Oswald Watt Walter Oswald Watt OBE ( 11 February 1878 – 21 May 1921 ) was an Australian aviator and businessman . The son of Scottish - Australian merchant and politician John Brown Watt , he was born in England and came to Sydney when he was a year old . Watt returned to Britain at the age of eleven for education at Bristol and Cambridge . In 1900 he went back to Australia and enlisted in the Militia , before acquiring cattle stations in New South Wales and Queensland . He was also a partner in the family shipping firm . Becoming in 1911 the first Australian to qualify for a Royal Aero Club flying certificate , Watt joined the French Foreign Legion as a pilot on the outbreak of World War I . He transferred to the Australian Flying Corps ( AFC ) in 1916 , quickly progressing from a flight commander with No . 1 Squadron in Egypt to the commanding officer of No . 2 Squadron on the Western Front . By February 1918 , he had been promoted to lieutenant colonel and taken command of the AFC ' s 1st Training Wing in England . A recipient of France ' s Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre , and twice mentioned in despatches during the war , Watt was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1919 . He left the military to pursue business interests in Australia , and was lauded for his generosity to other returned airmen . In 1921 , at the age of forty - three , he died by accidental drowning at Bilgola Beach , New South Wales . He is commemorated by the Oswald Watt Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in Australian aviation , and the Oswald Watt Fund at the University of Sydney . Early career . Born on 11 February 1878 in Bournemouth , England , Oswald Watt was the youngest son of John Brown Watt , a Scot who had migrated to New South Wales in 1842 and became a successful merchant and politician , frequently representing his state on overseas missions . Oswald ' s Australian - born mother , Mary Jane , died when he was one and shortly afterwards the family relocated to Sydney . Oswald was sent back to England at the age of eleven to complete his schooling at Clifton College , Bristol , before going on to study at Trinity College , Cambridge , where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1899 . Returning to Sydney in 1900 , he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the New South Wales Scottish Rifles , a Militia unit , and in 1902 was appointed an aide - de - camp to the Governor of New South Wales . On 27 September that year , he married Muriel Williams at St . John ' s Anglican Church in Toorak , Victoria ; the couple had one son . Watt ' s family was wealthy , and he was able to establish himself as a grazier by purchasing several cattle stations in New South Wales and Queensland . Travelling abroad again , he obtained his Master of Arts degree from Cambridge in 1904 . In October the following year he was promoted to captain in the Scottish Rifles . On a subsequent trip to England he took flying lessons at the Bristol aviation school on Salisbury Plain , where his fellow students included Eric Harrison . Watt attained his Royal Aero Club certificate , no . 112 , on 1 August 1911 , becoming the first Australian citizen so qualified . Upon his return to Australia later that year , he publicly declared that the time was " rapidly approaching when an aero corps [ would ] have to be inaugurated " as part of the country ' s " military defence scheme " . In March 1912 , Watt recommended a location in Canberra near the Royal Military College , Duntroon , as a base for the Army ' s proposed Central Flying School . However this site was rejected by the school ' s nominated commander , Lieutenant Henry Petre , owing to its altitude and nearby mountainous terrain . Petre eventually chose 297 hectares at Point Cook , Victoria , an area suitable for seaplanes as well as land - based aircraft , to become the " birthplace of Australian military aviation " . Watt also advocated manufacturing foreign - designed aircraft under licence in Australia , but this would not be pursued until after World War I . In 1913 he was divorced on the grounds of his " misconduct " with actress Ivy Schilling , and lost custody of his son in the judgment . He then went to Egypt where he purchased and practised flying a Blériot XI monoplane ; while there he met leading French aviators including Louis Blériot and Roland Garros . World War I . In May 1914 , the francophile Watt left Egypt with his aeroplane and took up employment at the Blériot factory and airfield in Buc , outside Paris . Fired by the widely held conviction that Britain would stay out of a European conflict , Watt offered his services and his plane to the French government on 2 August , the day France declared war on Germany . This gesture was welcomed and he joined the Aviation Militaire section of the Foreign Legion as a pilot . Though he was ranked an ordinary soldier , his colleagues in Bleriot Squadron No . 30 referred to him as " " Capitaine " " in deference to his previous status in the Australian Militia . Posted to Maurice Farman Squadron No . 44 in April 1915 , he earned the Legion of Honour badge after he and his observer crash - landed in no man ' s land and succeeded in making their way back to French lines with valuable intelligence under intense fire from German positions . Soon afterwards , Watt was awarded the Croix de Guerre — with palm leaves personally presented by General Joffre — and promoted to the provisional rank of captain . As a foreigner , however , he was not eligible to command a French unit . Watt always proclaimed his antipodean connection while serving France , painting a kangaroo on the nose of his plane , which he named " Advance Australia " . Considered a no - nonsense type , he once introduced himself to a British pilot with the words " I am an Australian and I haven ' t got any manners " . The French recognised that Watt ' s talents were not being fully utilised due to his ineligibility to lead a squadron , and recommended that he transfer to the Australian Flying Corps . Watt did so on 1 March 1916 , with the rank of captain . Posted to Egypt in May , he was made commander of B Flight , No . 1 Squadron , and took charge of the unit ' s first contingent of Royal Aircraft Factory B . E . 2 s the following month . No . 1 Squadron was engaged mainly in aerial reconnaissance and army co - operation duties , but the two - seat B . E . 2 proved inferior to German Fokker s and Rumpler s in speed , time - to - climb , and manoeuvrability . In September 1916 , Watt was promoted to major and given command of No . 2 Squadron , which was formed in Kantara . He was mentioned in despatches by General Archibald Murray , Commander - in - Chief of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force , on 13 October ; the commendation was promulgated in the " London Gazette " on 1 December . No . 