Homesick teen nailed himself into crate and mailed himself home from Australia

The incredible journey took place in 1965

A homesick man who managed to airmail himself in a wooden box so that he could get home to Britain from Australia is searching for his two mates who helped him.

Brian Robson was 19 and living in Australia at the time, but wanted to go home. However as he couldn’t afford the cost of a flight he decided to get his two mates to nail him into a crate and travel by airmail. Robson is now searching for the friends, who were from Ireland and are called Paul and John. Unfortunately that’s all the information he has on them, as he can’t remember their second names.

Paul and John worked at the same company as Brian. Apparently John was all for it but, unsurprisingly, Paul was initially reluctant to help the Welshman, who says he was deeply unhappy Down Under.

However he was won round eventually but the two made Brian promise that they would be kept out of the story in case something happened to him. The crate was the size of a small fridge, and Brian took with him pillows, a torch, his suitcase and two bottles – one was for water, and I’ll let you guess what the other was for.

Brian, who is now 76, spent five days in the crate, 22 hours of which he spent upside down on his head in agony and suffering from blackouts. Eventually he was discovered in the crate in Los Angeles (the flight had been diverted), before being sent home to London.

So Brian wants to meet up with his pals who he couldn’t have made the journey without. Having already written back from Wales when he arrived but hearing nothing back, he want to find them and apologise for what he got them into.

Speaking to the BBC, Robson said: “If I met them again, I’d just like to say that I’m sorry I got them into this and that I missed them when I came back.