NEW ZEALAND AVIATION HISTORY : HISTORIOGRAPHICAL COMMENTS

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Introduction

Despite New Zealand’s traditional airmindedness - reflected in the wealth of aviation and airline publications on the local market at any given time - surprisingly little of any academic nature has been done on this country’s aviation history. Within academic circles, what has been written has centred mainly on the early development of Tasman Empire Airways Limited, the forerunner of today’s Air New Zealand, with little treatment of the broader and underlying political and economic issues of the day which in effect provided the basis for the company’s formation and development.

Further, all approaches to New Zealand aviation history have understandably adopted a New Zealand perspective, concentrating on the young company’s out- ward expansion across the Tasman Sea - and later, the Pacific Ocean. Institu- tional accounts in this way such as TEAL’s own history of the company follow a pattern of growth dictated by the chronological development of the company, an approach which inevitably - and unfortunately - leads to a rather simplistic picture

NEW ZEALAND AVIATION HISTORY : HISTORIOGRAPHICAL COMMENTS

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Alastair J. Shephard

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of development and progress.

In adopting an interdisciplinary approach, as expounded and practised by the French annalistes, this paper comments historiographically on the underlying issues which proved integral to TEAL’s formation and development. In a wider context, these issues set the stage for the eventual development of a national aviation policy, a subject that has not previously been explored academically.

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Methodology

Irrespective of the variety of ways the term “history” can be characterized, whether it be political, social, economic, or business, central to any basic understanding of its nature is that it may refer to not only just past events but also to the activities of studying and writing about the past. Thus, the significance and role of historiography is integral to the historian’s task.

“Historiography” means at least two things. At its highest level of original- ity, an historiographical statement may attempt an inquiry which former generations would have been happier to call “philosophy of history” in an applied form.

It might range from Hegel’s magical visions of time’s patterns through to Marx’s penetration of them. And at a less elevated level, modern analytical historiography has produced instances of deep-structural enquiry which has brought to the surface important aspects of a particular writer or school of historical writing.

Such work has left virtually no major historian of the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries looking now as he or she looked twenty years ago. Researchers have taken their own questions - moulded inevitably by the intellectual climate that has fastened itself on the West over the last quarter century - and used them to expose

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layers of meaning and possible connections with worlds outside history that had eluded scholars who had brought no less intelligence and training to their texts but whose objectives and starting - points had sent them elsewhere. So when we now review the historical work of Edward Gibbon or Thomas Carlyle or Leopold von Ranke, the shelves contain critical accounts which locate these authors in ways that would not have been attempted until quite recently. The task of supplying such critiques falls to the historiographer and one definition is that it is the class or set of all such studies.

In terms of New Zealand aviation historiography, particularly concerning academic works, the output has been minimal.

If interdisciplinary history can be defined as historical scholarship that makes use of the methods or concepts of one or more disciplines other than history, its underlying concept considerably antedates introduction of the word itself. The idea rose in the late nineteenth century when many of the modern social science disciplines were being institutionalized - for example, sociology, anthropology, psychology - and there was increasing concern over the growing specialization and fragmentation of knowledge. New currents in historiography arose in reaction against the prevailing late nineteenth century assumption that history is an autono- mous discipline with its own unique methods, as well as the narrow idea that history is primarily the story of “past politics”. In each case it was claimed that history must borrow ideas from science, especially from the new family of empirical social sciences - sociology, psychology, and anthropology - as well as from the older science of economics.

The interdisciplinary momentum generated in the late nineteenth century helped lay the foundations for the rise of the “Annales School” of historiography in France in the late 1920s, a movement which sprang from the conviction that

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history should be “wide open to the findings and methods of other disciplines - geography, economics, sociology, psychology” -and at the same time must resist the temptation, so marked in the 1920s and 1930s, to divide itself into a number of ‘specialisms’ each going its own independent way.¹⁾

By the 1960s the record of the Annales school had become the major source of inspiration to advocates of interdisciplinary history in West Germany, Eastern Europe, Britain, and the United States.

This paper, with an emphasis on both political and business history, combines similar and varying elements from both sub-disciplines in an effort to present a co- hesive and balanced approach. Perhaps this approach can be better understood with some discussion on and exploration into these two sub-branches of history.

Whereas business history as an academic discipline has evolved from the straightforward study of individual entrepreneurs or firms into a multifaceted subject which now impinges on a wide range of areas, from economic theory and in- dustrial economics to sociology and business studies, political history is conven- tionally defined as the study of all those aspects of the past which have to do with the formal organization of power in society, which for the majority of human societies in recorded history means the state. It includes the institutional organization of the state, the competition of factions and parties for control over the state, the policies enforced by the state, and the relations between states. To many people, the scope of history would appear to be exhausted by these topics. The syl- labuses taught in schools until very recently, publishers’ lists of best-sellers, and television programmes all convey the impression that if political history is not the only kind of history, it is much the most important. Historians themselves, how-

1) Barraclough, G., “History”, in Jacques Havet (ed),Main Trends in Research in the So- cial and Human Sciences2, Paris, 1978, p 264.

