How Hudson Fysh’s terrifying ride won Qantas a new aircraft

In this exclusive extract from his new book, acclaimed writer Grantlee Kieza describes how a terrifying flight saw Qantas founder Fysh secure the airline’s second aircraft

The Qantas Avro 547 triplane, fitted with a Beardmore 160-horsepower, six-cylinder, water-cooled engine, arrived in Sydney on 17 January 1921 aboard the Commonwealth government’s cargo steamer Gilgai. It still needed reassembly and testing that would take weeks. In good news, the final tests of the 504K were completed at last, and on 25 January, Paul McGinness wired Fergus McMaster [Qantas’ other two co-founders] that he was ready for take-off in the first Qantas aircraft. What was Hudson Fysh to do? Money was tight and he was in danger of running out of savings before Qantas could pay him a wage.