Soon after he crashed the plane and, when sailing home to Melbourne, was persuaded by Cecil Cook to stay in Darwin for five months as a doctor.

[1] He then joined the Royal Air Force in England in October 1927, where he gained navigation qualifications, however he resigned soon after in February 1930 after disputes over regulations.

As a result, Fenton privately raised money for an aircraft, and in March 1934 arrived in Katherine as the Government Medical Officer.

With no navigational equipment or radios, landings were made on strips lit by kerosene flares or car lights, and only the railway lines and the Katherine River were available to estimate his position.

On 14 May 1935 Fenton was fined £20 for "endangering public safety" by swooping low over the Star Theatre, Darwin several times, including once between "the front of the circle and the screen".

[5] In 1936 he made an unsanctioned flight to China after hearing of his sister's death in child-birth there, he flew there in a small open aircraft to bring his mother home.