Les Holden Leslie Hubert ( Les ) Holden MC , AFC ( 6 March 1895 – 18 September 1932 ) was an Australian fighter ace of World War I and later a commercial aviator . A South Australia n , he joined the Light Horse in May 1915 , serving in Egypt and France . In December 1916 , he volunteered for the Australian Flying Corps and qualified as a pilot . As a member of No . 2 Squadron on the Western Front , he gained the sobriquets " Lucky Les " and " the homing pigeon " after a brace of incidents saw him limping back to base in bullet - riddled aircraft . He was awarded the Military Cross , and went on to achieve five aerial victories flying Airco DH . 5 s and Royal Aircraft Factory S . E . 5 s . Promoted to captain , Holden finished the war as an instructor with No . 6 ( Training ) Squadron in England , where his work earned him the Air Force Cross . After leaving the Australian Flying Corps in 1919 , he became a manager at the family firm of Holden ' s Motor Body Builders , before setting up as a commercial pilot and establishing his own air service . In 1929 , he located Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm in the north - west Australian desert after the pair was reported missing on a flight to England in the " Southern Cross " . Holden was killed in a passenger plane crash in September 1932 , at the age of thirty - seven . Early life . Holden was born on 3 March 1895 in East Adelaide , South Australia , to travelling businessman Hubert William Holden and his wife Annie Maria . The elder Holden landed a partnership with Nestlé in 1905 , and the family moved to Turramurra , New South Wales . Completing his education at Sydney Church of England Grammar School , Les joined Nestlé in 1911 as a salesman . By the time World War I broke out in August 1914 , he was an assistant manager . World War I . Holden enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 26 May 1915 , joining the 4th Light Horse Brigade as a private . He departed for Egypt aboard the transport A29 " Suevic " on 13 June . Serving as a driver first in the Middle East and then in France , his mechanical ability and sense of adventure led him to volunteer for the Australian Flying Corps ( AFC ) in December 1916 . After qualifying as a pilot in England , he was commissioned a lieutenant and posted to No . 2 Squadron . Commanded by Major Oswald Watt , No . 2 Squadron ' s personnel included many former Lighthorsemen , as well as mechanics from the AFC ' s first combat formation , the Mesopotamian Half Flight . The force trained extensively in England commencing in January 1917 , before deploying to the Western Front that September . Holden was involved in the AFC ' s first day of combat in France when he and his wingman engaged a German two - seater in the vicinity of Saint - Quentin just after noon on 2 October , but the latter managed to escape . Because its Airco DH . 5 s were handicapped as fighters by engine problems and low speed , No . 2 Squadron was employed mainly on ground support duties . During the fog - shrouded opening day of the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November , Holden bombed and machine - gunned a German communications trench from altitudes as low as twenty or thirty feet . He returned to a forward airfield near Havrincourt Wood with his plane , in the words of the official history of Australia in the war , " a flying wreck . Every part of it was shot full of holes , including petrol - tank , tail - plane , both longerons , and part of the undercarriage , while the elevator control was shot clean away . " Two days later he repeated the exercise with similar consequences for his aircraft , " clear evidence of the dangers of the work and of his own good luck " . This brace of close calls gained him the nicknames " Lucky Les " and " the homing pigeon " . He was recommended for the Military Cross on 3 December for his action of 20 November , the award being promulgated in the " London Gazette " on 4 February 1918 , and the citation appearing on 5 July : Holden claimed his first aerial victory while No . 2 Squadron was still flying DH . 5s , prior to it commencing its conversion to Royal Aircraft Factory S . E . 5 s in December 1917 . On 18 February 1918 , he shared in one of its first two victories in the S . E . 5 , helping send an Albatros down in a spin . He claimed another three aircraft shot down over the following month , giving him a total of five victories . At least one of these took place during the Spring Offensive , on 22 March , when all available Allied aircraft were thrown into battle to stem the German advance . Promoted to captain in March 1918 , Holden was posted to England in May as a flying instructor with No . 6 ( Training ) Squadron at Minchinhampton . The unit was part of the 1st Training Wing , led by the former commanding officer of No . 2 Squadron , Major ( now Lieutenant Colonel ) Watt . Holden briefly took command of No . 6 Squadron from 25 July to 11 August , while his skill as an instructor led to him being awarded the Air Force Cross , promulgated on 3 June 1919 . Post - war career and legacy . No . 6 Squadron was disbanded in March 1919 and Holden returned to Australia on 6 May . Leaving the Australian Flying Corps soon after , he took part in the Commonwealth government ' s Peace Loan flights before joining the Adelaide - based family firm of Holden ' s Motor Body Builders as its Sydney manager . On 3 June 1924 , he married Kathleen Packman at St Mark ' s Anglican Church in Darling Point . Still hankering after flying , he enlisted the help of friends to purchase a De Havilland DH . 61 Giant Moth in 1928 . He named it " Canberra " , and used it to start a charter operation out of Sydney ' s Mascot Aerodrome . Holden became a national celebrity in April 1929 when he successfully undertook an aerial search of the north - western Australian wilderness to locate Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm , after the pair had gone missing on a flight from Sydney to England in the " Southern Cross " . In a tragic adjunct , however , two other searchers , Keith Anderson and Bob Hitchcock , were lost in their aircraft the " Kookaburra " , and the media of the day turned on Smith and Ulm , accusing them of a publicity stunt . The controversy resulted in the Sydney Citizens ' Relief Committee , which had commissioned Holden to undertake the rescue operation , withholding payment of his expenses . He nevertheless continued flying commercially , and is credited with making — in September 1931 — arguably the first flight from Sydney to New Guinea , where he started an air freight service . He expanded his operations the following year in Sydney with more aircraft , establishing Holden ' s Air Transport Services . On 18 September 1932 , Holden was travelling as a passenger aboard a New England Airways DH . 80 Puss Moth from Sydney to Brisbane when it crashed at Byron Bay in northern New South Wales , killing him instantly . The other occupants , pilot Ralph Virtue and joint owner of the " Canberra " , Holden ' s schoolfriend Dr George Hamilton , also perished . Investigations determined that the Puss Moth , VH - UPM , had gone down as a result of wing failure caused by aileron flutter . A crowded memorial service for Holden and Hamilton took place at Sydney Church of England Grammar School on 20 September ; they were cremated that afternoon at Rookwood Cemetery , where eighteen aircraft piloted by friends and associates of the pair overflew the chapel . Holden was survived by his wife and three daughters . His father Hubert carried on operating Holden ' s Air Transport Services , floating it as a public corporation and serving as chairman . Les Holden , George Hamilton , and one of their schoolmates who had also recently died , Henry Braddon , were commemorated with a memorial stained - glass window at the Sydney Church of England Grammar School chapel in 1934 .