This photo shows the Melbourne/Essendon, Vic, 33 Mc 'Lorenz' Radio Range antenna under construction in about 1938. The top of tower is at the level of the platform upon which the antenna will eventually be mounted. The rectangular boxy structure at the top is temporary scaffolding. A complete Lorenz tower has three 4.5 metre high, triangular frames, side by side and extending up above that level. A completed tower is depicted here. The wooden tower was located on Bulla Rd, now Wirraway Rd, not far from where the present Control Tower is located.

The large building down from the antenna (roll your cursor over the image above to identify it) was the Australian National Airways (ANA), later Ansett-ANA, passenger terminal. The Lorenz antenna is a prominent landmark in the background of photographs of Essendon taken from airside from the late 1930s to the late 1950s when it was dismantled.

In fact, this street-scape remains much the same today although from 2008 Wirraway Rd itself has had major renovation and extensive tree-planting. Roll your cursor over the image above to see the scene today (unfortunately the trees obscure some of the architecture).

(Photo: CAHS collection)

Click here to read more about the 'Lorenz' Radio Range system

See photos of the aircraft installation of the receiver for the Lorenz system, c.1938

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