Oswald Watt

Oswald Watt
Oswald Watt
	Aviation Militaire (1914–16); No. 1 Squadron AFC (1916)
Commands held	No. 2 Squadron AFC (1916–18); 1st Training Wing AFC (1918–19)
Battles/wars	World War I Western Front; Battle of Cambrai;
Awards	Grazier, businessman

Walter Oswald Watt,

OBE (11 February 1878 – 21 May 1921) was an Australian aviator and businessman. He served as a pilot during World War I with, firstly, the French Foreign Legion and, secondly, the Australian Flying Corps

(AFC).

The son of a Scottish-Australian merchant and politician, Watt was born in England and moved to Sydney when he was one year old, returning to Britain at the age of eleven for education at Bristol and Cambridge. In 1900 he returned to Australia, and enlisted in the Militia, before acquiring cattle stations in New South Wales and Queensland. He was also a partner in the family shipping firm.

The first Australian to qualify for a Royal Aero Club flying certificate, in 1911, Watt joined the Aviation Militaire of the French Foreign Legion as a pilot on the outbreak of World War I. He transferred to the Australian Flying Corps in 1916, quickly progressing from flight commander with No. 1 Squadron in Egypt to commanding officer of No. 2 Squadron on the Western Front. By February 1918, he had been promoted to lieutenant colonel and taken command of the AFC's 1st Training Wing in England.

A recipient of France's

Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1919. He left the military to pursue business interests in Australia, and was lauded for his generosity to other returned airmen. In 1921, at the age of 43, he died by accidental drowning at Bilgola Beach, New South Wales. He is commemorated by the Oswald Watt Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in Australian aviation, and the Oswald Watt Fund at the University of Sydney

.

Early career

Born on 11 February 1878 in

Toorak, Victoria; the couple had one son.^[1]^[3]

Single-engined monoplane on airfield in front of hangar with Union Jack on flagpole — Watt's Bleriot XI monoplane in Egypt, 1913–14

Watt's family was wealthy, and he was able to establish himself as a

Master of Arts degree from Cambridge in 1904.^[1]^[4] In October the following year he was promoted to captain in the Scottish Rifles.^[5] On a subsequent trip to England he took flying lessons at the Bristol aviation school on Salisbury Plain, where his fellow students included Eric Harrison. Watt attained his Royal Aero Club certificate, no. 112, on 1 August 1911, becoming the first Australian citizen so qualified.^[6]^[7] Upon his return to Australia later that year, he publicly declared that the time was "rapidly approaching when an aero corps [would] have to be inaugurated" as part of the country's "military defence scheme".^[7]

In March 1912, Watt recommended a location in Canberra near the Royal Military College, Duntroon, as a base for the Army's proposed Central Flying School. Owing to its altitude and nearby mountainous terrain, the site was rejected by the school's nominated commanding officer, Lieutenant Henry Petre.^[8] Petre eventually chose 297 hectares at Point Cook, Victoria, an area suitable for seaplanes as well as land-based aircraft, to become the "birthplace of Australian military aviation".^[9]^[10] Watt also advocated manufacturing foreign-designed aircraft under licence in Australia, but this would not be pursued until after World War I.^[11] In 1913 he was divorced on the grounds of "misconduct" with actress Ivy Schilling, and lost custody of his son in the judgment.^[1]^[12] He then went to Egypt, where he purchased and practised flying a Blériot XI monoplane; while there he met leading French aviators Louis Blériot and Roland Garros.^[13]

World War I

Overhead view of single-engined military biplane with twin-tail boom in flight — Watt flying a Farman biplane over Europe, 1915

