Frank Neale

Neale arrived in Australia at Fremantle (the port for Perth) on 3 February 1925 aboard the Orient liner RMS Ormonde. He had been persuaded to come to Australia by Bert Hinkler, and was contracted as a new pilot for Western Australian Airways. W.A. Airways (as it became known) had a government mail contract on the route from Geraldton to Derby via intermediate ports. Charles Kingsford Smith was one of their first employed pilots, but had left to go out on his own, and Neale filled the vacancy in the north-west of Western Australia, where the company was transitioning from the Bristol Tourer to the de Havilland DH.50.

By late 1926 Neale had joined Australian Aerial Services (AAS) managed by Jim Larkin, at Essendon Aerodrome in Melbourne. Larkin identified his aircraft by naming them after Australian birds. In July 1927, Neale was the pilot of the "Satin Bird" on an inland aerial holiday flight carrying a wealthy pastoralist, W.D. Oliver. This began a regular association between Oliver and Neale in succeeding years, covering many thousands of miles on charter flights. Oliver was always on the lookout for grazing land, and one flight over the Simpson Desert proved that the sand dunes ran for hundreds of miles in a south-easterly direction.

In February 1928, Neale's aircraft the "Bower Bird", a Sopwith Wallaby, was forced down at Pialba near Maryborough, Queensland. It was carrying the manager of Hoyts cinemas to Bundaberg to meet up with Bert Hinkler after Hinkler's record breaking flight from England. Contrary to some reports at the time, the aircraft was not wrecked, but was able to be flown out a few days later. In July 1928, two AAS aircraft from Melbourne flew to Palm Valley in Central Australia on a survey flight. The "Wattle Bird" and "Love Bird" were piloted by Jim Larkin and Frank Neale, to investigate the possibility of establishing tourist flights to the area. Nothing came of it however. In 1929, Neale completed several long-distance flights in Australia on behalf of AAS, and carried W.D. Oliver on another aerial holiday in the "Sun Bird".

The Camooweal to Daly Waters service was pioneered by Frank Neale on 20 February 1930. Neale remained on that run until he went south to join Donald Mackay for a series of survey flights covering the greater part of central and western Australia. The aerial surveys were undertaken in the years 1930, 1933, 1935 and 1937. Neale was the chief pilot for all four survey flights. During this period, several new salt lakes were discovered. The largest was named Lake Mackay, and another Lake Neale. The aircraft used for the 1930 series were English built Air Navigation Experimental Company ANEC IIIs, which were converted in Australia by Larkin's Company. A small lake discovered in Western Australia was named Lake Anec after this aircraft type. In June 1930, Frank Neale became the first pilot to land an aircraft at Ayers Rock (Uluru) during one of these survey flights. The organiser of the surveys, Mackay, carried a goodwill letter with him from explorer William Tietkens who was the first person to photograph the same feature. With the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s, Larkin's companies came under financial pressure, and Frank Neale teamed up with G.C. Matthews operating regular flights across Bass Strait to Tasmania. The aircraft in the first instance was a Saro Cutty Sark registered VH-UNV, a twin engined amphibian. It was replaced in September 1931 by a Saro Windhover with three engines. In January 1933 while flying between King Island and Melbourne, the aircraft suffered a failure of two engines forcing Frank Neale to land on the ocean and taxi 25 miles to the beach. All six occupants survived.

In the intervening years between the Mackay aerial survey flights, Neale was kept busy flying a de Havilland Dragonfly owned by Harry McEvoy, the owner of Fostar Shoe Enterprises. One flight was to China and the Far East, another to England.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Neale joined the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve (RAAF) as a flying officer at No. 1 Communications Unit based in Laverton, Victoria. The unit operated a variety of aircraft for communications and transport of staff, many of which Neale personally flew. By 1941 he had been promoted to flight lieutenant, and in 1942 was a squadron leader in command of the unit. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in June 1942, and had logged 17,400 hours flying. His discharge from the RAAF was effective 11 March 1946, by which time he held the rank of wing commander. He died at his home in Glen Huntly, a suburb of Melbourne, in 1979.