Up in the Air: Time is right for the power driven machine

Australia awoke to the real importance of aviation – the heavier-than-air power machine that made its appearance in 1910.

The first flight in Australia by a heavier-than-air power driven machine was made on March 18, 1910, by American escapologist Harry Houdini who off took from Diggers Rest, near Melbourne, in a French Voisin biplane.

Local airmen, J.R Duigan, captured the first flight by an Australian built machine on July 16, 1910. Duigan hopped 7315 metres at Mia Mia, Victoria, in a biplane built in a woolshed by he and a friend, J.E. Tilley.

By September, Duigan, in the biplane, powered with a four-cylinder motor, developing 25 hp, increased his range to 91.44 metres and later to 3.219 kilometres.

Duigan’s aircraft if now preserved and displayed in Melbourne’s Science Museum.

French aviator Maurice Guillaux spent April to October giving aerobatic displays throughout south-east Australia in 1914. Guillaux, that year, had the privilege to fly Australia’s first airmail and air freight, from Melbourne to Sydney.

Guillaux flew in a tiny Bleriot made of wood and fabric and held together with wire and glue.

Although the airtime for this historic trip was 9 and a quarter hours, the pilot took just over 3 days to cover the journey.

His tiny Bleriot aircraft carried 1785 postcards which had been sold for 2s each.

Guillaux’s aircraft was powered by a tiny engine …  It was small change when compared with a modern super airliner.

This was not only the beginnings of Australia’s airmail system; but at the time, it was the longest airmail flight in the world. Not surprising, perhaps, in view of the fact that the first successful flight in a power-driven aircraft had been made in America only 11 years before.

In addition to the postcards, which weighed a little more than 40lbs, Guillaux carried a “cargo” of small parcels in his valise. Even though this load was almost negligible, it made him also the pioneer of air freighting in Australia.

Although Guillaux’s Bleriot was powered by a tiny engine, which developed an output maximum of less than a 100 horse-power, it was small change when compared with the mighty horse-power of a modern airliner.

Guillaux left Melbourne’s Agricultural Grounds on the morning of July 16, 1914 and reach Albury after a 2 and a quarter hour flight. After stops at Wagga Wagga and Harden, 132 km away, he headed for Goulburn but headwinds forced him back.

He stayed overnight at Harden and set off again for Goulburn next afternoon, but once again more air conditions obliged him to return.

Nonetheless, on July 18, he was able to complete his flight, landing on the grass at Sydney Sports Ground at 2-30pm where he was welcomed by the Governor-General, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson.

Outbreak of World War 1 has ended and the Australia Flying Corps has had a remarkable growth.

Australia’s air-force goes back to when it was called the Central Flying School, which was established at Point Cook, Victoria, in 1914. Since those days, most people have an interest in what appeared to be a “mechanical aberration” of minor interest: flying.

Williams, who was later knighted, became Director-General of Civil Aviation in 1946. Meanwhile, Merz was the first Australian pilot to be killed in action in l915.

The School, therefore, started on a somewhat small scale. It consisted of a six-man team, two pilot instructors – Lieutenant E. Harrison and Lieutenant A. A. Petre – a cook and caretaker, and three tiny planes, two Deperdussins and a Bristol Boxkite.

Although World War 1 was to see a remarkable growth in aerial power, the School was the only permanent air base structure in the Commonwealth until 1921. It was transferred to East Sale, Victoria, in 1948. The School was maintained as the original unit of the Royal Australian Air Force.

The first trainees at the School were army officers, who began studies on August 17, 1914.

Three of the officers, Lieutenant Richard Williams, T.W. White and G.P. Merz, had happy and unhappy distinctions. Williams, who was later knighted, was the first Australian officer to earn air rank and became Director-General of Civil Aviation in 1946.

White was also knighted and became Minister for Air and Civil Aviation in 1949.

Merz, on the other hand, had the mishap of being the first Australian pilot to be killed in action, in Mesopotamia on July 30, 1915.

Lieutenant Harrison was the initial pilot to be sent abroad by the School’s foundation instructors; Rafael to join up with the naval military expeditionary force, which captured New Britain from the Germans, in the latter part of 1914.

Australia was the only Dominion to create its own air-force during the war. This way, flying personnel from other Dominions enlisted to join in the Royal Flying Corps.

In 1915, the first of four squadrons that went to Mesopotamia and France had a notable record land. They destroyed 276 enemy planes at the cost of 60 Australian aircraft.

The Australian Flying Corp became the Royal Australian Air Force. Several of the flying chaps became leaders in world aviation history.

It was the only Australian unit of any kind to take part in the Allied occupation.

The first Squadron saw more action than any other RAAF Squadron. The 28 officers and 195 men of No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, left Melbourne on March 16, for Suez.

When they departed, they had no planes with them – only two cars and seven motorcycles. The pilots use borrowed aircraft and the job the ground staff had learned meticulously was how to swing propellers.

The VC was won by Captain Frank McNamara, who landed in the desert under heavy Turkish fire, to rescue a fellow pilot.

Captain Frank McNamara was the only Australian airman in World War 1 to win 50 decorations and the VC, the Victorian Cross. McNamara, though badly wounded, landed in the desert under heavy Turkish fire to rescue a fellow pilot.

When the four AFC Squadrons returned to Australia in June 1919, they were disbanded. But in 1921, Australia became the first Dominion to create its own air force independent of army or naval control. 

The Australian Flying Corps became the Royal Australian Air Force.

After service during the war, several flying chaps, became the leading figures in the world aviation history.

Air Vice Marshal Frank McNamara (right) photographed with the boys. One and only. Lt. Frank McNamara, the first Australian aviator to win the Victoria Cross.

<< Adapted from Tucker & Co Pty Ltd, Historical Firsts; Frank Morris. 

Top:. Harry Houdini, the world famous escapologist, getting ready to take off on his flight in Australia. Below: French pilot Maurice Guillaux who made history in Australia. Centre: G.P. Merz, the first Australian pilot to be killed in action. Centre: Frank McNamara.