Many readers will be aware of the failed proposals to bring the tram and the railway to the peninsula end of the Northern Beaches. They may not be aware of the plans for an airport, not just for light planes but a fully-fledged international airport bigger than Mascot.
Military operations during World War II, particularly in the Pacific, generated the need to relocate troops and equipment rapidly over long distances. Traditionally this had been done by ship but the advantage of aircraft became obvious. This led to the development of some very large planes.
Given the lack of suitable airfields, the design favoured initially was flying boats. The biggest such craft produced during the war was the United States’ Martin JRM Mars – a four-engine aircraft with a wingspan of 65 metres and a payload of almost 15 tonnes.
As the war was drawing to a close, even bigger flying boats were in development, the best known being the Spruce Goose, with eight engines and a wingspan of 98 metres. -For comparison this is 30 metres more than the span of a Boeing 747.
In this environment, in early 1945 as the war was winding down, a group of planners put forward a detailed proposal for a new international airport for Sydney. They could see that the future would include mass air transport of both people and goods, and so catered for both land aircraft and large flying boats.
The airport was to be serviced by both rail and road and included car parking and hotel accommodation.
It needed to be relatively close to Sydney and to be adjacent to extensive sheltered water. What location was chosen? Apparently, it was Newport!
