Camden Aviation history

The Anzac acronym, meaning Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, was first used by General Sir William Birdwood, and its legal status was confirmed by the Australian Government in 1916.

One of the first was the 1921 silent film Silks and Saddles shot at Arthur Macarthur Onslow’s Macquarie Grove by American director John K Wells about the world of horse racing.

For the aviation buffs a visit to the Camden Airfield (1924) is a must.

Warrant Officer Class Two Harry George Grinstead (NX126686) enlisted in the Australian Militia Forces at Sydney on 17 February 1930.

Through 1933, the airline acquired contracts for a number of routes that spanned from New York to Miami.

After Cec finished with Theresa Park he travelled into Camden Public School in late 1934.

In April 1938, Rickenbacker, with the help of some of his associates, bought Eastern.

On July 6, 1939, it began an autogyro service in Philadelphia between the city's post office and Camden Airport in New Jersey.

The RAAF Central Flying School that was set up at Camden Airfield in 1940 was part of the Empire Air Training Scheme and Bellman hangars were supplied by Waddington’s Pty Ltd.

Rickenbacker was responsible for setting up Eastern’s Great Silver Fleet, a famous fleet of DC-2 aircraft that operated on the East Coast, one of which became the first commercial airplane to touch down at Washington, D.C.'s new National Airport in June 1941.

Eventually, in September 1942, Eastern created its Military Transport Division (MTD) based in Miami comprising a fleet of Curtiss C-46 Commando aircraft.

He served in the:46th Australian Infantry Battalion,29/46th Australian Infantry Battalion.He died at Menangle on 18 July 1945 aged 22 years.

The squadron eventually moved to Kingaroy where it was disbanded on 23 March 1946. (RAAF Museum)

Furnishings cost £375 with expenses met by the NSW Hospital Commission and the new building was opened by local politician Jeff Bate MHR. (Picton Post, 22 December 1947.

Eastern also successfully acquired a Canadian company, Colonial Airlines, in 1956 that allowed the airline to begin service to Canadian cities such as Montreal and Ottawa.

Eastern also diversified into Mexico, when in 1957, it began a New York-New Orleans-Mexico City service using DC-7 aircraft.

Official proceedings at the opening were led hospital-chairman FJ Sedgewick who said that the board had been working towards the addition of the new building for many years. (Camden News 27 June 1962)

Eastern's first 727 flight took place on the Philadelphia-Washington-Miami route on February 1, 1964.

Eastern also used the Douglas DC-9, beginning February 1965.

In 1967, EAL began flying passengers to the Bahamas and to Seattle on the West Coast.

Eastern inaugurated its first coast-to-coast flight in 1969.

The company also expanded into the Caribbean in 1971 by acquiring a small Puerto Rican company known as Caribair.

After Airbus offered a very generous deal to Eastern, Eastern's new president, former NASA astronaut Frank Borman, agreed to buy 23 of the new jets in the spring of 1978.

Eastern began to rack up year after year of losses until late 1985, when it had a debt of $3.5 billion.

Around 70 squadron members and their families attended the 50th anniversary in Camden in February 1992.

Guppy was something of a bush poet and, in 1995, wrote a poem called ‘An Old Soldier Remembers’, which in part says:

The squadron held its 55th anniversary in Camden in 1997 and was attended by 20 members.

In 1999 Camden airfield was used as a set for the television documentary The Last Plane Out of Berlin which was the story of Sidney Cotton.

On 21 October 2004 the former Member for Camden, Dr Elizabeth (Liz) Kernohan, died after suffering a heart attack.

The cultural heritage of the local area makes the historic town of Camden, according to Sydney architect Hector Abrahams, the best preserved country town on the Cumberland Plain (Camden Advertiser, 28 June 2006).

Oran Park Raceway was doomed in 2008 to be part of history when it was covered with houses in a new suburb with the same name.

First published in Camden History, Journal of the Camden Historical Society, September 2009.

Camden airfield was in action again and used as a set for the Australian version of the British motoring television show Top Gear Australian in 2010.

In 2011 scenes from director Wayne Blair’s Vietnam wartime true story of The Sapphires were filmed at Brownlow Hill starring Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy and Chris O’Dowd.

Its initial screening was watched by 1.7 million viewers in April 2013.

Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson was moved by his death in 2014 and personally thanked the family for his ‘wonderful’ contribution to the nation.

In late 2018 the TV series Home and Away has been using the haunted house at Narellan known as Studley Park as a set for the program.