Guy Menzies Explained

Guy Menzies
Birth Date:1909 8, df=yes
Birth Name:Guy Lambton Menzies
Birth Place:Drummoyne, New South Wales, Australia
Allegiance:Australia
Branch:Royal Air Force
Serviceyears:1939–40
Rank:Squadron Leader
Servicenumber:32061
Unit:No. 228 Squadron RAF
Battles:Second World War

Guy Lambton Menzies (20 August 19091 November 1940) was an Australian aviator who flew the first solo trans-Tasman flight, from Sydney, Australia to the West Coast of New Zealand, on 7 January 1931.

Family

The eldest of the five children of the medical practitioner Guy Dixon Menzies (1873–1947),[1] and Ida Mabel Menzies, née Lambton (1881–1975),[2] [3] Guy Lambton Menzies was born at Drummoyne, New South Wales on 20 August 1909.[4]

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, and about 100 km miles south of Townsville.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

Guy's other three siblings were: Betty Lambton Menzies (1915–1980), later Mrs. William A. Horsley,[11] medical practitioner Bruce Lambton Menzies (1917–2021),[12] and Kathleen Audrey Lambton Menzies (born 1921), later Mrs. Joseph S. Henderson.[13]

Marriage

He married Mrs. Marcia Ina Grundy (born 1909), née Leslie, in London, on 12 April 1940.[14] [15]

The fact that the Sydney press announcement of his impending marriage identified his future wife as one "Mrs. Marcia Ina Grundy" is highly significant.[16] Connolly (2017b) reveals that the 'true story' behind the "mysterious injuries" that Menzies sustained while serving at North Weald and reported in the 1936 press,[17] [18] [19] [20] were that—rather than receiving 'head injuries' from a 40feet 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,[21] [22] [23] [24] [25] which took place some four years after Menzies had been assaulted.

Marcia, and her son Frederick Michael (born 1934),[26] moved to Australia in 1946.[27] Michael went on to join the RAAF.[28] [29]

Education

He was educated at the academically selective Fort Street High School in Sydney.[30]

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".[31] [32] A number of other Australian speedway riders, such as Dave Brewster, Ern Buck, Vic Huxley, Bill Kilminster, Charlie Spinks, and Lionel Van Praag also held pilot's licenses.[33]

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 and Charles Ulm in the Southern Cross.

Pilot's license

Menzies had gained his pilot's license in 1929,[34] and had flying experience.[35] [36]

Southern Cross Junior

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.[37]

Blenheim

Fearing he might be denied permission for the flight,[38] Menzies informed the authorities and his family that he was flying to Perth. Instead, he left Sydney at 1 AM on 7 January 1931, and headed for Blenheim, New Zealand.[39] [40]

Hari Hari

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 on New Zealand's West Coast, which he had supposed was a meadow.[41] [42] [43] [44]

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 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 [sic] the 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.[45]

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 coordinates −43.076716, 170.531477 (south latitude, east longitude).[46] 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 in 1936,[47] and served as a RAF squadron leader during the Second World War. 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.[48] [49]

Death

He and his crew were killed on 1 November 1940, when his Short Sunderland flying boat (N9020) was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea while en route from Malta to Sicily. No remains of the aircraft or crew were ever found.[50] [51] [52]

Commemoration

He is commemorated at the Alamein Memorial in Egypt.[53]

75th anniversary

On 7 January 2006, celebrations were held in Hari Hari 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".

