Flying Doctor at 80

As its national fleet swells by four aircraft to a total of 51 this month, the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia is preparing to celebrate its first flight by a single, chartered aircraft 80 years ago.

The “mantle of safety’’ envisaged by Presbyterian missionary the Rev John Flynn in the 1920s has become the largest aerial medical service in the world, operating 24 hours every day of the year and is a model for other countries as far apart as South Africa and Canada.