Frank McNamara ( VC ) Air Vice Marshal Francis Hubert ( Frank ) McNamara VC , CB , CBE ( 4 April 1894 – 2 November 1961 ) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest decoration for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to a member of the British and Commonwealth forces . Serving with the Australian Flying Corps , he was honoured for his actions on 20 March 1917 , when he rescued a fellow pilot who had been forced down behind enemy lines . McNamara was the first Australian aviator — and the only one in World War I — to receive the Victoria Cross . He later became a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) . Born and educated in Victoria , McNamara was a teacher when he joined the militia prior to World War I . In 1915 , he was selected for pilot training at Central Flying School , Point Cook , and transferred to the Australian Flying Corps the following year . He was based in the Middle Eastern Theatre with No . 1 Squadron when he earned the Victoria Cross . In 1921 , McNamara enlisted as a flying officer in the newly formed RAAF , rising to the rank of air vice marshal by 1942 . He held senior posts in England and Aden during World War II . Retiring from the Air Force in 1946 , McNamara continued to live in Britain until his death from heart failure in 1961 . Early life . Born in Rushworth , Victoria , McNamara was the first of eight children to William Francis McNamara , a State Lands Department officer , and his wife Rosanna . He began his schooling in Rushworth , and completed his secondary education at Shepparton Agricultural High School , which he had entered via a scholarship . The family moved to Melbourne in 1910 . McNamara joined the school cadets in 1911 , and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 49th Battalion ( Brighton Rifles ) , a militia unit , in July 1913 . He became a teacher after graduating from Melbourne Teachers ' Training College in 1914 , and taught at various schools in Victoria . He also enrolled in the University of Melbourne , but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I . World War I . Militia to Australian Flying Corps . As a militia officer , McNamara was mobilised for service in Australia when war was declared in August 1914 . After serving briefly at bases in Queenscliff and Point Nepean , Victoria , McNamara passed through Officers Training School at Broadmeadows in December . He began instructing at the Australian Imperial Force Training Depot , Broadmeadows , in February 1915 . Promoted to lieutenant in July , he immediately volunteered for a military aeronautics course at Central Flying School , Point Cook . Selected for flying training at Point Cook in August 1915 , McNamara made his first solo flight in a Bristol Boxkite on 18 September , and graduated as a pilot in October . On 6 January 1916 , he was assigned as adjutant to No . 1 Squadron , Australian Flying Corps ( also known until 1918 as No . 67 Squadron , Royal Flying Corps ) . In March , McNamara departed Melbourne for Egypt aboard HMAT " Orsova " , arriving in Suez the following month . He was seconded to No . 42 Squadron RFC in May to attend Central Flying School at Upavon , England ; his secondment to the RFC was gazetted on 5 July 1916 . Completing his course at Upavon , McNamara was posted back to Egypt in August , but was hospitalised on 8 September with orchitis . Discharged on 6 October , he served briefly as a flying instructor with No . 22 Squadron RFC , before returning to No . 1 Squadron . McNamara flew with C Flight , commanded by Captain ( later Air Marshal Sir ) Richard Williams . On his first sortie , a reconnaissance mission over Sinai , McNamara was unaware that his plane had been hit by anti - aircraft fire ; he returned to base with his engine ' s oil supply almost exhausted . Flying B . E . 2 s and Martinsyde s , he undertook further scouting and bombing missions in the ensuing months . Victoria Cross . On 20 March 1917 , McNamara , flying a Martinsyde , was one of four No . 1 Squadron pilots taking part in a raid against a Turkish railway junction near Gaza . Owing to a shortage of bombs , the aircraft were each armed with six specially modified 4 . 5 - inch howitzer shells . McNamara had successfully dropped three of his shells when the fourth exploded prematurely , badly wounded him in the leg with shrapnel , an effect he likened to being " hit with a sledgehammer " . Having turned to head back to base , he spotted a fellow squadron member from the same mission , Captain David Rutherford , on the ground beside his crashlanded B . E . 