Bird of the Islands. . .

[Phil Perry]

I wonder if any of you bookworms have read a particularly good tome called "Bird of the Islands" by Australian Aviation pioneer Sir Gordon Taylor. . .?

 

I have just finished the second reading ( I have to read them twice as oime a bit on the thick side . . .)

 

I found this book a really cracking read, it's about Mr Taylor's exploits in trying to start off a cruise service using a converted Sunderland Flying Boat purchased in the uk, with flights based in Sydney, via Grafton to Noumea and thence on to Suva, Fiji, Tahiti and a lot of the Pacific islands in his aircraft named "Frigate Bird 111". The period is in the mid 1950's, so it might not appeal to a lot of you young bucks, but it goes into great technical navigational detail which is fascinating. The bloke is obviously an erudite and consummate writer, . . .just reading his prose you can almost smell the islands he is describing,. . . anyway,. . . . if you get a chance to read it, please do, . . .and enjoy. It was published in Australia by Cassell. I'm still looking for a previous book by the same author, detailing his flying experiences in the first world war and just after.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I just tried to edit the above post but must have run out of time,. . .the previous book by the same author is entitled "The Sky Beyond" . . . I can't find any reference to it on any of the book sites in the UK, I wonder if any of you blokes can find it ?? The author was a military aviator in BOTH world wars, an airline pilot, and a pioneer opening up various routes in the Pacific for flying boat bases, and was the first to fly in to some of the islands by flying boat. He used to accompany Charles Kingsford Smith on some of these expeditions, but there is no mention of him in the history notes from the period ! ! He was involved a well publicised heroic incident ( Then) involving a multi engined aircraft where he actually climbed out onto a wing in flight, and performed some essential maintenance thereby saving the aircraft. . . . where have all these blokes gone now I wonder, . . .

 

Phil

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

. . .the previous book by the same author is entitled "The Sky Beyond" . . . I can't find any reference to it on any of the book sites in the UK, I wonder if any of you blokes can find it ??

Thanks for the tip off about another good flying read Phil, I haven't read any of his yet. Here's The Sky Beyond in paperback for $2.66 (plus postage) from Amazon.

 

 

[Jabiru Phil]

I wonder if any of you bookworms have read a particularly good tome called "Bird of the Islands" by Australian Aviation pioneer Sir Gordon Taylor. . .?I have just finished the second reading ( I have to read them twice as oime a bit on the thick side . . .)

 

I found this book a really cracking read, it's about Mr Taylor's exploits in trying to start off a cruise service using a converted Sunderland Flying Boat purchased in the uk, with flights based in Sydney, via Grafton to Noumea and thence on to Suva, Fiji, Tahiti and a lot of the Pacific islands in his aircraft named "Frigate Bird 111". The period is in the mid 1950's, so it might not appeal to a lot of you young bucks, but it goes into great technical navigational detail which is fascinating. The bloke is obviously an erudite and consummate writer, . . .just reading his prose you can almost smell the islands he is describing,. . . anyway,. . . . if you get a chance to read it, please do, . . .and enjoy. It was published in Australia by Cassell. I'm still looking for a previous book by the same author, detailing his flying experiences in the first world war and just after.

Taylor, Sir Patrick Gordon (1896–1966)

 

by Keith Isaacs

 

This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 12, (MUP), 1990

 

Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor (1896-1966), aviator and writer, was born on 21 October 1896 at Mosman, Sydney, third son of Patrick Thomson Taylor, manufacturer's agent, and his wife Alice Maud(e), née Sayers. As a child he so disliked his Christian names that he called himself 'Bill'. In his dinghy, Query, on Pittwater, he adventured to uninhabited Lion Island and acquired a lifelong love of the sea.

 

Soon after leaving The Armidale School, where he was senior prefect, Taylor was rejected by the Australian Flying Corps and went to Britain. Commissioned in the Royal Flying Corps on 12 August 1916, he joined No.66 Squadron which was equipped with Sopwith Pup scouts. Awarded the Military Cross in July 1917, he was promoted captain and served with Nos.94 and 88 Squadrons. He later wrote: 'I deplored the killing and all the other evils of war'.

 

In 1919 Taylor returned to Australia. During the 1920s he flew as a private pilot, worked for De Havilland Aircraft Co. in England, completed an engineering course and studied aerial navigation. He operated a Gipsy Moth seaplane from Sydney Harbour (1928-32) and also flew as a captain with Australian National Airlines Ltd (1930-31).

 

He was second pilot and navigator in the Fokker Southern Cross on Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's 1933 and 1934 flights (Australia-New Zealand-Australia) and navigator aboard Charles Ulm's Avro Ten Faith in Australia for two flights in 1933 (Australia-England-Australia). Disappointed at missing the Victorian Centenary Air Race, 'Smithy' and Taylor completed the first Australia-United States of America flight, via Suva and Hawaii (21 October–4 November 1934) in the Lockheed Altair, Lady Southern Cross.

