Lester Brain
Encyclopedia
Lester Joseph Brain, AO, AFC
(27 February 1903 – 30 June 1980) was a pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive. Born in New South Wales
, he trained with the Royal Australian Air Force
(RAAF) before joining Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services
(Qantas) as a pilot in 1924. He was awarded the Air Force Cross
in 1929, after locating the lost aircraft Kookaburra in northern Australia. Having risen to Chief Pilot at Qantas by 1930, he was appointed Flying Operations Manager in 1938. As a member of the RAAF reserve, Brain coordinated his airline's support for the Australian military during World War II
. He 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.
Seeing little prospect for advancement at Qantas once the war had ended, Brain left to join the fledgling government-owned domestic carrier Trans Australia Airlines
(TAA) in June 1946. Appointed its first General Manager, he swiftly built up the organisation to the stage where it could commence scheduled operations later in the year. By the time he resigned in March 1955, TAA was firmly established as one half of the Commonwealth government's two-airline system
. After his departure from TAA, Brain became Managing Director of de Havilland Aircraft
in Sydney, before joining the board of East-West Airlines
as a consultant in January 1961. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 1979, Lester Brain died in June the following year, at the age of seventy-seven.
, on 27 February 1903, Lester Brain was the second son of an English mining engineer and manager, Austin Brain, and his Australian wife, Katie. Originally from Gloucestershire
, Austin had emigrated with his parents and siblings in 1885, prospecting for gold in the United States before settling in Australia. By the age of thirteen, Lester owned his own motorcycle bought secondhand for £11; its poor condition and constant need for repair helped him become mechanically adept at an early age. He completed his education at Sydney Grammar School
, where he excelled in maths, before being employed by the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney (CBC) in 1919.
Brain's penchant for motorbikes and things mechanical inspired a lift driver at CBC to suggest he apply for pilot training in the recently formed Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He was among five civilian students nominated by the Civil Aviation Branch
(CAB) of the Defence Department for entry into the inaugural RAAF flying training course, which commenced at Point Cook, Victoria in January 1923. The benefit of these nominations from a military perspective was that although the destiny of the CAB-sponsored students was to be civil aviators, they would also be members of the RAAF reserve, known as the Citizen Air Force (CAF), and could therefore be called up for active service as and when necessary. Brain's fellow attendees included Royal Australian Navy
lieutenants Joe Hewitt
and Ellis Wackett
, and Australian Army
lieutenant Frank Bladin
, all of whom were seconded—and later permanently transferred—to the RAAF.
to Camooweal
, extending the airline's founding 580 miles (933.4 km) route—from Charleville
to Cloncurry—by 284 miles (457.1 km). The following year, he completed a refresher course at Central Flying School
, Point Cook. On a rain-soaked McKinlay airfield near Cloncurry on 27 February 1927, he flipped Qantas' first de Havilland DH.50 on to its back while attempting take-off, though he managed to escape without injury. Qantas founder Hudson Fysh
berated him for a "serious error of judgement", but noted his excellent three-year record as a pilot; the aircraft was soon repaired and operational again. The next month, Brain became Chief Instructor at the Qantas Flying School in Brisbane
, doubling as manager of the airline's local office. By mid-1928, he had overworked himself to the extent that he was ordered to take respite by Fysh; this "respite" however involved a 13-week trip to England to study aviation developments.
In April 1929, Brain was selected to take part in a search for lost aviators in northern Australia, having gained experience of the area while flying over the Tanami Desert
to assist a gold prospecting expedition some years earlier. On 20 April, he took Qantas DH.50 Atalanta from Brisbane to link up with RAAF Airco DH.9
s under the command of Flight Lieutenant Charles Eaton
at Tennant Creek
, to look for Keith Anderson and Robert Hitchcock in their Westland Widgeon the Kookaburra. The pair had disappeared while searching for Charles Kingsford Smith
and Charles Ulm
, who had been reported missing on a record attempt from Sydney to England in the Southern Cross
. Brain located the Kookaburra the next day in the Tanami Desert, approximately 130 kilometres (80.8 mi) east-south-east of Wave Hill. He saw one body underneath the wing, but the terrain was too dangerous to attempt a landing. After Brain reported the Kookaburras position to Eaton, the latter led an overland expedition to the site and buried the bodies of Anderson and Hitchcock, who had evidently survived crash-landing their plane before succumbing to heat and thirst. His discovery of the Kookaburra and, shortly thereafter, of two lost British aviators in Arnhem Land
, earned Brain the Air Force Cross
; the award was promulgated in the London Gazette
on 31 May:
The Gazette later corrected "Leslie" to "Lester". With the Kookaburra saga making news across the country, Brain had become a national hero, and Fysh declared that the publicity for both pilot and airline "could probably not have been bought for any money".
