 Raymond George (Ray) Funnell was born on 1 March 1935 in Brisbane, Queensland, and educated at Brisbane State High School. He joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Air Training Corps in January 1949, and received a flying training scholarship. In 1951, aged 16, he learnt to fly with the Royal Queensland Aero Club. In January 1953 he entered RAAF College as an air cadet, graduating with distinction in 1956. He married his wife Suzanne in 1958; the couple had two sons. Funnell spent much of his early career flying CAC Sabre jet fighters at RAAF Bases Williamtown, New South Wales, and Butterworth, Malaysia, as well as Ubon, Thailand, and Labuan, East Malaysia. As a flight lieutenant in the early 1960s, he instructed on the de Havilland Vampire with No. 1 Applied Flying Training School at RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia. In 1966 he served as commanding officer of No. 79 Squadron at Ubon.
