Harry George Hawker was an Australian pioneer aviator, Aircraft Designer, Engineer and Test Pilot.
Harry became one of the world's greatest aviators.
Harry left Australia for England in 1911, and in less than 12 months was Chief Test Pilot for the Sopwith Aviation Company.
Harry's Records
Australian Tour
Trans-Atlantic Crossing Attempt
Rescue and Adulation
The Sopwith Camel was one of the most successful fighters of WW1 and this was largely down to the work of Harry Hawker, who tested this often difficult aeroplane with his usual skill.
Harry also had a major involvement in pioneering techniques required for deck landings during 1917, firstly from the Cunard liner ‘Campania’ and later from HMS Furious at Scapa Flow.
In addition to his flying abilities, his mechanical knowledge contributed greatly to the testing of new engines such as those used by French squadrons whom he visited on a regular basis.
This photo (below) is of a flight at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, on Saturday 21 February 1914, when Harry Hawker took the Governor General, Lord Denman, for a flight.
Harry's Records
Among Harry's competitive achievements were a number of altitude records set in June 1913. He also won a £1,000 consolation prize in the Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Waterplane Race on 25 August 1913.
The competition was restricted to British pilots flying British aircraft fitted with British engines. The competition opened on the 16th August and had to be completed by 30th August. Entrants were required to to fly 1,540 miles within 72 consecutive hours (excluding Sunday).
Winston Churchill, who was then the First Lord of the Admiralty, in a message to the Daily Mail, said, that
“Hawker achieved a wonderful result, and the competition was of real value to British flying.
Though we started last, we must persevere till the first place is gained.”
Former Australian Prime, Sir George Reid, who at the time was the Australian High Commissioner for the Commonwealth, sent a telegraph from Dublin before the accident: - "Win or lose, Australia is very proud of you both."
During 1913, he claimed a number of new altitude records, often carrying wealthy paying passengers.
Hawker still remained a regular competitor in car and motorcycle meetings held on the infamous banked track at Brooklands where he also demonstrated Sopwith machines to huge crowds.
Below: Harry Hawker in a 150hp Sunbeam racer at Brooklands racecourse
Australian Tour
On 19th January 1914, Hawker arrived back in his home town of Melbourne, just in
time to celebrate his 25th birthday with his family.
He was immediately welcomed as ‘a local-boy-made-good’ with a civic reception held in St Kilda Town Hall. Meanwhile in the southern hemisphere,
Hawker was demonstrating the Sopwith Tabloid at the immensely popular aviation meetings (e.g. Albury, Ballarat) which had been bolstered by news of the type's success in the South of France.
These flying meetings often attracted up to 50,000 spectators and on one occasion a particularly wild crowd nearly wrecked the aeroplane as they all tried to touch the fragile machine.
The Australian Tour was declared a success with Hawker returning home on 7th June to resume his flight test duties at Brooklands.
At Sopwiths in 1916, Hawker had the personal use of a small aircraft, the Sopwith Bee.
The Sopwith ‘Tabloid’ as the plane which Hawker brought to Melbourne was known, was produced at the Kingston factory of Sopwiths for the first time in November 1913, and in bringing it to Australia, Hawker was giving his people the opportunity to see the very latest in aircraft design.
Three months before the cessation of hostilities of World War 1, the name of Harry George Hawker appeared in the Birthday Honors list as a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
The citation referred to his work in the development of a number of aeroplanes such as the ‘1 ½ Strutter’, the ‘Camel’, the ‘Pup’, the ‘Triplane’, the ‘Dolphin’ and the ‘Snipe’.
Trans-Atlantic Crossing Attempt
After war ended, Hawker was joined by navigator Lieutenant Commander Mackenzie Grieve, who he had met during his dealings with the RNAS, and the pair attempted to win the £10,000 Daily Mail prize for the first flight across the Atlantic over ‘72 consecutive hours’.
On 18th May 1919, they set off from Newfoundland in the Sopwith Atlantic, a 360hp V12 Rolls-Royce Eagle-engined biplane.
The Atlantic, as the name suggests, was specifically designed for the challenge although disappointingly after just 14½ hours of flight they were forced to change course with an overheating engine.
The aircraft had a 330-gallon fuel tank which weighed in 6,150lbs and simply over-stressed the engine.
They diverted to reach the busy North Atlantic shipping lanes and located the freighter ‘Danish Mary’.
After failing to arrive as planned, they were presumed lost at sea with Muriel Hawker receiving a long telegram from H M King George V, expressing his condolences.
“The King, fearing the worst must now be realised regarding the fate of your husband, wishes to express his deepest sympathy and that of the Queen in your sudden and tragic sorrow.
His Majesty feels that the nation has lost one of its most able and daring pilots to sacrifice his life for the fame and honour of British flying”
Rescue and Adulation
Below: Welcoming crowds in London for aviator Harry Hawker
Union Jacks which had been at half mast were raised, Raynham sent a telegram from Newfoundland to London, addressed to Mackenzie Grieves asking him to be his Navigator.
Thousands jammed London’s Kings Cross station to welcome the return of the airmen. They were raised shoulder high and carried to Sopwith’s waiting Rolls Royce.
The next day they were received by King George V, who invested each of them with the Air Force Cross.
This was the first time this famed decoration had been personally awarded by the King and also the first time the Air Force Cross had been awarded to a civilian.
Hawker and Grieve were awarded a consolation prize of £5,000 by the Daily Mail and Hawker later named his second daughter Mary in honour of the ship that rescued him from a watery grave.
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