In May 1914, the francophile Watt left Egypt with his aeroplane and took up employment at the Blériot factory and airfield in Buc, outside Paris.^[13]^[14] Fired by the widely held conviction that Britain would stay out of a European conflict, Watt offered his services and his plane to the French government on 2 August, the day France declared war on Germany. This gesture was welcomed and he joined the Aviation Militaire section of the Foreign Legion as a pilot. Though he was ranked an ordinary soldier, his colleagues in Bleriot Squadron No. 30 referred to him as "Capitaine" in deference to his previous status in the Australian Militia. Posted to Maurice Farman Squadron No. 44 in April 1915, he earned the Legion of Honour badge after he and his observer crash-landed in no man's land and succeeded in making their way back to French lines with valuable intelligence under intense fire from German positions. Soon afterwards, Watt was awarded the Croix de Guerre—with palm leaves personally presented by General Joffre—and promoted to the provisional rank of captain. He was not eligible to command a French unit because he was a foreigner.^[13]^[15] Watt always proclaimed his antipodean connection while serving France, painting a kangaroo on the nose of his plane, which he named Advance Australia.^[4] Considered a no-nonsense type, he once introduced himself to a British pilot with the words "I am an Australian and I haven't got any manners".^[16]

Half portrait of man in military uniform with kepi, outdoors — Watt in the Aviation Militaire

The French recognised that Watt's talents were not being fully utilised due to his ineligibility to lead a squadron, and recommended that he transfer to the

London Gazette on 1 December.^[20] No. 2 Squadron's personnel was composed largely of former Lighthorsemen, as well as thirteen mechanics from the Australian Flying Corps' first combat formation, the Mesopotamian Half Flight, led by Flight Sergeant George Mackinolty. Watt personally trained the force in England commencing in January 1917, before deploying it to the Western Front that September.^[4]^[19] He was "a born leader of men", according to one officer; another recalled that "In the things that mattered, his men knew he stood for absolute obedience. They also knew that when discipline could be safely relaxed he would be quick to grant them some relief from the strain."^[21]

Formal portrait of seven men in military uniforms with peaked caps, four seated and holding canes, and three standing behind them — Lieutenant Colonel Watt (front row, second from right) with staff of the 1st Training Wing AFC, 1918

In the vicinity of

Sir William Birdwood to send him a personal message of congratulation on 16 December, declaring: "... This is indeed a magnificent record for your squadron, and one of which I am sure everyone of you must rightly be extremely proud; I doubt if it has been beaten anywhere ..."^[23]^[24] By this time, No. 2 Squadron had begun converting to Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5s, though it could achieve little in the winter months due to inclement weather.^[19] Watt himself, now almost forty, was beginning to show the strain of frontline command. Bean found him looking "very worn" and noticed him shivering even while seated in front of the mess hall fire.^[25]

In February 1918, Watt was promoted to lieutenant colonel and given command of the AFC's 1st Training Wing (Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 Squadrons) headquartered at Tetbury in Gloucestershire, England; the wing's role was to train replacement pilots for the four operational AFC squadrons in Palestine and France.^[1]^[26] Watt proposed moving the wing to France, but it remained in England.^[13] He was mentioned in despatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig on 7 April, and the commendation was gazetted on 28 May.^[27] Shortly after the end of hostilities in November 1918, novelist William John Locke visited 1st Training Wing and found that "there was not one [of Watt's men] who ... did not confide to me his pride in serving under a leader so distinguished".^[4] A pilot later opined that as well as having "courage, determination, and an immense capacity for work", Watt possessed "the greatest factor in leadership, a genius for endearing himself (without conscious effort) to all who served under him".^[15]

Post-war career and legacy

A group of military personnel in an aircraft hangar, four of whom are in a row facing another man, while the remainder stand informally, one of them wearing a flying suit — General Sir William Birdwood (fifth from left) with (left to right behind Birdwood) Major Roy Phillipps, Captain Les Holden (in flying suit), and Lieutenant Colonel Watt, Minchinhampton, March 1919

Watt was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1919, in recognition of his war service.^[28] He returned to Australia on 6 May with the rest of 1st Training Wing's personnel, aboard the troopship Kaisar-i-Hind, on which he was the ranking officer.^[13]^[29] Leaving the AFC soon afterwards, he was elected president of the New South Wales section of the Australian Aero Club.^[1]^[4] He also served as senior delegate on a committee of veteran military pilots examining applications for appointment to a proposed independent Australian air service.^[30] Watt was esteemed as a man who did not forget old comrades, providing former AFC members with financial aid and helping them re-establish themselves in civilian life. He maintained an interest in commercial flying but refused an offer to take up the position of controller of civil aviation in 1920 owing to his business interests, which included partnership in the family shipping firm of Gilchrist, Watt & Sanderson Ltd, and directorships of mining, rubber, and art corporations.^[1]^[13] He also turned down invitations to stand for parliament, and to join the fledgling Royal Australian Air Force.^[13]^[31]

