Arthur Affleck

Arthur Affleck
Born
Arthur Herbert Affleck

(1903-07-03)3 July 1903
Brighton, Victoria, Australia
Died11 September 1966(1966-09-11) (aged 63)
Vancouver, Canada
NationalityAustralian
Aviation career
Flight license1925
Air forceRoyal Australian Air Force

Arthur Herbert Affleck (3 July 1903 – 11 September 1966)[1] was a Qantas pilot who was the first pilot of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia in 1928.[2]

Affleck was born at Brighton, Victoria on 3 July 1903. He worked in a bank for two years and joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1923, with the wish to become trained as a commercial pilot.[3] After six months as a clerk with the RAAF he was selected for training as a Civil Aviation Cadet. In 1925, having received his pilot's wings, he left the RAAF and joined Australian Aerial Services Ltd. In 1927 he joined Qantas. On 17 May 1928 he flew the surgeon Dr Kenyon Welch from Cloncurry, Queensland to Julia Creek, Queensland in a de Havilland DH.50. This was the first flight of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.[4] In 1936 Affleck became a Flying Inspector with the Civil Aviation branch of the Defence Department. In 1959 he became regional director of civil aviation for Papua New Guinea.

In 1963, aged 60, he retired, moved to Sydney and published his autobiography The Wandering Years.[5] On 11 September 1966 he died while on a cruise on the Orsova off the coast of Vancouver.[1]

  1. ^ a b Knight, Ken G. (1993). "Affleck, Arthur Herbert (1903–1966)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Archived from the original on 15 August 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Arthur H Affleck (1903– )". The Airways Museum & Civil Aviation Historical Society. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  3. ^ Affleck, Arthur Hebert (7 September 1964). "Primitive beginnings of civil aviation". The Canberra Times. Vol. 39, no. 10, 944. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. p. 2. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "50 Years Royal Flying Doctor Service 17th May 1928 to 17th May 1978"". AusPostalHistory.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  5. ^ Affleck, Arthur H (1964), The wandering years, Longmans, archived from the original on 26 January 2024