Jerry Pentland Alexander Augustus Norman Dudley Pentland MC , DFC , AFC ( 5 August 1894 – before 7 November 1983 ) , known as " Jerry " Pentland , was an Australian fighter ace in World War I . Born in Maitland , New South Wales , he commenced service as a Lighthorseman with the Australian Imperial Force in 1915 , and saw action at Gallipoli . He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps the following year , rising to captain . Credited with twenty - three aerial victories , Pentland became the fifth highest - scoring Australian ace of the war , after Robert Little , Roderic Dallas , Harry Cobby and Elwyn King . He was awarded the Military Cross in January 1918 for " conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty " on a mission attacking an aerodrome behind enemy lines , and the Distinguished Flying Cross that August for engaging four hostile aircraft single - handedly . Pentland served in the fledgling Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) , and later the Royal Air Force , before going into business in 1927 . His ventures included commercial flying around the goldfields of New Guinea , aircraft design and manufacture , flight instruction , and charter work . In the early 1930s , he was employed as a pilot with Australian National Airways , and also spent time as a dairy farmer . Soon after the outbreak of World War II , he re - enlisted in the RAAF , attaining the rank of squadron leader and commanding rescue and communications units in the South West Pacific . Perhaps the oldest operational pilot in the wartime RAAF , Pentland was responsible for rescuing a number of airmen , soldiers and civilians , and earned the Air Force Cross for his " outstanding courage , initiative and skill " . He became a trader in New Guinea when the war ended in 1945 , and later a coffee planter . Retiring in 1959 , he died in 1983 at the age of eighty - nine . Early life . Of Irish ancestry , Alexander Augustus Norman Dudley Pentland ( nicknamed " Jerry " from an early age ) was born in Maitland , New South Wales , on 5 August 1894 . Educated at The King ' s School , Sydney , and Brighton Grammar , Melbourne , he went on to study dairy farming at Hawkesbury Agricultural College , and later worked as a jackaroo . His father , also named Alexander , was a physician who joined the Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) during World War I and served as a major in the Australian Army Medical Corps . World War I . Pentland enlisted as a private in the AIF on 5 March 1915 , sailing for Egypt with the 12th Light Horse Regiment aboard HMAT A29 " Suevic " on 13 June . In August , his unit deployed to Gallipoli , where he fought as a machine gunner before being hospitalised the following month , suffering from typhoid fever ; he was evacuated to England in December . Determined to leave the trenches behind after recovering , he volunteered for the Royal Flying Corps ( RFC ) and was discharged from the AIF on 21 February 1916 to take up his commission as a temporary second lieutenant in the RFC . His first solo flight in a Maurice Farman Longhorn at Brooklands , after two hours of dual instruction , ended with him overshooting the runway and crashing in a sewage farm , but he was unhurt and immediately undertook a second solo attempt , landing successfully . After completing pilot training , he was posted to France in June , flying B . E . 2s with No . 16 Squadron . Though the slow and vulnerable B . E . 2 was considered " Fokker fodder " by its crews , Pentland and his observer quickly managed to score the former ' s first aerial victory , bringing down a German " Eindecker " over Habourdin on 9 June . He was then posted to No . 29 Squadron and was converting to DH . 2 " pusher " fighters when he broke his leg playing rugby . After recovering , he instructed at London Colney until June 1917 , when he joined No . 19 Squadron , flying SPAD S . VII s . This would become Pentland ' s favourite type due to its strength and manoeuvrability , even though it had to be ' flown ' constantly and was unforgiving at low speed . On 20 July 1917 , soon after arriving at his new unit in France , Pentland achieved his first victory in the SPAD when he shared in the destruction of an Albatros two - seater . He followed this up with a solo " kill " on 12 August . Four days later , after stopping an enemy truck convoy in its tracks by crippling its lead vehicle with machine - gun fire , he reportedly engaged ten Albatros fighters single - handedly ; by the time he had driven them off , four bullets had penetrated his leather flying suit without injuring him , while his plane had absorbed so much punishment that it had to be scrapped when he got back to base . After sharing another Albatros two - seater on 20 August , Pentland led a raid on Marcke aerodrome , home of Baron