Captain Lester Brain joined Qantas in 1924, in an era when passengers flew in surplus World War I aircraft with an open cockpit. He takes us through the first thirty years of his flying career, reminiscing about the early years of flying over the outback, discusses undertaking rescue missions in an era without radios and then explains the importance of civil aviation to Australia during World War II.

Captain Brain appeared in ABC’s “Armchair Chats” series, broadcast on 3 October 1954. The podcast was released courtesy of Australian Broadcasting Corporation Library Sales, it was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.