2 Squadron ' s personnel was composed largely of former Lighthorsemen , as well as thirteen mechanics from the Australian Flying Corps ' first combat formation , the Mesopotamian Half Flight , led by Flight Sergeant George Mackinolty . Watt personally trained the force in England commencing in January 1917 , before deploying it to the Western Front that September . He was " a born leader of men " , according to one officer , while another recalled that " In the things that mattered , his men knew he stood for absolute obedience . They also knew that when discipline could be safely relaxed he would be quick to grant them some relief from the strain . " In the vicinity of Saint - Quentin on 2 October , No . 2 Squadron became the first AFC unit in Europe to see combat when one of its patrols engaged some German two - seaters , which managed to escape . Because the Airco DH . 5 s in the squadron were handicapped as fighters by engine problems and low speed , the squadron was employed mainly in ground support duties . During the Battle of Cambrai that commenced on 20 November 1917 , Watt led his pilots on daring low - level bombing and strafing attacks against enemy fortifications and lines of communication . Their loss rate reached 30 % , but morale remained high . After visiting the squadron , the Royal Flying Corps ' Major General Hugh Trenchard described its airmen as " really magnificent " while Charles Bean , war correspondent and future editor of the " Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 – 1918 " , commented on their " remarkably high level of conduct and general tone " . Six of Watt ' s officers were awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during the battle , prompting General Sir William Birdwood to send him a personal message of congratulation on 16 December , declaring : " . . . This is indeed a magnificent record for your squadron , and one of which I am sure everyone of you must rightly be extremely proud ; I doubt if it has been beaten anywhere . . . " By this time , No . 2 Squadron had begun converting to Royal Aircraft Factory S . E . 5 s , though it could achieve little in the winter months due to inclement weather . Watt himself , now almost forty , was beginning to show the strain of frontline command . Bean found him looking " very worn " and noticed him shivering even while seated in front of the mess hall fire . In February 1918 , Watt was promoted to lieutenant colonel and given command of the AFC ' s 1st Training Wing ( Nos . 5 , 6 , 7 and 8 Squadrons ) headquartered at Tetbury in Gloucestershire , England ; the wing ' s role was to train replacement pilots for the four operational AFC squadrons in Palestine and France . Watt proposed moving the wing to France , but it remained in England . He was mentioned in despatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig on 7 April , and the commendation was gazetted on 28 May . Shortly after the end of hostilities in November 1918 , novelist William John Locke visited 1st Training Wing and found that " there was not one [ of Watt ' s men ] who . . . did not confide to me his pride in serving under a leader so distinguished " . A pilot later opined that as well as having " courage , determination , and an immense capacity for work " , Watt possessed " the greatest factor in leadership , a genius for endearing himself ( without conscious effort ) to all who served under him " . Post - war career and legacy . Watt was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1919 , in recognition of his war service . He returned to Australia on 6 May with the rest of 1st Training Wing ' s personnel , aboard the troopship " Kaisar - i - Hind " , on which he was the ranking officer . Leaving the AFC soon afterwards , he was elected president of the New South Wales section of the Australian Aero Club . He also served as senior delegate on a committee of veteran military pilots examining applications for appointment to a proposed independent Australian air service . Watt was esteemed as a man who did not forget old comrades , providing former AFC members with financial aid and helping them re - establish themselves in civilian life . He maintained an interest in commercial flying but refused an offer to take up the position of controller of civil aviation in 1920 owing to his business interests , which included partnership in the family shipping firm of Gilchrist , Watt & Sanderson Ltd , and directorships of mining , rubber , and art corporations . He also turned down invitations to stand for parliament , and to join the fledgling Royal Australian Air Force . Oswald Watt drowned at Bilgola Beach , near Newport , New South Wales , on 21 May 1921 . Cuts and bruising on his body indicated that he had slipped on rocks , struck his head , and rolled unconscious into relatively shallow water . Survived by his son , he was accorded a military funeral two days later at St Jude ' s Church , Randwick . Members of the AFC , Royal Air Force , and Australian Aero Club formed a guard of honour at the service , one of the largest in the suburb ' s history , which also included representatives of the Royal Australian Navy and Australian Army . Among the tributes was a floral wreath from an anonymous group of French admirers , and another that was dropped by parachute from a low - flying plane . On 31 May , Watt ' s body was cremated and his ashes interred in the family vault at St Jude ' s . In his will , Watt left two bequests to the Australian Aero Club , one of which was used to establish the Oswald Watt Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in Australian aviation . Winners of the award have included Charles Kingsford Smith , Bert Hinkler , Henry Millicer , Ivor McIntyre , Jon Johanson and Andy Thomas . He also bequeathed a sum to the Royal Military College , Duntroon , to award annually a set of binoculars for the best cadet essay on military aviation or aeronautics . The award was founded as the Oswald Watt Prize later in 1921 . Most of the residue of Watt ' s estate went to the University of Sydney . Considered one of the university ' s great benefactors , he was commemorated by the Oswald Watt Fund . In May 1923 , the Oswald Watt Wing of the Havilah Home for Orphans , Wahroonga , was opened by the Governor - General of Australia . Watt was acknowledged as both a source and a reviewer by F . M . Cutlack in the latter ' s volume on the Australian Flying Corps that was first published in 1923 as part of the " Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 – 1918 " . During World War I , Oswald Watt had been the only AFC officer to command a wing apart from Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams , who was later to become known as the " Father of the RAAF " . In 2001 , military historian Alan Stephens noted that " had fate drawn him to a post - war career in the Air Force instead of to business and an untimely death , ' Toby ' Watt might have challenged Richard Williams as the RAAF ' s dominant figure in its formative years " .