Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Tuesday 5 September 1950, page 8


VETERAN PILOT LEAVES AIR FOR GROUND JOB

'T'O enable full-time concentration

on his duties as Inspector of Air Safety for T.A.A., Capt. Aubrey A. Koch (below) has been retired from active flying.

This decision was announced yes

terday by T.A.A.'s general manager (Mr. L. J. Brain), following a meet-ing of the Australian National Air-lines Commission.

Capt. Koch, * most experienced of T.A.A.'s pilots, was educated at Ho-bart, and is well known in Tas-

mania.

He has flown for just over 17,000 hours, covering over 2,750,000 miles over land and sea.

He is a well known figure to many thousands of air travellers, and has established a high reputation, at first during the early stages of avia-tion pioneering in New Guinea, later for some years during the war with Qantas on the Empire flying boat services from Sydney to Singapore and India, and on the famous longrange Indian Ocean service from West Australia to Ceylon after the Japanese occupied the Netherlands

Indies.

He also participated in Catalina delivery flights across the Pacific.

For the past four years he has been a senior captain with T.A.A., mostly on the Skymaster services between Sydney, Melbourne. Ade-laide, and Perth, and also held the post of Inspector of Air Safety for

T.A.A.