Eaton remained in the RAF following the cessation of hostilities . He married Beatrice Godfrey in St. Thomas 's church at Shepherd 's Bush , London , on 11 January 1919 . Posted to No. 1 Squadron , he was a pilot on the first regular passenger service between London and Paris , ferrying delegates to and from the Peace Conference at Versailles . Eaton was sent to India in December to undertake aerial survey work , including the first such survey of the Himalayas . He resigned from the RAF in July 1920 , remaining in India to take up employment with the Imperial Forest Service . After successfully applying for a position with the Queensland Forestry Service , he and his family migrated to Australia in 1923 . Moving to South Yarra , Victoria , he enlisted as a flying officer in the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) at Laverton on 14 August 1925 . He was posted to No. 1 Flying Training School at RAAF Point Cook , as a flight instructor , where he became known as a strict disciplinarian who  trained his pilots well  . Here Eaton acquired his nickname of  Moth  , the Air Force 's basic trainer at this time being the De Havilland DH.60 Moth . Promoted flight lieutenant in February 1928 , he flew a Moth in the 1929 East @-@ West Air Race from Sydney to Perth , as part of the celebrations for the Western Australia Centenary ; he was the sixth competitor across the line , after fellow RFC veteran Jerry Pentland . Regarded as one of the RAAF 's most skilful cross @-@ country pilots and navigators , Eaton came to public attention as leader of three military expeditions to find lost aircraft in Central Australia between 1929 and 1931 . In April 1929 , he coordinated the Air Force 's part in the search for aviators Keith Anderson and Bob Hitchcock , missing in their aircraft the Kookaburra while themselves looking for Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm , who had force landed the Southern Cross in north Western Australia during a flight from Sydney . Three of the RAAF 's five  ancient  DH.9 biplanes went down in the search — though all crews escaped injury — including Eaton 's , which experienced what he labelled  a good crash on 21 April near Tennant Creek after the engine 's pistons melted . The same day , Captain Lester Brain , flying a Qantas aircraft , located the wreck of the Kookaburra in the Tanami Desert , approximately 130 kilometres ( 81 mi ) east @-@ south @-@ east of Wave Hill . Setting out from Wave Hill on 23 April , Eaton led a ground party across rough terrain that reached the crash site four days later and buried the crew , who had perished of thirst and exposure . Not a particularly religious man , he recalled that after the burial he saw a perfect cross formed by cirrus cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky above the Kookaburra . The Air Board described the RAAF 's search as taking 240 hours flying time  under the most trying conditions ... where a forced landing meant certain crash  . In November 1930 , Eaton was selected to lead another expedition for a missing aircraft near Ayers Rock , but it was called off soon afterwards when the pilot showed up in Alice Springs . The next month , he was ordered to search for W.L. Pittendrigh and S.J. Hamre , who had disappeared in the biplane Golden Quest 2 while attempting to discover Lasseter 's Reef . Employing a total of four DH.60 Moths , the RAAF team located the missing men near Dashwood Creek on 7 January 1931 , and they were rescued four days later by a ground party accompanied by Eaton . Staying in nearby Alice Springs , he recommended a site for the town 's new airfield , which was approved and has remained in use since its construction . Eaton was awarded the Air Force Cross on 10 March 1931 in recognition of his zeal and devotion to duty in conducting flights to Central Australia in search of missing aviators  . The media called him the  ' Knight Errant ' of the desert skies  . Aside from his crash landing in the desert while searching for the Kookaburra , Eaton had another narrow escape in 1929 when he was test flying the Wackett Warrigal I with Sergeant Eric Douglas . Having purposely put the biplane trainer into a spin and finding no response in the controls when he tried to recover , Eaton called on Douglas to bail out . When Douglas stood up to do so , the spin stopped , apparently due to his torso changing the airflow over the tail plane . Eaton then managed to land the aeroplane , he and his passenger both badly shaken by the experience . In December 1931 , he was posted to No. 1 Aircraft Depot at Laverton , where he continued to fly as well as performing administrative work . Promoted squadron leader in 1936 , he undertook a clandestine mission around the new year to scout for suitable landing grounds in the Dutch East Indies , primarily Timor and Ambon . Wearing civilian clothes , he and his companion were arrested and held for three days by local authorities in Koepang , Dutch Timor . Eaton was appointed commanding officer ( CO ) of No. 21 Squadron in May 1937 , one of his first tasks being to undertake another aerial search in Central Australia , this time for prospector Sir Herbert Gepp , who was subsequently discovered alive and well . Later that year , Eaton presided over the court of inquiry into the crash of a Hawker Demon biplane in Victoria , recommending a gallantry award for Aircraftman William McAloney , who had leapt into the Demon 's burning wreckage in an effort to rescue its pilot ; McAloney subsequently received the Albert Medal for his heroism . Following a 1937 decision to establish the first north Australian RAAF base , in April 1938 Eaton , now on the headquarters staff of RAAF Station Laverton , and Wing Commander George Jones , Director of Personnel Services at RAAF Headquarters , began developing plans for the new station , to be commanded by Jones , and a new squadron that would be based there , led by Eaton . The next month they flew an Avro Anson on an inspection tour of Darwin , Northern Territory , site of the proposed base . Delays meant that No. 12 ( General Purpose ) Squadron was not formed until 6 February 1939 at Laverton . Jones had by now moved on to another posting but Eaton took up the squadron 's command as planned . Promoted to wing commander on 1 March , he and his equipment officer , Flying Officer Hocking , were ordered to build up the unit as quickly as possible , and established an initial complement of fourteen officers and 120 airmen , plus four Ansons and four Demons , within a week . An advance party of thirty NCOs and airmen under Hocking began moving to Darwin on 1 July . Staff were initially accommodated in a former meatworks built during World War I , and life at the newly established air base had a distinctly raw , pioneering feel about it  according to historian Chris Coulthard @-@ Clark . Morale , though , was high . On 31 August , No. 12 Squadron launched its first patrol over the Darwin area , flown by one of seven Ansons that had so far been delivered . These were augmented by a flight of four CAC Wirraways ( replacing the originally planned force of Demons ) that took off from Laverton on 2 September , the day before Australia declared war , and arrived in Darwin four days later . A fifth Wirraway in the flight crashed on landing at Darwin , killing both crewmen . fill in the blank  :  __________________ remained in the RAF following the cessation of hostilities . 
Output:  Eaton