Pilot Gurney
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
Killed on Active Service
AN aeroplane pilot well-known and highly-esteemed in New Guinea, Squadron-Leader Charles Raymond Gurney, was killed on active service on the Northern Australian front early in May. He was formerly chief pilot in New Guinea for Guinea Airways Ltd.
Later, he joined Qantas; and, when the war came, he transferred to the RAAF.
Captain Lester Brain, operations man ager for Qantas, who frequently flew with Squadron-Leader Gurney, described him as one of the best natural pilots fie had ever been in contact with, and a big loss to Australian aviation.
Captain Brain added that Squadron- Leader Gurney, who had flown more than a million miles, originally trained with the RAAF at Point Cook, and after became chief pilot for Guinea Airways.
In 1936, he joined Qantas Airways, and a year later was sent to England for a special flying-boat course. He then had a regular command on the Sydney-Sin gapore run until the outbreak of war, when he transferred to the RAAF.
Squadron-Leader Gurney, who was 35, is survived by his wife and a daughter, aged 12 months.
Dr. Pottier, formerly of New Caledonia, has been appointed to a Government post in the Marquesas Group, French Oceania.