2 . Allied airmen had been hacked to death by enemy troops in similar situations , and McNamara saw that a company of Turkish cavalry was fast approaching Rutherford ' s position . Despite the rough terrain and the gash in his leg , McNamara landed near Rutherford in an attempt to rescue him . As there was no spare cockpit in the single - seat Martinsyde , the downed pilot jumped on to McNamara ' s wing and held the struts . McNamara crashed while attempting to take off , however , due to the effects of his leg wound and Rutherford ' s weight overbalancing the aircraft . The two men , who had escaped further injury in the accident , set fire to the Martinsyde and dashed back to Rutherford ' s B . E . 2 . Rutherford repaired the engine while McNamara used his revolver against the attacking cavalry , who had opened fire on them . Two other No . 1 Squadron pilots overhead , Lieutenant ( later Air Marshal Sir ) Roy " Peter " Drummond and Lieutenant Alfred Ellis , also began strafing the enemy troops . McNamara managed to start the B . E . 2 ' s engine and take off , with Rutherford in the observer ' s cockpit . In severe pain and close to blacking out from loss of blood , McNamara flew the damaged aircraft back to base at El Arish . Having effected what was described in the Australian official history of the war as " a brilliant escape in the very nick of time and under hot fire " , McNamara " could only emit exhausted expletives " before he lost consciousness shortly after landing . Evacuated to hospital , he almost died following an allergic reaction to a routine tetanus injection . McNamara had to be given artificial respiration and stimulant s to keep him alive , but recovered quickly . A contemporary news report declared that he was " soon sitting up , eating chicken and drinking champagne " . On 26 March , McNamara was recommended for the Victoria Cross by Brigadier General Geoffrey Salmond , General Officer Commanding Middle East Brigade , RFC . Drummond , Ellis , and Rutherford all wrote statements on 3 – 4 April attesting to their comrade ' s actions , Rutherford declaring that " the risk of Lieut . MacNamara being killed or captured was so great that even had he not been wounded he would have been justified in not attempting my rescue – the fact of his already being wounded makes his action one of outstanding gallantry – his determination and resource and utter disregard of danger throughout the operation was worthy of the highest praise " . The first and only VC awarded to an Australian airman in World War I , McNamara ' s decoration was promulgated in the " London Gazette " on 8 June 1917 : Promoted to captain on 10 April 1917 , McNamara became a flight commander in No . 4 Squadron AFC ( also known until 1918 as No . 71 Squadron RFC ) , but was unable to continue flying due to the leg wound he suffered on 20 March . He was invalided back to Australia in August aboard HT " Boorara " , and given a hero ' s welcome on arrival in Melbourne . Found to be medically unfit for active service , McNamara was discharged from the Australian Flying Corps on 31 January 1918 . However , panic caused by the intrusion into Australian waters of the German raider " Wolf " resulted in him being recalled to the AFC and put in charge of an aerial reconnaissance unit based in South Gippsland , Victoria , flying a Royal Aircraft Factory F . E . 2 B and later a Maurice Farman Shorthorn . In September 1918 , he was posted as a flying instructor to Point Cook , where he saw out the remainder of the war . Between the wars . Following the disbandment of the AFC , McNamara transferred to the Australian Air Corps ( AAC ) in April 1920 . He was not offered an appointment in the AAC initially , however , and secured one only after Captain Roy King protested the situation by giving up his own place in the new service in favour of McNamara , whom he described as " this very good and gallant officer " . McNamara was invested with his Victoria Cross by the Prince of Wales at Government House , Melbourne , on 26 May . He enlisted in the newly established Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) in 1921 . Ranked flying officer ( honorary flight lieutenant ) , he was one of the original twenty - one officers on the Air Force ' s strength at its formation that March . Posted to RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne as Staff Officer Operations and Intelligence , McNamara was given command of No . 1 Flying Training School ( No . 1 FTS ) at Point Cook in July 1922 . He was promoted squadron leader in March 1924 and the following month married Hélène Bluntschli , a Belgian national he had met in Cairo during the war , at St Patrick ' s Cathedral ; his best man was fellow officer Frank Lukis . McNamara travelled to England in 1925 for two years exchange with the Royal Air Force , serving at No . 5 Flying Training School , RAF Sealand , and the Directorate of Training at the Air Ministry , London . Returning to Australia in November 1927 , he was appointed Second - in - Command No . 1 FTS . In 1928 , McNamara resumed his studies at the University of Melbourne , having earlier failed to pass the necessary exams to enter the RAF Staff College , Andover . A part - time student at Melbourne , he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations ( second - class honours ) in 1933 . McNamara was made Commanding Officer No . 