Oswald Watt drowned at Bilgola Beach, near Newport, New South Wales, on 21 May 1921.^[1] Cuts and bruising on his body indicated that he had slipped on rocks, struck his head, and rolled unconscious into relatively shallow water. Survived by his 15-year-old son, he was accorded a military funeral two days later at St Jude's Church, Randwick. Members of the AFC, Royal Air Force, and Australian Aero Club formed a guard of honour at the service,^[13] one of the largest in the suburb's history, which also included representatives of the Royal Australian Navy and Australian Army. Among the tributes was a floral wreath from an anonymous group of French admirers, and another that was dropped by parachute from a low-flying plane.^[14]^[32] On 31 May, Watt's body was cremated and his ashes interred in the family vault at St Jude's.^[33]

In his will, Watt left two bequests to the Australian Aero Club, one of which was used to establish the

wing apart from Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams, who was later to become known as the "Father of the RAAF".^[31] In 2001, military historian Alan Stephens noted that "had fate drawn him to a post-war career in the Air Force instead of to business and an untimely death, 'Toby' Watt might have challenged Richard Williams as the RAAF's dominant figure in its formative years".^[4]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Johnston, Susan (1966). "Watt, Walter Oswald (Toby) (1878–1921)". Watt, Walter Oswald. Melbourne University Press. Retrieved 23 October 2013. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^ Walsh, G.P. (1976). "Watt, John Brown (1826–1897)". Watt, John Brown. Melbourne University Press. Retrieved 23 October 2013. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^ "Watt, Walter Oswald (WT896WO)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 16–19
^ "The defence forces: Appointments and promotions". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 October 1905. p. 7. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
^ "Australians abroad". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 October 1911. p. 5. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b Stephens; Isaacs, High Fliers, p. 16
^ Wilson, The Brotherhood of Airmen, p. 1
^ Odgers, Air Force Australia, pp. 13–14
^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, p. 3
^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, pp. 248, 500
^ "The Watt divorce case". The Mercury. Hobart. 18 September 1913. p. 5. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "Colonel Watt: Drowned near Newport". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 May 1921. p. 8. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Late Col. Watt: A French tribute". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 May 1921. p. 9. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp. 41–42 Archived 10 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ Molkentin, Fire in the Sky, p. 61
^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp. 33–36 Archived 10 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ Stephens, The Royal Australian Air Force, pp. 10–11
^ ^a ^b ^c "2 Squadron AFC". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
^ "No. 29845". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 December 1916. pp. 11802–11803.
^ Molkentin, Fire in the Sky, p. 205
^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp. 178–180 Archived 10 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b Wilson, The Brotherhood of Airmen, p. 25
^ "My dear Watt" (PDF). Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
^ Molkentin, Fire in the Sky, p. 231
^ Garrisson, Australian Fighter Aces, p. 12
^ "No. 30706". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 May 1918. pp. 6195–6200.
^ "No. 31097". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1919. pp. 83–86.
^ "Lieutenant Colonel Walter Oswald Watt, OBE". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
^ Coulthard-Clark, The Third Brother, p. 20
^ ^a ^b Sutherland, Command and Leadership in War and Peace, pp. 4, 34–36
^ "The late Col. Watt: Tributes in church and cemetery". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 May 1921. p. 8. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
^ "Late Colonel Watt: Remains cremated". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 June 1921. p. 12. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
^ "Encouraging aviation: Late Colonel Watt's legacies". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 July 1921. p. 5. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
^ "Awards: Oswald Watt Gold Medal". Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
^ Air Power Development Centre, "Oswald Watt: The Leader the RAAF Never Had"
^ "Walter Oswald Watt Memorial Fund Act 1938" (PDF). Australian Capital Territory Government. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
^ "Oswald Watt estate: Bequest to university". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 October 1925. p. 8. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
^ "Centenary 1950–1952". University of Sydney. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
^ "At the official opening of the Oswald Watt Wing of the Havilah Home for Orphans, Wahroonga". The Sydney Mail: 16. 23 May 1923. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
^ Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps, pp. iii–vii Archived 10 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine