18 Facts About Lester Brain

Lester Brain was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1929, after locating the lost aircraft Kookaburra in northern Australia.

Lester Brain earned a King's Commendation for his rescue efforts during an air raid on Broome, Western Australia, in 1942, and was promoted to wing commander in 1944.

Lester Brain was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 1979 and died in June the following year, aged seventy-seven.

Lester Brain completed his education at Sydney Grammar School, where he excelled in maths, before being employed by the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney in 1919.

Lester Brain was among five civilian students nominated by the Civil Aviation Branch of the Defence Department for entry into the inaugural RAAF flying training course, which commenced at Point Cook, Victoria in January 1923.

Lester Brain graduated at the top of his class after the year-long training course at Point Cook, and was duly commissioned in the CAF.

The next month, Lester Brain became Chief Instructor at the Qantas Flying School in Brisbane, doubling as manager of the airline's local office.

Lester Brain located the Kookaburra the next day in the Tanami Desert, approximately 130 kilometres east-south-east of Wave Hill.

Lester Brain saw one body underneath the wing, but the terrain was too dangerous to attempt a landing.

Lester Brain played a leading role in Qantas' operations as it expanded its mail and passenger routes throughout Australia and, as Qantas Empire Airways from January 1934, other parts of the world.

Lester Brain was now Flight Superintendent and, having accumulated 6,694 hours in the air, began to evince a keener interest in the "administration and executive side of aviation".

Lester Brain, though suffering from fever, rowed into the harbour with another airline representative and rescued ten people from the water.

Lester Brain moved quickly to secure executive, flying, training and maintenance staff from Qantas, Ansett and the RAAF, as well as surplus Douglas DC-3 twin-engined transports from the RAAF and TAA's chief private competitor, Australian National Airways.

Lester Brain planned to have the first scheduled flights operating by October 1946, around the same time as delivery of four DC-4 Skymaster four-engined liners that would augment the DC-3 fleet, giving the airline a significant edge over ANA.

Lester Brain maintained that its negative financial performance in its early years was a necessary by-product of rapid expansion to establish itself as a significant force in the market.

Lester Brain's anticipated salary increases had been less than he expected under the terms of his employment; Watt's attempts to make good on them had been resisted by Federal Cabinet.

Lester Brain had declined the offer of a knighthood in the late 1960s, but accepted appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia on 26 January 1979.

Lester Brain was survived by his wife and children, and cremated.