Battling Parer

AVIATION

• 196 p. : illus. map (on lining paper) ; 22 cm. First Edition #060923/050124 (Some age tanning, newspaper cutting tipped in.)
• Parer, Raymond J. P. (Raymond John Paul), 1894-1967
• Parer and McIntosh completed the first single-engine aircraft flight from England to Australia—and the first symbolic freight flight in the form of a bottle of PD Whisky delivered to Prime Minister W. M. Hughes. The aviators were each presented with a £500 cheque and an Air Force Cross. Their D.H.9 aircraft was eventually presented by the government to the Australian War Memorial. C. Day Lewis commemorated their achievement in an epic poem, ‘Flight to Australia’, and Parer recorded their experiences in Flight and Adventures of Parer and McIntosh, by Air from England to Australia (Melbourne, 1921, 1986).
• Parer was a small, wiry man who never gave up in the face of adversity. He was a colourful contributor to the history of Australian aviation and left a rich legacy of memories. The writer Norman Ellison recalled: ‘In cold aeronautical assessment, I don’t suppose you could say that Ray Parer made a great contribution to Australian aviation, but with the wider lens the colour and spirit which he contributed made it certain he won’t be forgotten’. Damien Parer, the World War II combat photographer, was a cousin.