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ever, are by no means of one mind on this point. The reason why political history merits its status as the senior branch is not because it is intrinsically more significant than any other, but because it enjoys much the longer pedigree. And the reasons for this traditional dominance are clear enough : historically the state itself has been much more closely associated with the writing of history than with any other literary activity. While political history has been written and read continu- ously since ancient times, other branches have developed as permanent additions to the repertory only during the last hundred years.

In relation to political history, business history is a relatively new branch which might well have emerged as a sub-discipline of economic history.²⁾ In the twentieth century its relationship to management studies has encouraged more sophisticated research not only into the development of entrepreneurship but also into the growth of organizations and the role of the firm within an industry. Its main aim is to study and explain the behaviour of the firm over long periods of time, and to place the conclusions in a broader framework composed of the mar- kets and institutions in which that behaviour occurs. On a more general level, business history can also provide a dynamic insight into the evolution of capital- ism, bringing a comparative element to the field which can draw on material from firms, industries, or national groupings of businessmen. It is a discipline which often uses a case-study approach, in order to provide the foundations on which wider generalizations can be built. In many ways this approach can be detrimental to any good historical inquiry with its reliance on company records, resulting in a failure to write business history in the wider sense. In addition, with much of the work being commissioned by individual companies, authors can frequently

2) Wilson, John E.,British Business History 1720-1994, Manchester, 1995, p 1.

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find that any attempts at comparative analysis are snuffed out by the whims and fancies of their employers, resulting in a simple narrative approach towards business development which might preclude a concern with the formulation of broader hypotheses.

Whatever one’s approach to the study and writing of history, a key underlying concern must always be the appreciation and acknowledgment of previous writings on the topic. The historian must understand that historiography may simply refer to the writing of history itself, or on another level, may concern the study of the development of historical scholarship, or the history of historical appreciation of particular periods and problems. Indeed historiography can often be seen as a distinct subject in its own right, but by and large its significance and relationship to historical study is fully accepted by those members of the history profession.

In any case, good historical inquiry must always be based on a good grasp and understanding of the historiography, an important point in the success of any academic thesis, this paper being no exception.

Despite New Zealand’s traditional interest in aviation, reflected in the wealth of publications on the New Zealand market at any given time, to date surprisingly little academic work has been done on the country’s aviation history. Beside the present writer’s 1994 dissertation,³⁾ only two other works exist which respectively have limited relevance to this present paper : Ian Thompson’s 1968 thesis on the history of TEAL⁴⁾concentrating in the main on the formation and development of the Tasman route, and Brian Slater’s 1979 dissertation on Air New Zealand, being essentially a business case study⁵⁾, pay minimal regard to the wider political and

3) Shephard, A.J., ‘The Coral Route Story’, MA Dissertation, University of Auckland, 1994.

4) Thompson, I.A., ‘A History of TEAL. The Origins of Air New Zealand as an Interna- tional Airline’, MA Thesis, University of Canterbury, 1968.

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commercial issues involved.

The key theme in this paper - in fact in planned subsequent papers on the topic of New Zealand aviation history - is the demonstration of the significance and effects of both political and commercial issues, in New Zealand and overseas, that formed the basis for New Zealand’s aviation policy and in turn determined the commercial development of TEAL and later Air New Zealand. Unlike both Thompson’s and Slater’s works, this paper does not examine in great detail the daily operations of the airlines involved or the routes they flew. Rather, its focus is wider, looking at New Zealand entering an already established international system of aviation regulation, a system which dictated government regulation of air services. In this respect the routes form only part of a broader range of policy issues such as strategic concerns, international relations, and the development of facilities. However, it is unavoidable to not comment to some extent on the different routes involved for by their very nature they became integral to the company’s operations. This paper does, as future papers will, comment on the development of the trans-Pacific route to North America, and to a lesser extent the Tasman and the Coral routes, but only in the context of the wider picture and in relationship to the development of policy. The trans-Pacific and Tasman routes were formed due to desires to link the British Empire by air. And issues of national identity can be seen in New Zealand’s efforts to implement a “certain route” across the Pacific in her efforts to support the British cause. This is a key underlying theme throughout this and future papers.

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5) Slater, B, ‘A Case Study : Air New Zealand 1939-1978’, Research Essay, University of Auckland, 1979.

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Background

The history of man is of course thousands of years old, but the history of the aeroplane is little more than a century. In this brief period we have progressed from the Wright brothers’ “first hop” of only a few feet off the ground to going to the moon, and further afield. Only in the last fifty years of this brief history has aviation become a major power in the world. It first showed its might in World War Two. Designers, scientists, and engineers since then have been probing the frontiers of aerodynamic knowledge as never before, while the passenger plane has become the dominant form of global transportation. Between 1948 and 1958 the major airlines of the Unites States, in terms of revenue, elbowed out the major railways for top position, and began to carry more people across the Atlantic than the steamship lines. It is not surprising, given the speed of aviation’s development in the twentieth century, that world-wide comparatively little academic work has been done on its history. It is still yet too close to us.