By 1930, Brain had been appointed Qantas' Chief Pilot. In June that year, he was given responsibility for sales and special flights such as demonstrations and agency tours at the airline's new Brisbane headquarters, and also acted as a reserve pilot. He married Constance (Consie) Brownhill at Holy Innocents Catholic Church in Croydon, New South Wales
, on 8 July; the couple had two sons and two daughters. Brain played a leading role in Qantas' operations as it expanded its mail and passenger routes throughout Australia and, as Qantas Empire Airways (QEA) from January 1934, other parts of the world. In October that year, he went to Britain to take delivery of QEA's first de Havilland DH.86
, the fastest four-engined airliner in the world at the time. He 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". Promoted to flying officer
in the CAF on 1 March 1935, over the next year he discussed with the Controller-General of Civil Aviation, Edgar Johnston
, taking a cut in salary to work in Johnston's department, or possibly becoming Deputy Controller-General. No more came of this at the time, and by 1938 Brain had been appointed Flying Operations Manager at QEA. In 1939, he was considered for the position of Director-General of Civil Aviation (which had recently succeeded the post of Controller-General) but the role went to A. B. Corbett.
, Brain was given the task of coordinating Qantas' support for the Australian military, which became known as the Qantas Merchant Air Service. On 23 February 1940, Fysh noted that since its formation in 1934, QEA had logged six million miles in flying boats and landplanes without suffering any injuries to passengers or crew. He called it "a record which has never been equalled in any part of the world ... It reflects the highest credit on Captain Brain, who has been in charge of flying operations during this time." In 1941, Brain took charge of ferrying eighteen PBY Catalina
s from the United States to Australia on behalf of the RAAF, which had purchased the aircraft. US neutrality made it prudent for a civilian organisation—that was also experienced in long-range flying boat operations—to undertake the task. Brain and his crew departed San Diego, California, on 25 January to make the first flight, having surveyed their intended route on the journey out from Australia. Travelling via Honolulu, Canton Island
and Nouméa
, they arrived at their destination after one week, including sixty hours flying time; it was only the third such direct flight to Australia across the Pacific Ocean.
By February 1942, Brain was running the Qantas base at Broome
in north Western Australia, which had assumed major importance as a way station for evacuees from the Dutch East Indies, possessing a harbour suitable for flying boats, as well as an airfield that could take heavy bombers. The increasing Royal Netherlands Air Force
, RAAF and Qantas traffic through the base led Brain to anticipate an attack by Japanese
forces, and this occurred on 3 March, when nine Zero
fighters strafed the harbour with cannon. Twenty-four aircraft were destroyed, and an estimated seventy people were killed. Brain, though suffering from fever, rowed into the harbour with another airline representative and rescued ten people from the water. After the all-clear sounded, he ordered an undamaged Qantas flying boat to Port Headland
, in case of further attacks; he also took part in the search for survivors of a B-24 Liberator
that had been shot down by the raiders. His rescue efforts were recognised with a King's Commendation for "brave conduct at Civil Aerodromes", promulgated in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 17 June 1943. The following year, he was promoted to temporary wing commander
in the CAF.
(TAA), a new domestic carrier established by the Federal Labor
government and run by the Australian National Airlines Commission (ACAC), which was chaired by Arthur Coles
. Qantas could not match the £2,250 salary associated with the TAA role, and Brain advised Fysh of his resignation on 10 April 1946. In the event, ACAC appointed him TAA's General Manager on 3 June, with a £3,000 salary and an undertaking to increase this to as much as £5,000 in the future.
