View source for Frank Neale

{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox aviator
| name             = Frank Neale
| image            = Squadron Leader Frank Neale A.F.C.jpg
| image_size       = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = Squadron Leader Frank Neale in 1942
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1895|09|14|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1979|12|24|1895|09|14|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [[Glen Huntly, Victoria|Glen Huntly]], Australia
| resting_place    = 
| monuments        = 
| nationality      = 
| education        = 
| spouse           = 
| relatives        = 
| known_for        = Commercial airline pilot<br/>Aerial surveys of central and western Australia
| first_flight_date     = 
| first_flight_aircraft = 
| famous_flights   = 
| license_date     = 
| license_place    = 
| air_force        = [[Royal Flying Corps]] (1917–18)<br/>[[Royal Air Force]] (1918–26)<br/>[[Royal Australian Air Force]] (c.1940–46)
| battles          = [[First World War]]<br/>[[Second World War]]
| rank             = [[Wing commander (rank)|Wing Commander]]
| awards           = [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]]
| memorials        = 
}}
'''Frank Neale''', [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|AFC]] (14 September 1895 – 24 December 1979) was a British-born Australian aviator.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Purvis |first1=Harry |last2=Priest |first2=Joan |date=1979 |title=Outback Airman|location=Sydney |publisher=Rigby Publishers Limited |pages=46, 86 |isbn=0-7270-1064-6}}</ref> Born in England, he served in the [[Royal Flying Corps]] and the [[Royal Air Force]] during the [[First World War]], then moved to Australia in the mid-1920s to continue a notable career as a pioneer aviator. From 1925 until 1939 he flew thousands of hours covering most of Australia, and ventured overseas a number of times. At the outbreak of the [[Second World War]] he joined the [[Air Force Reserve (Australia)|Royal Australian Air Force Reserve]], rising to [[Wing commander (rank)|wing commander]] and being awarded the [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]] prior to his discharge in 1946.<ref name=vinc>{{cite book |title=The RAAF Hudson Story – Book two|last=Vincent |first=David |year=2010 |publisher=Vincent Aviation Pubs. |location=Highbury S.A. 5089 |isbn=9780959605235}}</ref>

==Early service==
Records in the UK National Archives show Neale's home address was Thornwood, Epping, Essex with next of kin Mrs G. Neale, his mother. His occupation prior to the First World War was Mechanical and Electrical Engineer,<ref name=ukna>[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/s/res?discoveryCustomSearch=true&_fn=frank&_ln=neale&_sd=&_ed=&_ser=AIR+76&_col=online&_dt=RO&image1.x=62&image1.y=11 UK National Archives – Frank Neale]</ref> and his initial service during the war was in the Army Service Corps Motor Transport as a probationary [[second lieutenant]].<ref name=ukna/>

Neale changed to the [[Royal Flying Corps]] (RFC) as a pilot, and by the end of the war had flown numerous aircraft types including [[Airco DH.4|De Havilland DH4]], [[Airco DH.6|DH6]], [[Airco DH.9|DH9]], [[Airco DH.9A|DH9A]], [[Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2|B.E.2E]], [[Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8|RE8]], [[Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8]], [[Bristol M.1|Bristol Monoplane]], [[Sopwith Pup]], [[Sopwith Camel]], and [[Avro 504]].<ref name=ukna/> On 1 April 1918, the RFC merged with the [[Royal Naval Air Service]] (RNAS) to become the [[Royal Air Force]], subsequently Neale's official rank became [[flying officer]] and he was an assistant Instructor at No. 1 Training Depot Station. During his time with the RFC, Neale met Australian aviator [[Herbert Joseph Larkin|Herbert "Jim" Larkin]], with whom he was later associated.

