On 2 November 1922, the first Q.A.N.T.A.S. airmail service left Charleville. McGinness was pilot, Baird was engineer. They reached Longreach safely, greeted by a large crowd. Paul McGinness (1896 - 1952) and Sir Wilmot Hudson Fysh KBE, DFC (1895 - 1974) were the two men who started Qantas. Paul McGinness piloted the first mail service flight in 1922 and then resigned from the company shortly afterwards.