1 FTS in October 1930 , and promoted to wing commander one year later . He was placed in charge of RAAF Station Laverton , Victoria , including No . 1 Aircraft Depot , in February 1933 . McNamara was raised to group captain in 1936 , and attended the Imperial Defence College , London , the following year . He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( CBE ) in the 1938 New Year Honours . World War II . When World War II broke out in September 1939 , McNamara was serving as Air Liaison Officer at Australia House in London , a position he had held since January 1938 . Shortly before being promoted air commodore in December , he advocated establishing a reception base to act as a headquarters for the RAAF in England and " generally to watch the interests of Australian personnel " who were stationed there . However , by November 1940 he had reversed his position , in favour of an Air Ministry proposal to process personnel of all nationalities in one RAF base camp . In the event , RAAF Overseas Headquarters was formed on 1 December 1941 , with Air Marshal Richard Williams appointed Air Officer Commanding ( AOC ) , and McNamara Deputy AOC . McNamara became acting air vice marshal and acting AOC of RAAF Overseas Headquarters when Williams returned to Australia in January 1942 for what was expected to be a temporary visit ; Williams was subsequently posted to Washington , D . C . and McNamara retained command of the headquarters until the end of the year . McNamara was appointed AOC British Forces Aden in late 1942 , and arrived to take up the posting on 9 January 1943 . Described in the official history of Australia in the war as a " backwater " , British Forces Aden ' s main functions were conducting anti - submarine patrols and escorting convoys . McNamara flew on these missions whenever he could , generally as an observer , but enemy contact was rare . He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath ( CB ) in the 1945 New Year Honours , and returned to London in March . That month McNamara was deeply affected by the loss of his close friend Peter Drummond , who had helped keep attacking cavalry at bay during his Victoria Cross action in 1917 . Drummond ' s Consolidated B - 24 Liberator disappeared near the Azores " en route " to Canada and all aboard were presumed killed ; McNamara had to break the news to his widow , Isabel . McNamara ' s health had also suffered from exposure to the desert dust in Aden , and he was unable to take up his next position as the RAAF ' s representative at the Ministry of Defence until September . His entire war was spent outside Australia . Retirement and legacy . McNamara was summarily retired from the RAAF in 1946 , along with a number of other senior commanders and veterans of World War I , officially to make way for the advancement of younger and equally capable officers . In addition , McNamara ' s role overseas had become redundant . He was discharged from the Air Force on 11 July . In May 1946 , the British government offered McNamara the position of Senior Education Control Officer in Westphalia , Germany , under the auspices of the Allied Control Commission . He later became Deputy Director of Education for the British Zone of Occupation . McNamara continued to live in England after completing his work with the Commission in October 1947 , and served on the National Coal Board in London from 1947 to 1959 . He died of hypertensive heart failure on 2 November 1961 , aged 67 , after suffering a fall at his home in Buckinghamshire . Survived by his wife and two children , he was buried at St Joseph ' s Priory , Austin Wood , Gerrards Cross , following a large funeral . Embittered by his dismissal from the RAAF and the meagre severance he received from the Australian Government , McNamara insisted that his Victoria Cross not be returned to Australia after his death ; his family donated it to the RAF Museum , London . A fellow No . 1 Squadron pilot , Lieutenant ( later Air Vice Marshal ) Adrian Cole , described McNamara as " quiet , scholarly , loyal and beloved by all . . . the last Officer for whom that high honour would have been predicted " . He was one of the few Victoria Cross recipients to subsequently attain senior rank in the armed services , however RAAF historian Alan Stephens considered that his appointments were " in the main routine " and that his one great deed led to " a degree of fame that he perhaps found burdensome " . Biographer Chris Coulthard - Clark summed up McNamara ' s " dilemma " as that of " an essentially ordinary man " thrust into the limelight by one " truly amazing episode " . His name is borne by Frank McNamara Park in Shepparton , Victoria , and the Frank McNamara VC Club at Oakey Army Aviation Centre , Queensland .