ROUGH RIDER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 December 1940, Page 9

ROUGH RIDER

ENLISTS IN AIR FORCE. AFTER TRAVELLING 1500 MILES. Recently there walked into the Royal Australian Air Force recruiting centre in Sydney a wiry, sun-tanned young man who had just arrived from Anthony’s Lagoon in the Northern Territory to enlist. He had ridden 30 miles on horseback to Cammoweal, and caught and Qantas ’plane from there to Brisbane. He had private business to attend to in Tamworth (N.S.W.) and came to Sydney by train —a total distance of over 1,500 miles. He was a rough rider with what might be called an international reputation. Most of each year he spent at Anthony's Lagoon, but every Easter he came to Sydney to compete against the world's toughest rough riders—including Americans —at the Royal Show. He was promptly accepted for training as a pilot and is now undergoing a course of instruction at Bradfield Park. Recruiting for the Royal Australian Air Force is being maintained at a steady rate, and 11,539 pilots, air observers and wireless air gunners have been accepted for service. Of these 4,076 are already in training. Reservists total 7,463.