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18019527 Deaths: Menzies
  2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14998877 Marriages: Menzies–Lambton
  3. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PvpjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YeYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=611%2C2351949 Deaths; Menzies
  4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15108647 Births: Menzies
  5. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47320052 R.A.A.F. Crash: Pilot and Passenger Killed: Fatality Attributed to Stall
  6. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17718290 Deaths: Menzies
  7. https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=1057059&c=WW2 World War Two Nominal Roll: Flying Officer Ian Lambton Menzies (774)
  8. https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=5244214&S=1&T=PDF&D=D World War Two Service Record: Flying Officer Ian Lambton Menzies (774)
  9. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1717609 Roll of Honour: Flying Officer Ian Lambton Menzies (774)
  10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2968758/ian-lambton-menzies Flying Officer Ian Lambton Menzies, Service Number 774, Royal Australian Air Force
  11. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17666749 Country Interest in Wedding: Five Attendants for Bride
  12. https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansardr/2003-06-16/0151/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf Extract from Hansard: Adjournment, House of Representatives: Dr. Bruce Lambton Menzies
  13. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248018153 U.S. Officers on Leave for Weddings
  14. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27951539 Marriages: Menzies–Grundy
  15. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17839687 (probate notice): Legal Notices
  16. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247487110 Australia R.A.F. Officer to Wed
  17. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230299819 Mystery: Airman's Injury: Sydney Pilot: Face Battered
  18. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244759265 Guy Menzies Mystery: R.A.F. will Inquire
  19. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132029126 Airport Mystery Unsolved: Guy Menzies' Injuries
  20. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30113072 Guy Menzies: Cause of Accident still a Mystery
  21. In fact, Grundy was sent to New Zealand in an "exchange posting with RNZAF" in June 1937 (RAF Biographies: Air Marshal Sir Edouard Grundy (26054), rafweb.org).
  22. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19370717.2.31 Exchange of Officers: First Arrivals from R.A.F.
  23. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19400410.2.121.1 Engagements: Grundy–Carr
  24. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19400608.2.147.5 Air Force Wedding: Guard of Honour
  25. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19400608.2.147.5.1 Topics for Women (photograph)
  26. An official notice in the London Gazette of 2 September 1941, (at p. 5130), announces that the family name of Frederick Michael Grundy had been changed, by deed poll, to that of Menzies.
  27. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/996208 Bringing up their Sons in Australia
  28. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page25077133 Royal Australian Air Force: Air Training Corps (New South Wales Squadron): Cadet Pilot Officer Frederick Michael Grundy Menzies (46562)
  29. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/232965982 Royal Australian Air Force: Permanent Air Force: Pilot Officer Frederick Michael Menzies (0216042)
  30. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236948043 An "Old Boy" Looks On
  31. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237521486 Advertisement
  32. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136741110 Once a irt-Track Expert he now Stars in Another Sphere
  33. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135339136 Random Jots: Dirt Track Pilots
  34. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58638890 The Tasman Crossed: Young Pilot's Remarkable Feat: A Hazardous Undertaking
  35. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193169634 Forced Down: 'Plane Mishap at Tenterfield
  36. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article234995171 He'd Fly Over Hell in a Celluloid Bus: Things About Young Guy Menzies that You Haven't Read Yet
  37. Web site: Classic Fighters Charitable Trust. Omaka Aerodrome History. 18 April 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20060426044247/http://www.classicfighters.co.nz/marlborough/omaka.htm. 26 April 2006. dead.
  38. Book: Wearne , Max . 9780646451152. The Life of Guy Menzies – The Forgotten Flyer. 2005.
  39. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246427233 Had Finished His Ham and Eggs So Flew the Tasman: Unknown at Midnight; World Hero a Few Hours Later: Would Not Do it Again for £50,000 Says Hero of N.Z. Flight: Guy Menzies is a Great 'Guy'
  40. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246427225 Letter Tells of Well-Kept Secret
  41. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/new-zealand-herald/1931/01/08/10 Solo Flight across Tasman: Great Secret Achievement: Sydney to West Coat: Airman lands in Swamp: Slight Damage to Machine
  42. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19310108.2.26.14 Bright and Fresh
  43. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248637489 2000-Mile trip to see Swamp
  44. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98345000 Swamp pilgrim
  45. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19540713.2.46 First Tasman Flight Solo Was Unauthorised
  46. Web site: Bush . Gemma . 23 July 2019 . Guy Menzies: A Rebel at Heart . 5 January 2022 . National Library of Australia . en.
  47. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230307146 Sydney Airman: Escort for the King
  48. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article81511232 Guy Menzies
  49. News: Ships hit by U-boats: Kensington Court . uboat.net . Guðmundur Helgason . 7 January 2022.
  50. News: Madgwick, Paul. Dick Smith recreates first solo trans-Tasman flight. The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 January 2006. 18 April 2006.
  51. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=93656 Squadron Leader Guy Lambton MENZIES (32061) of the Royal Air Force
  52. Web site: 2019-08-07 . Guy Lambton Menzies: courageous aviator with family links to pioneers of the Hawkesbury . 2022-01-07 . Recording Hawkesbury history . en.
  53. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1810821/menzies,-guy-lambton Squadron Leader Guy Lambton Menzies, Service Number:32061)