Aviation Historical Society of Australia
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Aviation Historical Society OF Australia VOL.X NUMBERS. SEPTEMBER - OCTOB ER 1969 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION $5.00 (Aust.) yiili IIIP- lilillliBiii ■i 11 lliililB llllilillli li A.H.S.Ae Journal -91- September-October 1969 THE PENRITH - RICHMOND AREA - A Cradle of Aviation. by. R.J« Gibson., President, A.H.S.A. and ’ ^ Controller, Research and Information Bureau QANTAS Airways Ltd., The history of aviation in Australia is surprisingly long though the 19th century was not highly productive. Reference to an experimenter with balloons about 1823 have been found and although these references are scanty, they did show that he had more than a superficial knowledge of the subject of flying. Dr. William Bland's proposals of 1851, for a four to five day air service in his atmotic ship between Australia and the United Kingdom are well known. The second half of the century was devoted mainly to ballooning. Many of the attempts were unsuccessful and the crowds showed in a practical way their dissatis faction with the attempts - MaigrS in Sydney in 1856 had to take refuge in Govern ment House. The first successful balloon flight in Australia was made in Melbourne in 1868 and there-after for many years balloons became the property of showmen. There were, however, two experimenters in this period worthy of mention, One quite unkown these days and the other very widely known. Henry Sutton of Ballarat, Victoria, brought a scientific mind to the subject of bird flight. He built a successful model flapping wing machine or ornithopter operated by clockworko It was restrained by a rod so that he could observe its movements. The Secretary of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain was so impressed with Sutton's work that he invited Sutton to write two papers on the flight of birds for publication. They were published by the Society with the Annual Report in 1878. The other was, of course, Lawrence Hargmve,' an experimenter and inventor possessing great patience and persistence. Like Sutton he experimented initially with flapping wing models, then his experiments ranged over the whole field of aeronautics through a series of interesting models. He experimented with box ki*tes of many shapes and in 1894 was lifted off the ground by a train of four, of *the pattern now so closely associated with his name. He designed and built many engines and is credited v/ith being the first man to build a rotary engine in whicht the cylinders revolved around the shaft. This design was later patented by the Seguin Brothers in France, though there is no suggestion that the patentee had any knowledge of Hargrave's work, Hargrave was a member of the Royal Society of N.S.W. and delivered nineteen papers before that August body, the last one being in December 1909. By this time, of course, flight had been achieved by many people overseas. Six years previously the Wright Brothers had made their famous flight, and in July of 1909 Bleriot had flown across the English Channel. In Australia too, flight had been achieved - but not powered flight. George Augustine Taylor and his wife Florence, on December 5th, 1909 at Narrabeen, NSW • j made a number of flights in a biplane glider, or as they called it, a motorless aeroplane. About that same time the first powered aeroplanes arrived in Australia. A Wright biplane and a Bleriot mono|)lane were imported by L.A. Adamson, who was at that time headmaster of Wesley College, Melbourne, Vic. Unfortunately for Adamson his pilots were not skilled enough to fly these rather crude machines though Ralph Banks almost succeeded in Melbourne. Adamson finally gave up, losing a lot of money on the deal. Over in Adelaide, S.A., Fred Custance, in a Bleriot imported by F,H. Jones made Australia's first powered flight on March 17th 1910, staying in the air for 5 minutes 25 seconds. It was unfortunate for Custance and Jones that on his nextt flight on the same day the aeroplane nose-dived and was wrecked. On the next day near Melbourne, Harry Houdini, a showman and noted escapeologist flew for Sg- minutes, and a few days later for 7 minutes. Australian aviation appeared to be under way. Also in Melbourne, John Robertson Duigan had been studying aeroplane designs i ! A.H.SsA. Journal -92- September-October 1969 -4. ■ ■ He built one to his own design and got it off the ground in July 1910 and made a number of short flights throughout that year. It was nots however, until January 1911 that a flight of any practical significance wasT'made in Australia. The British Colonial Aircraft Company sent Joseph