Few families embody the spirit of the Flying Doctor quite like the Winchcombs.
When Rob Winchcomb first walked into the RFDS hangar as a young aircraft engineer in the 1980s, he probably didn’t imagine that decades later, he’d return to play a part in leading the same organisation that shaped his childhood. More than 40 years on, Rob has come full circle as the recently appointed Head of Engineering.
For Rob, the RFDS is part of his family’s DNA. His father Syd Winchcomb served as General Manager of the RFDS Eastern Goldfields Section for 15 years and his mother Lorraine ‘Lol’ Winchcomb became the beloved ‘Voice of the Outback’ and a lifeline for countless remote Western Australians.
Lol joined the Kalgoorlie base in the early 1970s as a radio operator at a time long before mobile or satellite phones, and often, not even reliable landlines. For two decades her calm voice - known by the call sign VJQ - bridged vast distances, connecting those in need to the emergency care they needed.
Lol’s days were filled with radio calls to and from the most isolated corners of the state. After hours, a distinctive ten-second radio whistle from the outback would trigger an alarm at the Kalgoorlie Police Station, prompting officers to phone Lorraine at home. Rain, hail, or shine, she would jump in her car and drive to the radio base, often bringing her sleepy young sons along in their pyjamas. Once there, she’d warm up the equipment and call out across the static: “Station calling VJQ…”
Lorraine’s decades of community service were formally recognised when she received the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the King’s Birthday Honours List in 2025. Alongside her years of work for the RFDS, she has long supported the Inner Wheel Rotary Club, the WA Golf Club, St Nicholas Church in Duncraig and Capital Community Radio, which she helped set up and where she continues to broadcast and serve on the board.
Before returning to the RFDS, Rob carved out an international career in aviation engineering. He spent 29 years working for Pratt & Whitney in the United States and was closely involved with developing the new engine for the Pilatus PC-12 PRO, which will soon be joining the RFDS fleet. His most recent role was in Switzerland with Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, whose aircraft form the backbone of the Flying Doctor fleet. Rob says returning to the RFDS feels like coming home.
He teared up recalling a conversation he recently overheard between a pilot and a member of the operations crew.
“The patient they were on their way to was an elderly gentleman who’d been a pastoralist all his life and because of his medical condition it was likely the very last time he’d be leaving his land for a hospital in Perth,” said Rob.
“The pilot’s Flying Doc instinct kicked in and he said, ‘no worries, I will make sure he is strapped in a seating position and we will do a big circle as we depart so he can look down and see his land for the last time.’ And that’s the reason we are all here for.”
