A. J. R. OATES IN TRIAL

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27442, 31 August 1954, Page 12

A. J. R. OATES IN TRIAL

AIR RACE ENTRANT STILL COMPETING SECOND PLACE IN EVENT ROUND AUSTRALIA Last year a crash landing prevented Mr Aubrey J. .R. Oates, a Sydney publican and squadron leader in the R.A.A.F. Reserve, from competing with his de Havilland Mosquito in the London-Christchurch air race. This year, flying a Hornet Moth. Mr Oates had no such misfortune and gained, on provisional results, second place in the Redex “Round Australia” air trial. Mr Oates lost 15 points on the 5217 mile trial. , , - • . First place was taken by Mr W. A. Murrell, a grazier of HiUston, new South Wales, who finished the course in his Auster without loss of points. Third place in the trial was filled by Captain N. Buckley, of Guinea Airways, flying an Auster, who lost 17 points. With reserve Flight Lieutenant Douglas Swain as his navigator, Mr Oates took off from Perth on October

3, 1953, on his way to London and the start of the Christchurch air race. Near little Andaman Island, in- the Bay df Bengal, the Mosquito,a present front the Australian Government, ran out of fuel and was “ditched.” Oates and Swain were found at Mergui, on the West Coast of Burma, both in need of medical treatment;, To Mr Oates this was a bitter disapointment. For months he had hammered at the gates of authority before he Was given the chance to take a surplus Mosquito from storage to compete in the race. When the gift was made it was handsome: with the straight-out gift of an Australianmade Type 410 Mosquito went a .full double issue of oxygen masks, heated clothing, intercommunication equipment, and other gear. A refresher course in navigation for Mr Swain was also thrown in. War service for Mr Oates began with an Australian Beaufighter squadron operating over -New Britain and the Solomon Islands. In 1944 the R.A.A.F. lent him to the de Havilland works at Bankstown, Sydney, as a test pilot. During the next three years he tested about 250 Mosquitoes. Production of these aircraft stopped and Mr Oates went to work for a private company flying migrants to Australia. This business died away, but Mr Oates was only beginning. He took a ticket in the New South Wales lottery and won first prize. With the money he bought a hotel at Campbelltown, prospered, and was soon flying for pleasure" in his own Percival Gull.