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
(ANA). He planned to have the first scheduled flights operating by October, 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. In the event, TAA's first flight, from Melbourne to Sydney, took place on 9 September under pressure from the government, keen to ensure favourable publicity for its new enterprise before the Federal election at the end of the month. Brain nevertheless instructed his pilots that "schedules are important, but safety is most important"; it became one of TAA's early advertising slogans. In October, he wrote to the Department of Civil Aviation to express his disquiet at the rapidly increasing list of government members who were to be given preferential treatment when required at the expense of members of the public, in effect arguing with his owner—the government—on behalf of everyday travellers.
On 1 July 1947, Brain was discharged from the CAF with the rank of wing commander. By August 1949, TAA had carried its millionth passenger. Though praised for contributing to increased civil traffic in Australia, the airline was losing money, generating criticism in media and political circles that it was an inefficient organisation propped up by ordinary taxpayers. 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. In June 1950, he was able to report its first profit. This, plus popular opinion in TAA's favour, helped ensure the airline's survival as a public enterprise in the wake of the Labor government's loss to Robert Menzies
' conservative Liberal Party
in the Federal election the previous year, though Coles was replaced as Chairman of ACAC by Norman Watt. By 1951, the new government had enacted as policy a two-airline system
that enshrined competition between the Commonwealth-sponsored domestic operator and one major privately-owned carrier.
Brain tendered his resignation from TAA on 3 February 1955—effective 17 March—to become Managing Director of de Havilland Aircraft in Sydney (later Hawker de Havilland
, part of Boeing Australia
). While his departure came as a surprise to ACAC, Brain had for some time felt shackled by having to run TAA on a commercial basis under the control of a government bureaucracy, and on a public servant's remuneration. His 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
. The government yet feared that, once he had resigned, Brain might attempt to sue for back pay, though he assured Watt that this was not his intention. Nevertheless, in November he received a Cabinet-approved ex gratia
payment totalling £6,250, in recognition of his "long and distinguished service to civil aviation in Australia".
During Brain's tenure at de Havilland, the company manufactured sixty-nine Vampire T35
jet trainers at its Bankstown
factory for delivery to the RAAF, as well as Sea Venoms for the RAN. Leaving de Havilland upon its merger with Hawker Siddeley in 1960, he gave up full-time work and joined the board of East-West Airlines
as a consultant in January 1961. In August 1964, he began negotiations with the Federal government on behalf of International Parcels Express Company (now Toll IPEC
), which was attempting to enter the air freight business in Australia with the purchase of five DC-4 Skymasters; however the government rejected the proposal later that year. Along with Arthur Coles, Brain was a guest at the opening of TAA's new headquarters at Franklin Street, Melbourne in November 1965. In 1978, he met with adventurer Dick Smith
, who was about to launch an expedition to recover the Kookaburra from the Tanami Desert. Smith was keen to get directions from the man who had found the missing plane in 1929, in spite of receiving advice against taking the word of someone from the "cap and goggles" era. He rediscovered the Kookaburra in August that year "exactly where Lester Brain had said ... Lester was completely chuffed when I got back and told him I'd found the Kookaburra thanks to his directions and how thankful I was that, despite everyone else's suggestions, I'd taken Lester's advice."
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. When asked towards the end of his life why he had achieved so much but was not as well known as other aviation pioneers, he replied "Because I was always very careful and didn't kill myself". Having suffered from cancer for a number of years, Brain died in Sydney on 30 June 1980. He was survived by his wife and children, and cremated. In November 2008, Qantas announced that one of its new Airbus A380
s would be named Lester Brain.
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...
(27 February 1903 – 30 June 1980) was a pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive. Born in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, he trained with the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
(RAAF) before joining Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
(Qantas) as a pilot in 1924. He was awarded the Air Force Cross
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...
in 1929, after locating the lost aircraft Kookaburra in northern Australia. Having risen to Chief Pilot at Qantas by 1930, he was appointed Flying Operations Manager in 1938. As a member of the RAAF reserve, Brain coordinated his airline's support for the Australian military during World War II
Military history of Australia during World War II
Australia entered World War II shortly after the invasion of Poland, declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939. By the end of the war, almost a million Australians had served in the armed forces, whose military units fought primarily in the European theatre, North African campaign, and...
. He earned a King's Commendation for his rescue efforts during an air raid on Broome, Western Australia
Attack on Broome
The town of Broome, Western Australia was attacked by Japanese fighter planes on 3 March 1942, during World War II. At least 88 people were killed....
