Australian National Airways

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Australian National Airways was Australia's predominant carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.

It was founded in 1932 by Victor and Ivan Holyman as Tasmanian Aerial Services. They used a de Havilland DH-83 Fox Moth to fly across Bass Strait between Launceston and Flinders Island. In September 1934 they changed the name to Holyman Airways in time to inaugurate a Melbourne-Launceston service.

The Holyman family were well known for their shipping company, William Holyman and Sons Limited.

Having won a government tender to provide air mail services across the Bass Strait, Holyman Airways acquired a de Havilland DH-86 Commonwealth Airliner. Unfortunately, during the first flight, on 1 October 1934, the aircraft was lost over the Bass Strait and no trace was ever found. Victor Holyman was at the controls of the DH-86 on that day.

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Ivan Holyman embarked on a program of expansion which saw a route from Melbourne to Sydney via Wagga Wagga established in 1935. Holyman opted to break with Australian tradition of the time and order the DC-2 aircraft from Douglas in the USA, thinking them to be superior to any British aircraft designs. In subsequent years the company acquired the larger and more efficient Douglas DC-3.

When the first DC-2 arrived in 1936 Holyman Airways was renamed Australian National Airways. The Orient Line and Adelaide Steamship companies joined the list of shareholders. Included in the new corporate structure was Adelaide Steamship's Adelaide Airways, which also acquired the name of Australian National Airways.

The new Australian National Airways was re-launched on 1 July 1936 with a network extending from Sydney through Melbourne to Tasmania, and from Melbourne through Adelaide to Perth.

When Australia entered World War II in 1939 the Government of Australia conscripted four of ANA's DC-3s, leaving it to battle on with an assortment of lesser aircraft. However, ANA was soon operating a network of services around Australia on behalf of the war effort, and making spectacular profits.

In 1942 ANA had acquired Airlines of Australia, its main competitor. AoA was established in 1935 as New England Airways by the Robinson family of Lismore. Its subsequent expansion was funded by the British Pacific Trust, an investment group. AoA flew DC-3s and Stinsons on trunk routes around eastern Australia, particularly into Queensland.

The Chifley Labor government was determined that post-war aviation would be a state monopoly. Its legislation was stymied, however, by the Airline Operators Secretariat, which argued that the Constitution guaranteed freedom of commerce between states. The High Court agreed.

Although ANA had won, it now faced severe competition in the form of the state-owned airline Trans Australia Airlines. ANA had hitherto enjoyed a near-monopoly on domestic air transport. From the start, TAA was a better run airline. It particularly made better choices of aircraft than ANA. Ivan Holyman stuck to his relationship with Douglas, buying DC-4s and DC-6Bs while TAA opted for Convair CV-240s and Vickers 700 Viscounts.

By the mid-1950s TAA had driven ANA close to collapse. Holyman had wanted to expand overseas but the government's ownership of Qantas prevented this. He bought shareholdings in Cathay Pacific Airways and Air Ceylon, but ANA aircraft were never seen on international routes. In 1952 the conservative Menzies government declined to close TAA down, instead it provided ANA with finance to upgrade its fleet to compete with TAA. At this point Holyman opted for DC-6Bs while TAA went for the more attractive Viscount.

When Ivan Holyman died in 1957 the shipowners who held all the shares in ANA decided enough was enough. They offered to sell out to the government and let ANA merge with TAA. The government declined, realizing ANA was on the verge of collapse anyway. The shipowners had never had the stomach for the intense competition TAA offered.

After initially dismissing his offer, the ANA board began talking with Reginald Ansett, head of the much smaller Ansett Airways. Finally, ANA was sold to Ansett for 3.3 million pounds. The two airlines were merged to form Ansett-ANA on 3 October 1957.