Less known and remembered, because much older than the history of the aeroplane, is another history - that of man’s first conquest of the air in balloons.

More than two hundred years ago, towards the end of the eighteenth century, King Louis XVI ruled at Versailles. The US Constitution had not yet been written ; and Napoleon was merely a young lad in his teens. Yet it was in this era that aviation, complete with pilots, first began to take shape. More than a century before the Wright brothers, two Montgolfier brothers, Joseph and Etienne, invented the hot-air balloon. Their invention then took to the skies with astonishing rapid- ity. Men crossed the English Channel by air before they did so using steam, for steamships still lay well in the future.

This unmanned flight into the air near Lyons, the first of its kind, was fol-

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lowed a few months later by the first passenger-carrying flight, the passengers being a sheep, a cock and a duck. This latter ascent took place at Versailles in the presence of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, the balloon rising to a height of 1,500 feet and eventually landing safely with the animals a short distance away. Soon afterwards the first aerial voyage by human beings was made, on 21 November 1783, when Pilatre de Rozier, ascended in a ‘fire’ balloon of the Montgolfier type, that is, inflated with hot air, from the Bois de Boulange, accom- panied by the Marquis d’Arlandes. This voyage was similarly successful, lasting twenty minutes and covering a distance of some five miles from Paris. Unfortu- nately the pioneer aeronaut was killed two years later when he attempted to cross the English Channel from Boulange in a double balloon and his aircraft caught fire in the air and crashed in flames.⁶⁾

Throughout the nineteenth century much thought in England as well as in France had been devoted to the problem of mechanical flight, and various designs and models of heavier-than-air ‘flying machines’ were produced in both countries, although in the event, the first successful flight with a human pilot at the controls was to be made in America. A scholarly Yorkshire baronet and landowner, Sir George Cayley (1773 - 1857), has been established by modern research not only as “the Father of British aeronautics” but also as “the true inventor of the aeroplane and one of the most powerful geniuses in the history of aviation”.

When the first men left the earth in a balloon in 1783, for three years after the public excitement was at fever pitch. Its fervour can only be compared to the wave of emotion that swept the world after Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic alone in 1927, for it allowed for the exploration of a new world and in short to enlarge

6) On the history of ballooning from its inception in 1783 to its supercession by the aeroplane in 1903, see L.T.C. Rolt,The Aeronauts, 1966.

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the horizons of mankind. The twentieth century was characterized by many new discoveries and developments, dominant amongst them the modern development of and technological evolution of aviation, and in turn the subsequent varying uses to which this development has been put, in war and in commerce.

A great deal has been written by scholars from many disciplines on the effects on civilization of technology and on the attitudes developed within society towards new technology. There is scholarly consensus that since the eighteenth century “Western culture” has come to evaluate “Civilization”’s sophistication by its technological capability and by doing so perceives a hierarchy of societies, those possessing complex technologies being deemed to be more advanced, and therefore superior. In turn this has generated a technological race between people motivated by the economic advantages, military dominance and prestige that can be gained from the possession of superior technology.

Aviation was in its infancy when the Great War erupted in Europe but the military potential of aeroplanes soon became apparent.⁷⁾ In a technical sense, war- time improvement could not be classed as radical. This was due to production being geared towards the manufacture of tried and proven craft in large numbers.

Research into aeronautics during the war clarified the principles of stability and control during flight. Aircraft were more reliable and safer, which cleared the way for commercial aviation.⁸⁾ Further, the increasing military applications of aircraft also helped attract government investment and personnel into aeronautics.

World War One led to the first mass production of aircraft. Before the war only about 5000 aeroplanes (of varying designs and ability) had been built, but by

7) H. Montgomery Hyde, British Air Policy Between the Wars 1918-1939, London, p 21-34.

8) Nayler, J.L.,Aviation : Its Technical Development, London, 1965, p 2.

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1918 there was over 200,000. Piloting and maintaining the craft created the first air-minded generation who then took their skills and their enthusiasm and dissemi- nated them globally, forming aero clubs and pioneering services.

The war demonstrated the potential of aerial bombardment. It provided proof of a new application that gave an incentive to increase the carrying capacity of aircraft that coincided with increased engine performance. Thus, the Great War was a creative event that lay the foundations for the post-war development of aviation. It also provided the aircraft its first major application as a military aid that could be used in communications, observation, and as a weapon.

Traditional barriers of geography and national boundaries were no inhibition to this new weapon. The speed and range of aircraft redefined national defensive requirements and extended defensive zones outside national territories. Aviation therefore became a sudden and influential factor in international politics.

