Lester Brain
Lester Joseph Brain, AO, AFC was a pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive. Born in New South Wales, he trained with the Royal Australian Air Force before joining Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services as a pilot in 1924. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1929, after locating the lost aircraft Kookaburra in northern Australia.
About Lester Brain in brief
Lester Joseph Brain, AO, AFC was a pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive. Born in New South Wales, he trained with the Royal Australian Air Force before joining Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services 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. 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. He 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. 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. On 7 February 1925, he flew the first scheduled passenger service from Cloncurry to Camooweal, extending the airline’s founding 580-mile route by 284 miles.
On 20 April 1929, Brain was selected to take part in a search for lost aviators while flying over the Tanami Desert under command of Lieutenant Charles Fysh. He later became Chief Instructor at the aircraft school in Brisbane, doubling as the aircraft’s instructor. By mid-1928, he had overworked himself to the extent that he was ordered to take respite in England to study aviation developments in England. In April 1929 he took up a position with RAAF Aircoa 50s from Brisbane to assist a gold prospecting expedition some years earlier. On a rain-soaked McKinlay airfield near Clon curry 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. He then became Chief Flying School in Brisbane and became manager of the local office of the airline. By the time he resigned in March 1955, TAA was firmly established as one half of the Commonwealth government’s two-airline system. Brain was appointed TAA’s first general manager, he swiftly built up the organisation to the stage where it could commence scheduled operations later in the year. In January 1955, he became Managing Director of de-Haviland Aircraft, before becoming a consultant to East-west Airlines in January 1957. He died in July 1957, aged 75.
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