At one stage, Hassard, known as Jason, was the youngest pilot in Australia, at age 17.

By the time he gave up flying, with 36,695 hours under his belt, he was the second-highest time pilot in the world.

Ernest Jason Hassard was born on April 27, 1913 at Lismore, NSW. but his local connection comes from his father Edward being the Bomaderry stationmaster.

Reared in Bomaderry and educated at Nowra High School he was the eldest child of Edward James and Isabella Hassard (nee Virtue). He had siblings Stella, Jack and Edna.

A nephew of airline pioneer Keith Virtue, Jason had his start in aviation while still too young to fly himself, helping Virtue doing joyrides in the Lismore area.

Later, Jason learned to fly with Keith (just four years his senior) at Lismore in 1930.

Having travelled to Lismore for a holiday, he tried his hand at the stick and after three hours dual control under instruction with his uncle he proved to be a genius at the controls and was quite capable of going solo.

His desire within a few weeks was to fly home to Bomaderry to visit his parents.

He gained his commercial pilot's licence at 19 and initially got weekend work with Virtue's New England Airways flying their Ryan, Genairco or Moth on joyrides, mainly at Mascot Aerodrome (Kingsford Smith Airport).

He recalled: "There'd be crowds come out to watch the aeroplanes - it'd go into thousands. They'd get the tram out to Mascot then walk down to the aerodrome - about a mile. That's what kept us going, giving joyrides there at five bob a time. And if the wind was blowing the right way, we'd take off one way and land back the other."

Thrills in the Air - October 1931

The Northern Star (Lismore), of October 12, gave a lengthy account of the Aero Club's second pageant, held on the previous Saturday.

The function was attended by more than 2000 people, who stayed on despite light rain to see the completion of a programme of aeronautics which was a decided improvement on that served up in the club's initial effort last year. The entertainment is described as an aerial education.

The competitors in the class locally trained pilots included Messrs. Jason Hassard and R. Virtue, who flew the two New England Airways planes, the Gypsy Moth and Genairco. Two other pilots were Messrs. H. F. Broadbent and J. A. Weir.

The pilots of each machine flew great races, and the full capacity was obtained from the planes. It was interesting to see the variation of tactics.

Jason Hassard went off first and gained great height to turn into the back straight ahead of the field.

Ralph Virtue in the Gypsy Moth left next. He took a height not nearly as great as Hassard. Then came Weir and Broadbent.

The race was over 20 miles. Hassard's early load was not taken from him when the finishing post was reached, although he had gained a little extra speed when he reduced his height to finish first practically the same altitude as the other competitors.

The race was flown in 12 minutes 12 and four-fifth seconds. In the derby nine planes faced the starter. The race was thrilling from start, to finish.

Jason Hassard died in March 1986. He was survived by his second wife.

Information provided by local historian and author Robyn Florance OAM.