A World War I fighter pilot, he represented the United Australia Party (UAP) in federal parliament and served as Minister for Air and Civil Aviation from 1939 until his death the following year.

He was shot down behind enemy lines on one of his first missions and received a severe arm injury, subsequently spending over a year as a German prisoner-of-war.

[1] His father's family had immense pastoral holdings in Queensland and Victoria, which had been accumulated by his Scottish-born grandfather George Fairbairn.

[2] In 1915, after his 18th birthday, Fairbairn sailed to England to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the air arm of the British Army.

He broke off from the formation due to an engine failure and was pursued by German planes, eventually being forced into a crash landing.

[6] He had attempted an Immelmann turn but was unable to regain lateral control, forcing the aircraft into a spiralling vertical descent.

Upon landing, Fairbairn immediately set the plane on fire to avoid capture, but was unable to free himself and had to be rescued by German troops.

[7] He sustained severe facial burns from the fire, in addition to a bullet wound to the right elbow that was assessed as inoperable and left him permanently impaired.

[9] He married Daisy Olive "Peggy" Forrest in Melbourne in 1923, and the following year they acquired a grazing property at Mount Elephant, in the Western District near Derrinallum.

[13] He stood unsuccessfully for the Hampden Shire Council in 1924, losing to his future cabinet colleague Geoffrey Street.

[15] In April 1931 he purchased a secondhand de Havilland DH.60 Moth, which he crash-landed near Camperdown in March 1932 while returning from a council meeting.

[16] In 1932 Fairbairn was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for Warrnambool, representing the United Australia Party.

Prime Minister Robert Menzies said in parliament, next day,His mind and character were strong, and he displayed an unusual combination of cheerful fellowship with, perhaps, a hint of Scottish dourness.