, in 1942, and was promoted to wing commander
Wing Commander (rank)
Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...
in 1944.
Seeing little prospect for advancement at Qantas once the war had ended, Brain left to join the fledgling government-owned domestic carrier Trans Australia Airlines
Trans Australia Airlines
Trans Australia Airlines or TAA, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its sale to Qantas in May 1996. During that period TAA played a major part in the development of the Australian air transport industry...
(TAA) in June 1946. Appointed its first General Manager, he swiftly built up the organisation to the stage where it could commence scheduled operations later in the year. By the time he resigned in March 1955, TAA was firmly established as one half of the Commonwealth government's two-airline system
Two Airlines Policy
The Australian Two Airlines Policy was a policy of Australian Federal Governments from the late 1940s to the 1990s. Under the policy, only two airlines were allowed to operate flights between state capital city and major regional city airports...
. After his departure from TAA, Brain became Managing Director of de Havilland Aircraft
De Havilland Australia
De Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd was part of de Havilland, then became a separate company. It was purchased by Boeing and is now Hawker de Havilland Aerospace Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Boeing Australia Ltd-Early Years and WWII:...
in Sydney, before joining the board of East-West Airlines
East-West Airlines (Australia)
East-West Airlines was an Australian regional airline founded in Tamworth, New South Wales in 1947. It operated to major regional city-centres and connected these centres to various provincial capitals. It was purchased from its original founders in a share buy-out by Bryan Grey and Duke Minks...
as a consultant in January 1961. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 1979, Lester Brain died in June the following year, at the age of seventy-seven.
Early life
Born in Forbes, New South WalesForbes, New South Wales
-Notable residents:*Carolyn Simpson - Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales; Member of the first all-female bench to sit in an Australian court*NSW Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt was born and raised in Forbes....
, on 27 February 1903, Lester Brain was the second son of an English mining engineer and manager, Austin Brain, and his Australian wife, Katie. Originally from Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, Austin had emigrated with his parents and siblings in 1885, prospecting for gold in the United States before settling in Australia. By the age of thirteen, Lester owned his own motorcycle bought secondhand for £11; its poor condition and constant need for repair helped him become mechanically adept at an early age. He completed his education at Sydney Grammar School
Sydney Grammar School
Sydney Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, selective, day school for boys, located in Darlinghurst, Edgecliff and St Ives, all suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
, where he excelled in maths, before being employed by the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney (CBC) in 1919.
Brain's penchant for motorbikes and things mechanical inspired a lift driver at CBC to suggest he apply for pilot training in the recently formed Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He was among five civilian students nominated by the Civil Aviation Branch
Airservices Australia
Airservices Australia is an Australian Government agency, responsible for providing safe and environmentally sound air traffic control management and related airside services to the aviation industry within the Australian Flight Information Region...
(CAB) of the Defence Department for entry into the inaugural RAAF flying training course, which commenced at Point Cook, Victoria in January 1923. The benefit of these nominations from a military perspective was that although the destiny of the CAB-sponsored students was to be civil aviators, they would also be members of the RAAF reserve, known as the Citizen Air Force (CAF), and could therefore be called up for active service as and when necessary. Brain's fellow attendees included Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
lieutenants Joe Hewitt
Joe Hewitt (RAAF officer)
Air Vice Marshal Joseph Eric Hewitt, CBE was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force...
and Ellis Wackett
Ellis Wackett
Air Vice Marshal Ellis Charles Wackett CB, CBE was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force . Its chief engineer from 1935 to 1959, he served on the RAAF's controlling body, the Air Board, for a record 17 years, and has been credited with infusing operations with new standards of...
, and Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
lieutenant Frank Bladin
Frank Bladin
Air Vice Marshal Francis Masson Bladin, CB, CBE was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force . Born in rural Victoria, he graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1920. Bladin transferred from the Army to the Air Force in 1923, and learned to fly at RAAF Point Cook,...
, all of whom were seconded—and later permanently transferred—to the RAAF.
