Airco DH.9 aircraft
Ray Parer and John McIntosh standing alongside their de Havilland DH9 PD, which was the first single engined aeroplane to fly from Great Britain to Australia, prior to their take off for Bathurst.
On 2 August 1920, this Airco DH.9 aircraft, piloted by Lieutenants Ray Parer and John McIntosh, landed in Darwin. They had just completed a journey from Britain that had taken 206 days. Their flight involved numerous crashes, fires, engine problems, five propeller replacements and an attack by armed Iraqis.
Parer and McIntosh were participants in an air race sponsored by the Australian Government to open air routes between Australia and Britain. The prize was £10,000 to the first airmen who could reach Australia within 30 days of leaving. It was won on 10 December 1919 by Ross and Keith Smith and their mechanics, James Bennett and Wally Shiers, flying a Vickers Vimy bomber. Parer and McIntosh came second.
After receiving sponsorship from whisky distiller Peter Dawson, Parer and McIntosh were able to buy this DH.9 from war surplus. They painted the initials of their sponsor on the aircraft. The DH.9 was a single-engine bomber first introduced in late 1917. They were flown by a number of Australian pilots who served in the Royal Air Force.
Darwin wasn’t the final destination for the Australian airmen. After a week’s rest, they began their journey to Melbourne, stopping numerous times. Finally, at Culcairn, 230 miles from Melbourne, the DH.9 crashed one last time. Eventually, it arrived at Flemington Racecourse on the back of a truck, where the airmen were presented with £1,000 by Prime Minister Billy Hughes in recognition of their achievement. In turn, they gave the Prime Minister a bottle of Peter Dawson whisky, which had survived the many crashes. The DH.9 joined the Memorial’s collection in 1922.
Airco DH9 biplane reconnaissance/bomber aircraft fitted with a single six cylinder water cooled Armstrong Siddeley Puma 230hp engine.
