in Darwin I had to close down the Daly Waters airport and unfortunately I did not obtain a lot of the documents that went back for about 30 years which showed the history of the operation of that port.

In the late 40's Parafield airport became boggy when a large amount of rain fell, as a result we used the strip at Gawler.  This was quite an operation, we had to move all the despatch equipment, engineers, loaders, caterers, etc. up to Gawler and move the passengers in our buses.   

The conditions were primitive but there were very few delays in our schedules.  This operation went on almost to the time the move was made to West Beach.

I have recently obtained a very interesting book written by Peter Yule titled "The Forgotten Giant of Australian Aviation" which gives the whole history of A.N.A. from its inception in Tasmania until the takeover by  Ansett.  He is  very factual in most aspects but I feel he is in error in some parts when he refers to Adelaide airport.  Still an author is only as good as the information he is given.

Kind regards.  Jim.