The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS) began as the dream of the Reverend John Flynn, a minister with the Presbyterian Church. He witnessed the struggle of pioneers living in remote areas with no available medical care. Flynn’s vision was to provide a ‘mantle of safety’ for these people, and on 15 May 1928 his dream became a reality with the opening of the Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service (later renamed the Royal Flying Doctor Service) in Cloncurry, Queensland.

Over the next few years, the Service began to expand across the country, and by the 1950s was acknowledged by former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies as ‘perhaps the single greatest contribution to the effective settlement of the far distant country that we have witnessed in our time’.

Until the 1960s, the RFDS rarely owned its own aircraft. Progressively, the RFDS began to purchase its own aircraft and employ dedicated pilots and engineers.

Today, the Royal Flying Doctor Service is one of the largest and most comprehensive aeromedical organisations in the world. Using the latest in aviation, medical and communications technology, it delivers extensive health care and 24-hour emergency service to those who live, work and travel throughout Australia. The RFDS has a fleet of 63 aircraft operating from 22 bases located across the nation and provides medical assistance to over 290,000 people every year.

 

Did you know? In 2015 the RFDS fleet flew the equivalent of 34 trips to the moon and back!