Brisbane-based filmmaker Viewmark Films Australia has joined forces with the Tamworth Film and Sound Archive to document the dramatic rise and fall of Tamworth's own East-West Airlines (EWA).

Director Gordon Lowe said the airline, which was shut down by Ansett Australia in late 1993, was well ahead of its time in offering budget travel in an era when locals would have had to travel 12 hours on a train or seven by car to reach Sydney.

The resourceful enterprise was "a country airline for country people" that effectively outsmarted governments' two-airline policies and carved out a space for regional air travel.

Mr Lowe worked for the airline in public relations in the '80s and stressed the importance of preserving Australia's transport history.

"I've got a personal interest in this," he said.

"I'm doing this for the people of Tamworth, for those who worked with East-West and for those who travelled with East-West, to bring back happy memories."

Local man Bruce Partridge has plenty of fond memories of his 36 years at EWA, and he is featured in the documentary.

Now 89, he started out as an aircraft mechanic in 1948 and rose to be chief inspector of maintenance and engineering.

"I remember joining in their first year and going to the first annual beer-up," he said.

"The old EWA was a bit like a family," he said.

He remembers the progression of planes from working on old Arvo Ansons (a model of which is on display at the Tamworth airport) to Fokkers, witnessing planes that used to drop bombs begin to carry passengers instead.

Mr Lowe said his research had turned up some wild stories, one of the most memorable being when a passenger, after a big night at the pub in Glen Innes, opened the plane door mid-flight to relieve himself.

Mr Lowe said he was passionate about the film, which he hoped would be released on DVD in February next year.