TASMAN SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 145, 15 March 1939, Page 8

TASMAN SERVICE

Flying-Boat Commanders Appointed

CAPTAINS BURGESS AND BUTLER Two Identical Careers The appointment of Captain J. W. Burgess to command the flyingboat Aotearoa, the first of the medium-long-range aircraft for the transtasman service, is officially, announced by Imperial Airways. The flying-boat Australia is to be commanded by Captain G. C. Butlei. A London cable message published at the beginning of the month stated that the Aotearoa had been launched on the Medway and that the trial flights were to be made within 10 days. It was expected that the Australia would be launched a fortnight after the Aotearoa.

By a strange coincidence, the flying careers of Captain Burgess and Captain Butler have followed almost identical lines. The two captains first met when training together in Calshot in 1931, and, their service days over, they both applied for positions on the navigating staff of Imperial Airways. They actually arrived for their first interview at the same time. When Captain Butler was married in 1935, Captain Burgess was his best man. A month later Captain Burgess married, too. There was no need of a nursery in either home till the middle of 1937, and then both had sons—within three months of each other. Captain Burgess christened his sou John Michael and Captain Butler christened his Michael Geprge. As in their private lives, so in their professional careers, the two captains insist that none of the coincidences which closely link them have been brought about by design. Nevertheless, the same close parallel exists in their flying. Shortly after the weddings Captain Burgess, who was then a first officer, was transferred to the Mediterranean section of the Imperial routes. When he wag made acting captain, it was George Butler who was sent out to be his first officer. Captain Burgess was transferred to Hythe, terminal in England of the Imperial services, in July, 1936, only to bo followed in September by Captain Butler. By this time close association seemed io be inevitable, and the two airmen took flats one above the other for their English homes. ’Che only further pertinent remark is that their wives get on very well together.