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),Deaths: Menzies The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday, 1 April 1947, p. 22. and Ida Mabel Menzies , née Lambton (1881–1975),Marriages: Menzies–Lambton The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday, 28 November 1908, p. 12.Deaths; Menzies The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday, 8 May 1975, p. 30. Guy Lambton Menzies was born at Drummoyne, New South Wales, on 20 August 1909.Births: Menzies The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday, 4 September 1909, p. 12.
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 kilometers south of Townsville.R.A.A.F. Crash: Pilot and Passenger Killed: Fatality Attributed to Stall, The West Australian, (Saturday, 19 April 1941), p. 11.Deaths: Menzies, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 21 April 1941), p. 8.World War Two Nominal Roll: Flying Officer Ian Lambton Menzies (774), Department of Veterans' Affairs.World War Two Service Record: Flying Officer Ian Lambton Menzies (774), National Archives of Australia.Roll of Honour: Flying Officer Ian Lambton Menzies (774), Australian War Memorial.Flying Officer Ian Lambton Menzies, Service Number 774, Royal Australian Air Force, Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Guy's other three siblings were: Betty Lambton Menzies (1915–1980), later Mrs. William A. Horsley,Country Interest in Wedding: Five Attendants for Bride, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Friday, 16 February 1940), p. 4. medical practitioner Bruce Lambton Menzies (1917–2021),Extract from Hansard: Adjournment, House of Representatives: Dr. Bruce Lambton Menzies, John Murphy, 16 June 2003. and Kathleen Audrey Lambton Menzies (born 1921), later Mrs. Joseph S. Henderson.U.S. Officers on Leave for Weddings, The Daily Telegraph, (Friday, 25 May 1945), p. 10.
Marriage Menzies married Mrs. Marcia Ina Grundy (born 1909),Australia R.A.F. Officer to Wed The Daily Telegraph, Monday, 8 April 1940, p. 1. née Leslie, in London, on 12 April 1940.Marriages: Menzies–Grundy The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday, 6 June 1940, p. 8.(probate notice): Legal Notices The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday, 9 March 1943, p. 2.
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,Mystery: Airman's Injury: Sydney Pilot: Face Battered The (Sydney) Sun, Tuesday, 25 August 1936, p. 1.Guy Menzies Mystery: R.A.F. will Inquire The Herald, Tuesday, 25 August 1936, p. 1.Airport Mystery Unsolved: Guy Menzies' Injuries The (Adelaide) News, Wednesday, 23 September 1936, p. 5.Guy Menzies: Cause of Accident still a Mystery The Mercury, Friday, 25 September 1936, p. 3. were that—rather than receiving 'head injuries' from a 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, RAF 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,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).Exchange of Officers: First Arrivals from R.A.F., The Auckland Star, (Saturday, 17 July 1937), p. 7.Engagements: Grundy–Carr, The Evening Post, (Wednesday, 10 April 1940), p. 14. via paperspast.natlib.govt.nzAir Force Wedding: Guard of Honour, (Saturday 8 June 1940), p. 18. "Evening Post" via paperspast.natlib.govt.nzPhoto. A guard of honour formed by brother-officers of the bridegroom after the wedding at Wesley Church, Taranaki Street... (photograph), (Saturday 8 June 1940), p. 18. "Evening Post" via paperspast.natlib.govt.nz which took place some four years after Menzies had been assaulted.
Marcia, and her son Frederick Michael (born 1934),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. moved to Australia in 1946.Bringing up their Sons in Australia The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday, 28 August 1946, p. 6. Michael went on to join the RAAF.Royal Australian Air Force: Air Training Corps (New South Wales Squadron): Cadet Pilot Officer Frederick Michael Grundy Menzies (46562) Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. 31, Thursday, 24 April 1952 p. 2311.Royal Australian Air Force: Permanent Air Force: Pilot Officer Frederick Michael Menzies (0216042) Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. 19, Thursday, 28 March 1957 p. 980.
Education Menzies was educated at the academically selective Fort Street High School in Sydney.An "Old Boy" Looks On, The (Sydney) Labor Daily, Saturday, 28 February 1931), p. 1.
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".Advertisement, The Labor Daily, (Friday, 2 December 1927), p. 1.Once a irt-Track Expert he now Stars in Another Sphere, The Referee, (Wednesday, 14 January 1931), p. 22. 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.Random Jots: Dirt Track Pilots, The Referee, (Wednesday, 5 October 1932), p. 24.]
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.
Menzies had gained his pilot's license in 1929,The Tasman Crossed: Young Pilot's Remarkable Feat: A Hazardous Undertaking, The (Perth) Sunday Times, (Sunday, 11 January 1931), p. 28. and had flying experience.Forced Down: 'Plane Mishap at Tenterfield, The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, (Friday, 2 May 1930), p. 4.He'd Fly Over Hell in a Celluloid Bus: Things About Young Guy Menzies that You Haven't Read Yet, Smith's Weekly, (Saturday, 17 January 1931), p. 15.
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.
Fearing he might be denied permission for the flight, 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.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', The (Sydney) Daily Pictorial, (Thursday, 8 January 1931), p. 3.]Letter Tells of Well-Kept Secret, The (Sydney) Daily Pictorial, (Thursday, 8 January 1931), p. 3.
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 3:12 PM 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.Solo Flight across Tasman: Great Secret Achievement: Sydney to West Coat: Airman lands in Swamp: Slight Damage to Machine New Zealand Herald, Thursday, 8 January 1931, p. 10.Bright and Fresh The Evening Star, Thursday, 8 January 1931, p. 12.2000-Mile trip to see Swamp The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph, Sunday, 4 March 1951, p. 7.Swamp pilgrim The (Brisbane Sunday Mail, Sunday, 4 March 1951, p. 3.
As soon as it became known that Menzies was heading for New Zealand, Colonel Horace C. Brinsmead - at the 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.First Tasman Flight Solo Was Unauthorised The Press, Thursday, 13 July 1954, p. 8.
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). 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 Menzies joined the Royal Air Force in 1936,Sydney Airman: Escort for the King The (Sydney) Sun, Wednesday, 5 August 1936, p. 16. 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.Guy Menzies The Northern Miner, Saturday, 23 November 1940, p. 5.
Death Menzies and his crew were killed on 1 November 1940, when his Short Sunderland flying boat (N9020) was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea by Italian fighter aircraft while en route from Malta to Sicily. No remains of the aircraft or crew were ever found.Squadron Leader Guy Lambton MENZIES (32061) of the Royal Air Force rafcommands.com.
Commemoration Menzies is commemorated at the Alamein Memorial in Egypt.Squadron Leader Guy Lambton Menzies, Service Number:32061) Commonwealth War Graves Commission, www.cwgc.org/, retrieved 8 January 2022.
75th anniversary On 7 January 2006, celebrations were held in Hari Hari to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Menzies's 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".
Notes
References Bennett, Bruce (1983), "Hayward, Charles Wiltens Andrée (1866–1950)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, Melbourne University Press. Conolly, Pauline (2017a), "Guy Menzies: A Life Lived At Fast Forward", paulineconolly.com, 18 July 2017. Conolly, Pauline (2017b), "Guy Menzies: Larrikin Airman", paulineconolly.com, 21 July 2017.