The ability to fly blurred the distinction between science and fiction. Terror in the public’s imagination at the ability to fly in and decimate a country fuelled the military appeal of the bomber concept.⁹⁾Aviation demonstrated the “great and possible fatal discrepancy between man’s mastery of things and his mastery over himself”.¹⁰⁾The potential to perform this feat gave the possessors of such technology great military prestige. British policy in the 1920 s and 1930 s evolved 9) The idea of devastating aerial bombardment was first introduced to the British public with H.G. Well’s novelThe War in the Airpublished in 1908. Before the war the novel was seen as laughable science fiction ; however, afterwards several of its themes concerning the destruction of society by the very technology that symbolized its progress and sophistication found favour with the reading public. Well’s notion that Britain’s traditional defence by the navy had been outdated also gained some tangible support. It is interesting that the book was republished in 1941 at a time when the air forces of the protagonist powers of Japan and Germany were decimating the British military.

10) Air New Zealand Archives. Press forums. S. Ralph Cohen, Public Relations Officer for IATA, 26/3/1958. Cohen claimed that aviation had so far matched all dreams and that the jet age would be as culturally significant as the Crusades.

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around this consideration.

Great Britain had for centuries been secure at home and abroad because of the strength of her navy, but was now faced with the possibility that it would be unable to provide protection in light of the new three-dimensional military geography. In 1935 the New Zealand Prime Minister, G.W. Forbes, addressed parlia- ment on the deteriorating international situation ; he stressed the new dangers Great Britain faced from the air and New Zealand’s moral obligation to go to war alongside the mother country.¹¹⁾Great Britain embarked upon a policy of amassing a strategic bomber force that would provide a ‘tit for tat’ deterrent to the enemies.

Because of the military applications of aircraft, international civil services were regarded with some suspicion ; several military functions could be filled whilst ferrying passengers or mail over foreign airspace. This association had significant effects on international efforts to regulate civil aviation. Nationally- minded governments sought to create their own air power for both strategically and prestigiously motivated reasons.

In 1919 an International Air Transport Agreement (IATA) was formulated with a primary objective of preventing international competition, thereby reducing the probability of increasingly heavy subsidies. Each nation’s rights to operate a service would be guaranteed by it having sovereignty over its own airspace. The Agreement established the basis for a system of bilateral treaties through which countries could exchange landing rights to use another nation’s territory, and at the same time fix rates for the passage of mail and passengers. Granting these rights was entirely the prerogative of the sovereign state. This arrangement guaranteed that civil aviation was politicized from the outset. Rights might not be given not

11) Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR), 1935, EA 1 Speech on the International Situation, 19 February 1935.

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only for military reasons but also to protect a nation’s own fledging services and to prevent foreign companies controlling the supply of aerial communications.

During the inter-war years rapid advances were made in aerodynamic science, the theory of structures, and in the knowledge of construction materials. The timber and cloth biplane was replaced with the sleek all-metal monoplane that was propelled by increasingly powerful piston engines. By the beginning of the Sec- ond World War the number of manufactured aeroplane units was twice that at the conclusion of the First World War. From the end of World War One until well after the“Hindenburg”disaster of 1936 the dirigible was seen by many as the future of heavy air transportation due to its massive carrying capacity and reasonably good safety record compared to the numerous crashes of heavier-than-air aircraft.

Aeroplanes were then very much at the mercy of weather conditions until the pressurized cabin appeared after World War Two. Before this time aircraft were forced to fly at low altitudes where the worst conditions existed. And in the event of an oceanic storm a plane could easily be thrown miles off course or burn valuable fuel in head winds. Navigational aids were then primitive and any small deviation could be fatal in locating a small islet base in the middle of a large ocean. Pan American Airways flights to Hawaii from San Francisco during Sept- ember 1936 were delayed by three weeks by foul weather making it faster to send the mail by steamer.¹²⁾

Airships were less dependent on the weather ; powerful weather systems were a benefit allowing them to ride the edges of storms to achieve faster times.

In 1938 the American Zeppelin Transport Company revealed plans for a Pacific zeppelin service on two non-stop routes from San Francisco, one over the North

12) Pacific Islands Monthly(PIM), October 1936, p 69.

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Pacific to Japan and the other to Sydney. However the service never became a reality due to delays in finding suitable craft and the outbreak of World War Two.

In 1938 the record speed for a trans-Atlantic crossing was held by the German behemoth ‘Graf Zeppelin’ which achieved the feat in three and a half days. The trip was achieved with a huge payload of passengers and cargo, and without the time-consuming restraints of fuel stops that aeroplanes required.

The Second World War encouraged both rapid and massive development of the aeroplane because of the military advantage achieved by aerial dominance.

The advantage obtained through the ability to transport payloadsen masse led to the development of larger and more powerful aircraft. And those aircraft that survived the global conflict formed the basis of post-war civil fleets. The aviation industry has probably benefited more than any other industry through war-time inventions. Often these were accidental. For example, a request by the British Ministry of Defense to scientists for a ‘death ray’ led directly to the development of radar, now a tool indispensable to aviation.¹³⁾

In terms of British air policy, the years between the two world wars was a period marked by inconsistencies and changes which were dictated by the re- current needs for economy in national expenditure and also in the second decade by the growing menace of Germany’s rearmament. Throughout this period of just under twenty one years, the Air Staffs’ relations with their political masters as well as with the military and naval staffs of the other two services were often far from easy. From the very beginning much discussion took place in political and service circles on whether the retention of a separate air force could be justified and whether its components should not be divided between the army and the navy.

