Rag, Sticks & Wire: Australians Taking to the Air by Bill Bunbury

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges.

'Aeroplanes those days just had to land and hopefully, the undercarriage would take it. They were rag, sticks and wire.. just in the beginning'.

That comment by Edwin Chapman, an early aviation enthusiast, became the title to Bill Bunbury's eight-part ABC Radio series about how Qantas grew from a small outback airline into an international carrier.

Earlier Bill had made another ABC Radio series about the beginning of the airline industry, Flying Out of the West - a social history of aviation in Western Australia.

Now in this book, Bill has combined material from both series, giving a wonderful insight into the days of barnstorming flights and the first pioneering mail and passenger services, highlighting heroism and humour in the words of many people from the early days of Australian flying. (back cover)