 

On 15 May 1935 Taylor was Kingsford Smith's navigator in the Southern Cross for the King George V jubilee airmail flight (Australia-New Zealand). After flying for six hours, the heavily-laden aircraft had almost reached half-way when part of the centre engine's exhaust manifold broke off and severely damaged the starboard propeller. 'Smithy' closed down the vibrating starboard engine, applied full power to the other two, turned back to Australia and jettisoned the cargo. The oil pressure on the port engine began to fall alarmingly. The flight appeared doomed.

 

Taylor reacted heroically. Climbing out of the fuselage, he edged his way against the strong slipstream along the engine connecting strut and collected oil from the disabled starboard engine in the casing of a thermos flask. He then transferred it to the port engine. With assistance from the wireless operator, John Stannage, he carried out this procedure six times before the aircraft landed safely at Mascot some nine hours later. For his resourcefulness and courage, Taylor was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal, gazetted on 9 July 1937; it was superseded by the George Cross (instituted in May 1941).

 

Taylor portrayed his exploit in the 1946 film, Smithy.

 

From 1935 Taylor operated a succession of Percival Gull Four and Gull Six aircraft on private and charter flying; having visited Britain in 1938, he became agent for Percival Aircraft Ltd in Australia. His marriage on 29 December 1924 in St James's Anglican Church, Sydney, to Yolande Bede Dalley, niece of J. B. Dalley and granddaughter of W. B. Dalley, had quickly proved disastrous; she eventually divorced him in March 1938. On 10 May he married Eileen Joan Broadwood (d.1950) in the Methodist Church, Mosman. He made the first flight across the Indian Ocean from Port Hedland, Western Australia, to Mombasa, Kenya, in the Consolidated flying-boat Guba II on 4-21 June 1939.

 

Taylor ferried flying-boats from U.S.A. to Australia in 1941. On 9 June 1943 he was commissioned flying officer in the Royal Australian Air Force. Transferring to the Royal Air Force in 1944 as a civilian captain, he ferried aircraft from Canada across the Atlantic Ocean. At his own request, he commanded the R.A.F. Catalina Frigate Bird in September-October 1944 on a pioneer Pacific Ocean survey flight from Bermuda to Mexico, Clipperton Island, New Zealand and Sydney. In March 1951 he flew across the South Pacific from Australia to Chile, via Tahiti and Easter Island, in the Catalina Frigate Bird II.

 

A writer of distinction, subtle and realistic, Taylor published eight books: Pacific Flight (1935), VH-UXX (1937), Call to the Winds (1939), Forgotten Island (1948), Frigate Bird (1953), The Sky Beyond (Melbourne, 1963), Bird of the Islands (Melbourne, 1964), and Sopwith Scout 7309 (London, 1968). In 1963 he took part in the Australian Broadcasting Commission's television film, An Airman Remembers. Taylor lived at Bayview on Pittwater, where he sailed a 35-ft (11 m) sloop and in 1947 established Loquat Valley School for his daughters. On 4 May 1951 he married Joyce Agnes Kennington at St Mark's Anglican Church, Darling Point.

 

Chairman of the family firm, P. T. Taylor Pty Ltd, and a director of Trans Oceanic Airways Pty Ltd, 'P.G.' operated the Sandringham 7 flying-boat Frigate Bird III from Sydney on Pacific island cruises in 1954-58. A wiry man, greying at the temples, with crowsfeet edging his blue eyes, he belonged to the Union Club and Royal Aero Club of New South Wales.

 

Awarded the 1951 Oswald Watt gold medal for his Australia-South America flight and the Johnson memorial trophy of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, London (1951 and 1952), Taylor was knighted in 1954 (and known as Sir Gordon). He died in Queen's Hospital, Honolulu, on 15 December 1966. His ashes were scattered over Lion Island where the dreams of his adventurous life were conceived. His wife, their son and two daughters survived him, as did the two daughters of his second marriage. Norman Carter's portrait of Taylor is held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Frigate Bird II is held by the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, and Frigate Bird III by the Musée de L'Air, Le Bourget, France.

 

As a pilot and navigator, Taylor was a perfectionist, fastidious, demanding, sharp and candid. Yet, his character was complex. Those 'with the patience to come to know him discovered a man of immense sensitivity, intelligence and courage'.

 

 

[facthunter]

Thanks Jabiru Phil. I was going to mention the PG bit. In the 50's a rather nice Catalina was rebuilt at Rathmines and was flown to Chile (I think) One of the books you list would be about it. My relly's had a weekender just opposite the Rathmines Ramp so I got to see the aircraft from time to time. I think it was a PBY-5A converted back to a seaplane. ( Much more range). Some Sunderlands dropped in from Sydney a few times also. Bit of a stimulus from catching flathead. Nev

 

 

[lark]

See if you can find the video "Just Australian Planes." Video came out in the 80s, there is a section which you will find relevant and interesting. Lots of references to the book plus some good old footage and photos.