Qantas
Brain graduated at the top of his class after the year-long training course at Point Cook, and was duly commissioned in the CAF. Moving to Queensland in April 1924, he took up employment as a pilot with Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (Qantas), its first aviator without a war record. On 7 February 1925, he flew the first scheduled passenger service from CloncurryCloncurry, Queensland
-Notable residents:*Writer Alexis Wright grew up in Cloncurry.*Association Footballer Kasey Wehrman was born in Cloncurry . He went on to play domestically and in Scandinavia. His achievements include winning a NSL Championship in 1996-1997 with the Brisbane Strikers and being capped several times...
to Camooweal
Camooweal, Queensland
Camooweal is a small town in north-western Queensland, Australia, located 188 km north-west of the city of Mount Isa and 12 km east of the Northern Territory border. Local government is provided by the Mount Isa City Council. The town lies on the Barkly Highway, and is adjacent to the Georgina River...
, extending the airline's founding 580 miles (933.4 km) route—from Charleville
Charleville, Queensland
Charleville is a town in south western Queensland, Australia, 758 kilometres by road west of Brisbane . It is the largest town and administrative centre of the Murweh Shire, which covers an area of 43,905 square kilometres...
to Cloncurry—by 284 miles (457.1 km). The following year, he completed a refresher course at Central Flying School
Central Flying School RAAF
The Central Flying School RAAF is a Royal Australian Air Force training establishment, based at RAAF Base East Sale. It was formed in March 1913, and during the First World War it trained over 150 pilots, who fought in Europe and the Middle East....
, Point Cook. On a rain-soaked McKinlay airfield near Cloncurry on 27 February 1927, he flipped Qantas' first de Havilland DH.50 on to its back while attempting take-off, though he managed to escape without injury. Qantas founder Hudson Fysh
Hudson Fysh
Sir Wilmot Hudson Fysh KBE, DFC was an Australian aviator and businessman. A founder of the Australian airline company Qantas, Fysh was born in Launceston, Tasmania. Serving in the Battle of Gallipoli and Palestine Campaign as a lieutenant of the Australian Light Horse Brigade, Fysh later became...
berated him for a "serious error of judgement", but noted his excellent three-year record as a pilot; the aircraft was soon repaired and operational again. The next month, Brain became Chief Instructor at the Qantas Flying School in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, doubling as manager of the airline's local office. By mid-1928, he had overworked himself to the extent that he was ordered to take respite by Fysh; this "respite" however involved a 13-week trip to England to study aviation developments.
In April 1929, Brain was selected to take part in a search for lost aviators in northern Australia, having gained experience of the area while flying over the Tanami Desert
Tanami Desert
The Tanami Desert is a desert in northern Australia situated in the Northern Territory. It has a rocky terrain with small hills. The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and was not fully explored until well into the twentieth century...
to assist a gold prospecting expedition some years earlier. On 20 April, he took Qantas DH.50 Atalanta from Brisbane to link up with RAAF Airco DH.9
Airco DH.9
The Airco DH.9 - also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 - was a British bomber used in the First World War...
s under the command of Flight Lieutenant Charles Eaton
Charles Eaton (RAAF officer)
Charles Eaton OBE, AFC was a senior officer and aviator in the Royal Australian Air Force , who later served as a diplomat. Born in London, he joined the British Army upon the outbreak of World War I and saw action on the Western Front before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917...
at Tennant Creek
Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
Tennant Creek is a town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the fifth largest town in the Northern Territory and it is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with the western terminus of the Barkly Highway....
, to look for Keith Anderson and Robert Hitchcock in their Westland Widgeon the Kookaburra. The pair had disappeared while searching for Charles Kingsford Smith
Charles Kingsford Smith
Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC, AFC , often called by his nickname Smithy, was an early Australian aviator. In 1928, he earned global fame when he made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia...
and Charles Ulm
Charles Ulm
Charles Thomas Philippe Ulm AFC was a pioneer Australian aviator.-World War I:Ulm joined the AIF in September 1914, lying about his name and age to get in. He fought and was wounded at Gallipoli in 1915, and on the Western Front in 1918.Charles Ulm was married twice. In 1919 he married Isabel...
, who had been reported missing on a record attempt from Sydney to England in the Southern Cross
Southern Cross (aircraft)
Southern Cross is the name of the Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor monoplane which in 1928 was flown by Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew in the first ever trans-Pacific flight, from the mainland United States to Australia, about ....
