Guy Lambton Menzies (20 August 19091 November 1940) was an Australian

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

who flew the first solo

trans-Tasman Trans-Tasman is an adjective used primarily to signify the relationship between Australia and New Zealand. The term refers to the Tasman Sea, which lies between the two countries. For example, ''trans-Tasman commerce'' refers to commerce betwee ...

flight, from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to the West Coast of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, on 7 January 1931.

Family

The eldest of the five children of the medical practitioner Guy Dixon Menzies (1873–1947), and Ida Mabel Menzies , née Lambton (1881–1975), Guy Lambton Menzies was born at

Drummoyne, New South Wales Drummoyne is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drummoyne is six kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of ...

on 20 August 1909.

Siblings

His younger brother, Ian Lambton Menzies (1912–1941), who served in the RAAF, died on 18 April 1941 in an aircraft accident near

Ravenswood, Queensland Ravenswood is a rural town and locality in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Ravenswood had a population of 297 people. It is historically and currently a gold mining town. Geography The Flinders Hi ...

, and about 100 km miles south of

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

. Guy's other three siblings were: Betty Lambton Menzies (1915–1980), later Mrs. William A. Horsley, medical practitioner Bruce Lambton Menzies (1917–2021), and Kathleen Audrey Lambton Menzies (born 1921), later Mrs. Joseph S. Henderson.

Marriage

Menzies married Mrs. Marcia Ina Grundy (born 1909), née Leslie, in London, on 12 April 1940. Connolly (2017b) reveals that the 'true story' behind the "mysterious injuries" that Menzies sustained while serving at

North Weald North Weald Bassett, or simply North Weald ( ), is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. The village is within the North Weald Ridges and Valleys landscape area. A market is held every Saturday and Bank Ho ...

and reported in the 1936 press, were that—rather than receiving 'head injuries' from a fall from a window—the most significant of the injuries that he had sustained (which were "not wholly consistent with a fall") were two broken kneecaps, of such severity that it was thought for some considerable time that he would never be able to fly again. The injuries that Menzies sustained had been inflicted upon Menzies by, or on behalf of, "one of his fellow officers", Squadron-Leader E.M.F. Grundy (26046), later Air Marshal Sir Edouard Grundy, the "aggrieved husband" of Marcia, with whom Menzies was having an affair. This fact, according to Connolly, explains why the details of the secret, internal, R.A.F. enquiries were never released to the public. According to Connolly, Marcia eventually divorced her husband, who had left England at some time before her marriage to Menzies, which took place some four years after Menzies had been assaulted. Marcia, and her son Frederick Michael (born 1934), moved to Australia in 1946. Michael went on to join the RAAF.

Education

He was educated at the academically selective

Fort Street High School Fort Street High School (FSHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, New South Wales government run, Mixed-sex school, co-educational, Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective, secondary school, secondary day school, ...

in Sydney.

Speedway

While still a teenager, Menzies was a well-performed dirt-track, concrete track, and speedway motorcycle rider who raced under the assumed name of Don McKay, and was billed as "The Flying Scotchman". A number of other Australian speedway riders, such as Dave Brewster, Ern Buck,

Vic Huxley Victor Nelson Huxley (23 September 1906 – 24 June 1982 in Brisbane, Queensland) was an Australian speedway rider who won the Star Riders' Championship, the forerunner of the Speedway World Championship, in 1930 and finished runner-up in 1931 ...

, Bill Kilminster, Charlie Spinks, and

Lionel Van Praag Lionel Maurice Van Praag, George Medal, GM (17 December 1908 – 15 May 1987) was an Australian motorcycle speedway champion, who won the inaugural Speedway World Championship in London on 10 September 1936. Van Praag's victory saw him establis ...

also held pilot's licenses.

First solo trans-Tasman flight

The first crossing of the Tasman by air had been achieved on 10–11 September 1928 by

Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was ...

and

Charles Ulm Charles Thomas Philippe Ulm (18 October 1898 – 3 December 1934) was a pioneer Australian aviator. He partnered with Charles Kingsford Smith in achieving a number of aviation firsts, serving as Kingsford Smith's co-pilot on the first transpaci ...

in the ''

Southern Cross CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...

''. Menzies had gained his pilot's license in 1929, and had flying experience. The plane Menzies used for his solo crossing was the Avro Sports Avian that Smith had flown from England to Australia, the ''Southern Cross Junior''. Fearing he might be denied permission for the flight, Menzies informed the authorities and his family that he was flying to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. Instead, he left

at 1 AM on 7 January 1931, and headed for

Blenheim, New Zealand Blenheim ( ; ) is the most populous town in the regions of New Zealand, region of Marlborough Region, Marlborough, in the north east of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an estimated population of as of The surrounding Marlborough wi ...

