Herbert John Louis Hinkler (8 December 1892 – 7 January 1933), better known as Bert Hinkler, was a pioneer Australian aviator (dubbed "Australian Lone Eagle" and the first person to fly solo across the Southern Atlantic Ocean. He married in 1932 at the age of 39, and died less than a year later after crashing into remote countryside near Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy during a solo flight record attempt. He is considered to be one of the great aviators in history.

Early life

Hinkler was born in Bundaberg, Queensland, the son of John William Hinkler, a Prussian-born stockman, and his wife Frances Atkins (née Bonney) Hinkler. In his childhood, Hinkler would observe ibis flying near a lake at his school. After gaining an understanding of the principles of flight, he constructed two gliders. In 1912 he launched one of his first home-made gliders on Mon Repos Beach and flew above the sand dunes.

He later met Arthur Burr Stone at a travelling show in Bundaberg and again at the Brisbane Exhibition where Hinkler worked with Stone to solve a problem with the "Blériot", the world's first monoplane. In 1913, Hinkler went to England where he worked for the Sopwith Aviation Company, He was a pilot of the British Schneider Trophy seaplane competitor. and he was the subject of the Tin Pan Alley song Hustling Hinkler Up in the Sky.

For the flights in 1920 and 1928 Hinkler had already won two Britannia trophies and the gold medal of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

thumb|Hinkler's grave in Italy

Hinkler married in 1932. It was determined his aeroplane had crashed into the mountains the same day he departed from London. He was buried – with full military honours on the orders of Italy's ruling dictator Benito Mussolini – in the Cimitero degli Allori in Florence.

  • Thornhill, Southampton, Hampshire, England has three places in honour of Bert Hinkler: Hinkler Road, Hinkler Pub, and Hinkler Park, which contains a monument to him erected by the residents of Thornhill. In 1983, "Mon Repos", the house in Thornhill that Bert Hinkler and his de facto wife Hannah (Nance) Jarvis built, was saved from demolition and relocated to the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens, serving as a historical museum On 8 December 2008, the A$7.5 million Hinkler Hall of Aviation was opened to the public in Hinkler's home town of Bundaberg. Adjacent to his English home "Mon Repos", the hall continues the role the house played as a historic museum dedicated to the memory of Hinkler; this has allowed the house to be refurbished to a more domestic state and now serves as a joint attraction with the Hall of Aviation.

thumb|QANTAS 'Bert Hinkler' A380

  • Qantas has named an Airbus A380 after the aviator, with his name featured on the aircraft.
  • Hinkler Park in Bundaberg, Queensland, now hockey fields, marks the original location of Hinkler's landing in 1928 after his historic 1928 solo flight.
  • The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland erected a monument atop the Sloping Hummock, an extinct volcano and one of the Bundaberg region's highest points.
  • A bust of Hinkler, by sculptor George Virine, sits at the southern end of the Burnett Traffic Bridge.
  • Hinkler Crescent, once a taxiway for the original Darwin Aerodrome, Fannie Bay, Darwin, NT, Australia is named after Bert Hinkler and has a commemorative plaque in the pavement.
  • Hinkler Park, a popular park and playground in Katoomba, New South Wales, was dedicated to Hinkler in 1934. The park features a climbing frame in the shape of his aircraft and a picnic shelter featuring a commemorative plaque.
  • Hinkler Park, adjacent to the lagoon at the north end of Manly Beach is named in his honour, and is also the site of a building for the Australian Air League. The first training Squadron opened at Manly, New South Wales on 17 January 1935.
  • A cenotaph stands to Hinkler in Buss Park, Bourbong street, Central Bundaberg.
  • The Hinkler Hall of Aviation is an aeronautics museum in the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens dedicated to the pioneer.
  • Songs were written about Hinkler, including Hustling Hinkler, recorded by Len Maurice and Fred Monument, and Hello! Hinkler sung by Frederick George.
  • Bert Hinkler was also awarded the Oswald Watt Medal four times in 1927, 1928, 1931 and 1932.
  • Nakara Primary School in Nakara, Northern Territory has a school house-team called 'Hinkler'.

Legacies

Hinkler Hall of Aviation

This museum opened in 2008 alongside the Hinkler House, designed to accommodate up to 34,000 visitors per year. Its collection includes five aircraft significant to Hinkler's career: a reconstructed glider from his youth, Hinkler's original Avro Baby, a replica Avro Avian, a replica Hinkler Ibis, and a reconstructed de Havilland Puss Moth. Lind in turn gave it to Dick Scobee, the captain of the ill-fated final Space Shuttle Challenger mission. Scobee took the wood with him on board the Challenger inside a small plastic bag that he placed in his locker. After the explosion, the bag and the wood were recovered from the sea, identified, mounted, and later returned to the Hinkler Memorial Museum.

Correspondence archive

State Library of Queensland holds a significant collection of letters, correspondence and items linked to Hinkler. The letters written by Hinkler to his family, (1913–1929), reveal deeply personal accounts of his adventures abroad and perspective of his achievements. Digitisations of the letters and a 1928 recording of Bert Hinkler's speech are available online.

See also

  • Hinkler Ibis
  • List of aviation museums
  • List of museums in Queensland

References

  • Hinkler Hall of Aviation Museum website
  • Bert Hinkler Commemorative Medal
  • Bert Hinkler online collection – State Library of NSW
  • Bert Hinkler collection – State Library of Queensland
  • HistoryNet picture of the day 7 February 2008
  • Record solo flights from England to Australia 1928 to 1933
  • Hinkler – The Brilliant Navigator An aviator whose sense of direction was uncanny, Hinkler broke many records in light aeroplanes.
  • Listen to a clip from Hinkler's 'Message to Australia' and read more about the recording on australianscreen online
  • Hinkler's 'Message to Australia' was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2010
  • Read more about Hinkler and listen to songs inspired by him on the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's website: 'Our Heroes of the Air'
  • Bert Hinkler’s record flight (1928), State Library of Queensland
  • Bert Hinkler Oral History 13 March 1928, State Library of Queensland
  • Helvellyn Memorial to Bert Hinkler