Hammond, Lesley McDonald and Sidney Smith to Australia with two Bristol Biplanes, They hoped to interest the Australian Government in them for defence purposes. On January 9th, 1911, at Perth, W.A,, Hammond, a Hew Zealander, flew for 45 minutes at heights up to 2,500 feet, a flight greatly in excess of any yet made in Australia, The party -^hen came across to Melbourne and Sydney giving about seventy demonstration flights and carrying a passenger on some of them, Hammond and his partners made quite (I a contribution to flying in Australia as much jsy their influence as by their deeds and we shall see evidence of this later. I referred earlier to G.A.Taylor, who flew a glider at Narrabeen in 1909, Taylor was a man of extraordinary achievements, breadth of vision and energy. He had formed, in 1909, the Aerial League of Australia and enlisted a number of outstanding people to its membership. In September 1910 the Aerial League selected an area of land near Penrith railway station (some 35 miles west of Sydney,HSW) as a flying ground for use by its members. The area was described as being a "fine stretch of level ground with a good take-off at one corner", and then with mors enthusiasm than knowledge "the wind conditions are always perfect there, the area being enclosed by the great Blue Mountains on the north and south". The ground belonged to the Hon. Sydney Smith who generously handed it over to the League. I believe it later became the Penrith speedway. It was intended to transfer the glider building section of the Aerial League from Narrabeen but this did not happen. This also appears to be the first time in Australia that a piece of land had been set aside specifically for aviation purposes. Here then was the first appearance of Penrith in Australia’s aviation history. There were, of course, a few Australians doing some research on the subject, One of these was Mr, L,J,R„ Jones, of Hyde, NSW,, who found inspiration in Hargrave s lectures to the Royal Society, Jones built a substantial reputation for himself, being called by Professor Leech of the Sydney University "an outstanding engineer who exhibited characteristics of an ardent research worker". He also built a number of aeroplane engines beginning in 1907. By 1911 he had built an aeroplane in which he installed one of his steam engines, Anxious to try out his handiwork he came to this area. On May 20th 1911 Jones brought his aeroplane by truck through Penrith on his way to Mr, J, Eollier’s property Eden Glassie at Emu Plains. I am indebted to the Nepean Times for this small crumb but I wonder why the editor did not follow it up, I have been unable to find any further contemporary references in that Journal to Jack Jones, The story of his exploits in this area must end abruptly and that is probably how his Penrith adventure ended. You will recall my earlier reference to Hammond and his influence in Australia, I will now refer to that influence. Living in Parramatta at that time (l91l) was a young dentist, William Ewart Hart, Hart owned one of the first motor cycles in Australia and graduated to one of Australia's early motor-cars. It is not surprising then to find him in our story. He would no doubt, have seen Harry Houdini make his flight at H-osehill racecourse in April 1910 - the first powered flight in N.S.W. of about four or five minutes duration. Hart undoubtedly read of Hammond’s longer flights in Western Australia and Victoria and it is probable that he saw some of Hammond's Sydney flights which stirred the imagination of this very mobile young man. It is recorded that Hart became friendly with Lesley McDonald, Hammond's mechanic and assistant pilot, and it was from McDonald that Hart purchased one of the two aeroplanes brought to Australia by the British Colonial Aircraft Company, Hart paid £1,333 for the aeroplane of which £333 was duty. Here let me correct a widely recorded story which says Hart (a) taught l^imself to fly and (b) that Hammond refused to teach Hart to fly'because he (Hart) would not agree to a prohibition against his building aeroplanes - a wise refusal as later events show. The true story is that A.H.S.A. Journal -93- Septeniber-Ootober 1969 Haimiond left Australia in May 1911 leaving McDonald to demonstrate the aeroplanes. He sold the aeroplane to Hart and came to Penrith to instruct Hart between September 25th and November 4thSo much for setting the record straight. Hart took delivery of his aeroplane some time in September and on the 21st of that month he arrived at Penrith with his aeroplane on a truck. Thus began an outstandings though brief, effort by a young Australian to show what Australians could do in the art of flying.