 Isaacson completed forty @-@ five sorties with Bomber Command , when the likelihood of surviving an operational tour of thirty missions was never more than 50 % and , at times , much less . Promoted to acting flight lieutenant , he was chosen in May 1943 to captain Lancaster Q @-@ for @-@ Queenie on a landmark flight from England to Australia across the Pacific Ocean , and then from Melbourne to New Zealand and back , non @-@ stop in both directions . He was awarded the Air Force Cross on 27 August 1943 for this mission , the citation noting that it was " the first occasion on which an aircraft has flown to Australia by this route and the direct flights between Melbourne and New Zealand are the first of their kind " . The Lancaster was brought to Australia so that it could serve as a template for local production of the type , but this never took place and it was instead used for exhibition flights to encourage purchase of war bonds . On 22 October 1943 Isaacson flew Q @-@ for @-@ Queenie under the Sydney Harbour Bridge , flouting a 1931 regulation that prohibited such activity ; the Lancaster remains the largest aircraft to have been flown under the bridge . Isaacson gave his crew no warning of what he was about to do and when asked later why he did it , replied " Because it was there " . It was , however , reported at the time that he undertook the stunt to support the war loan effort for which he and his crew were actively fundraising . 
