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Henry Aloysius Petre, DSO, MC (12 June 1884 – 24 April 1962) was an English solicitor who became Australia's first military aviator, and a founding member of the Australian Flying Corps, predecessor of the Royal Australian Air Force. Born in Essex, he forsook his early legal career to pursue an interest in aviation, building his own aeroplane and gaining employment as a designer and pilot. In 1912, he answered the Australian Defence Department's call for pilots to form an aviation school, and was commissioned a lieutenant in the Australian Military Forces. The following year, he chose the site of the country's first air base at Point Cook, Victoria, and established its inaugural training institution, the Central Flying School, with Eric Harrison. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Petre was appointed commander of the Mesopotamian Half Flight, the first unit of the newly formed Australian Flying Corps to see active service. He led the Half Flight through the Battles of Es Sinn and Ctesiphon, and the Siege of Kut. His actions in the Middle East earned him the Distinguished Service Order, the Military Cross, and four mentions in despatches. Transferring to the Royal Air Force as a major in 1918, he commanded No. 75 Squadron before retiring from the military the following year. Petre resumed his legal practice in England, and continued to fly recreationally before his death in 1962, aged seventy-seven. He was married to racing driver Kay Petre. ==Early career== Born on 12 June 1884 at Ingatestone, Essex, Petre (pronounced "Peter")〔Coulthard-Clark, ''The Third Brother'', xv〕 was the son of Sebastian Henry Petre and his wife Catharine. He was schooled at Mount St Mary's College, Chesterfield, before following his father into law and becoming a solicitor in 1905.〔Garrisson, "Petre, Henry Aloysius (1884–1962)"〕 Inspired by Louis Blériot's pioneering cross-channel flight in July 1909, he gave up his legal practice, borrowed £250 (£20,300 in 2010 prices) and proceeded to build his own aeroplane, with design assistance from his brother Edward, an architect.〔Stephens, ''The Royal Australian Air Force'', pp. 2–4〕〔Retail Prices Index comparison at (Measuring Worth ). Retrieved 8 May 2012.〕 Having spent six months on its construction, Petre crashed the machine on its maiden flight.〔Stephens; Isaacs, ''High Fliers'', pp. 9–11〕〔Odgers, ''Air Force Australia'', pp. 13–14〕 Uninjured and undiscouraged, he borrowed a further £25, took flying lessons at Brooklands Airfield in Surrey, and obtained Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate No. 128 on 12 September 1911. He became an instructor at Brooklands' Deperdussin School, and later its chief, prior to taking up employment as a designer and pilot with Handley Page Limited in 1912.〔〔 Characterised by official military historian Douglas Gillison as "quiet and academic by nature",〔 Petre was nicknamed "Peter the Monk".〔 On Christmas Eve 1912, Edward Petre, who was known as "Peter the Painter", was killed in an accident at Marske-by-the-Sea, Yorkshire, while attempting to fly from Brooklands to Edinburgh.〔 In December 1911, the Australian Defence Department had advertised in the United Kingdom for "two competent mechanists and aviators" to establish a flying corps and school.〔〔Gillison, (''Royal Australian Air Force 1939–1942'', pp. 710–711 )〕 From among fifty applications, Petre was chosen and commissioned as a lieutenant in the Australian Military Forces, his appointment on 6 August 1912 making him the nation's first military pilot.〔 The other appointee, Eric Harrison, joined him later that year. Petre arrived in Australia in January 1913, his first task being to choose a site for the proposed Central Flying School (CFS), which he was to command. After travelling hundreds of kilometres on his motorcycle, and rejecting the government's preferred location near the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in Canberra, he selected 297 hectares at Point Cook, Victoria, to become, as George Odgers described it, the "birthplace of Australian military aviation".〔〔 Unlike the alternative site near Duntroon, Point Cook was flat, close to the coast and not, in Petre's own words, "isolated in the bush".〔Molkentin, ''Fire in the Sky'', p. 6〕 He and Harrison established CFS over the following year with four mechanics, three other staff, and five aircraft including two Deperdussin monoplanes, two Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 biplanes, and a Bristol Boxkite for initial training. Harrison made the unit's first flight in the Boxkite on Sunday, 1 March 1914, while Petre, taking off in a Deperdussin later that day, registered its first accident when he crashed after snaring his tailplane in telephone wires.〔 Its coterie of personnel by now being referred to as the Australian Flying Corps, CFS commenced its first flying course on 17 August, two weeks after the outbreak of World War I. The four students included Captain Thomas White and Lieutenants Richard Williams, George Merz, and David Manwell; Harrison was responsible for initial training and Petre for advanced instruction.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Henry Petre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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