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Parafield Airport In the
Beginning...... Parafield Airport has a valid claim to be the spiritual home of South Australian aviation, although arguments over such matters tend to follow similar silly historical squabbles between the states over the entitlement to claim priority for establishing the first railway. In 1919 Henry John "Harry" Butler AFC and Bar [1889-1924] with Lt. Kauper RFC formed the Butler and Kauper Aviation Company which operated from a hangar at Northfield and that year he became the first person to fly across St. Vincent Gulf and carry air mail when he flew to Minlaton. He also took the first aerial photos of Adelaide.
Kauper was an accomplished inventor who developed the Kauper Gear, an interrupter device that allows a machine gun to be fired through a rotating propeller. Later he worked with Alf Traeger on the development of the famous pedal wireless which revolutionised Flying Doctor communications. Butler purchased land at Albert Park / Hendon between Tapleys Hill Road and the Henley Beach railway line in 1920 and the company operated from that site until voluntary liquidation in 1921. The aerodrome continued in use until 1927.
Parafield Airport In the later year the commonwealth government purchased 318 acres of farm land at Parafield to establish an airport and on 1 October 1927 Horace Clive "Horrie" Miller [1893-1980] the founder of McRobertson Miller Airlines (MMA) was the first to land on the site. Ansett gained control of MMA in 1963. Parafield was officially opened (as Adelaide Airport) on 5 August 1929 by the governor of SA, Sir Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven VC, later 1st Earl Gowrie. MMA moved from Albert Park and the (Royal) Aero Club of SA began flights. During World War 2 the RAAF occupied the airport and the original area of the field was extended west to the main north railway line. That railway was built in 1857 and until 1981 when gauge standardisation changed the face of railways in South Australia, you could have caught a train from Salisbury to Perth, Sydney or Alice Springs.
With the end of hostilities regular passenger transport operations resumed.
Parafield after 1954 It became clear to the federal government during World War 2 that Parafield could not meet the increasing demands on aviation that had been stimulated by that conflict and the site of the present Adelaide Airport at West Beach was selected in 1947 after intensive investigations. The first flight (a Douglas DC-3) arrived in December 1954 to mark the handover to the Department of Civil Aviation and commercial operations commenced in 1955. Parafield then became a secondary airport and training field and it is now one of the busiest and most successful General Aviation airports in Australia. The Airport is owned by the Commonwealth government and since the 1998 privatisation Parafield Airport Limited has held the long term lease. To read more about the facilities, future and dynamic leadership of the
airport visit:
Parafield Map
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Telephone (08) 8297 2399 |
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