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Oswald Watt Gold Medal
The Oswald Watt Gold Medal is an Australian aviation award named for Oswald Watt (1878–1921), a decorated pilot in World War I. It originated in 1921 after the death of Oswald Watt and is awarded for "A most brilliant performance in the air or the most notable contribution to aviation by an Australian or in Australia" by the Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia. As it is awarded on merit it is not an annual award; between the award's creation and 1999 it had been awarded a total of 48 times. It was not awarded in the years 2000 - 2010. Recipients The recipients are:Oswald Watt Gold Medal winners list Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia. Retrieved 9 October 2019 *1921 Francis Stewart Briggs – flew from Melbourne to Brisbane and from Melbourne to P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air balloons and airships. Aviation began in the 18th century with the development of the hot air balloon, an apparatus capable of atmospheric displacement through buoyancy. Some of the most significant advancements in aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying of Otto Lilienthal in 1896; then a large step in significance came with the construction of the first powered airplane by the Wright brothers in the early 1900s. Since that time, aviation has been technologically revolutionized by the introduction of the jet which permitted a major form of transport throughout the world. Etymology The word ''aviation'' was coined by the French writer and former naval officer Gabriel La Landelle in 1863. He derived the term from the v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Normanton, Queensland
Normanton is an outback town and coastal locality in the Shire of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Normanton had a population of 1,257 people, of whom 750 (60%) identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, while the town of Normanton had a population of 1,210 people, of whom 743 (62%) identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. It is the administrative centre of the Shire of Carpentaria. It has a tropical savanna climate and the main economy of the locality is cattle grazing. The town is one terminus of the isolated Normanton to Croydon railway line, which was built during gold rush days in the 1890s. The Gulflander passenger train operates once a week. The "Big Barramundi" and a statue of a large saltwater crocodile are notable attractions of the town, along with many heritage-listed sites. History The town sits in the traditional lands of the Gkuthaarn (Kareldi) and Kukatj people. The town takes its name from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Connellan Airways
Connellan Airways (later Connair) was an airline headquartered in Alice Springs, Australia. It operated scheduled flights as well other air transport services throughout the Northern Territory from 1939 to 1980. History The company was founded in 1939 as Survey & Inland Transport by Edward Connellan, an aviation pioneer. In 1938, Connellan had conducted two aerial surveys of the Northern Territory, and after discussion with John McEwen, the then responsible Federal Minister, undertook a fortnightly mail run between Alice Springs and Wyndham, Western Australia. He also signed a contract with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. In the midst of World War II, Connellan consolidated his air services, which had grown viable and included more routes, and registered Connellan Airways on 23 July 1943. In the post-war years Connellan Airways grew, acquiring new routes and equipment. In February 1951 it became a limited company, with many of the shares held by station people and staff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Connellan
Edward John ("EJ" or "Eddie") Connellan AO, CBE (24 June 1912 – 26 December 1983) was an Australian aviator who founded Connellan Airways and was a pioneer of aviation in the Northern Territory. Early life Connellan was born on 24 June 1912 at Donald in western Victoria, the eldest of seven children to his parents Thomas and Lucy Connellan. At Donald the family owned farming and grazing property. Connellan's station life continued when the family moved to the Riverina district of New South Wales. From 1927 to 1929 he boarded at Xavier College in Melbourne to complete his secondary education. After school he became a teacher with the Victorian Education Department, but resigned in July 1933 to go into business. Flying became a passion and he gained his private pilot's licence on 8 July 1936. The Northern Territory Perceiving business opportunities in the Northern Territory, in October 1937 Connellan prepared a report, "Notes on proposals for Aerial Freight Transport in Aus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Millicer
Henry K. Millicer, AM (11 June 1915 – 28 August 1996) born Henryk Kazimierz Milicer, was a Polish-Australian aircraft designer and pilot. Early life and Second World War Millicer was born in Warsaw, Poland, the son of Kazimierz Milicer, a university professor whose family was descended from Baron Karl von Militzer. An ardent Polish patriot, Henry developed an early interest in aviation. In 1924 he won an aeromodelling competition with the prize being a flight over Warsaw, his home city. At age 14 he built a full-size glider and at 17 qualified as a glider pilot. After receiving a degree in aeronautical engineering he worked as a junior designer in the National Aviation Works (Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze) on the PZL.37 Łoś bomber project headed by Jerzy Dąbrowski and later for the RWD company on the RWD-25 low-wing, fixed-wheels fighter project. He was also a member of the Polish Air Force reserve and flew against the Germans at the outbreak of the Second Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrick Gordon Taylor
Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor, (21 October 1896 – 15 December 1966), commonly known as Bill Taylor, was an Australian aviator and author. He was born at Mosman, Sydney, and died in Honolulu. Taylor attended The Armidale School in northern New South Wales. At the beginning of the First World War he applied to join the Australian Flying Corps but was rejected. He subsequently went to Britain and was commissioned into the Royal Flying Corps in 1916, joining No. 66 Squadron. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1917 and promoted to captain, also serving with Nos. 94 and 88 Squadrons. Following the war he returned to Australia and embarked on a career in civil aviation, working as a private pilot and for de Havilland Aircraft Company in the 1920s. He flew as a captain with Australian National Airways 1930–31. He also completed an engineering course and studied aerial navigation. He served as second pilot or navigator on pioneering flights with Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slingsby T
Slingsby may refer to: * Slingsby (surname) * Slingsby, North Yorkshire * Slingsby Aviation, formerly Slingsby Sailplanes, a manufacturer of gliders and other aircraft * Slingsby Channel Slingsby Channel is a strait on the north side of Bramham Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the British Columbia Coast, Central Coast of British Columbia. It is one of only two entrances to Seymour Inlet and the associated maze of wate ..., a strait in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada * Slingsby Baronets * HC Slingsby PLC, a historical British company started in 1893 {{disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Brownlow Martin
Air Marshal Sir Harold Brownlow Morgan "Micky" Martin, (27 February 1918 – 3 November 1988) was an Australian bomber pilot and senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He took part in Operation Chastise, the RAF's "Dambusters" raid in 1943, and was described by journalist Sir Max Hastings as "one of the three great bomber pilots of the war". He rose to become a senior officer in the RAF, commanding RAF Germany and later serving as Air Member for Personnel, a member of the Air Council, the RAF's controlling body. Early life Born on 27 February 1918 in Edgecliff, New South Wales, Martin left Australia for the United Kingdom in 1939. He intended to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh, but instead volunteered to join the Royal Air Force (RAF) on 28 August 1940. Military career Second World War Martin commenced his operational career with No. 455 Squadron RAAF in October 1941, flying the Handley Page Hampden. In February 1942, he captained the first all-Australian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Bennett
Air Vice Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett, (14 September 1910 – 15 September 1986) was an Australian aviation pioneer and bomber pilot who rose to be the youngest air vice marshal in the Royal Air Force. He led the "Pathfinder Force" (No. 8 Group RAF) from 1942 to the end of the Second World War in 1945. He has been described as "one of the most brilliant technical airmen of his generation: an outstanding pilot, a superb navigator who was also capable of stripping a wireless set or overhauling an engine". Early flights Donald Bennett was born the youngest son of a grazier and business agent in Toowoomba, Queensland. He attended Brisbane Grammar School. After some time working in his father's business, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1930, qualifying at RAAF Point Cook as a pilot on the DH Moth and Westland Wapiti. He transferred to the Royal Air Force a year later. Starting with the flying boats of 210 Squadron, Bennett developed a passion for accura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clyde Fenton
Clyde Cornwall Fenton OBE (16 May 1901 – 28 February 1982) was the Northern Territory's first flying doctor. Unlike the other doctors with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, Fenton was also his own pilot. Fenton was a self-taught pilot, and flew without the aid of any navigation equipment, air charts, and often proper landing strips. He enjoys a particular renown as a unique and dashing Territory character. Biography Clyde Fenton graduated as a medical doctor in 1925 from Melbourne University. He then had a stint in the Royal Air Force in England in 1928. Fenton returned to Australia and headed outback, first to Wyndham, Western Australia and then on to Darwin. Fenton earned his pilot's licence with a goal to join the Royal Flying Doctor Service, but the founder, Reverend John Flynn, had a policy of not using doctors as pilots. As a result, Fenton privately raised money for an aircraft, and in March 1934 arrived in Katherine as the Government Medical Offic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edgar Percival
Edgar Wikner Percival (23 February 1897 – 21 January 1984) was a noted Australian aircraft designer and pilot whose aircraft were distinguished by speed and grace. Percival went on to set up the Percival Aircraft Company, a British aircraft company in his own name. Early years Percival was born in 1898 at Albury, New South Wales, the son of Blanche Hilda Leontina Percival, née Wikner and William Percival, a butter manufacturer.John McCarthy, 1988, "Percival, Edgar Wikner (1897–1984)", ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (18 June 2013) Edgar Percival's maternal great uncle was the Swedish philosopher |
Harry Frank Broadbent
Harry Frank "Jim" Broadbent (25 March 1910 – 9 November 1958) was a British pilot largely raised in Australia, who took part in air racing and record-breaking flights in the 1930s. Early life Broadbent was born in Chiswick on 25 March 1910 as Harry Frank Gibbs. His father, Joseph Gibbs, was a singer and actor whose stage name was Frank Harwood. His mother, Madge Adelaide, was the youngest daughter of Kate and Harry Rickards, prominent figures in the theatrical life of Australia. He was educated at Wychwood School, Bournemouth. Harry moved to Australia after his parents' divorce, and in 1923 his mother married John Allan Broadbent, of Windella station, Narrandera, NSW. Harry then preferred to use the name 'Jim Broadbent'. He received flight training as a member of the Sydney Aero Club, and gained a private pilot's licence on 20 November 1929.Isaacs, Keith. 'Broadbent, Harry Frank (Jim) (1910–1958)Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian Natio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
