Charles Raymond Gurney

Charles Raymond “Bob” Gurney
Charles Raymond Gurney c. 1930.
Born	(1906-05-22)22 May 1906 Corowa, New South Wales, Australia
Died	2 May 1942(1942-05-02) (aged 35) Kiriwina, Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea
Cause of death	Aircraft crash
Resting place	Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery
Aviation career
Rank	Squadron Leader
Awards	Air Force Cross

Charles Raymond (Bob) Gurney, AFC (22 May 1906 – 2 May 1942) was an Australian aviator who was involved in pioneering aviation in New Guinea in the 1930s. He flew with Qantas before and during the Second World War, and served with the Royal Australian Air Force from September 1939. He was killed on operations against the Japanese in the south west Pacific in 1942 flying with the USAAF. In his aviation career "Bob" Gurney was chief pilot of Guinea Airways, a Qantas flying boat captain and a Squadron Leader in the RAAF, who even had to bomb his own home. In commemoration of his service an airport in Papua New Guinea and a street in Townsville, Queensland are named after him.

Charles Raymond Gurney (known as “Bob”) was born in Corowa, New South Wales on 22 May 1906 to Raymond Gillies and Ida Winifred Sapphire Gurney (née Badham), although later adopted by his mother’s second husband, William Butler Gurney (1914). His family moved to Sydney and in December 1925 he joined the RAAF, learning to fly at Point Cook, Victoria under the instruction of Alan Cross. He joined No. 3 Squadron as a Pilot Officer in April 1926 on the reserve list. To get his hours up for a commercial pilot's licence, he barnstormed around the country and flew RAAF Wapiti’s from Richmond. In 1929 he was approached by Alan Cross, then Guinea Airways manager, and asked to go to New Guinea. The next year, he married Margaret Josephine Mortimer (known as Jo) in North Sydney.

Bob joined Guinea Airways in 1929, but retained his reserve status in the Citizen Air Force. During the 1920s the Morobe Goldfields in the Mandated Territory of Papua New Guinea were being developed. The only routes to the goldfields was by foot from Salamaua on the coast or by aeroplane from Lae (about 20 miles across the Huon Gulf from Salamaua) to the airstrip at Wau, which was first used in 1927. When Bob started with Guinea Airways in November 1929 he arrived with two other pilots to join the three already flying the two Junkers W 34s and two de Havilland Moths. At the beginning of 1931 the first Junkers G 31 was flown, having arrived at Lae by ship. Guinea Airways owned one G 31 (VH-UOW) and operated two for Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd. (VH-UOU and VH-UOV); a third was added in 1934 (VH-URQ). Guinea Airways was flying in the equipment needed for gold dredging and at this time was carrying more freight than the rest of the world combined. By this time, Bob Gurney was Chief Pilot for Guinea Airways. Among the more unusual pieces of freight that Bob transported was a Baby Austin car belonging to Dr. Ian Dickson from Lae to Wau in 1933 (in the Junkers G 31 VH-UOW). The next year, in the same plane, he flew a 7,500 lb stator for Baiune power house to Bulolo Airfield, with the centre of gravity about 3’ 6” above the wings, and landing with only ten minutes of fuel left. At the time, this was considered to be “probably the heaviest and most awkward single piece load yet carried by aeroplane”.