Bert Hinkler - Later Life and Career

Later Life and Career

After the war, he worked as a test pilot for the aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe in Southampton. The Australian Government offered £10,000 as a prize for the first flight to Australia; Hinkler entered, but his aeroplane crashed in Europe during a storm.

In 1921, Hinkler shipped a tiny Avro Baby to Sydney. It was filled with fuel and flown non-stop to Bundaberg, Queensland, a distance of 1370 km.

During the 1920s he competed in numerous aviation events and set many records, among which was a non-stop flight from England to Latvia. He was a pilot of the British Schneider Trophy seaplane competitor.

Hinkler flew the first solo flight between England and Australia, departing England on 7 February 1928 and arriving in Darwin on 22 February 1928 and back in his home town of Bundaberg on 27 February 1928. This reduced the England-Australia record from 28 days to just under 15½ days. The aircraft used was an Avro Avian, registration G-EBOV. The flight was little noticed before Hinkler reached India but then media interest intensified. One paper nicknamed the flyer "Hustling Hinkler" and he was the subject of the Tin Pan Alley song Hustling Hinkler Up in the Sky. For the flights in 1920 and 1928 Hinkler had already won two Britannia trophies and the gold medal of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

Hinkler is quoted as telling the Australian Prime Minister Stanley Bruce at this time: You know, one day, people will fly by night and use the daylight for sightseeing. (In 1998 Australian Lang Kidby recreated this flight in a similar 1927 Avro Avian). He was invited by the Speaker of the House of Representatives to be seated on the floor of the House in recognition of his achievement. (The next time such an invitation was extended was in 1973, to Patrick White, who declined.) After visiting the principal cities of Australia and returning to England, he was awarded the Air Force Cross for the finest aerial exploit of the year.

In 1931 came his most remarkable feat. Hinkler flew in a de Havilland Puss Moth from Canada to New York then non-stop to Jamaica 2,400 km (1,500 mi), then to Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil, and then across the South Atlantic to Africa; this part of the journey was done in extremely bad weather, but despite a tearing gale and practically no visibility for part of the way because of low and heavy clouds, he drifted a comparatively small distance off his course. From West Africa he flew to London. For this he was awarded the Segrave Trophy, the Johnston Memorial Prize, and the Britannia Trophy for the most meritorious flying performance of the year. This was the first solo flight across the South Atlantic. He was only the second person to cross the Atlantic solo, after Charles Lindbergh.

Hinkler married in 1932. On 7 January 1933, Hinkler left London Air Park, Hanworth, England, in the Puss Moth in an attempt to break the flying record to Australia held by C. W. A. Scott of 8 days 20 hours. Nothing more was heard of him until his body was discovered in the Tuscan Mountains in Italy. His plane had crashed into the mountains on 7 January 1933. He was buried, with full military honours on Mussolini's orders, in the Protestant cemetery at Florence. A monument in his memory was erected at Prato Alle Vacche in the Pratomagno mountain by the Aretino Aero Club. He was survived by his wife.

He is remembered as being thoroughly courageous without being reckless, and was successful in his amazing feats because he was practically faultless as a pilot, and knew exactly what he and his machines could do.