Jimmy Melrose - "Boy Phoenix": Lisa reviews this new book in the Adelaide City region of South Australia
Next time you're at Glenelg wander along the Esplanade and you'll come across Jimmy Melrose Park. Jimmy who? Well, the plaque on the Melrose Apartments gives a hint of the amazing story behind one of South Australia's most amazing aviators.
James or Jimmy Melrose was born in 1913 and lived with his doting mother, Hilda in a sprawling house on the Esplanade where the apartments now stand. Jimmy was your classic outdoors type - a keen swimmer and sailor, he was also an accomplished cinema photographer - making extensive home movies about his short but eventful life. But his greatest love was flying - an obsession that took him around the world and into the aviation record books.
It was his pioneering spirit that raised the interest of Helen Blake and in her book, Boy Phoenix, she says Jimmy's love of flying took off at a very early age.
Helen Blake, Author: "It was born in him. His mother always believed that and I think that's why she encouraged him and helped him. She says that when he was a young baby his father would hold him up in the air and Jimmy would put his arms out like an airplane…"
Jimmy got his pilot's licence when he was 19 and bought his first plane, a DeHavilland Puss Moth shortly after and so began a flying career that saw him become the 'golden boy' of aviation.
Helen Blake, Author: "Once he bought the Puss Moth he knew that to be more than an average pilot he had to do something that was perhaps a little bit more spectacular. So once he bought the plane he flew around Australia and he did that in record time. He also flew from Adelaide to Tasmania and that was a record and Tasmania to Sydney and that was a record."
Jimmy really shot to fame in 1934 when he set a new record in the London to Melbourne Centenary Air Race. At 21, he was the youngest in the race and the only solo pilot to finish.
Helen Blake, Author: "He was very thorough in his preparation, he had his maps all worked out, he knew where the fuelling stations were, and he had connections as well. He had sailed to England before anyway at other times so he was familiar."
Jimmy returned to Australia a hero but shunned the limelight - choosing to live a normal life with his devoted mother at Glenelg.
Helen Blake, Author: "He was a quiet person but he had a sense of humour. While this might not have meant to be funny, I find amusing. He got a bit tired of all these screaming girls wanting his autogragh. So his niece Diana Mayo at the time, and she's still here, she told me that Jimmy got a great big long piece of paper and wrote his name out on it time after time, stuck it out through the letter box chute and said please take one. So that saved him the trouble - they could come and help themselves."
Helen's fascination with this handsome yet modest debonair young pilot began with a single photo taken by her grandfather in 1936.
Helen Blake: "Jimmy had flown the premier, Richard Butler up to Dawson in the Mid north to a farmers meeting and they were discussing the state of roads. He did say after the trip that the flight was probably better than travelling on the roads. They weren't very good at the time."
Jimmy dreamed of running his own air taxi service and it was that dream that cut his life tragically short. In 1936, he was only 22 when he took off on a charter flight from Essendon. He was only in the air for 20 minutes or so when he hit bad weather and crashed near Melton, west of Melbourne. Australia had lost a pioneering hero and his mother, Hilda made a brief but moving entry in Jimmy's dairy.
"My precious darling passed away 8.35 am at Melton. Killed while flying. I went to see him and kissed him goodnight."
Helen's book, Boy Phoenix is a tribute a pioneering aviator, model citizen and devoted son whose life was cut tragically short. It retails at $25 and is available from selected bookshops, from Helen direct on 7001 1152 or you can order online. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
'Boy Phoenix' by Helen Blake
$25 + p/h
Orders Ph 7001 1152
Selected bookshopsPublished 15th November 2009