13) Austin, G.,Technology and War, Memorial Lecture, University of Auckland, 1996.

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Although Sir Hugh Trenchard, the first post-war Chief of the Air Staff, succeeded in reorganizing the air force on the soundest possible lines with the relatively small amount of money at his disposal, its independence continued to be threat- ened by both the army and the navy. That it survived as a separate service was due to the unceasing efforts of Trenchard supported by the first four post-war Air Ministers, Mr. Winston Churchill, Captain F.E. Guest, Sir Samuel Hoare, and Lord Thomson.

In the field of aircraft construction, an important principle of British aviation policy was laid down by the Cabinet in 1916 and was to be applied for the re- mainder of the First World War and throughout the period between the wars. This was to the effect that all aircraft ordered by the Air Ministry with the exception of airships should be the products of private enterprise, and even one famous airship (the R101) was built by a private commercial firm. This arrangement was to have advantages and disadvantages ; it was ultimately to lead to the British aircraft industry concentrating on the production of military machines, while the Americans captured the market for civil transport. But it meant that the British firms were able to produce aircraft like the Hurricane and Spitfire fighters and the Stirling, Halifax and Lancaster bombers.

In the years immediately following the Second World War the piston engine had evolved to its maximum power output of 3500 horsepower. During the war scientists had developed new forms of jet and rocket propulsion, which in the late 1940 s were adjusted for civil applications. The introduction of the jet created new problems and challenges ; for example, such previously unknown factors as the fatigue of metal due to increased speeds of tested craft in flight. During the 1950s international airlines began to be profitable commercial ventures rather than merely costly strategic assets for communication and military purposes.

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During the 1960s and 70s the wide-bodied commercial jets manufactured by Boeing and MacDonnell Douglas vastly increased the carrying capacity, speed and range of aircraft, and made them a more economically efficient and accessible means of transportation. The sudden and dramatic technological advances of the first half of the twentieth century were less apparent. Radical technologies such as supersonic travel and large scale vertical take-off travel proved uneconomical and technically problematic for civil applications. The producers of aeroplanes concentrated on supplying improved goods for the mushrooming public demand for air travel, and left radical designs to separate military contracts.

The miraculous progress of civil aviation was overshadowed by the potential uses of new technologies. Missile and rocket technology and the desire to fly higher and faster developed into a technological race to conquer the new frontier of space during the 1950s. And the possibility of space travel captured the public imagination. The space race was highly politicized and publicized ; its financial expenses were justified to the American and Russian peoples by the potentially catastrophic military implications of losing the race. Public interest in flight has waned progressively since that time when it became an accepted part of everyday life, even though it now has a greater influence upon our lives than in the past.¹⁴⁾ Apart from the appearance of arguably more exciting technologies, the lack of interest is attributable to the incredible speed at which the industry developed from being a novelty to the age of commercial jet travel. Commercial air travel has

14) Van de Braak, H., The Prometheus Complex, Enzo Press, Netherlands, 1995. Van de Braak examines social attitudes to new forms of technology. Although not specifically re- ferring to aviation, he identifies an initial period of wonderment and confrontation in which the new apparatus is seen as both a benefit and a threat to thestatus quo. At the termination of the initial period, once the technology has been accepted into everyday life, it is treated with lassitude even though its significance may not have diminished. Van de Braak cites the automobile as a prime example.

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become common-place for generations growing up since the 1950s, and today is viewed as merely one means of transport.

During half a century of evolution the most dramatic period of growth came with the development of civil aviation. In 1940 three million passengers travelled internationally by air. In 1945 this figure had reached nine million, and less than twenty years later in 1961 a staggering total of 112 million people had flown internationally.¹⁵⁾By 1960 civil aviation was the world’s most utilized means of long distance passenger travel, and ever since has been the single unit item in general commerce eclipsing oil, wheat and coal.¹⁶⁾

For several thousand years maritime transport had been a dominant force in commerce and trade, in migration, and in military prowess. And in less than a lifetime a completely new means of transport had emerged, assumed most of surface travel’s most important functions, and facilitated the movement of massive numbers of people around the globe at an unprecedented pace.

It is clear that the history of aviation is not just about the development of the physical capability to fly. In New Zealand ninety-nine percent of people travel- ling to and from the country arrive by air.¹⁷⁾Within the study of history itself, it is also clear that there is a wealth of avenues for research into different aspects of aviation, examining for example the implications of the technical development of aviation in facilitating the development of tourism, migration, and globalization.

The rapid growth and social acceptance of commercial aviation indicate that its benefits assisted broad sections of society from the top-dressing farmer to sports

15) See Appendix.

16) World Tourism Organization, Aviation and Tourism Policies : Balancing the Benefits, Routledge, London, 1994. According to the WTO, travel and tourism account for twelve percent of world consumer spending, twenty five percent of which is spent directly on air- fares.

17) Ibid, p 88.

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teams. The relevance of the field is extensive in nearly every aspect of post-war history.