. Brain located the Kookaburra the next day in the Tanami Desert, approximately 130 kilometres (80.8 mi) east-south-east of Wave Hill. He saw one body underneath the wing, but the terrain was too dangerous to attempt a landing. After Brain reported the Kookaburras position to Eaton, the latter led an overland expedition to the site and buried the bodies of Anderson and Hitchcock, who had evidently survived crash-landing their plane before succumbing to heat and thirst. His discovery of the Kookaburra and, shortly thereafter, of two lost British aviators in Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land
The Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km² which also covers the area of Kakadu National...
, earned Brain the Air Force Cross
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...
; the award was promulgated in the London Gazette
London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...
on 31 May:
The Gazette later corrected "Leslie" to "Lester". With the Kookaburra saga making news across the country, Brain had become a national hero, and Fysh declared that the publicity for both pilot and airline "could probably not have been bought for any money".
By 1930, Brain had been appointed Qantas' Chief Pilot. In June that year, he was given responsibility for sales and special flights such as demonstrations and agency tours at the airline's new Brisbane headquarters, and also acted as a reserve pilot. He married Constance (Consie) Brownhill at Holy Innocents Catholic Church in Croydon, New South Wales
Croydon, New South Wales
Croydon is an affluent suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Croydon is located 11 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district. Croydon is split between the two local government areas of Burwood Council and the Municipality of Ashfield.The...
, on 8 July; the couple had two sons and two daughters. Brain played a leading role in Qantas' operations as it expanded its mail and passenger routes throughout Australia and, as Qantas Empire Airways (QEA) from January 1934, other parts of the world. In October that year, he went to Britain to take delivery of QEA's first de Havilland DH.86
De Havilland Express
The de Havilland Express was a four-engined passenger aircraft from the 1930s manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.-Development:...
, the fastest four-engined airliner in the world at the time. He 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". Promoted to flying officer
Flying Officer
Flying officer is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence...
in the CAF on 1 March 1935, over the next year he discussed with the Controller-General of Civil Aviation, Edgar Johnston
Edgar Johnston
Edgar Charles Johnston DFC was an Australian fighter pilot in World War I, later on a leading member in civic aviation in Australia....
, taking a cut in salary to work in Johnston's department, or possibly becoming Deputy Controller-General. No more came of this at the time, and by 1938 Brain had been appointed Flying Operations Manager at QEA. In 1939, he was considered for the position of Director-General of Civil Aviation (which had recently succeeded the post of Controller-General) but the role went to A. B. Corbett.
World War II
Following the outbreak of World War IIMilitary history of Australia during World War II
Australia entered World War II shortly after the invasion of Poland, declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939. By the end of the war, almost a million Australians had served in the armed forces, whose military units fought primarily in the European theatre, North African campaign, and...
, Brain was given the task of coordinating Qantas' support for the Australian military, which became known as the Qantas Merchant Air Service. On 23 February 1940, Fysh noted that since its formation in 1934, QEA had logged six million miles in flying boats and landplanes without suffering any injuries to passengers or crew. He called it "a record which has never been equalled in any part of the world ... It reflects the highest credit on Captain Brain, who has been in charge of flying operations during this time." In 1941, Brain took charge of ferrying eighteen PBY Catalina
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...
s from the United States to Australia on behalf of the RAAF, which had purchased the aircraft. US neutrality made it prudent for a civilian organisation—that was also experienced in long-range flying boat operations—to undertake the task. Brain and his crew departed San Diego, California, on 25 January to make the first flight, having surveyed their intended route on the journey out from Australia. Travelling via Honolulu, Canton Island
Kanton Island
Kanton Island , alternatively known as "Mary Island", "Mary Balcout's Island" or "Swallow Island", is the largest, northernmost, and as of 2007, the sole inhabited island of the Phoenix Islands, in the Republic of Kiribati. It is an atoll located in the South Pacific Ocean roughly halfway between...
and Nouméa
Nouméa
Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...
, they arrived at their destination after one week, including sixty hours flying time; it was only the third such direct flight to Australia across the Pacific Ocean.
