Ansett handing over most of his personal shares in Ansett Airways. Australian National Airways (ANA), the major Australian airline at the time, headed by Ivan Holyman and backed by five British shipping companies, made a takeover bid for Ansett in 1938. While Holyman did not take Ansett Airways seriously, he was attempting to create a major airline monopoly in Australia. Ansett was one more opponent to be eliminated by takeover. At this stage Ansett Airways shares had dropped to 8s (80 cents). The Ansett chairman Ernest O'Sullivan was a banker with no experience in the airline business. When Holyman offered 9s (90 cents) per share for Ansett Airways, he and the board of directors jumped at it. Determined not to lose his fledgling business, Ansett called an extraordinary meeting of shareholders. In the heated confrontation he convinced enough shareholders to back him and the bid failed. O'Sullivan resigned on the spot. No sooner was this battle won that Ansett Airways came close to disaster. On 22 February 1939, a fire broke out in the Essendon hangar. The Fokker Universal and one of the Electras were destroyed. Surveying the wreckage in the light of day, Ansett told his staff he was determined to continue. By the end of 1939, Ansett Airways was flying from Melbourne to Adelaide via Mildura and Renmark; from Sydney to Adelaide via Mildura and Broken Hill and Melbourne to Sydney via Narrandera. The company also continued with the original Melbourne-Hamilton service. Around this time, Ansett Airways continued to receive a subsidy payment of around £16 000 ($32 000) per annum from the Commonwealth government. World War II was a time of boundless opportunities for Ansett. In 1942, he abandoned all his airline routes except Melbourne-Hamilton and concentrated on performing engineering work and charter flights for the United States Army Air Corps. The Essendon hangar was expanded and by war's end the tiny Ansett organisation was employing around 2,000 people. The Ansett organisation finished the war flush with cash but facing trouble trying to regain its airline routes which had been taken over by ANA. In 1943, the Commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation released a discussion paper Post-war Reorganization: Proposal Outline of a Plan for Civil Aviation. The Curtin Labor government was developing plans for various nationalised industries when the war ended. One industry in their sights was the airlines. Apart from the United States, most countries had