Krista Schade, The Riverine Grazier

Hay has a link to a record-breaking flight – inspired by love – from England to Australia, in the early days of international air travel and aviation.

Cecil Arthur Butler was born in England in 1902 but immigrated to Australia with his family in 1910, settling in Lithgow NSW.

Butler was apprenticed as a tool, jig and gauge maker at the local Small Arms Factory, transferring in 1921 to the Australian Aircraft & Engineering Co. Ltd at Mascot, Sydney.

He attended Sydney Technical College at night, obtained his ground engineer’s licence in 1923, and worked for the Larkin-Sopwith Air Craft Supply Co. Pty Ltd and Larkin’s Australian Aerial Services Ltd as a ground engineer at Hay.

An article in The Riverine Grazier on November 6, 1931 outlined his pathway to pilot.

The headline read ‘Aerial ‘Ashes’ Australian airman attempting to break record. Using speedy plane will make short hops.’

“Before taking up aviation, Butler was the chief engineer at Hay, for the Australian Aerial Services, and he holds the highest qualifications issued by the Civil Aviation Department, that is, Ground Engineers’ licences A, B, C, and D.

At Hay he took lessons in flying, and obtaining his commercial licence, he purchased an Avro 504K machine, equipped with a Sunbeam Dyak engine and went into partnership with another pilot engineer, Mr. Frank Smith.

Later he purchased an Avro Avian with a Hermes engine. These airmen toured through New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, where they conducted passenger flights and did general air-taxi work.”

After moving to Cootamundra, Butler built his own plane at the back of his garage, described in The Grazier as “an all-metal high winged monoplane, and the blueprints and construction of the machine were all the work of Butler.”

“This machine was commenced at the middle of May and flown in the beginning of October, which was a remarkable achievement.

The machine was successfully tested and at half throttle proved its capacity for doing 80 m.p.h. in still air. The stability of the machine was demonstrated by flying ‘hands off.'”

Later that same year, 1931, Butler set out on his successful record-breaking attempt.

He piloted a tiny Comper Swift from England to Australia in the record time of 9 days, 1hour and 42 minutes.

The descendants of C. Arthur Butler spoke of his successful flight with the ABC and revealed the impetus to undertaking the challenge.

They shared that in 1931 Butler was visiting England to study aeronautical design and had received a letter saying that if he didn’t come home to Australia soon, he might lose the chance to marry his girlfriend.

Fellow pilot, Nicholas Comper, was trialling a new style of aircraft, now known as a Comper Swift nearby and the pair quickly became friends.

According to grandson Mark Pitts, the pair devised a plan to get Mr Butler home and to make the Comper Swift famous.

Mr Butler flew the Comper Swift from England to Australia, setting the England-Australia solo flight record in the process.

“He would have done it in eight days, but he was held in an Italian prison for a day,” Mr Pitts told the ABC.

Butler spent half a day behind bars in Brindisi, Italy, after he made a unplanned, forced landing there.

Butler’s flight ended in the village of Tooraweenah, 100 kilometres north of Dubbo.

He secured the hand of his sweetheart Doris Garling and the pair were wed on March 30, 1932.

The Garlings were successful business people and funded Butler to establish Butler Air Transport Co. The company carried out the Queensland-to-NSW section of the England-Australia airmail route for four years.

After World War Two, Butler Air Transport started chartering flights to and from Tooraweenah.

This was the first passenger airline to service country NSW and southern Queensland.

“From that point on, Butler Air Transport became probably the most significant airline and most extensive domestic airline in the east coast of Australia,” Mr Pitts told the ABC.

In the 1950s, the Australian government sought to nationalise commercial aviation, adopting a two-airline policy.

Mr Butler fought unsuccessfully against the proposal, before Ansett absorbed Butler Air Transport in 1958.

Survived by his wife and a daughter, Butler died on April 13, 1980 at Wahroonga.

This article appeared in The Riverine Grazier, 2 April 2025.