So he built his own plane and actually flew it , if only for a moment
or two. Enlisting , he went to England and transferred to the A.F.C. as
the first N.C.O. to train to fly, in Maurice Farmans. After becoming an
Officer and active flying in France, he contracted Spanish Flu and was returned
to Australia to recover in mid 1918. He tested aircraft at Pt. Cook and
shipped surplus aircraft from th U.K., including a DH6 (Clutching Hand). He also flew a Curtiss flying boat along the Adelaide coastline , staying
at the Pier Hotel, Glenelg. Finally he sold his Bristol Fighter to Qantas
.Later still, in 1928 he formed MacRobertson Miller Aviation Co. with a
chocolate millionaire and started the Adelaide to Broken Hill service as
well as other regional ones within S.A..In 1929 he won the Sydney to Perth
air race (2500 miles). Expanding to Western and Northern Australia the
company grew before W.W.2 and finally became absorbed into the Ansett-ANA
empire. (His Autobiography 'Early Birds').
Born in Scotland he went to Australia in 1928,
to become a flying instructor at Adelaide Aero Club. He later joined Ansett
and also did stunt flying. When Kingsford Smith and C.W.A. Scott made successive
solo records for the flight from England to Australia in 1930, it was inevitable
that Jim Mollison would also try. Scott and he did not get on well together,
being both ex-RAF and keen boxers. In July 1931 he attempted to beat 9
days, 5 hours of Scott's record in the reverse direction. At his first attempt in June 1931 he had
too much fuel on board and he failed to take off at Darwin; but when repairs
were done, he made a second attempt. After making an emergency landing
in Batavia he lost his goggles over India. Over France he flew, very tired,
through fog but had to land on shingles at Pevensey on the English coast.
He thus sliced 2 days off the record. Amy Johnson, the Yorkshire lass from
Hull, had flown solo from Croydon to Darwin in May 1930 in a similar D.H.
Moth (Jason).
They met in Capetown, subsequently married and were a famous
aviation couple. They were entered for the Centenary Air Race in 1934 in
the fastest aircraft the D.H.88 Comet (Black Magic). At Allahabad, India,
they had to withdraw due to engine overheating. Becoming competitors for
'solo' records around the world, coupled with their boisterous personalities,
led to a separation and divorce. He married again twice but maintained
a hectic life until arthritis made him give up and he took a London Pub
instead.
Next
|