Famous Australians

Bert Hinkler died in Italy on the 7 January 1933 when his plane crashed when he was trying to beat his own record from England to Australia. When he was flying over France, the weather was cold and stormy with very strong winds. He passed over the Alps and was flying to Brindisi in Southern Italy to make his first landing but didn’t arrive there.

Search parties from France, Switzerland and Italy searched the mountains but never found him or his plane.

In Spring in April 1933 a group of charcoal burners found Bert Hinkler’s wrecked plane and his body when the snow melted in the Appennine Mountains in Central Italy.

 Education:

Bert Hinkler went to North Bundaberg school. The school buildings looked out over a lagoon. Bert used to watch the birds which came to the lagoon and studied the way they flew. He was most interested in the Ibis.

Bert left school at the age of 14 when a lot was happening in the world of aviation. He kept a scrapbook of famous Aviators. He knew he wanted to be an Airman.

He began a correspondence course in aviation and when he was 19 he built a glider. He launched if from a sandhill at a beach at Bundaberg and it flew 30 feet high.

Bert became a mechanic for ‘Wizard" Stone who was an American Aviator. He worked in New Zealand.

Then Bert came back to Australia and worked in an aeroplane workshop in Sydney but he really just wanted to fly planes instead of just servicing and repairing them.

Bert Hinkler left for Europe because there were no flying schools in Australia at this time. He paid for his trip by working on a German Freighter .

In 1912 he got a job as a mechanic with the Sopwith Aeroplane Works in London. He still didn’t have enough money to pay for lessons.

 Family Life:

Bert Hinkler grew up in the sugar cane parts of Bundaberg.

He was most interested in the ibises which were big birds which looked awkward on the ground but used their great wing span to fly skilfully.

Bert even caught some of the ibises. He measured their wing spans and body weights. He pulled important feathers from some of the birds to see what difference it made to the way they flew.

He studied birds to see how they flew because he hoped to fly one day. His family thought it was just a wild dream but Bert knew he wanted to become an Airman.

Bert Hinkler was famous for his flights which were

London-Turin in 1920 in the "Baby".

Sydney-Bundaberg in 1921 in the "Baby"

London-Riga in 1927 in the Avro Avian.

England-Australia in 1928 in the Avro Avian.

New York-Brazil-West Africa-England in 1931 in the "Puss Moth".

Bert Hinkler was most remembered for his flight which was his most famous that was in 1928 when he flew England to Australia.

He was also most remembered for his flight across the Atlantic Ocean from Brazil to West Africa. This was the greatest solo navigation in aviation history.

When the War finished he brought a plane called the Avro "Baby" to Australia and assembled it. On the 11^th April 1921 he flew non stop solo from Mascot to Bundaberg This flight of 850 miles was a new solo record in a light plane.

Bert Hinkler returned to England because there wasn’t much work for aviators. He worked for A.V. Roe who was working on a bigger plane than the "Baby". It was called the Avro Avian and had a more powerful engine. He flew in it from London to Riga and broke his long distance record from Sydney to Bundaberg.. He decided that it was a perfect plane for a solo flight to Australia.

On the 7^th February 1928 he took off from Croydon Airfield

London and flew into history . That was when he flew from London to Darwin in fifteen and a half days. He beat the record of twenty-eight days for the flight. Bert Hinkler’s flight was the longest flight ever made solo. From the money he got he built the "Ibis".. This was the plane he modelled from watching the Ibis birds on the lagoon in Bundaberg. The "Ibis" would be able to land on water or land.

Bert Hinkler was a gunner in World War 1 after starting as a mechanic. This was when he took flying lessons.

When War started he joined the Royal Naval Air Service

and was flying in combat as an observer.

In the War he won The Distinguished Service Medal because he made 122 flights over enemy territory.

He was awarded the Air Force Cross and made an honorary squadron leader in the Royal Australian Airforce for his solo flight from England to Darwin.