von Richthofen ' s " Jasta " 11 , on 26 August . On the way , he helped bring down a DFW C . V , then achieved complete surprise at the airfield , which he and his flight proceeded to shoot up . On the return journey , he strafed an enemy train until his guns jammed and then , having managed to clear them , engaged two more German scouts . His part in the raid earned him the Military Cross , which was promulgated in the " London Gazette " on 9 January 1918 : Credited with one more victory during August 1917 , and another four the following month , Pentland ' s score stood at ten when he was injured on 26 September after an artillery shell struck his SPAD and forced him to crash land . Following his recovery , he again spent time instructing before being posted back to a front - line unit , this time No . 87 Squadron , operating Sopwith Dolphin s . Promoted captain , he returned to France in April 1918 , having transferred the same month with the rest of the RFC to the newly formed Royal Air Force ( RAF ) . Pentland went on to achieve thirteen victories with No . 87 Squadron , where his aggressive tactics saw him dubbed the " Wild Australian " by colleagues . Appointed commander of ' B ' Flight , he also frequently acted as a " lone wolf " , actively seeking dogfights with enemy aircraft on his own . On 18 June , he was alone on patrol when he engaged a flight of four Rumpler high - altitude reconnaissance aircraft , forcing down three of them . This action earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross , gazetted on 3 August : On 25 August , Pentland attacked and destroyed two German planes , a DFW two - seater and Fokker D . VII , before himself being shot down and wounded in the foot . These would be his last victories ; his grand total of twenty - three included eleven destroyed , one of which was shared , and twelve out of control , three of them shared . This score ranked him fifth among the Australian aces of the war after Robert Little , Roderic Dallas , Harry Cobby and Elwyn King . Between the wars . Pentland relinquished his RAF commission and returned to Australia at the end of the war , earning money by giving joyrides in an Avro 504K . Looking for a more secure future , he joined the newly established Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) in August 1921 , following an interview with Wing Commander Stanley Goble , a wartime acquaintance through the RAF . Ranked flight lieutenant , Pentland was put in charge of the RAAF ' s complement of S . E . 5 fighters at Point Cook , Victoria , part of the Imperial Gift recently donated by Great Britain . The young Air Force had the atmosphere of a flying club , where everyone knew everyone else . However , tensions sometimes arose between those who had served with British forces during the war , and those who had belonged to the Australian Flying Corps ( AFC ) ; the former considered that they were discriminated against when it came to filling senior positions , and came the day Pentland and fellow ex - RAF member Hippolyte De La Rue threw an " uppity " AFC man into a mess fireplace . Deciding that his RAAF career was not progressing , Pentland applied for a short - service commission as a flying officer with the RAF in 1923 , which was granted as of 23 April . He journeyed to Britain with new wife Madge , whom he had married just before departing Australia ; they had one daughter , Carleen , the following year . Pentland completed the course at Central Flying School , Uphavon , and became an instructor there , gaining promotion to flight lieutenant before leaving the RAF on 20 July 1926 and returning to Australia . In 1927 , Pentland formed Mandated Territory Airways with entrepreneur Albert Royal to fly freight to and from the goldfields of New Guinea . The pair bought a DH . 60 Moth biplane , which Pentland ferried to the firm ' s base at Lae in February 1928 . The business prospered in the short term , to the extent that the partners took on another Moth and more pilots . By the end of the year , however , Pentland was suffering from malaria and had to abandon the venture , selling one of the planes to Guinea Airways and returning to Australia with the other . After recovering in the new year , he embarked on a series of new enterprises , including aircraft manufacture , a flying school , and charter work . In February 1929 , he formed the General Aircraft Company with Royal and another partner to produce an Australian - designed aeroplane , the Genairco , of which eight were eventually sold . With the Moth from Mandated Territory Airways , he established Pentland ' s Flying School at Mascot , New South Wales . He also flew charters with a Moth owned by " The Sun " newspaper , using the same aircraft that September to compete in the East - West Air Race from Sydney to Perth , as part of the celebrations