Ivor McIntyre

Ivor McIntyre (right) and Stanley Goble (left) chaired by the crowd on St Kilda Beach after their round-Australia flight in 1924

In 1924, McIntyre and Wing Commander (later Air Vice Marshal) Stanley Goble, another veteran of the RNAS, became the first men to circumnavigate Australia by air. McIntyre was lead pilot while Goble, who was Chief of the Air Staff at the time, acted as commander and navigator. The pair took off from Point Cook, Victoria, on 6 April 1924 in a single-engined Fairey IIID floatplane. They flew anticlockwise along the eastern coast to Thursday Island, Queensland, then crossed the Gulf of Carpentaria to Darwin, Northern Territory, and continued along the Western Australian and South Australian coasts. Along the way they faced adverse weather, fatigue and illness, and had to deal with engine problems and fuel leaks.[1][8]

McIntyre and Goble returned to Victoria after covering 8,450 miles (13,600 km) in 44 days. As they flew over Point Cook, 12 RAAF aircraft took off to escort them to their landing place at St Kilda Beach, where a crowd of 10,000 people was waiting to welcome them.[8] Prime Minister Stanley Bruce called the journey "one of the most wonderful accomplishments in the history of aviation"; his government presented McIntyre with a gift of £250, while mission commander Goble received £500.[1] The British Royal Aero Club awarded the duo the annual Britannia Trophy, and they were appointed Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the King's Birthday Honours.[8][9] McIntyre was also awarded the Oswald Watt Gold Medal for 1924,[10] and promoted to flight lieutenant effective from 31 March that year.[11]

McIntyre (left), Les Trist (centre) and Richard Williams (right) on their Pacific Islands flight in 1926

In 1926, McIntyre was selected as lead pilot on another pioneering Australian flight under the command of the then-Chief of the Air Staff, Group Captain (later Air Marshal Sir) Richard Williams, to study the South Pacific region as a potential theatre of operations. In company with Flight Sergeant Les Trist, they took off from Point Cook on 26 September 1926 and made a 10,000-mile (16,000 km) round trip to the Solomon Islands in a De Havilland DH.50A floatplane.[8] The DH.50's fuselage bore the words "Royal Australian Air Force", the first aircraft to do so.[12] Like the circumnavigation of Australia in 1924, this flight was not without its difficulties. Approaching Southport, Queensland, on 29 September, the DH.50 lost power and had to land in the ocean; after making repairs, McIntyre was twice thrown clear of the aircraft while taxiing to the beach in heavy surf.[13] The expedition returned on 7 December to a 12-plane RAAF escort and a 300-man honour guard.[14]

Though subsequently described as partly a "matter of prestige" owing to rumours of other countries planning such a journey, as well as a "reaction" by Williams to the 1924 expedition led by Goble, Williams' rival at the time for leadership of the young Air Force,[15] this was the first international flight undertaken by an RAAF plane and crew.[8] McIntyre was awarded a second Oswald Watt Gold Medal,[10] and a Bar to his AFC, for his part in the flight;[16] it marked the first occasion that the AFC was awarded to a member of the RAAF.[17] Trist received the Air Force Medal,[16] and Williams was appointed a CBE.[18]