James David Hazelton (20 June 1931 – 10 June 2014) was an Australian aviator and co-founder, alongside his brother

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

, of Hazelton Airlines, a regional Australian airline which later became

Regional Express Airlines Regional Express Pty. Ltd., trading as Rex Airlines (and as Regional Express Airlines on regional routes), is an Australian airline based in Mascot, New South Wales. It operates scheduled regional and domestic services. It is Australia's large ...

. In 1964 he became the first Australian to fly a single-engine aircraft solo across the Pacific, piloting a Piper Comanche 400, a crossing he would repeat over 200 times.

Biography

James David Hazelton was born on 20 June 1920 as the youngest of seven children of Charles James and Enid Hazelton, née Bowman. Apart from these six siblings, five brothers and a sister he had another older half sister from a previous marriage of his father. His aviation career started at Orange Aero Club, becoming a private pilot in 1950. He acquired his commercial licence in 1951 and joined the Newcastle Aero Club. After co-founding Hazelton Airlines with his brother

, starting out at the family farm at Toogong, he left the airline to establish his own flight training school, Navair, at

Bankstown Airport Bankstown Airport is an airport and business park located in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, approximately from the Sydney Central Business District (CBD), Australia and west of Sydney Airport. It is situated on of land and has three paral ...

. He went on to ferry aircraft for

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driver

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...

as well as instructing

Jim Clark James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapol ...

and Jackie Stewart in flying. He also accompanied Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith on the latter's international journeys. He was part of the search team for his brother Max when the latter crashed in the Blue Mountains in 1954 and went missing for a number of days. In 1964 Hazelton flew a single-engine aircraft solo across the Pacific, piloting a Piper Comanche 400. He was refused permission from the Australian Civil Aviation authority to do so and had to take out a US licence instead to carry out the flight. He would go on to repeat the Pacific crossing over 200 times in his lifetime. In 2008, while ferrying a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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flying boat from Portugal to Australia, Hazelton and his crew got caught up in the Mumbai terrorist attack and had to escape under gun fire, having to take off from the city's airport without the proper paperwork. In 2011 Hazelton, with a friend, re-enacted the 1928 trans-Pacific crossing of Charles Kingsford Smith in a single engine

Beechcraft Bonanza The Beechcraft Bonanza is an American general aviation aircraft introduced in 1947 by Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. The six-seater, single-engined aircraft is still being produced by Beechcraft and has been in continuous prod ...

36, flying from

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, California, to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. Jim Hazelton died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

on 10 July 2014 at his home at Aeroglen, New South Wales, having carried out his last ferry flight of an aircraft to New Zealand only a few months before. He was described as a modest person and as one of the greatest and most gifted Australian pilots by a family friend. He was survived by his wife and ex-wife as well as seven of his eight children, a number of whom are also active in the aviation industry.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hazelton, Jim 1931 births 2014 deaths Australian aviators Businesspeople in aviation Deaths from prostate cancer

Biography

See also

References

Bibliography