VH-TQT on a turn round at the first stop at the Queensland western town of Charleville before heading on its way to Longreach, Blackall, Roma and then back "home " to Brisbane.

The first aircraft to fly from the UK to Australia seen here at what is believed to be Charleville where it needed repairs. The flight had officially ended at Darwin but the crew, the Smith brothers, Shiers and Bennett travelled on to eventually reach the brothers' hometown of Adelaide via the east coast capitals. The Vimy is today preserved at Adelaide. Photo from: State Library of Queensland

Flown by test pilot Flying Officer Arthur Clouston and his co-pilot, newspaper correspondent Victor Ricketts in an 11-day, 42,000km UK-New Zealand-UK flight in March 1938. It is not known if the photo was taken eastbound or westbound but the same three Australian airports - Darwin, Charleville and Sydney - were used both ways. The NZ destination was Blenheim with the crew overnighting there before setting off again. Photo from: State Library of Queensland

Charleville was used by the US military in World War II. It had three runways and a perimeter taxiway. The runway running across the photo is today's main runway 12/30. Running from the top of the photo to the right is today's runway 18/36 but it no longer crosses 12/30. The third runway, the longest during the war, seen in top left corner has been closed and part of it now is outside the airport's boundaries. This 1947 photo shows Qantas DC-3 VH-AIJ among a gathering of light aircraft for an undisclosed aviation event. None of the buildings in the photo survive.

Butler operated from Cootamundra to Charleville to connect with mail flights from the UK. The mail was brought to Cootamundra and put on trains bound for Melbourne. The mail otherwise would have travelled via Brisbane and Sydney.

VH-WTN was registered in August 1965,

VH-LVL was registered in April 1989.

VH-UJL was registered in June 1989.

VH-KSE was registered in September 1978.

VH-SSS was registered in April 1980.

55-3796 was registered in September 2002. Holly was schoolgirl Holly Adams who in 2015 aged 16 used the aircraft to fly to school each day.

Turning downwind for Runway 30 aboard DC-3 VH-AES 'Hawdon' after the five hour flight from Melbourne to begin the Federation Airshows in the Outback. You can see how flat and empty the area is - although there were more trees around Charleville than anywhere else that we saw in western Queensland.

This is the second Tiger Moth to carry the reg VH-APB. Built for the RAAF as A17-116, post-war is became VH-ATQ in 1957. Later converted to one of the extensive fleet of Super Spread crop sprayers (just imagine that!) as VH-SSB. Registered VH-APB on 21 July 1989. Seen here at the start of the Federation Airshows in the Outback, where for two weeks they did a roaring trade in joyrides.

One of the 70 aircraft that participated in the Federation Airshows in the Outback (this one in the Air Rally) on arrival at Charleville to begin two weeks of fantastic flying in the Queensland outback. This 1979 Tiger was first registered in Australia on 5 July 1996.

This replica of Kinsgsford Smith and Ulm's famous 'Southern Cross' was built as a bicentennial project at Parafield and registered on 3 Jun '87. First flight made in Aug '87. It is powered by 3 x 300hp Jacobs R-755A2 (original had 220hp Wright J-5s) and endurance 7 hrs at 90kts. Badly damaged on landing 25 Apr '02 at Parafield after right wheel fell off on takeoff. Currently reported to be with HARS for repairs and future ops. Seen here at the start of the Federation Airshows in the Outback.

Charleville soon after dawn as seen from hot air balloon VH-BIE at the start of the Federation Airshows in the Outback tour. There is quite a remarkable collection of aircraft on the field, including Super Constellation VH-EAG 'Southern Preservation', DC-3s VH-AES 'Hawdon' and VH-ABR 'Kanana', 'Southern Cross' replica VH-USU, Drovers VH-ADN & VH-DHM, and Caribou A4-285.