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All technological developments have a social context, and conversely all social developments can be set in a technological context. In the history of aviation there has been a tendency to write within a technological context and either ignore or trivialize the contribution of social factors. This is one reason why the history of aviation has developed as it has and remained apart from mainstream historical scholarship.

Mankind’s obsession with technology has led to a blind faith in the ability of scientific research and technological development. There is a deep-rooted belief that “progress” and rational empiricism will inevitably overcome the obstacles of nature. These beliefs have created a deterministic view of the past in technological histories. Artefacts are selected, and then their development is traced anachronistically to their present state. And because it is essentially the study of machines, the simple act of recording ‘what happened’ traces mechanical development and ignores the machines’ social context as an influence upon its form and application. Social factors such as why the machine was desired and how it came to be used are ignored, as are the numerous options available to the designers and purchasers of the equipment.

The separation of aviation and other forms of history cannot simply be explained by the focus of the technological historian’s work. Historians have paid great attention to the role of shipping as a facilitator of global expansion and colo- nialism but seldom have dealt with the transport that usurped many of its responsi- bilities. In the Pacific where most islands had not become ‘colonies’ until the last years of the nineteenth century, the years from the end of World War Two until

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independence account for up to one third of the colonial experience.

The significance of the aeroplane has received most attention from military historians examining its decisive role in World War Two. Scholarship world-wide largely ignores the role of the aeroplane following the war, except in some circum- stances where the political significance of events overshadow the role of aircraft.¹⁸⁾ From the 1950s scholars of technology and post-war history have concentrated on Cold War technological advances. Aviation as a subject of serious research had escaped attention, quite surprising as most of the technology of the Cold War period developed from the aeronautical industry, as did many of the perspectives on its applications.

By and large what has been written academically on aviation history in New Zealand has been dominated by the chronological approach. Even though there are relatively few published works of an academic nature, aviation historiography in itself could warrant a lengthy thesis.

One of the characteristics of the aviation industry in New Zealand was its small number of personnel in relation to the country’s population. This was due primarily to financial constraints induced by the cost of capital equipment and the small number of personnel required to operate it. Individuals who became involved early on rose quickly to prominence and formed the nucleus of the industry.

Further, the relatively small percentage of people involved in the industry made it exclusive and somewhat insular. And much of the literature produced was primarily for consumption within the industry. Historical accounts are dominated by the recollections of those involved in the industry and are by and large anecdotal in nature. Written for an exclusive reading market, namely for those working

18) Most notably the 1948 Berlin airlift and conflicts in which aircraft were used in a military capacity.

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within the aviation industry, large amounts of literature and information were produced, the broader aspects often being understood and appreciated by ‘enthusiasts’

and the like. And such was the case with government policy. Many of these accounts suffer from attempting to chronicle comprehensively all the aviation events concerned ; thus, there was often little room for analysis or the synthesizing of aviation history with the rest of New Zealand history. Another form of history, one that has proved popular within New Zealand aviation, is the biography. The style by and large again has been chronological in approach recording the lives of notable New Zealanders involved in the industry. However, despite this popularity, good works of an academic nature into this branch of history remain few.

Within New Zealand, just as is the case within many other countries, commissioned institutional accounts and company histories abound across a range of industry groups. And New Zealand aviation history is no exception, with commissioned histories of Air New Zealand, the domestic National Airways Corpora- tion, and Auckland International Airport. As already mentioned, this kind of historical approach has limitations with the writer’s work often being subject to the desire of the company to present a ‘glorified’ account. These accounts were dominated by a chronological approach to company operations.

Academic works on New Zealand aviation history are scarce. I.A.

Thompson’s History of TEAL is largely newspaper-based and focuses on the operation of the Tasman route, while the present writer’sThe Coral Route Story re- counts the operation of the route through the Pacific islands. With the scope and approaches to its study being so wide, coupled with the paucity of scholarly work done to date, it is difficult to formulate definite conclusions or draw comparisons between different works.

The ‘story’ of New Zealand aviation proceeds through the development of the

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fledgling local industry into the development of TEAL and the ultimate success of Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand’s fiftieth anniversary publicationConquering Isolation¹⁹⁾ creates such an impression. However, an examination of international literature and technical histories places the ‘achievement’ in context. New Zea- land cannot claim to have conquered isolation in the technical sense. Although the country did identify itself as part of a British and then a Western technological culture, it did not manufacture aircraft. Thus, if we accept the ‘conquering isolation’ argument, certain questions arise : How did New Zealand fare as an importer of technology in establishing an airline? From what exactly was New Zealand iso- lated? And in the context of the global development of aviation, was not that development to take place naturally and succeed in New Zealand?

