COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS AVIATION STAMPS

COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS AVIATION STAMPS

Did you  wonder, sometimes,  what is the strory behind a picture,  a painting... what beautiful, dramatic or horrific story lies behind the canvas. Some days ago, I  was perusing my aviation stamps collection  and I came across these stamps

Tge stampsrepresents a Lockheed Constellation and a L188 Electra of Qantas  taking off  from the airport of the cocos Keeling islands. From wikipedia :

Flag of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

The Territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, also called Cocos Islands and Keeling Islands, is a territory of Australia, located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Christmas Island and approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka.
The territory consists of two atolls and 27 coral islands, of which two, West Island and Home Island, are inhabited with a total population of approximately 600. The Cocos Islands are geostrategically important because of their proximity to Indian Ocean and South China Sea shipping lanes.

Aerial view of West Island (Cocos Island)

The airport is located on West Island, one of the South Keeling Islands and capital of the territory and was constructed during world war 2 to guard the island against a Japanese invasion and support the allied against its war against Japan.

The airport has one runway, designated 15/33, with an asphalt surface measuring 2,441 m × 45 m (8,009 ft × 148 ft) and an elevation of 10 ft (3 m) above sea level.

Until the advent of the Boeing 707 and DC8, piston driven aircraft had a limited range, the Atlantic route could not  be flown non-stop and some en-route stops were necessary : Gander, Halifax, Shannon, Glasgow to name a few , routes to the Far East and Australia necessitated  multiple stops and could take more than 2 days of travel.
In the early fifties , it was impossible to fly between Australia and South Africa  because of lack of  adequate facilities  between the 2 countries ,the existence of CCK airport which had the necessary runway length and could provide an excellent refueling stop for Qantas' Constelletions  and South African Airways' DC7 was to play an important role in the development of airlinks between Australia and South Africa ,
Services started in 1952 on a bi-weekly service operated by a Qantas Lockheed Constellation 

The timetable dated May 1, 1953 ,

From the collection of Bjorn Larsson @ www.timetableimages.com

shows the following schedule 

Extract from the Qantas timetable dated May1, 1953 From the collection of Bjorn Larsson @ www.timetableimages.com

Shown on a map 

A 8506-mile long route

By 1958 , South African Airways joins Qantas as evidenced by this timetable The timetable dated February 1,1958 shows a change jauge as the Lockheed Super Constellation 

VH-EAP -" Southern Zephyr" L-1049G Super Constellation .Ed Coates collection

  
replaces the constellation on the route served by Qantas and the DC7 




By Brian Robbins - http://www.airliners.net/photo/South-African-Airways/Douglas-DC-7B/0042401/L/, GFDL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21647433



is the airliner of choice of South African Airways which did not continue beyond Perth.

  From the collection of Bjorn Larsson @ www.timetableimages.com

Extract from the South African Airways  timetable dated February  1, 1968  From the collection of Bjorn Larsson @ www.timetableimages.com

In the subsequnt years , the service will operate on a weekly basis and if South African will continue to use the DC7, Qantas will revert to the Lockheed L188 Electra 

VH-ECB "PACIFIC EXPLORER"-Ed Coates collection

 
With the use of the Boeing 707 by both companies 

By clipperarctic - SAA 707, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org

By John Wheatley - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Qantas/Boeing-707-3.../0924900/L/, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org

, the need for the refueling at CCK airport becomes  redundant and by 1968  both Qantas and South African Airways operated route according to this schedule found in the August 1968 Qantas timetable 

From the collection of Bjorn Larsson @ www.timetableimages.com

Extract from the Qantas timetable dated June 1, 1968  From the collection of Bjorn Larsson @ www.timetableimages.com

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.