John Cowe McIntosh | |
|---|---|
 McIntosh at Flemington Racecourse, 1920 | |
| Born | (1892-02-24)24 February 1892 Lumsden, Aberdeenshire, Scotland |
| Died | 28 March 1921(1921-03-28) (aged 29) |
| Occupation | Aviator |
John Cowe McIntosh AFC (24 February 1892 – 28 March 1921) was a Scottish-born Australian aviator.
McIntosh was born near the village of Lumsden, Aberdeenshire. He emigrated to Western Australia in 1911 and worked in the timber industry until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. He enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Corps, serving with the 4th Field Ambulance in Gallipoli as a stretcher bearer, then England, and reaching the rank of corporal. In 1918 he served six months in northern France until he transferred to the Australian Flying Corps and began flying training near Oxford in England. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in April 1919 and shortly afterwards was promoted lieutenant.[1]
In March 1919, the Australian government offered a prize of £10,000 for the first successful flight from England to Australia, crewed by Australians. He paired with another Australian Flying Corps officer, Ray Parer, and, although leaving well after the event had been won, they arrived in Darwin on 2 August 1920. Their aircraft was an Airco DH-9, and they were the only other entrant to successfully complete the race, though not without great hardship and misadventure. He and Parer were awarded the Air Force Cross for this feat on 23 November 1920.[2] Their journey so enraptured the public that the government awarded them £500 each, even though there was no official second prize.[3] For a short time they enjoyed a spell of great fame.
McIntosh returned to Western Australia in December 1920 by motorbike - the first continental crossing from Melbourne to Perth. The journey took five weeks.
On 28 March 1921, while conducting joy flights, McIntosh was killed in an air crash near Pithara, Western Australia. It was the first fatal air crash in the state.[4]
On 21 October 2023, McIntosh and Ray Parer were inducted into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame.[5]
Footnotes
- National Library of Australia
- "No. 32133". The London Gazette. 23 November 1920. p. 11347.
- Isaacs, K., "Parer, Raymond John Paul (1894–1967)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, 1988, pp.133–134
- Photograph of the monument to McIntosh, State Library of Western Australia
- "John McIntosh". Australian Aviation. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
Bibliography
- Cooksley, Peter (Spring 1994). "Erratic Their Course". Air Enthusiast. No. 53. pp. 53–59. ISSN 0143-5450.