By February 1942, Brain was running the Qantas base at Broome
Broome, Western Australia
Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...
in north Western Australia, which had assumed major importance as a way station for evacuees from the Dutch East Indies, possessing a harbour suitable for flying boats, as well as an airfield that could take heavy bombers. The increasing Royal Netherlands Air Force
Royal Netherlands Air Force
The Royal Netherlands Air Force , Dutch Koninklijke Luchtmacht , is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Its ancestor, the Luchtvaartafdeling of the Dutch Army was founded on 1 July 1913, with four pilots...
, RAAF and Qantas traffic through the base led Brain to anticipate an attack by Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
forces, and this occurred on 3 March, when nine Zero
A6M Zero
The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long-range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the , and also designated as the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen and Mitsubishi Navy 12-shi Carrier Fighter. The A6M was usually referred to by the...
fighters strafed the harbour with cannon. Twenty-four aircraft were destroyed, and an estimated seventy people were killed. Brain, though suffering from fever, rowed into the harbour with another airline representative and rescued ten people from the water. After the all-clear sounded, he ordered an undamaged Qantas flying boat to Port Headland
Port Hedland, Western Australia
Port Hedland is the highest tonnage port in Australia and largest town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with a population of approximately 14,000 ....
, in case of further attacks; he also took part in the search for survivors of a B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
that had been shot down by the raiders. His rescue efforts were recognised with a King's Commendation for "brave conduct at Civil Aerodromes", promulgated in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 17 June 1943. The following year, he was promoted to temporary wing commander
Wing Commander (rank)
Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...
in the CAF.
Trans Australia Airlines
After the war, Brain was appointed Qantas' Assistant General Manager. Fysh, however, was still in his early fifties and appeared unlikely to retire any time soon. Seeing little chance of further advancement where he was, Brain took the opportunity to apply for the position of Operations Manager at Trans Australia AirlinesTrans Australia Airlines
Trans Australia Airlines or TAA, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its sale to Qantas in May 1996. During that period TAA played a major part in the development of the Australian air transport industry...
(TAA), a new domestic carrier established by the Federal Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government and run by the Australian National Airlines Commission (ACAC), which was chaired by Arthur Coles
Arthur Coles
Sir Arthur William Coles was a prominent Australian businessman and philanthropist.With his brothers Coles founded the Coles Variety Stores in the 1920s, which were to become one of the two largest supermarket chains in Australia now known as Coles Group...
. Qantas could not match the £2,250 salary associated with the TAA role, and Brain advised Fysh of his resignation on 10 April 1946. In the event, ACAC appointed him TAA's General Manager on 3 June, with a £3,000 salary and an undertaking to increase this to as much as £5,000 in the future.
Brain moved quickly to secure executive, flying, training and maintenance staff from Qantas, Ansett
Ansett Australia
Ansett Australia, Ansett, Ansett Airlines of Australia, or ANSETT-ANA as it was commonly known in earlier years, was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne. The airlines flew domestically within Australia and to destinations in Asia during its operation in 1996...
and the RAAF, as well as surplus Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
twin-engined transports from the RAAF and TAA's chief private competitor, Australian National Airways
Australian National Airways
Australian National Airways was Australia's predominant carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.-The Holyman Airways Period:On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.II VH-UEE Miss Launceston between Launceston, Tasmania and Flinders...
(ANA). He planned to have the first scheduled flights operating by October, around the same time as delivery of four DC-4 Skymaster
Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
four-engined liners that would augment the DC-3 fleet, giving the airline a significant edge over ANA. In the event, TAA's first flight, from Melbourne to Sydney, took place on 9 September under pressure from the government, keen to ensure favourable publicity for its new enterprise before the Federal election at the end of the month. Brain nevertheless instructed his pilots that "schedules are important, but safety is most important"; it became one of TAA's early advertising slogans. In October, he wrote to the Department of Civil Aviation to express his disquiet at the rapidly increasing list of government members who were to be given preferential treatment when required at the expense of members of the public, in effect arguing with his owner—the government—on behalf of everyday travellers.
