Early Life
John Arthur Brabham was born on 2 April 1926 in Hurstville, then a commuter town outside Sydney, Australia. Brabham was involved with cars and mechanics from an early age. At the age of 12, he learned to drive the family car and the trucks of his father's grocery business. Brabham attended technical college, preferring basic metalwork, carpentry and technical drawing.
Brabham's early career continued the engineering theme. At the age of 15 he left school to work, combining a job at a local garage with an evening course in mechanical engineering. Brabham soon branched out into his own business selling motorbikes, which he bought and repaired for sale, using his parents' back veranda as his workshop.
One month after his 18th birthday on 19 May 1944 Brabham enlisted into the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Although keen on becoming a pilot, there was already a surplus of trained aircrew and the Air Force instead put his mechanical skills to use as a flight mechanic, of which there was a wartime shortage. He was based at RAAF Williamtown where he worked on maintaining Bristol Beaufighters at No 5 Operational Training Unit (5OTU). On his 20th birthday, 2 April 1946, Brabham was discharged from the RAAF at the rank of Leading Aircraftman (LAC). He then started a small service, repair and machining business in a workshop built by his uncle on a plot of land behind his grandfather's house.
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