Given the military potential of aviation, the industry was the subject of government regulation from its inception. Issues of national survival were considered to be at stake, and aviation policies required in-depth and detailed planning. This was in part due to the immense cost of facilities and equipment coupled with the risky nature of investment in such a competitive industry. The high cost of aircraft production could easily outweigh any efficiency of aircraft operation, a potential compounded by the continuing development of newer and more efficient aircraft. Further, newer aeroplanes could have differing facility requirements which indirectly would add to overall operating costs. It was - and still is - not just necessary but critical for an airline’s survival to anticipate future technological developments. In early long-distance aviation planning there was a choice between heavier-than-air planes and dirigibles. Later, when New Zealand became involved there were choices between land and sea-planes and also the sources of

19) Rennie, N.,Conquering Isolation, Auckland, 1990.

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these technologies. Being a Commonwealth nation, New Zealand was inclined to have faith in the superiority of British over American technology. This choice, coupled with a failure to perform long-term facility planning, ultimately placed New Zealand in a poor position to promote her own national interests.

It has generally been accepted that in its company history and development, TEAL survived successfully through turbulent and trying times, particularly during the 1940s and 50s. And as already mentioned, to date there have been no in- depth studies of the government’s development of its aviation policies during these periods. Rather, what has been done is basically anecdotal in nature. With some investigation of government documents and material, it can be seen that TEAL had to operate under the confines of strict government policy - there was in effect little allowance for independent initiative. No matter how well the young company had been managed, its economic and commercial development, from the company’s point of view, could be thwarted by government decision. From the government’s point of view, the company was only one focus of its overall aviation policy, policy matters also covering the development of both international and domestic facilities, the trans-Pacific air route, and the overall strategic and defensive requirements of the nation. These points are integral to a key theme, namely looking at how the perceptions of national identity had altered and developed thereby affecting the policy of the day. An uncertain and rather insecure sense of identity made recognizing what was in the national interest difficult. In times of uncertainty, rather than being bold and trying progressively to work out what and where her interests lay, the government generally remained conservative often re- verting to policies that were in the main psychologically safe and sure. It was easier for New Zealand to identify with and remain British, despite Britain herself and other Commonwealth nations like Australia and Canada carving out their own

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separate identities and concentrating on their own national interests. In short, the New Zealand belief in the continuance of “British” services led her to disregard any long-term aviation policy of her own. When important government decisions were made, they were by and large conservative and based squarely on direct past experience, rather than being bold. This approach proved detrimental to the nation’s future development of international air services, particularly in light of the rapid development of the aviation industry world-wide. This approach not only delayed an early development of an international air service but also put the country often in a reactionary position with her near neighbour Australia who generally took the initiative in policy matters.

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The years following World War One saw an increased interest by member nations within the British Empire in the use and development of air transport, a primary objective being to link these countries by air. And the technological ability to provide such a service was a yardstick by which a nation could be judged comparative to that of other nations, either within or outside the Empire. It was in effect this imperial competitiveness more than the wish to tighten the colonial bond by improving communications that was the decisive factor in government promotion of the development of long-distance air routes.²⁰⁾The motive of involve- ment in international aviation was to enhance national prestige. Airlines therefore by and large received financial and diplomatic assistance from their respective governments that often far exceeded their contribution to the national economy.²¹⁾ The high cost for governments to invest in aviation and in developing air services

20) Dierikx, Marc C.J., ‘Struggle for Dominance : Clashing Dutch and British Interests on the Colonial Air Routes’,Journal of Contemporary History, Vol 28, April 1991, p 334.

21) Ibid.

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was justified by the potential embarrassment should a nation have its air services provided by another nation, a situation symbolic of a form of non-development and backwardness.

The concept of a ‘red route’ (red denoting the colour used by Britain for her extensive empire on the maps of the day) and the desire to link her empire by an aerial service provided a keen incentive for British manufacturers to design and develop larger and faster craft utilizing exacting and ambitious technologies. In 1924 the British Air Ministry had commissioned the construction of two air ships to service an envisaged ‘red route’ that would link the Empire by air. Later that year Britain’s Imperial Airways, a private company that sought to capitalize on the lucrative mail subsidies granted by the government, was formed. And it was only two years later, at the 1926 Imperial Conference that Britain agreed with Domin- ion representatives on the formal desire of an ‘all red’ mail service about the world.

By the end of 1934 Imperial Airways provided a service that linking with Indian Transcontinental Airways and Australia’s QANTAS, reached as far as Bris- bane. However, due to technical limitations of the day, the route on to New Zea- land was not completed until 1940. But it was in fact as far back as 1930 that New Zealand and Britain did have talks contemplating a trans-Pacific service via Canada as a means of linking the British Dominions.²²⁾

It is contended that tracing the development of New Zealand’s aviation policy is one way of observing the country’s search for a national identity, particularly when it is set against the world-wide development of aviation. In this respect the

‘isolation’ which New Zealand sought to conquer was the distance between herself and Britain on the one hand, and on another closer to home centred on a desire to

22) See for example theAuckland Star7/3/1930, ‘Auckland as an International Airport’.

