POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Journey Log Books for planes of Cecil Arthur Butler, 1926-1932

Object No. P3298-7

This item is part of the Archives of (Cecil) Arthur Butler and Butler Air Transport (BAT). Butler (1902-1980) was a pioneer Australian aviator and air transport provider. He became interested in flying as a young man and joined the Australian Aircraft and Engineering Company Ltd at Mascot in Sydney and then Australian Aerial Services Ltd in Melbourne, gaining his ground engineer's licence in 1923. He was flight engineer on AAS's inaugural Adelaide-Sydney air-mail service the following year, the first regular interstate air-mail service in Australia. In 1925 Butler purchased an old Avro 504 which he rebuilt and learned to fly while in 1930 he produced the first all-metal framed aircraft designed and constructed in Australia. In 1931 Butler travelled to England to study aeronautical design and production and was invited by the Comper Aircraft Company Ltd, then based at Hooton Aerodrom, Cheshire, to attempt the England-Australia solo flight record in their single-engine Comper Swift monoplane which had been designed by Nicholas Comper. Butler's flight of 9 days, 1 hour and 43 minutes beat the previous record set by Charles William Anderson Scott the same year and was significant because it was the smallest aircraft to be flown halfway around the world at the time. In 1934 Butler formed Butler Air Transport (BAT) and in 1937 his BAT Monoplane (ABA-2) was the first aircraft designed and built in Australia to be issued with a Certificate of Airworthiness by the Department of Aviation. Butler secured the contract to operate the Cootamundra-Charleville section of the Australia-United Kingdom air-mail service. The company provided passenger and freight services to country New South Wales and to south-east Queensland where it was a major shareholder in Queensland Airlines Pty Ltd. During WWII BAT became subcontractors for De Havilland making complete tail units and ailerons for DH Tiger Moths. The firm was incorporated in 1946, took over New England Airways in 1948 and converted to a public company in 1952. The company flew 9 services to 15 country centres, mostly using DC3s and became the largest and most successful intrastate airline. It should be noted that Australian National Airways had a financial interest in BAT. When the Australian government sought to nationalise the airlines in the 1950s, adopting a two airlines policy, Butler fought unsuccessfully against the trend. Ansett Transport Industries took over ANA and absorbed BAT in 1958, creating Airlines of New South Wales, later Ansett Express. Judith Campbell, MAAS volunteer, under the supervision of Margaret Simpson, Curator, July 2017.