Frank Neale Squadron Leader Frank Neale A . F . C . ( 14 September 1895 - 24 December 1979 ) was born in England , served in the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force in World War I , then moved to Australia in the mid - 1920s to continue a notable career as a pioneer aviator . From 1925 until 1939 he flew thousands of hours covering most of Australia , and ventured overseas a number of times . At the beginning of World War II he joined the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) reserve as a Flying Officer . Early service . Records in the UK National Archives show his home address was Thornwood , Epping , Essex with next of kin Mrs G . Neale , his mother . His occupation prior to WWI was Mechanical and Electrical Engineer , and his initial service during the Great War was in the Army Service Corps Motor Transport as a probationary 2nd Lieutenant . He changed to the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot , and by the end of the war had flown numerous aircraft types including De Havilland DH4 , DH6 , DH9 , DH9A , B . E . 2E , RE8 , Armstrong Whitworth F . K . 8 , Bristol Monoplane , Sopwith Pup , Sopwith Camel , and Avro 504 . On 1 April 1918 , the RFC merged with the Royal Naval Air Service ( RNAS ) to become the Royal Air Force , subsequently Neale ' s official rank became Flying Officer and he was an assistant Instructor at No . 1 Training Depot Station . During his time with the RFC , Neale met an Australian aviator Herbert " Jim " Larkin , with whom he was later associated . After WWI ended , Neale continued with an aviation career and was issued with UK Civilian Pilots Licence No . 171 . In the early 1920s he set up the Essex Aviation Company with an Avro 504 at Ashingdon , Essex . At this stage he was still an officer in the RAF Reserve , which he relinquished in April 1926 , after he had arrived in Australia . Australian career . Frank Neale arrived in Australia at Fremantle ( the port for Perth ) on 3 February 1925 aboard the Orient liner R . M . S . Ormonde . He had been persuaded to come to Australia by Bert Hinkler , and was contracted as a new pilot for Western Australian Airways . W . A . Airways ( as it became known ) had a government mail contract on the route from Geraldton to Derby via intermediate ports . Charles Kingsford Smith was one of their first employed pilots , but had left to go out on his own , and Neale filled the vacancy in the north - west of Western Australia , where the company was transitioning from the Bristol Tourer to the de Havilland DH . 50 . By late 1926 Neale had joined Australian Aerial Services ( AAS ) managed by Jim Larkin , at Essendon Aerodrome in Melbourne . Larkin identified his aircraft by naming them after Australian birds . In July 1927 , Neale was the pilot of the " Satin Bird " on an inland aerial holiday flight carrying a wealthy pastoralist , W . D . Oliver . This began a regular association between Oliver and Neale in succeeding years , covering many thousands of miles on charter flights . Oliver was always on the lookout for grazing land , and one flight over the Simpson Desert proved that the sand dunes ran for hundreds of miles in a south - easterly direction . In February 1928 , Neale ' s aircraft the " Bower Bird " , a Sopwith Wallaby , was forced down at Pialba near Maryborough , Queensland . It was carrying the manager of Hoyts cinemas to Bundaberg to meet up with Bert Hinkler after his record breaking flight from England . Contrary to some reports at the time , the aircraft was not wrecked , but was able to be flown out a few days later . In July 1928 , two AAS aircraft from Melbourne flew to Palm Valley in Central Australia on a survey flight . The " Wattle Bird " and " Love Bird " were piloted by Jim Larkin and Frank Neale , to investigate the possibility of establishing tourist flights to the area . Nothing came of it however . In 1929 , Neale completed several long distance flights in Australia on behalf of AAS , and carried W . D . Oliver on another aerial holiday in the " Sun Bird " . The Camooweal to Daly Waters service was pioneered by Frank Neale on 20 February 1930 . Neale remained on that run until he went south to join Donald Mackay for a series of survey flights covering the greater part of central and western Australia . The aerial surveys were undertaken in the years 1930 , 1933 , 1935 and 1937 . Neale was the chief pilot for all four survey flights . During this period , several new salt lakes were discovered . The largest was named Lake Mackay , and another Lake Neale . The aircraft used for the 1930 series were English built Air Navigation Experimental Company ANEC III s , which were converted in Australia by Larkin ' s Company . A small lake discovered in Western Australia was named Lake Anec after this aircraft type . In June 1930 , Frank Neale became the first pilot to land an aircraft at Ayers Rock ( Uluru ) during one of these survey flights . The organizer of the surveys , Mackay , carried a goodwill letter with him from explorer William Tietkens who was the first person to photograph the same feature . With the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s , Larkin ' s companies came under financial pressure , and Frank Neale teamed up with G . C . Matthews operating regular flights across Bass Strait to Tasmania . The aircraft in the first instance was a Saro Cutty Sark registered VH - UNV , a twin engined amphibian . It was replaced in September 1931 by a Saro Windhover with three engines . In January 1933 while flying between King Island and Melbourne , the aircraft suffered a failure of two engines forcing Frank Neale to land on the ocean and taxi 25 miles to the beach . All six occupants survived . In the intervening years between the Mackay aerial survey flights , Neale was kept busy flying a de Havilland Dragonfly owned by Harry McEvoy , the owner of Fostar Shoe Enterprises . One flight was to China and the Far East , another to England . World War II . At the beginning of World War II , Frank Neale joined the RAAF as a Flying Officer at No . 1 Communications Unit based in Laverton , Victoria . The unit operated a variety of aircraft for communications and transport of staff , many of which Neale personally flew . By 1941 he had been promoted to Flight Lieutenant , and in 1942 was a Squadron Leader , commanding the Unit . He was awarded the Air Force Cross in June 1942 , and had logged 17 , 400 hours flying . He died at his home in Glen Huntly a suburb of Melbourne in 1979 .