Tom Campbell Black Tom Campbell Black , ( December 1899 , Brighton , England – 19 September 1936 , Liverpool , England ) was a famous English aviator . He was the son of Alice Jean McCullough and Hugh Milner Black . He became a world famous aviator when he and C . W . A . Scott won the London to Melbourne Centenary Air Race in 1934 . Early years . Tom Campbell Black attended Brighton College and the records for the period summer 1915 to summer 1917 indicate that he entered Hampden House , May 1915 , was appointed House Prefect , January 1917 and played Second XI Football , 1915 to 1916 and 1916 to 1917 . Campbell Black attended Army Class II and entered the RN College at Greenwich and attained a commission in the R . N . A . S . ( Naval Air Service ) . He served first as a pilot in the Naval Air Service and later in the RAF during the Great War , rising to the rank of Captain . Arriving in Africa as a soldier settler in 1922 , he joined his brother , Frank Milner Black , who had been stationed as a soldier in Kenya and decommissioned in 1920 . Black family history has it that Tom and his brother managed a coffee plantation in British East Africa , in the 1920s . Their farm was between the towns of Rongai and Eldama Ravine , in the Rift Valley , about northwest of Nairobi . Tom was a noted horseman who was an award - winning show jumper , winning a competition in 1925 . He later bred and raised race horses , which remained a passion of his throughout his life . It is stated in the Shuttleworth Collection Records , England , that an aircraft currently in their collection , a de Havilland DH . 51 , was built in 1925 and shortly after John Evans Carberry bought and shipped it to Mombasa . The DH . 51 first flew in Africa on 4 April 1926 . In June 1928 , Tom Campbell Black , G . Skinner and A . Hughes bought the aircraft and on 10 September 1928 , it became the first aircraft to be registered in Kenya . Named " Miss Kenya " , it was first registered G - KAA , but with the change in the registration system , it was re - registered VP - KAA . Wilson Airways . After flying with Campbell Black in February 1929 , Mrs . Florence Kerr Wilson was encouraged by his enthusiasm to form Wilson Airways Ltd . , in Kenya . At inception later in the same year , her airline possessed a single Gypsy Moth aircraft , primarily piloted by Campbell Black . The airline grew into a comprehensive air carrier across Kenya . Captain Hugo Dunkerley , the Editor of " Aeroken " and the Special Correspondent of the " East African Standard " , accompanied Campbell Black in the first flight from Nairobi to Mombasa and back in a single day , on 21 November 1929 . He also accompanied Tom on a round flight , Nairobi , Dar es Salaam , Mombasa and back to Nairobi in just over nine hours , in November 1930 . Tom Campbell Black was the Managing Director / Chief Pilot of Wilson Airways , but in March 1932 , he resigned from Wilson Airways and left Kenya to take up an employment offer made by Lord Marmaduke Furness , a renowned horse breeder , to be his personal pilot and live back in England . While the company was profitable , Wilson Airways was disbanded in 1939 with the outbreak of the Second World War . The Ernst Udet rescue . In the Time Magazine , 20 October 1934 , report of the London to Melbourne Air Race , a mention is made to an incident that happened concerning Tom Black " Captain T . Campbell Black , famed for his spectacular rescue of Ernst Udet , German War Ace , in the desert wastes of the treacherous Nile country three years ago . " A reference to this act is found in Ernst Udet ' s " Ace of the Iron Cross " . An account of the rescue follows : The London to Melbourne Centenary Air Race . In 1934 , Campbell Black and C . W . A . Scott were entered in the London to Melbourne Air Race , officially known as the " MacRobertson Air Race " . Recorded as " Captain T . Campbell Black " in the starters list for the race , Campbell Black and C . W . A . Scott won the " Speed Section " of the race in an extraordinary time of 71 hours , and won the First Place Prize of 10 , 000 pounds . They also won the " Handicap Section " but the race rules didn ' t allow them to win the two sections . Black and Scott were awarded " The Britannia Trophy " by the Royal Aero Club , England , presented " " For the British Aviator or Aviators accomplishing the most meritorious performance in aviation during the previous year . " " The Manx Air Race . The following report was made on an air race held at the Isle of Man , England : Manx Air Race 1932 . Held Saturday , 18 June , total Island course : . At the end of the two laps it was Ashwell Cook with Tom Campbell Black as navigator , who came through to win in a Circus Moth aircraft averaging . The following references to Tom Black are recorded in the history of " Firbeck Hall " , an elegant country home in England dating from circa 1585 , that in the mid - 1930s was converted into one of the country ' s most exclusive sporting country clubs . Beryl Markham . Campbell Black also had a long - term relationship with Beryl Markham , the famous aviatrix who lived in Kenya who had been introduced to aviation by Campbell - Black . He subsequently became her flight instructor . In September 1936 , Beryl Markham achieved fame by being the first solo female aviator to fly the Atlantic Ocean from East to West ( from England to America ) , against the prevailing winds . The Schlesinger Race . In the same year , Tom Black had entered in an air race from England to Johannesburg , South Africa , " The Schlesinger Race " , flown from 29 September 1936 to 1 October 1936 , the race offered a prize of £10 , 000 to the winner . Campbell Black was one of the three favourites to win the race , all flying Percival E2H Mew Gulls . On 19 September 1936 , while preparing for the race , Tom Campbell Black was killed at the U . K ' s Liverpool , Speke Airport , in a ground collision with another aircraft . A RAF bomber that had landed ran into Black ' s Mew Gull as he taxiied out for take off . Black was reputed to have been looking down at his map at the time . The propeller of the large biplane tore through the side of Black ' s cockpit , striking and mortally wounding him in the chest and shoulder . He died on the way to hospital . He left a widow , the English actress Florence Desmond , whom he had married in 1935 . The winners of the " Schlesinger Race " were C . W . A . Scott , ( Black ' s co - pilot in the 1934 MacRoberts Race ) and Giles Guthrie . The incident at Speke Airport . The following is a transcript of " Incidents Report at Speke Airport " :