In a parallel universe one tiny decision created a wildly different RAAF

On 7 September 1945 shortly after the end of World War Two, the Argus newspaper ran an article titled “Father of RAAF dies”. It was referring to the unexpected death of Eric Harrison, a man whose extraordinary contribution to military aviation is often overlooked or even forgotten about in the present era.

Harrison’s list of ‘firsts’ and the many and varied roles he occupied, often simultaneously, make him entirely unique in the history of military aviation. He became Australia’s first military aviator when he took flight in a Box-kite at Point Cook on 1 March 1914. Later that day he was involved in the first incident when flying had to be suspended due to a dog lunging at the propeller. He led the first ever military aviation deployment, albeit one that saw no ‘action’ and he became the Commanding Officer of the first Australian military flying school. He occupied multiple roles in what we would now recognise as design acceptance, quality assurance, safety systems, engineering, flight instruction and flight testing. He initiated local production of training aircraft and ensured a steady flow of qualified pilots during World War One.?

After the war he immersed himself in the RAF’s airworthiness approaches and was responsible for the technical aspects of the RAAF when it was formed in 1921. He drew upon what was then the world leading approaches to airworthiness to build a local design acceptance, engineering and quality control organisation that was to prove essential for the successful prosecution of air power when the world went to war again, and Australia was directly threatened. From a single functioning Box-kite to a fleet of over five thousand mostly cutting edge aircraft Harrison’s contribution to military aviation and national security is unique.

But here’s the thing. He wasn’t first choice and one of the men who declined the role initially was quite surreal.

In 1912 the Australian government resorted to advertising in the British press for two 'mechanists and aviators’ after getting no response locally due to the mass departure of aviation enthusiasts to Europe where there was an emerging aviation culture. The intention was that the two would form the basis of a military aviation capability within the Commonwealth Military Forces*, or what we now term Army. They would establish a base of operations and begin training aviators. English solicitor Henry Petre, who was at that time employed by the British Deperdussin School was chosen along with Harry Busteed who was one of only two Australians in the first 100 aviators to get his pilot’s certificate from the Royal Aero Club – number 94 on 13 June 1911. Busteed however withdrew his application and decided to stay in Britain where he continued to work as an instructor and had a distinguished career with the British military.

Many official accounts overlook who the position was next offered to - legendary American aviator Sam Cody who had received the ninth flying certificate. Cody had been a cowboy and gold prospector; a member of a ‘Wild West troupe’, and claimed to be the son of ‘Buffalo Bill Cody’ although this was not true– he was born with the surname ‘Cowdery’ and later changed it. In short he was an entertainer with no technical or mechanical background. ?

He emigrated to Britain in 1890 and began performing a travelling ‘wild west’ show with his wife. At some point he became fascinated with kite flying, possibly inspired by his friendship with Auguste Gaudron, a balloonist he met while performing. He became interested in kites that could carry a man and ascend to significant heights, and developed a sophisticated system of flying multiple kites up a single line, which was capable of ascending thousands of feet or carrying several men in a gondola. He patented his design in 1901, and it became known as the ‘Cody war kite’. His kites were soon adopted for meteorology, and he was made a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. ?In December 1901 he offered his design to the War Office for use in the second Boer War and conducted several public demonstrations which came to the attention of the Admiralty which purchased four of his ‘war kites’ for observation purposes.

Cody eventually managed to interest the British Army in his kites. In 1906 he was appointed Chief Instructor of Kiting for the Balloon School in Aldershot and soon after joined the new Army Balloon Factory at Farnborough. The Factory would eventually become the Royal Aircraft Establishment. A height of 1,600 feet was attained by a Cody kite and in the same year a sapper in the Royal Engineers was able to remain in the air for one hour at an altitude of 2,600 feet. The British Government eventually awarded Cody ￡5,000 for his box-kite experiments. In 1908, the War Office officially adopted Cody's kites for the Balloon Companies of the Royal Engineers he had been training – the precursor of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).

In 1907 the Army decided to back the development of his powered aircraft ‘British Army Aircraft No. 1’. His flight of 16 October 1908 is recognised as the first official flight of a piloted heavier-than-air machine in Great Britain. After his military contract was cancelled in 1909 when the War Office decided against heavier than air flight – something they reversed soon after – Cody began pursuing a range of aviation records with great success, but also marred by multiple crashes. He had become a naturalised British citizen and this was the context for him being shortlisted for the Australian gig.

Cody’s celebrity was such at this stage that it seemed he was unable to get the terms he wanted and hence declined the offer, resulting in Harrison’s appointment.

But imagine if he had accepted!

Cody was a showman known for an almost complete lack of concern for his personal safety, so it is not entirely surprising that he died in 1913 when he and his passenger were thrown out of an aircraft he had crashed – neither man was strapped in.

If he had accepted he would have set the tone for what became the Australian Flying Corps and subsequently the RAAF.

The post war RAAF was labeled by some a ‘Gentleman’s Flying Club’ and there was a poor safety record, often caused by reckless flying. Inaugural leader Richard Williams was for example horrified when the AFC flyover during the 1919 victory parade in London descended into wild stunt flying and this tended to define the tone for many years to come. Examples of reckless flying resulting in crashes were numerous but with Harrison’s tireless dedication to the technical aspects and Williams’ solid leadership the early RAAF built the foundations for the successful prosecution of air power when Australia was directly threatened during World War Two.

But imagine Cody in the role of ‘Father of the RAAF’!

Imagine if the RAAF had been led by an actual ‘cowboy’!

Since he died before the war began we can never gauge his success in military aviation and leadership, but as a flamboyant entertainer who was liberal with the truth when it came to telling a good story; who pushed the limits of technology and seemingly lacked much concern for his personal safety, he would have set a very different tone.

Very different.

?

*It was not called the Australian Military Forces until 1916.