“HIRE AND FLY” SERVICE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 7, 9 January 1946, Page 7

“HIRE AND FLY” SERVICE

BUSINESS STARTED IN AUSTRALIA i Sydney, Dec. 31. Australia’s first hire-and-fly aeroI plane service will be a family affair, j conducted by John Brown, a middleaged Cockney who was an engineer in the Commonwealth Arcraft Produc- ' lion Department, Melbourne; his son, i a former R.A.A.F. pilot; and Jacque- ' lin, his 20-year-old daughter. Mr. IBrown has bought 60 discarded Wack•ett Trainer aeroplanes and obtained a Civil Aviation Department authority to :-egin the service. He has organised workshops and hangers in all States, so that his aeroplanes may be hired from all Australian capital cities. In a workshop at Mascot, Sydney, the servicing of seven of the the aeroplanes is nearly finished. Mr. Brown said: “The Wackett machines have been used by the R.A.A.F. for five years and nobody has been killed in one. Hirers will be insured, by our company, up to £2OOO. But of course only qualified pilots can take a machine up. Even then, they must get a special endorsement to fly a Wackett This involves a test of two hours’ flying in a Wackett machine and six landings.” Hire charges will be £3 to £4 an hour, plus petrol costs. Sydney to Melbourne (about 500 miles), say-s Mr. j Broun, will cost roughly £l5 for hire I of machine, and £5 for petrol. The air- ! conditiored cabin holds two, one I sealed behind the other. The aeroI planes carry no radio. A pilot may be hired at 25s a day. The aeroplanes have a cruising speed of 110 miles an hour, and a range of 450 miles. Hirers could fly from Sydney to Melbourne if they' refuelled on the way. Most of the trade is expected in shorter trips to country-towns.