On 1 July 1947, Brain was discharged from the CAF with the rank of wing commander. By August 1949, TAA had carried its millionth passenger. Though praised for contributing to increased civil traffic in Australia, the airline was losing money, generating criticism in media and political circles that it was an inefficient organisation propped up by ordinary taxpayers. 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. In June 1950, he was able to report its first profit. This, plus popular opinion in TAA's favour, helped ensure the airline's survival as a public enterprise in the wake of the Labor government's loss to Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
' conservative Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
in the Federal election the previous year, though Coles was replaced as Chairman of ACAC by Norman Watt. By 1951, the new government had enacted as policy a two-airline system
Two Airlines Policy
The Australian Two Airlines Policy was a policy of Australian Federal Governments from the late 1940s to the 1990s. Under the policy, only two airlines were allowed to operate flights between state capital city and major regional city airports...
that enshrined competition between the Commonwealth-sponsored domestic operator and one major privately-owned carrier.
Later life and legacy
De Havilland Australia
De Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd was part of de Havilland, then became a separate company. It was purchased by Boeing and is now Hawker de Havilland Aerospace Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Boeing Australia Ltd-Early Years and WWII:...
, part of Boeing Australia
Boeing Australia
Boeing Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, or simply Boeing Australia, is Boeing's largest footprint outside the United States. Established in 2002, the company oversees its seven wholly owned subsidiaries, consolidating and co-ordinating Boeing’s businesses and operations in Australia.Boeing has played an...
). While his departure came as a surprise to ACAC, Brain had for some time felt shackled by having to run TAA on a commercial basis under the control of a government bureaucracy, and on a public servant's remuneration. His 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
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
. The government yet feared that, once he had resigned, Brain might attempt to sue for back pay, though he assured Watt that this was not his intention. Nevertheless, in November he received a Cabinet-approved ex gratia
Ex gratia
Ex gratia is Latin for "by favour", and is most often used in a legal context. When something has been done ex gratia, it has been done voluntarily, out of kindness or grace...
payment totalling £6,250, in recognition of his "long and distinguished service to civil aviation in Australia".
During Brain's tenure at de Havilland, the company manufactured sixty-nine Vampire T35
De Havilland Vampire
The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...
jet trainers at its Bankstown
Bankstown, New South Wales
Bankstown is a suburb of south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bankstown is located 20 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Bankstown.-History:Prior to European...
factory for delivery to the RAAF, as well as Sea Venoms for the RAN. Leaving de Havilland upon its merger with Hawker Siddeley in 1960, he gave up full-time work and joined the board of East-West Airlines
East-West Airlines (Australia)
East-West Airlines was an Australian regional airline founded in Tamworth, New South Wales in 1947. It operated to major regional city-centres and connected these centres to various provincial capitals. It was purchased from its original founders in a share buy-out by Bryan Grey and Duke Minks...
as a consultant in January 1961. In August 1964, he began negotiations with the Federal government on behalf of International Parcels Express Company (now Toll IPEC
Toll IPEC
Toll IPEC is a major national logistics company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with operations in major capital and regional cities and towns around Australia. Toll IPEC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toll Holdings.- History :...
), which was attempting to enter the air freight business in Australia with the purchase of five DC-4 Skymasters; however the government rejected the proposal later that year. Along with Arthur Coles, Brain was a guest at the opening of TAA's new headquarters at Franklin Street, Melbourne in November 1965. In 1978, he met with adventurer Dick Smith
Dick Smith (entrepreneur)
Dick Smith, AO is an Australian entrepreneur, businessman, aviator, and political activist. He is the founder of Dick Smith Electronics, Dick Smith Foods and Australian Geographic, and was selected as the 1986 Australian of the Year.-Electronics:In 1968, Dick Smith founded electronics retailer...
, who was about to launch an expedition to recover the Kookaburra from the Tanami Desert. Smith was keen to get directions from the man who had found the missing plane in 1929, in spite of receiving advice against taking the word of someone from the "cap and goggles" era. He rediscovered the Kookaburra in August that year "exactly where Lester Brain had said ... Lester was completely chuffed when I got back and told him I'd found the Kookaburra thanks to his directions and how thankful I was that, despite everyone else's suggestions, I'd taken Lester's advice."
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. When asked towards the end of his life why he had achieved so much but was not as well known as other aviation pioneers, he replied "Because I was always very careful and didn't kill myself". Having suffered from cancer for a number of years, Brain died in Sydney on 30 June 1980. He was survived by his wife and children, and cremated. In November 2008, Qantas announced that one of its new Airbus A380
Airbus A380
The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world. Due to its size, many airports had to modify and improve facilities to accommodate it...
s would be named Lester Brain.