. Poor weather forced Menzies off course, and after 11 hours and 45 minutes, with the high tides in the area removing any possibility of him making a safe emergency landing on a sandy beach, he crash-landed (at 3:12PM local time) upside-down in the La Fontaine Swamp near

Hari Hari Hari Hari (sometimes spelled Harihari) is a small rural settlement in the south west of the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. It is slightly inland from the Tasman Sea and the Saltwater Lagoon and is situated between the Wanga ...

on New Zealand's West Coast, which he had supposed was a meadow. As soon as it became known that Mr Menzies was heading for New Zealand . . . Colonel Horace C. Brinsmead, at that time Controller of Civil Aviation in Australia, dispatched a message to the Director of Air Services in the Defence Department in New Zealand. He asked for word about Menzies.
"Pilot G. L. Menzies left Sydney at 1 a.m. this morning flying solo in an Avro Avian aircraft G-ABCF with destination New Zealand. This department had no prior knowledge of Menzies’s proposal. I understand he had fuel for 18 hours’ flight. Appreciate earliest advice of news of his arrival in New Zealand."
The day after the successful flight Colonel Brinsmead’s New Zealand opposite number replied.
"Pilot Menzies made forced landing 20 miles south of

Ross Ross may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ross (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan Places Antarctica * Ross Sea ...

3.12 p.m. yesterday. News of arrival and your cable arrived too late for early advice. Remarkable achievement but hope no more unheralded flights of this nature."
A note on the departmental file records the time of the flight as 12 hours 47 minutes. Leslie Jillett, in his book "Wings over icthe Tasman" gives the time as 12 hours 12 minutes and the aviator’s mother is reported to have said that his flying time was still half an hour less than that. — ''The Press'', Tuesday, 13 July 1954. Despite the unfortunate landing, Menzies had broken Smith and Ulm's time by 2½ hours.

Historical marker

An extensive outdoor historical marker with photographs and descriptions is located at GPS coordinate
−43.076716, 170.531477
(south latitude, east longitude). The marker is approximately half a kilometre southwest of the actual landing spot (now on private land), which is marked by a pole with wind sock that are visible from the historical marker. News clippings and additional historical details are on display in the lobby of the Hotel Hari Hari, a few kilometres away on the State Highway 6.

Royal Air Force service

He joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

in 1936, and served as a RAF

squadron leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr or S/L) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Squadron leader is immediatel ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was part of the crew of one of the two Sunderlands that rescued the crew of the torpedoed '' Kensington Court'' on 18 September 1939.

Death

He and his crew were killed on 1 November 1940, when his

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat Maritime patrol aircraft, patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of ...

flying boat (N9020) was shot down over the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

while en route from

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. No remains of the aircraft or crew were ever found.

Commemoration

He is commemorated at the

Alamein Memorial The Alamein Memorial is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission war memorial in the El Alamein War Cemetery, El Alamein, Egypt. The memorial commemorates 11,866 Commonwealth forces members who died during World War II. The memorial was designed by ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

.Squadron Leader Guy Lambton Menzies, Service Number:32061)
''Commonwealth War Graves Commission'', www.cwgc.org/, retrieved 8 January 2022.

75th anniversary

On 7 January 2006, celebrations were held in

to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Menzies' trans-Tasman voyage, and were marked by a re-enactment of the flight by adventurer Dick Smith. He landed at what was dubbed "Hari Hari International Airport".

Notes

References

Bennett, Bruce (1983), "Hayward, Charles Wiltens Andrée (1866–1950)"
''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 9, Melbourne University Press.
Conolly, Pauline (2017a), "Guy Menzies: A Life Lived At Fast Forward", ''paulineconolly.com'', 18 July 2017.

Conolly, Pauline (2017b), "Guy Menzies: Larrikin Airman", ''paulineconolly.com'', 21 July 2017.

Guy Menzies riding a motorbike at a speedway, Sydney, 1920s
E.A. Crome collection of photographs on aviation, ''National Library of Australia''. * Jillett, Leslie (1953), ''Wings Across the Tasman'', Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
Swopes, Ryan R. (2019), "7 January 1931", ''thisdayinaviation.com''.
* Wearne, Max (2005), ''The Life of Guy Menzies: The Forgotten Flyer'', 1st ed., (2005).
Commemorative Roll: Squadron Leader Guy Lambton Menzies (32061), ''Australian War Memorial''.

External links

Peter Clarke, NZine

(from the family album of Dr Peter Clarke)
Guy Menzies: a rebel at heart – a story from the archives of the National Library of Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menzies, Guy 1909 births 1940 deaths Military personnel from New South Wales People educated at Fort Street High School Australian speedway riders Australian aviators Royal Air Force squadron leaders Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Royal Air Force pilots of World War II 1931 in New Zealand History of the West Coast Region Sportsmen from New South Wales Aviators killed by being shot down 20th-century Australian sportsmen