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expand into the Pacific islands. The use of the aeroplane as a symbol of an advanced society appeared relatively early in the Pacific theatre when in 1926 the Governor of Samoa requested that the New Zealand government send aircraft to Samoa as a means of upholding national prestige :

“The moral effect of the visit of the American fleet here last year with their display of seaplanes was very great, and tended to cause the Natives to think that America was a more powerful nation than Britain.”²³⁾

Quite apart from any thematic approach, it is reasonably discernible that a preliminary survey of the history and development of New Zealand’s aviation policy fits in - and indeed complements - the country’s development of an aviation industry and the establishment of an international air service. And that development is by and large chronological. In this context a number of chronological periods can be identified, each one representing new territory for serious academic research. For the purpose of both this and future papers on this topic, these periods are :

- from 1935 to 1939 when New Zealand’s desire to establish a trans-Pacific route was faced with direct competition from American interests to establish a similar route. During this period the United States had technological superiority enabling her to transverse the Pacific whereas Britain then could not, a resultant theme being the ensuing Anglo-American rivalry for airline sovereignty throughout various Pacific island territories.

- the war years from 1939 to 1945, which represented for New Zealand a period

23) Department of Island Territories (IT), 1/40. Richardson to External Affairs 18/9/1926.

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of uncomfortable awareness of her geographical isolation from Britain and the growing threat from Japanese interests in the Pacific. During this time New Zea- land’s realization of Britain’s inability to provide strategic and defensive security led to local initiatives to not only protect British interests in the Pacific, but also at the same time helped ensure that the country’s own future in civil aviation, particularly in light of American interests, was safe and secure. This period also sees the development of closer relations between New Zealand and Australia and in particular their respective efforts to promote and develop air services, both domestic and international.

- the period from 1946 to 1952 represents a time when New Zealand examined not only its commitment to purchasing British technology, but also was when the government became increasingly interested in developing and implementing an air service to and through the Pacific islands, culminating in the establishment of TEAL’s famous ‘Coral Route’.

- a final period, from 1953 to 1961, although still representing the formative years of New Zealand’s establishment of an international air service, also in summation shows the demise of the “all red” concept concerning both aviation policy and company development. It was also a time which saw the demise of the Coral Route service.

Any good historical research involves a range of material. Historical sources encompass every kind of evidence which human beings have left of their past activities - the written word and the spoken word, the shape of the landscape and the material artefact, the fine arts as well as photography and film. Among the hu- manities and social sciences, history is unique in the variety of its source materials, each calling for specialist expertise. In terms of New Zealand aviation history, the sources are varied and numerous. Primary material includes government papers,

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both unpublished and published, as well as newspapers with the bulk drawn from government records in New Zealand’s National Archives. These include the files of the Air Department, Prime Ministers’ papers, and those of the Department of Island Territories. Additional primary sources concerning TEAL, the forerunner of today’s Air New Zealand, are from the company’s own archives and include be- sides in-house publications and press material, a range of documents on air policy matters. As a business enterprise ultimately answerable to government owners, the TEAL documentation provides useful insights into the development of both national and international air policy at a time when the company’s efforts to interpret and survive under government directive often deprived it of self-determination.

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Concluding Comments

One of the key benefits of studying history academically is the student’s exposure to various schools of historical thought and methodology. The student soon realizes that every piece of historical writing has a theoretical basis on which evidence is selected, filtered, and understood. This statement is as true of scientific empiricism as it is of poststructuralism. As one historian has pointed out,

“Each historian and each age redefines categories of evidence in the light of its needs, sensibilities, and perceptions. The value of any conceptual framework is what new combinations of data or inferences from the data it may contribute to the historian’s ability to interpret documents and the other raw material of history”.²⁴⁾

24) Loewenberg, P.,Decoding the Past : The Psychohistorical Approach, New Brunswick, 1996, p 15.

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It is in this context that the role and significance of historiography takes on a deeper meaning, one that serves to highlight in the case of this paper, certain political and business issues that proved integral to TEAL’s formation and development. In the present writer’s view, this understanding is one of the enduring strengths of the historical profession, and one of the pleasures of working as an historian.

Amongst the various ‘schools of history’ which are now required study at Graduate School level, and which by its very nature proves challenging to the historian, is the study of postmodernism. Postmodernism which has it that there are no hard facts, no final answers, only a plurality of “discourses”, each with its own claim to validity, rejects the belief that historical truths exist and that historical inquiry makes progress. But luckily in recent years, some sort of balance in historical studies has been struck with Richard Evans responding to the postmodernist challenge, defending historical realism and therefore the practice of history itself.²⁵⁾ He argues that although postmodernism insists on the historian’s subjectivity, any good historical work should be skeptical, scrupulous, and self-critical, and thus the goal of objective historical knowledge is indeed attainable.

It is proper that postmodernist theorists and critic should force historians to rethink the categories and assumptions with which they work, and to justify the manner in which they practise their discipline. But, as Evans has pointed out, postmodernism is itself just one group of theories amongst many, and as contest- able as all the rest.²⁶⁾ In the final analysis, the end result of this inquiry merely prompts the historian to greater care, and encourages rather than impinges the belief that historical truth is attainable. It is this very key-point which Evans has

25) Evans, Richard J.,In Defence of History, London, 1997.

26) Ibid, p 252.

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