Qantas 1936 - 1942

In  1936 Bob left Guinea Airways and joined Qantas as a captain flying DH 86’s on the Brisbane-Singapore  route.  In 1937 he went to England with Bill Crowther and Lester Brain as the first captains to familiarize themselves with the new Short Empire flying boats  Qantas had purchased. Qantas operated the Sydney - Singapore sector of the of the Australia - England Empire route and Imperial Airways the Singapore - UK sector. The journey from Sydney to Southampton took 9½ days

The outbreak of war in 1939 saw the Australian government requisition two `C` class flying boats  and their crews from Qantas to form 11 Squadron RAAF. The boats were converted for war use in 5 days and on 25 September 1939 left for active service operations in the north of Australia. Bob was one of the pilots and of the 4 officers in the contingent, 3 died in the first six months of the war in the Pacific.

Owing to British war commitments, in October 1941 Qantas took over the Singapore - Karachi sector of the Empire route and due to crew shortage,  Bob,  Bill Purton and Eric Sims were seconded from the RAAF to operate the flying boats with Qantas. The outbreak of war in the Pacific necessitated frequent re-evaluation of the routes flown and before returning to the Air Force in March 1942  Bob was involved in the Batavia - Singapore shuttles and the Broome - Tjilatjap shuttles.

On 19 February 1942  Bob was in Darwin with other Qantas crews when the first air attack on Australia occurred, he was sheltering near the Darwin Hotel when the post office was destroyed.

Honour Roll

World War II Qantas Staff Casualties

Killed while serving with the Armed Forces

† F/O  R.B. Archer. DFC

† F/Sgt  W.E. Atkinson

† S/Pt  J. Doepel

† S/Obs K.R. Grimley

† Sqn Ldr C.R. Gurney AFC

† Sqn Ldr G.E.Hemsworth AFC

† F/Lt H.V. Horner

† W/O J.Johnnson

† S/Obs  J. Sharkey

† P/O L.J. Sloan

Killed or Missing while serving with the Company

†  W.R. Bartley, Purser

†  M.W. Bateman, First Officer

†  W.G. Campbell, Captain

†  W.G. Cruickshank, Purser

†  S.C. Elphick, Steward

†  J.R.F. Henderson, First Officer

†  L.J. Hogan, Purser

†  K.G. Little, Traffic Clerk

†  L.S. Marshall, First Officer

†  H.G.A. Oates, Radio Officer

†  A.S. Patterson, Radio Officer

†  T.J. Phillips. Radio Officer

†  W.B. Purton, A/Captain

†  C.H.C. Swaffield, Captain