Jimmy Melrose

Melrose was a son of James Melrose of Wangaraleednie Station, Franklin Harbor, near Cowell, South Australia, a member of the wealthy pastoral family headed by George Melrose (1806–1894) of "Rosebank", Mount Pleasant. His mother, Hilda Westley Melrose, née Billing, the second wife of James Melrose, died a few months before Melrose's 10th birthday. He was educated at St. Peter's College and took his first flying lessons at Parafield Airport while still at school, gaining his pilot's licence at age 19.Helen Jones, 'Melrose, Charles James (Jimmy) (1913–1936)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/melrose-charles-james-jimmy-7554/text13181, published in hardcopy 1986. Retrieved 12 November 2014.

He flew a DH80A Puss Moth registered VH-UQO and christened "My Hildergarde" to England just after his 21st birthday to compete in the race, reaching Croydon in a record 8 days, 9 hours.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32807476 |title=Flight to England |newspaper=The West Australian|location=Perth |date=29 September 1934 |accessdate=15 November 2014 |page=19 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} He finished the race in sixth place in 10 days, 16 hours, earning second on handicap. He was the youngest, and only solo, flier to complete the course. He also owned a Leopard Moth, a faster plane that could not be made ready in time for the race. He gained much assistance from his uncle, Noel Billing, founder of the Supermarine company.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128405822 |title=Planes Assembling for Air Race |newspaper=The News |location=Adelaide |date=10 October 1934 |accessdate=15 November 2014 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

In November 1935, while returning to Australia in a Percival Gull Four, registered VH-UVH and christened "Westley", he helped in the unsuccessful search for Sir Charles Kingsford Smith around the Bay of Bengal. Melrose had been the last person to sight Kingsford Smith's Lockheed Altair in the night air as it flew above him.Blake, Helen Boy Phoenix, C James Melrose. H. Blake, Brighton, South Australia, 2008 {{ISBN|9780980654400}} A public appeal to reward him financially was decried by his uncle Sir John Melrose, pointing out that the family could well afford to support Jimmy's hobby. Australia was at that time in the grip of the Great Depression.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128465994 |title=Uncle's Gift to. |newspaper=The News |location=Adelaide |date=2 November 1934 |accessdate=12 November 2014 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

On his return from the Air Race Melrose was considering giving up racing and turning his mind to commencing an air taxi service, something virtually non-existent in the mid-1930s.

He died in July 1936, at the age of 22, when his new high-wing monoplane "Billing",{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47209564 |title=Worth Reporting. |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly | date=16 March 1946 |accessdate=14 November 2014 |page=12 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} a Heston Phoenix registration VH-AJM, broke up in turbulence over South Melton, Victoria on a charter flight from Melbourne to Darwin.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17248887 |title=Bad Weather |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=6 July 1936 |accessdate=15 November 2014 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} His passenger was mining manager Lt. Col Alexander George Campbell, DSO. Two days later, over one hundred thousand people lined the streets of Melbourne to pay their last respects to Melrose.{{Cite news | newspaper = The Sydney Morning Herald | date = 6 July 1936 | accessdate = 16 September 2010 | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17248884 | title = Melrose Killed, Together with Passenger }}

File:James Melrose memorial.jpg

In AUstralia, the suburbs Melrose Park, New South Wales and Melrose Park, South Australia are both named after him, as is James Melrose Road, which runs along the southern boundary of Adelaide Airport. In the United Kingdom, Charles Melrose Close in Mildenhall, Suffolk, where the 1934 Air Race originated, is also named after him.

A monument to his memory was erected at Stirling, South Australia, and has been recently renovated. He spent much of his childhood, before the death of his father, at "Glenwood" in nearby Aldgate. A memorial plaque marks the family home at 13 South Esplanade, Glenelg, which was their winter residence from around 1916, then later their only home.

{{reflist}}

• Gunton, Eric The Jimmy Melrose Story, Australia's Youngest Air Ace. Published by the author 1990. {{ISBN|0646002740}}
• Blake, Helen Boy Phoenix, C James Melrose. Angus and Robertson 2008. {{ISBN|9780980654400}}

• [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100467b.htm Australian Dictionary of Biography]
• [http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-pa-http%253A%252F%252Fimages.slsa.sa.gov.au%252Fmpcimg%252F12750%252FB12725.htm Photograph from the National Library of Australia]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707055345/http://tomcampbellblack.150m.com/ Tom Campbell Black Co-winner of the 1934 London to Melbourne Air Race]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707055345/http://tomcampbellblack2.150m.com/ 75th. Anniversary of the 1934 London to Melbourne Air Race]
• http://jimmymelrose.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123221231/http://www.jimmymelrose.com/ |date=23 January 2011 }}

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Category:1913 births

Category:1936 deaths

Category:Accidental deaths in Victoria (state)

Category:Australian aviation record holders

Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Australia

Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1936

Category:Youth aviation record holders