page_title: Hippolyte De La Rue
section_title: Between the wars
hierarchical_section_title: Hippolyte De La Rue / Between the wars
caption_attribution_description: English: Flight Lieutenant Hippolyte De La Rue makes the first landing of a seaplane on the Yarra River, Victoria, in an Avro 504L floatplane
context_page_description: Air Commodore Hippolyte Ferdinand De La Rue, CBE, DFC was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force. Joining the Mercantile Marine as a youth, he became a pilot in Britain's Royal Naval Air Service during World War I. In 1918, he was given command of No. 223 Squadron in the newly formed Royal Air Force. The following year he took charge of No. 270 Squadron RAF in Egypt. Returning to Australia, De La Rue joined the short-lived Australian Air Corps in 1920, and became a founding member of the RAAF in March 1921. Specialising in maritime aviation, he led seaplane formations based at Point Cook, Victoria, during the 1920s and early 1930s.
  De La Rue was appointed commanding officer of No. 1 Flying Training School at Point Cook in 1933. He was promoted to group captain in 1937 and took command of RAAF Station Richmond, New South Wales, the following year. At the outbreak of World War II, De La Rue was slated to lead an air expeditionary force to Great Britain, but this plan was abandoned after Australia committed itself to the Empire Air Training Scheme.
context_section_description: De La Rue was posted to Alexandria, Egypt, in January 1919 to command No. 270 (Seaplane) Squadron. Offered a permanent commission in the RAF that August, he nevertheless returned to Australia and sought employment through Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Goble, an ex-RNAS pilot then seconded to the Navy Office. Goble, desiring a specialist seaplane pilot for naval cooperation work, arranged a captain's commission in the recently established Australian Air Corps, successor to the wartime Australian Flying Corps. On 17 June 1920, in an Airco DH.9A, De La Rue accompanied Captain Adrian Cole on a flight to an altitude of 27,000 feet (8,200 m), setting an Australian record that stood for more than ten years. Later that month, flying an Avro 504L floatplane, he became the first person to land an aircraft on the Yarra River in Victoria.  In July he was put in charge of trials of the Avro 504L aboard the Royal Australian Navy's flagship, HMAS Australia. De La Rue joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as a flight lieutenant in 1921, becoming one of the original twenty-one officers on its strength when it was formed (as the Australian Air Force) that March.  Going by the first name of Frank, he was also popularly known throughout the service as "Kanga". In August 1921, he underwent the RAAF's "No. 1 Course" at the Australian Army's Central Training Depot in Holsworthy, New South Wales; his fellow inductees included Flying Officers George Jones, Arthur Murphy, and Raymond Brownell.
  During the 1920s, De La Rue held a series of postings at RAAF Point Cook, Victoria, and at Air Force Headquarters, Melbourne. In May 1922, then in charge of the Seaplane Flight, he crashed an Avro 504L into Port Phillip; his rescuers claimed that his main concern following the mishap was the state of the corduroy trousers he was wearing. He lost the RAAF's sole Bristol Scout in another accident less than a year later. De La Rue married Clara Stone in a Presbyterian ceremony at Scots Church, Melbourne, on 1 October 1923; the couple would have a daughter. He had another escape in August 1925 when he crashed a Sopwith Pup into a hangar; a witness said that De La Rue, who was "renowned for his fiery Gallic temper", strode from the wreckage and began to violently abuse the aircraft.
  By 1926, De La Rue was the examining officer on the flight instructors course at No. 1 Flying Training School (No. 1 FTS), Point Cook. On exchange in Britain during 1929–30, De La Rue underwent familiarisation with aircraft carriers, and served on the staff of No. 201 (Flying Boat) Squadron, based on the south coast of England. Upon his return to Australia in 1931, he was given command of the RAAF's Seaplane Squadron at Point Cook. Promoted wing commander in December 1932, De La Rue led No. 1 FTS from early 1933. He was promoted group captain in January 1937, and took over as commanding officer (CO) of Headquarters RAAF Station Richmond, New South Wales, from Group Captain Cole in January the following year.
caption: In an Avro 504L, Flight Lieutenant De La Rue makes the first seaplane landing on the Yarra River, Victoria, June 1920
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