Colin Defries

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Colin Defries on his flight on December 9, 1909. Some of the damage to the Wright Model A after landing can be seen.

Colin Defries (* 1884 in Great Britain ; † after 1910) was a Briton and aviation pioneer who learned to fly in France. He was the first person to take to the air in a motorized airplane in Australia on December 9, 1909.

Flights

Defries took off on its maiden flight on December 9, 1909 at Victoria Park Racecourse in Sydney , New South Wales , Australia. He flew in bad flying weather and covered a distance of 91 meters. He reached an altitude of around 5 meters. The flight ended in a crash landing as the aircraft was hit by a gust . The Sydney Morning Herald reported on December 10, 1909 that the flight from Defries was successful with a duration of 5½ seconds. In contrast, The Daily Telegraph reported a failed attempt and the Aerial League expressed disappointment that there was no controlled flight event.

Defries had already announced a maiden flight on December 4, 1909 with The Stella , which he had named after his wife. However, he was unable to take off due to damage during the presentation of the aircraft and in bad weather. The plane did not take off until December 9th. On December 18, 1909, the weather allowed another flight over a distance of 274 meters. However, due to the previous events, there were few spectators and hardly any journalists present. This time, too, the aircraft was damaged on landing. Because of these difficulties, Defries received little recognition for his maiden flight. Colin's mechanic Ralph Banks fixed the plane. After another flight on March 18, 1910 with him as a pilot, there was a serious crash landing, where he was seriously injured.

Harry Houdini is often mentioned as the first person to fly on the Australian continent. He flew successfully on March 18, 1910 in front of numerous people in Victoria and repeated this several times. As a result, this event went down in history as the first successfully controlled Australian powered flight.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ian Deppenham: First Powered Flight in Australia - Episode 2 - Colin Defries, the first straight line powered flight , from December 2009, on monash.edu.au (English). Retrieved January 15, 2015
  2. ↑ a b c Defries Colin , on monash.edu.au (English). Retrieved January 15, 2015
  3. ↑ Pioneering Flights at Diggers Rest, Victoria ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , at museumvictoria.com.au (English). Retrieved January 15, 2015  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / museumvictoria.com.au
  4. ↑ Aerial Flight. Successful Trial at Victoria Park , on trove.nla.gov.au (English). Retrieved January 15, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Defries, Colin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Briton and aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Great Britain
DATE OF DEATH after 1910