AVIATION Australiana Biography

First Edition

• 263 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm. #111223 (Edge wear to dustjacket.)
• Scott, C. W. A
• Aeronautics — Flights
• Flight Lieutenant Charles William Anderson Scott, AFC (13 February 1903^[1] – 15 April 1946^[2]) was an English aviator. He won the MacRobertson Air Race, a race from London to Melbourne, in 1934, in a time of 71 hours.
• He left the RAF in 1926 and emigrated to Australia, where he took up a post as a commercial pilot for the fledgling airline company Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (now Qantas). In 1929, while on leave from QANTAS following a crash in a de Havilland DH.50J, Scott met his first wife Kathleen. In 1930, he broke the solo record from Brisbane to Melbourne in a de Havilland DH.60 Gipsy Moth aeroplane to get to the birth of his daughter Rosemary. Scott broke the England–Australia solo flight record in 1931, flying a de Havilland DH.60 Moth. For this achievement, the King awarded him the Air Force Cross in 1931. Competing against fellow pilots such as Bert Hinkler, Charles Kingsford Smith and Jim Mollison, Scott went on to beat the Australia–England solo flight record in 1932 and then re-took the England–Australia the same year. In 1934, he was picked, along with Tom Campbell Black, to fly one of three purpose-built de Havilland DH.88 Comet Racers to compete in the MacRobertson Air Race, which is still considered the world’s greatest air race. Scott and Black won the race, breaking the England–Australia flight record of 162 hours down to 52 hours and 33 minutes. They reached the finish line in Melbourne in 71 hours, winning the £10.000 prize money and becoming world-famous overnight. Following the race, Scott received several medals and awards, including the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club, and was celebrated wherever he went, including invitations from King Edward VIII