Garfield Finlay Garfield Finlay ( 7 September 1893 – 1961 ) was an Australian flying ace during World War I . He served with distinction in the Gallipoli Campaign as a noncommissioned officer in the Light Horse . After transferring to the Australian Flying Corps , he was commissioned and served as an aerial observer . In this role he was credited with eight aerial victories before training as a pilot . As part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under Edmund Allenby , he was also instrumental in the use of air power to inflict a costly defeat on Ottoman Empire forces in September 1918 . After a civilian career in the advertising industry between the wars , he returned to his country ' s service during the Second World War , rising to the rank of Wing Commander in the Royal Australian Air Force . Early life . Garfield Finlay was born on 7 September 1893 in Glebe , New South Wales . His mother was Mrs . Elizabeth Finlay . Before World War I , he lived in West Perth , Western Australia and worked as a wool - classer . Before enlisting he had a successful swimming career . In 1911 , he won the Australian breaststroke championship and the international King ' s Cup of the Royal Life Saving Society in London . The King of Sweden invited him to Sweden where he won the Swedish championships , receiving two magnificent solid silver cups engraved with Primus Bland Simmagistrar 1911 . He served two years in the Mounted Police before enlisting into the First Australian Imperial Force on 22 January 1915 . However , at the time of enlistment , he was working as a labourer . World War I . Finlay joined " B " Squadron , 12th Light Horse Regiment , 4th Light Horse Brigade on 22 January 1915 . He was living in Darlinghurst at the time , and listed his mother Elizabeth living in Perth as his next of kin . On 13 June 1915 , Finlay was a corporal when he embarked on " HMAT Suevic " to depart Sydney . He was promoted to sergeant in October . He served with distinction in the Gallipoli Campaign , rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant Major . As the campaign came to an end , he was attached to the 7th Light Horse Regiment , and was Mentioned in Despatches twice – on 19 December 1915 , as well as on 5 January 1916 – for his actions as one of the last 25 men evacuated from the peninsula . He was returned to the 12th Light Horse on 21 February 1916 . Finlay then served and served in a machine gun section of the Imperial Camel Corps . He was commissioned in March 1917 . A visit to a friend serving in the Royal Flying Corps sparked Finlay ' s transfer to aviation in July 1917 . He remained in the Middle East , being assigned to No . 1 Squadron AFC . On 29 November 1917 , he scored his first aerial victory while flying as an aerial observer in a Royal Aircraft Factory RE . 8 . Finlay was wounded twice by anti - aircraft shrapnel on a flight that took place between 10 January and 20 January . On 1 February 1918 , " The Sydney Morning Herald " reported Lieutenant Garfield Finlay as being wounded in action but remaining on duty , with no date given for the wounding . Finlay scored his second confirmed victory on 29 March 1918 , and would run his victory tally to eight confirmed and eight more unconfirmed by 22 August 1918 . Finlay ' s aerial victories came during the Allied drive for air superiority over Axis pilots flying for the Ottoman Empire . While Australian and British pilots fought aerial battles when necessary , their emphasis was on reconnaissance for Allied ground troops , destruction of enemy aircraft and aviation facilities , and other ground attack missions on enemy infantry and cavalry . In this Allied airmen were so successful that they were virtually without air opposition when they supported Allenby ' s final smashing drive at the Battle of Megiddo . There were several instances during this drive of Turkish units being mauled into collapse by Allied air power . On 21 September 1918 , as part of the Megiddo action , Garfield Finlay , his pilot Alan Brown , and another air crew discovered that several miles of the road leading out of Balata was crowded with Ottoman transport and troops retreating from Allenby ' s army . The two air crews bombed the front and rear of the column , immobilizing it . A radio message back to their airfield brought on follow - up air strikes . One Allied bomber squadron flew six bombing sorties . Forty - four thousand rounds of machine gun ammunition were expended during the raids . Constrained by cliffs on one side of the ancient Roman highway and trackless hills on the other , the Turks suffered heavy casualties . Friendly ground forces sweeping the area later found about 800 horse - drawn wagons abandoned along the road , along with 90 artillery pieces , 50 lorries , and half a dozen automobiles , along with assorted water carts and field kitchen s . This notable action was mentioned in Finlay ' s award citation for the Distinguished Flying Cross , for which he was recommended on 2 October 1918 . In his career as an observer , Finlay was credited with eight confirmed aerial victories , before undertaking pilot training late in the war . List of aerial victories . See also Aerial victory standards of World War I Confirmed victories are numbered and listed chronologically . Unconfirmed victories are denoted by " u / c " . Post World War I . Garfield Finlay ' s Distinguished Flying Cross would not be gazetted until 8 February 1919 , in conjunction with Alan Brown : Another belated honour was his third Mention in Despatches for his services in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force , which would not come until 12 January 1920 . Once released to civilian life in March 1919 , Finlay spent ten years in the United States , working in advertising . Garfield Finlay was one of those men who if you told all that he had done , no one would believe you until you proved your words . He was an entrepreneur who tried many business ideas including flying box kites advertising Lucky Strike cigarettes in the US . He brought the American idea of advertising on bus stops to Australia as well as the fedora hat . He returned to military service at the beginning of the Second World War ; a 24 February 1940 news article mentions him serving as the adjutant of a Royal Australian Air Force training depot at Laverton , ranked as a Flying Officer . He would rise to the rank of Wing Commander , serving in the 1st Tactical Air Force ' s headquarters before being discharged on 16 July 1945 . On 21 April 1949 he dissolved a partnership in a popcorn company in Western Australia , with the intent of continuing it as an individual enterprise . After World War II , he also set up a potato crisp and salted roasted peanut factory in Williamtown , Melbourne . He manufactured Finlay ' s chips and peanuts until his death from a heart attack . He was a heavy smoker and nicotine stains can be seen on his fingers in photographs , even when he was a young man in World War I .