 

 

[kgwilson]

I wonder if any of you bookworms have read a particularly good tome called "Bird of the Islands" by Australian Aviation pioneer Sir Gordon Taylor. . .?I have just finished the second reading ( I have to read them twice as oime a bit on the thick side . . .)

 

I found this book a really cracking read, it's about Mr Taylor's exploits in trying to start off a cruise service using a converted Sunderland Flying Boat purchased in the uk, with flights based in Sydney, via Grafton to Noumea and thence on to Suva, Fiji, Tahiti and a lot of the Pacific islands in his aircraft named "Frigate Bird 111". The period is in the mid 1950's, so it might not appeal to a lot of you young bucks, but it goes into great technical navigational detail which is fascinating. The bloke is obviously an erudite and consummate writer, . . .just reading his prose you can almost smell the islands he is describing,. . . anyway,. . . . if you get a chance to read it, please do, . . .and enjoy. It was published in Australia by Cassell. I'm still looking for a previous book by the same author, detailing his flying experiences in the first world war and just after.

There is a DVD that was produced in Grafton not too long ago called "Flying Boats on the Clarence" ( the river that runs past Grafton) & there is some good footage of the Sunderlands that passed through. The story is also very interesting but a typical example of investing a large fortune ( for the day) then end up with a small one, well actually nothing.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Taylor, Sir Patrick Gordon (1896–1966)by Keith Isaacs

 

Phil,.. . . . thank you very much for reproducing that very interesting article. I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier, but have been away for a while ( no,. . .not in jail, they have not caught me yet. . .). Phil P.

[Phil Perry]

Thanks for the tip off about another good flying read Phil, I haven't read any of his yet. Here's The Sky Beyond in paperback for $2.66 (plus postage) from Amazon.

Thanks for the heads up re Amazon Alan,. . . .I now have a good secondhand copy of "the sky beyond" to read as soon as I get a spare minute. ( for only £2.40 !

 

I recently read a fairly new one, called "COCKPIT CONFIDENTIAL" by Patrick Smith. In my viw, extremely well researched and written. A really good appraisal of airline flying including a running glossary of all the ins and outs of flying passenger aircraft, along with some statistics, terms and buzzwords and a whole lot more, very up to date. I can forgive the fact that it was written by an American Gent, I could tell straight away as he spells "TRAVELLER " with only one "Ell" Other than that, he's very erudite,. . . bit like me really. . . .( ! )

 

He upset me a bit when he revealed that, even though the British Airways Ad slogan is "THE WORLD'S FAVOURITE AIRLINE," he shot that to bits with the fact that whichever way you look at it,. . .it actually works out to be "The World's 26th Favourite airline. . ." ! ! !

 

his manuscript must have hit the printer's just prior to the Avianca debacle at Sanfrancisco though, as he lists them as number one in the world ( Eh ? )

 

Definitely worth a read all the same.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

There is a DVD that was produced in Grafton not too long ago called "Flying Boats on the Clarence" ( the river that runs past Grafton) & there is some good footage of the Sunderlands that passed through. The story is also very interesting but a typical example of investing a large fortune ( for the day) then end up with a small one, well actually nothing.

Thanks for that KG,. . . The author of Bird of the Islands mentions landing on the Clarence and mooring up at Grafton as the first stop out of his Sydney base, on his Island cruises prior to leaving the Australian coastline for Noumea. He desperately wanted to keep the aircraft based in Australia, rather than use Suva as a base, even though this seemed a more sensible prospect given the growing number of passenger enquiries from the USA mainland, due to the connectivity aspect as Suva had a hard runway capable of taking international flights from the States. . . . .Worth a read, the guy was a consummate writer, and reading his stuff you could almost taste the flavour of the places he visited.

 

Phil

 

 

[facthunter]

"Boats I Flew" is a good coverage of the pre WW2 ops around Australias Coral Sea area. Nev

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Thanks for the suggestions, very helpful

 

Phil

 

 

[Jex207]

I can strongly recommend P.G. Taylor's "Frigate Bird" as an absolutely riveting read. His account of the first air crossing of the southern Pacific by Catalina flying boat is fascinating, and the details of their rocket assisted takeoff from Easter Island is an absolute ripper. I find abebooks.com a very useful source of these old out of print books:

 

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=taylor&sts=t&tn=Frigate Bird

 

As facthunter mentioned, "The Boats I Flew" by Bryan Monkton is another great read if you have an interest in the role civilian flying boats had in Australia'a aviation history.

 

cheers

 

Jeremy

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Thanks Jeremy,. . . I have purloined good quality copies of "Frigate Bird" AND. . . "The Boats I flew" from a little shop in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire,. . . .( the home town of old books. . . )for the princely sum of less than three quid for both ! ! ! And thanks to Nev as well.

 

I shall promulgate these tomes to my aero club freinds when read a couple of times to eddificate them a little more. . . . ( I've already upset the CFI by asking him if he has ever flown a float plane or flying boat,. . . . . He hasn't. . . .. . . ) You've got to keep these mentors on their toes I reckon. . . .