(3). Ability to shoot straight; and
(4). Sufficient knowledge of drill to secure self-confidence in the field.
Some time after Lord Kitchener’s tour of inspection the first flying machine arrived in Sydney. It was sent out by the Bristol Company—a biplane of the most primitive kind, where the pilot sat on the front of the lower plane with his feet resting on a board, and the passenger squatted behind him with the engine racing at his back. There was, of course, considerable excitement in Sydney and much curiosity to see it in the air. We were holding a camp of instruction for the mounted troops at Liverpool, and the proprietors of the aeroplane suggested a flight from Sydney to the camp, some twenty miles, and asked permission to carry it out. I naturally agreed.
It was a perfect summer’s morning when, at about 7 A.M., a small black spot was seen high up in the air; it was the flying machine rapidly approaching the camp at a height of some 3,000 feet. It landed safely on a spot previously selected, much to the delight of the men in camp, most of whom came from the country districts. The Governor-General, Lord Dudley, was in camp with us, and was anxious to be taken up, and I personally also intended to arrange likewise. Something, however, intervened, with the result that the pilot left the camp before we returned to lunch after the morning’s work.
At the conclusion of the camp I returned to the barracks. The morning after I was going into breakfast when a messenger arrived from the manager of the Bristol Company with a letter inviting me to be the first to fly over Sydney, and asking me to go out to the Ascot Race Course at about eleven o’clock, where the machine was quartered. I drove out, and on my arrival I was told that the pilot was away but that the mechanic, a young Scotsman of about twenty years of age, who had a pilot’s certificate, was available if I wished to trust myself to him. I certainly felt rather doubtful on the point when I looked at the youth, especially as he had not been up in it himself since his arrival in Australia. However, I took courage, said, “Right you are,” and scrambled up behind him. The engines were started, she sped along the grass, and before I could realize it we were some 500 feet high up in the air, still rising and sailing over Botany Bay. As the manager had told Macdonald to go wherever I directed him, I decided to fly over Sydney and the harbour, so that I should pass over the barracks, the forts, Government House, the Post Office and the principal streets of Sydney and give the public a fair opportunity of watching us.
It was a lovely day; the machine behaved splendidly. Young Macdonald was as cool as a cucumber, and we returned and landed at the Ascot Race Course after two hours of a delightful experience. I regret to say that my youthful pilot was killed during the early days of the war; his machine dived into the Thames and he was drowned.
Some years later I selected the site for and established at Point Cook near Melbourne the first Flying School in Australia.