Intrepid journey of a pioneering aviator

In 1930 Oscar Garden walked into a London department store and bought a de Havilland DH.60 Gipsy Moth he named Kia Ora. Although a relatively inexperienced pilot he had dreams of flying from England to Australia. In Oscar Garden: A Tale Of One Man’s Love Of Flying, his daughter, Dr Annamaria Garden, chronicles his historic journey, how he became one of New Zealand’s pioneering aviators, and went on to become chief pilot at Tasman Empire Airways Ltd (now Air New Zealand).

He didn’t tell anyone exactly when he aimed to start. His friends didn’t know until the night before that he was going that morning. He phoned a friend to say not to come and watch him take off; it was too early in the morning. When he was ready to leave, he told people what he intended to do and, naturally, they were somewhat alarmed; but he got away before they could even come to see him off or to persuade him not to make the flight.

The night before (15 October 1930), he tuned up his machine in readiness for the start. He hoped to get away first thing. He aimed for Munich as the first stage but had not made up his mind whether to attempt a record-breaking flight. He had made a careful survey of the England to

Australia route and was determined to get to Australia regardless. As it turned out, he had so many adventures on his way that his aim quickly became to simply get from England to Australia in one piece.

At 6am on 16 October, 1930, Dad took off in his tiny plane from Croydon, England, bound for Australia, with maps and a compass, no radar or radio, none of the apparatus that pilots today take for granted. He took off with half a dozen sandwiches and no hat in an open-cockpit plane. The plane was very small and quite cramped with little respite from the elements. It carried sixty gallons of petrol. He had his extra fuel tank filled, a spare propeller, two valves and two valve springs.