After the war ended, Neale continued with an aviation career and was issued with UK Civilian Pilots Licence No.171. In the early 1920s he set up the Essex Aviation Company with an Avro 504 at [[Ashingdon]], Essex. At this stage he was still an officer in the RAF Reserve, which he relinquished in April 1926, after he had arrived in Australia, leaving a wife and three children in England.<ref name=ukna/>

==Australian career==
[[File:De Havilland aeroplane DH50 G-AUEK "Bellbird".jpg|thumb|de Havilland DH.50A "Bell Bird"]]
Neale arrived in Australia at [[Fremantle]] (the port for Perth) on 3 February 1925 aboard the Orient liner RMS ''Ormonde''.<ref>Royal Mail Steamer</ref> He had been persuaded to come to Australia by [[Bert Hinkler]],<ref name=wix>{{cite book |title=The North-West Aerial Frontier |last=Wixted |first=Edward |year=1985 |publisher=Boolarong Publications |location=Spring Hill, Brisbane, Qld |isbn=0908175892}}</ref> and was contracted as a new pilot for [[West Australian Airways|Western Australian Airways]].<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67098263?searchTerm=Frank_Neale Geraldton Guardian 7 Feb 1925]</ref> W.A. Airways (as it became known) had a government mail contract on the route from Geraldton to Derby via intermediate ports. [[Charles Kingsford Smith]] was one of their first employed pilots, but had left to go out on his own, and Neale filled the vacancy in the north-west of Western Australia, where the company was transitioning from the [[Bristol Tourer]] to the [[de Havilland DH.50]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Australian Aviator |last=Brearley |first=Norman|author2=Ted Mayman |year=1971 |publisher=Rigby Ltd. |location=Adl.Syd.Mel.Bne.Per. |isbn=0851795757}}</ref>
[[file:Flights by Frank Neale.jpg|thumb|Map of flights by Frank Neale throughout Australia up until 1939]]
By late 1926 Neale had joined Australian Aerial Services (AAS) managed by Jim Larkin, at [[Essendon Airport|Essendon Aerodrome]] in Melbourne. Larkin identified his aircraft by naming them after Australian birds. In July 1927, Neale was the pilot of the "Satin Bird" on an inland aerial holiday flight carrying a wealthy pastoralist, W.D. Oliver. This began a regular association between Oliver and Neale in succeeding years, covering many thousands of miles on charter flights.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3867565?searchTerm=Oliver_Neale The Argus (Melbourne)]</ref> Oliver was always on the lookout for grazing land, and one flight over the [[Simpson Desert]] proved that the sand dunes ran for hundreds of miles in a south-easterly direction.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18187934?searchTerm=Frank_Neale_Simpson_Desert Sydney Morning Herald 23 November 1950]</ref>

In February 1928, Neale's aircraft the "Bower Bird", a [[Sopwith Wallaby]], was forced down at Pialba near Maryborough, Queensland. It was carrying the manager of Hoyts cinemas to Bundaberg to meet up with Bert Hinkler after Hinkler's record breaking flight from England. Contrary to some reports at the time, the aircraft was not wrecked, but was able to be flown out a few days later. In July 1928, two AAS aircraft from Melbourne flew to [[Palm Valley (Northern Territory)|Palm Valley]] in Central Australia on a survey flight. The "Wattle Bird" and "Love Bird" were piloted by Jim Larkin and Frank Neale, to investigate the possibility of establishing tourist flights to the area.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article79507632?searchTerm=Central_Aust._Flight The Daily News 21 July 1928]</ref> Nothing came of it however. In 1929, Neale completed several long-distance flights in Australia on behalf of AAS, and carried W.D. Oliver on another aerial holiday in the "Sun Bird".

The Camooweal to Daly Waters service was pioneered by Frank Neale on 20 February 1930.<ref name=wix/> Neale remained on that run until he went south to join [[Donald George Mackay|Donald Mackay]] for a series of survey flights covering the greater part of central and western Australia. The aerial surveys were undertaken in the years 1930, 1933, 1935 and 1937.  Neale was the chief pilot for all four survey flights.  During this period, several new salt lakes were discovered. The largest was named [[Lake Mackay]], and another [[Lake Neale]]. The aircraft used for the 1930 series were English built Air Navigation Experimental Company [[ANEC III]]s, which were converted in Australia by Larkin's Company.  A small lake discovered in Western Australia was named Lake Anec after this aircraft type.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Bennett, Harry Thring | author2=Mackay, Donald, 1870–1958 | author3=Neale, Frank | author4=H.E.C. Robinson Ltd | title=Donald Mackay Aerial Reconnaissance Survey Expeditions Northern Territory, South & Western Australia : compiled from data obtained in 1930, 1933, 1935 & 1937 | date=1937 | publisher=H.E.C. R[obinson]Pty Ltd | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10681767 | accessdate=2 February 2017 }}</ref> In June 1930, Frank Neale became the first pilot to land an aircraft at Ayers Rock ([[Uluru]]) during one of these survey flights.  The organiser of the surveys, Mackay, carried a goodwill letter with him from explorer [[William Tietkens]] who was the first person to photograph the same feature.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2010/02/aviation-the-adventures-of-love-bird-and-diamond-bird/|title=The Adventures of Love Bird and Diamond Bird|date=2010|website=Australian Geographic|access-date=2019-01-31}}</ref>
With the onset of the [[Great Depression]] in the 1930s, Larkin's companies came under financial pressure, and Frank Neale teamed up with G.C. Matthews operating regular flights across Bass Strait to Tasmania.  The aircraft in the first instance was a [[Saro Cutty Sark]] registered VH-UNV, a twin engined amphibian.  It was replaced in September 1931 by a [[Saro Windhover]] with three engines.  In January 1933 while flying between King Island and Melbourne, the aircraft suffered a failure of two engines forcing Frank Neale to land on the ocean and taxi 25 miles to the beach.  All six occupants survived.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22159184?searchTerm=Windhover_Lorne Courier Mail 27 January 1933]</ref>

In the intervening years between the Mackay aerial survey flights, Neale was kept busy flying a [[de Havilland Dragonfly]] owned by Harry McEvoy, the owner of Fostar Shoe Enterprises.  One flight was to China and the Far East, another to England.

==Second World War==
[[File:Wing Commander Frank Neale.jpg|thumb|Wing Commander Frank Neale at his home in Hawson Avenue, Glen Huntly c.1976]]
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Neale joined the [[Air Force Reserve (Australia)|Royal Australian Air Force Reserve]] (RAAF) as a flying officer at No. 1 Communications Unit based in Laverton, Victoria.<ref>{{cite book |title=The RAAF Hudson Story Book One |last=Vincent |first=David |year=1999 |publisher=Vincent Aviation Publications |location=Highbury S.A. 5089 |isbn=0959605223}}</ref> The unit operated a variety of aircraft for communications and transport of staff, many of which Neale personally flew. By 1941 he had been promoted to [[flight lieutenant]], and in 1942 was a [[squadron leader]] in command of the unit. He was awarded the [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]] in June 1942, and had logged 17,400 hours flying. His discharge from the RAAF was effective 11 March 1946, by which time he held the rank of [[Wing commander (rank)|wing commander]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/Veteran.aspx?ServiceId=R&VeteranId=1058334 |title=Australian War Memorial |access-date=22 December 2014 |archive-date=22 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222063307/http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/Veteran.aspx?ServiceId=R&VeteranId=1058334 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He died at his home in [[Glen Huntly, Victoria|Glen Huntly]], a suburb of Melbourne, in 1979.

==Legacy==
* [[Lake Neale]] <small>{{coord|24|20|30|S|130|01|30|E|region:AU-NT_type:waterbody|name=Lake Neale}}</small>
* Neale Street, Darwin<ref>[http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=22227  NT Place Name Register]</ref>
* Map 1:250000 SH51-04 ''Neale''<ref>[http://www.ga.gov.au/cedda/maps/1069?p=18&s=MAP_ID&ms=250000 Geoscience Australia Map SH51-04]</ref>
* [[Neale Junction]], intersection of the [[Anne Beadell Highway]] and the [[Connie Sue Highway]]
* Neale Junction Nature Reserve<ref>[http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=59392&cmd=sp Map of Neale Junction Nature Reserve & Neale Breakaways]</ref>
* Neale Breakaways<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17199023?searchTerm=neale_breakaways Sydney Morning Herald 16 July 1935]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Larkin Aircraft Supply Company]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neale, Frank}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Essex]]
[[Category:Australian recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Australian World War II pilots]]
[[Category:Royal Army Service Corps officers]]
[[Category:British World War I pilots]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force officers]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Royal Australian Air Force officers]]
[[Category:Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]]
[[Category:Commercial aviators]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British emigrants to Australia]]
[[Category:People from Epping]]