Royal Aeronautical Society Podcast

Tapp joined Qantas when it employed 25 people, including just seven pilots. His path to Australia started after service with the Royal Air Force and a spell promoting the Westland Widgeon light aircraft. From there Captain Tapp heard about Qantas, wrote a letter to Hudson Fysh and, after a test with de Havilland, were off to Australia in 1928. He gives us a flavour of flying for the company in those years, tells us about the characters who worked for the airline, including engineer Arthur Baird, explores the problems with the de Havilland DH.86 Express and tells us what it was like travelling on the early days of the Australia to Singapore route.
Captain Russell Tapp was interviewed by David Jones in around 1975. This recording is part a AeroSociety Podcast series, Development of Civil Aviation from the UK to Australasia. It was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

Aircraft not only need to fly, but also need to land safely. A. D. S. Murray spent his early years in Australia surveying the country or emergency and permanent landing grounds. In this interview, he describes some of the challenges he faced and characters he met during this part of his career.

In this podcast series from the Royal Aeronautical Society's monthly AEROSPACE magazine, Editor in Chief Tim Robinson, Deputy Editor Stephen Bridgewater and Features Editor Bella Richards analyse recent aviation, aerospace and space news - and preview the next (November 2023) edition of the magazine. Find out more at www.aerosociety.com

The Spanish Civil War came at a significant period in the development of aviation and foreshadowed aerial warfare in the Second World War. But how much was the Royal Air Force taking notice of what was happening on the continent and what lessons did they learn?
In this lecture, Brian Armstrong challenges the impression that those in command of Britain’s air forces were blithely ignorant of the Spanish Civil War. He takes us into the world of British air intelligence to explore their work and the conclusions they drew from the war in Spain. He then takes us into the minds of the upper ranks of the Royal Air Force to show how many of the lessons from the conflict they took from air intelligence reports and other sources. He also explores what lessons were learnt by the French, Americans, Russians and, most importantly, the Germans.
The lecture starts with Armstrong giving us an aeronautical history of the Spanish Civil War, exploring the aircraft used and major highlights in the campaign.
Brian Armstrong MRAeS gave his lecture to a meeting organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 13 February 2003. The lecture is introduced by Frank Armstrong FRAeS, the recording was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

In this podcast series from the Royal Aeronautical Society's monthly AEROSPACE magazine, Editor in Chief Tim Robinson, Deputy Editor Stephen Bridgewater and Features Editor Bella Richards analyse recent aviation, aerospace and space news - and preview the next (October 2023) edition of the magazine. Find out more at www.aerosociety.com

After training with the RAF just after the First World War and service in India, Capt Mollard made his way to Imperial Airways, and tells us about life at Croydon Airport and the London to Paris route.
In 1929 Mollard was transferred to Cairo and, as Imperial flew further towards Australia, so did he. Here he co-piloted Captain Alger in the hair-raising first experimental mail flight to Australia in 1931 and delivered one of the first Armstrong-Whitworth Atalantas that would serve on the soon to be opened Calcutta to Singapore route.
The Second World War saw him continue to work for Imperial Airways, including surviving flights to Mauritius. In 1947 he became Malaysian Airways’ technical advisor. He started in the airline’s early days, when it flew only three aircraft and stayed long enough to help build it up into ‘a little goldmine’.
Captain Mollard was interviewed by David Jones in around 1975. This recording is part of the AeroSociety Podcast series, Development of Civil Aviation from the UK to Australasia, it was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

The captain of the 1937 flying boat survey flight from Karachi to New Zealand explains how he became involved in the historic event and how they prepared for the flight, before retelling the story of the eventful trip. He also discusses the warm welcome they received in New Zealand and further afield.
Captain Burgess was interviewed by David Jones in around 1975. This recording is part of the AeroSociety Podcast series, Development of Civil Aviation from the UK to Australasia, it was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

In this podcast series from the Royal Aeronautical Society's monthly AEROSPACE magazine, Editor in Chief Tim Robinson and Deputy Editor Stephen Bridgewater analyse recent aviation, aerospace and space news - and preview the next (September 2023) edition of the magazine. Find out more at www.aerosociety.com

Captain Egglesfield commanded some of the earliest commercial flights over India and the Far East including the first scheduled service from Karachi to Calcutta in July 1933 in an Armstrong Whitworth AW.15 Atalanta, the first scheduled Karachi to Rangoon service, and the second survey flights on flying boats between Karachi and Singapore. In this interview he tells us about these pioneering flights, the aircraft he flew, the challenges he faced and gives us a flavour of what life was like flying the route.
Captain L. A. Egglesfield was interviewed by David Jones on 11 June 1975. This recording is part of the series Development of Civil Aviation to Australasia 1918-1978, it was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.

In April 1931 Captain Alger was asked to fly the first experimental airmail flight between Karachi and Darwin in his de Havilland DH.66, the City of Cairo. In this interview Alger retells the story of this eventful flight.
Captain H. W. C. Alger was interviewed by David Jones on 8 June 1975. This recording is part of the AeroSociety Podcast series, Development of Civil Aviation from the UK to Australasia, it was digitised thanks to a grant from the RAeS Foundation and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.