for the Western Australia Centenary . The event attracted a number of veteran aviators of World War I , including Horrie Miller — the eventual winner on handicap — and Charles " Moth " Eaton , whom Pentland beat into fifth place across the line . Lack of patronage led to Pentland folding his businesses and taking a job in 1930 as a pilot with Australian National Airways ( ANA ) , a new airline founded by Charles Kingsford - Smith and Charles Ulm . By 1932 , ANA was in trouble as well , and Pentland left to set up as a dairy farmer on a property he bought at Singleton . Within two years , drought forced him to sell the land and he returned to earning his living as a pilot , instructing at aero clubs in Queensland and New South Wales . By late 1937 , he was again employed as a transport pilot in New Guinea , where he was known as a practical joker who liked to hold a map in front of his face in apparent short - sightedness and ask his passengers if they could see a landing ground anywhere . He returned to Australia after war was declared in September 1939 . World War II and later life . Having offered his services to the Australian government on his return from New Guinea , Pentland rejoined the RAAF on 17 June 1940 . He undertook the course at Central Flying School in Camden , New South Wales , and was posted as an instructor to elementary flying training schools in eastern Australia , including Brisbane , Tamworth , Temora , Bundaberg , and Lowood . Addressed by a young pilot at one school as " Pop " , Pentland responded in front of the large audience , " I ' m sorry son , but I don ' t remember sleeping with your mother " . Ranked flight lieutenant , he was appointed commanding officer ( CO ) of No . 1 Communication Flight at Port Moresby , New Guinea , in June 1942 . The official history of Australia in the war described this as the RAAF ' s " most unusual operational unit " , asserting that its " strange assortment of light aircraft was as varied and as appropriate to its task as was the flying record of its commander . . . " . Beginning with a single DH . 84 Dragon , its inventory eventually included such types as the Tiger Moth , Fox Moth , DH . 90 Dragonfly , DH . 50 , Piper Cub , Avro Anson , Supermarine Walrus , PBY Catalina , and Dornier Do 24 . Perhaps the RAAF ' s oldest pilot in any theatre of operations , Pentland was responsible for the rescue of seven downed US airmen the same month he assumed command , and later civilians and Australian soldiers fleeing from the Japanese invasion of Rabaul . He also organised aerial surveys around Daru and Milne Bay , developing new bases and emergency airfields at locales such as Bena Bena , Abau , Kulpi , and Port Moresby . By 30 November 1942 , Pentland had been promoted squadron leader and his unit was reformed at Port Moresby as Rescue and Communication Squadron , but remained better known as " Pentland ' s Flying Circus " . Posted back to Australia in June 1943 , he received radar training before taking command of No . 3 Communication Unit at Mascot in November , and helping to set up the RAAF ’ s early warning grid in northern Australia . He returned to New Guinea in March 1944 as CO of No . 8 Communication Unit , Goodenough Island , which had been formed in November 1943 from Pentland ' s old Rescue and Communications Squadron . With Bristol Beaufort , CAC Boomerang , Bristol Beaufighter , and Vultee Vengeance combat aircraft added to its complement , the unit performed reconnaissance and bombing sorties over New Britain and north - eastern New Guinea , as well as rescue and survey missions . In July 1945 , Pentland was posted back to Mascot as CO of No . 3 Communication Unit , serving until September . His achievements in New Guinea earned him the Air Force Cross ( AFC ) , the citation being promulgated on 22 February 1946 and concluding : With the end of hostilities in the Pacific , Pentland was discharged from the RAAF on 2 November 1945 . He took the opportunity to purchase surplus military equipment in New Guinea and established himself as a trader in Finschhafen , later expanding to Lae and Wau . In 1948 , he went into business as a coffee planter in Goroka , and also recruited labour from the highlands for industries on the coast . Prospering as a planter , he contributed to development of the region by building Goroka ' s original constant - flowing water supply and encouraging other businesses to set up there . His ongoing commitments in New Guinea meant that he was not invested with his AFC until 1950 . In 1959 , he sold his interests in Goroka and retired with Madge to their seaside home in Bayview , New South Wales . Madge Pentland died in 1982 , and Jerry eighteen months later at the War Veterans Home in nearby Collaroy . He was survived by daughter Carleen , his funeral taking place on 7 November 1983 .