SLOANE, William Douglas (1890-1917)William Douglas Sloane was born on 4 June 1890 at Bernarra Station, NSW, the son of James Sloane and Amy Elizabeth nee Robertson. He was educated as a boarder at Geelong College from 1904 to 1909 and was a member of the College Running Team of 1908. At an early age he took an interest in aeronautics, and began building his own plane at his home, Bernarra, near Corowa.
Terry Gwynn-Jones wrote in the Foreword to Alexander and Ann Sloane’s biography of Douglas Sloane,
To Fly Like an Eagle: ‘Young Australians like Harry Hawker and his mates, Harry Busteed and Harry Kauper, sailed for England to join an infant aviation industry that was growing wings. Others such as Bert Hinkler and John Duigan studied soaring birds, and set about building Australia’s first aircraft. In garages and shearing sheds young Australians constructed flying machines. High on optimism, but low on knowledge, their know-how came from books, newspaper clippings, and picture postcards. Most valuable of all was that inherent Australian knack of ‘can-do’ improvisation born of the bush. Douglas Sloane of Mulwala Station was one of those bright-eyed, eager young men. Despite a school report that called him a ‘very backward’ mathematician, the young countryman studied the flight of wedge-tailed eagles, then built his own aeroplane and engine. However, before he was able to perfect his design, World War One broke out, and Douglas and his brothers sailed for England with the Australian Expeditionary Force. The Sloane family letters . . . provide an absorbing look at the close-knit lives of an Australian family. The letters written by Douglas and his brother paint a picture of their experiences in Britain as they prepared to go to war. Douglas became an Air Mechanic/Observer with No 69 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps. Sadly, like so many of those bold young pioneers, he did not live to see the aeroplane come of age. Nor did he return to his beloved bi-plane which waited in the rafters of the Mulwala woolshed. Shortly after taking off from an English aerodrome in August, 1917, bound for the Western Front, Douglas Sloane died in a tragic flying accident.’  (War Service 1914-1918) wiki.JPG)
'Doug' Sloane (Sloane Family)
Douglas’ younger cousin, Ian Sloane, a great admirer of the aspiring aviator, left vivid memories of that era in his notes and tapes, as recorded in
To Fly Like an Eagle:
‘In 1914, Europe as we knew it, went up in smoke. The three Bernarra Boys were among the first to enlist. Alex joined the 2nd Division, AIF, 4th Brigade, 10th Battery, and became a driver. After training in Egypt, he spent the war in France (and Belgium). Hume, owing to poor eyesight, was turned down by the Forces. I believe he enlisted three times, with the same result. So he joined the Army Medical Corps, and as he was a very powerful man, became a stretcher bearer. Like his brother Alex, he saw the war out in Flanders. Naturally, Douglas attempted to join the Air Division of the Army. However, the powers that be saw in Douglas, not a pilot, but an engineer and designer, and sent him back to perfect the latest engine he was building, which was man-powered. He spent all his time at the engineering works in Melbourne, and had his engine running well. Then fate struck a tragic blow. One night the entire works was burnt to the ground. All Douglas’ plans and engine were lost. He was asked to start again, but instead, he wanted to fly. Already, some of his friends were in the air. Willy Hay of nearby Boomanoomana, Andrew Lang of Corowa, and John Duigan, were airborne in various ways. During September 1916, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps began forming near Point Cook. Douglas was determined to join this Squadron, and after much persistent arguing with the authorities, Douglas was permitted to join. On 2nd October 1916, Douglas took the Oath of Allegiance, and enlisted in the A.I.F. He was accepted into the 2nd Flying Corps Squadron, and began immediate training at Point Cook, under Lieutenant J Blake, Commanding Officer of B Flight, 2nd Flying Squadron. At that time Douglas was 26 years old, and had described his previous occupation as ‘Motor Engineer’.At the outbreak of the Great War he enlisted on 2 October 1916 as an air mechanic 2nd class (694) in the fledgling Australian Air Force. He was sent to England for further training, and on 21 August 1917, while crossing to France to a posting with 3 Squadron, his machine crashed, with fatal results.
F M Cutlack in the Official History reported:
‘The honour of being the first Australian flying unit to arrive in France belongs to No 3 Squadron. Leaving observers, transport personnel, and other details to go by water, the three flights (each of six machines) left South Carlton by air on 24 August, 1917, under Major Blake and flew to Lympne in Kent, the first stage. Each pilot carried an air-mechanic in the observer’s seat. One machine, which was forced to land in Kent before reaching Lympne, crashed on taking off again, and both occupants, Lt Shapira and Air-Mechanic Sloane, were killed. The other machines were detained at Lympne for some days by orders from France and by bad weather, but finally on 9 September, flew across to St Omer, and thence next day to their appointed aerodrome at Savy, half-way between St Pol and Arras. Here the squadron was posted to 1st (Corps) Wing, RFC.’ A comrade wrote of the fate of the two men:
‘The machine piloted by Lt Shapira and D (Tod) Sloane met with a mishap, which proved fatal. Engine trouble resulted in a nose-dive, with a crash, which caused the loss of both lives of esteemed members of our Flight Squadron. Poor old Tod. The boys feel very sad about his death.’ Douglas Sloane was buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery, London - Grave XI.D.15 on 25 August 1917, by AIF Presbyterian Chaplain Reverend W Floyd-Shannon. The cortege was headed by a firing party of fifty South African Scottish, then came six pipers, who played dirges in slow time. The coffin was draped with the Australian flag. His comrade 2/Lt FC Shapira was buried alongside.
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Memorial to W D Sloane (Sloane Family).
Ian Sloane was a 14-year old schoolboy at Geelong College when Douglas was killed, and remembered the circumstances of hearing of his cousin’s death:
‘I was a day boy at Geelong College then in 1917. Every morning we had Assembly, as they called it. We were mustered like sheep into Morrison Hall, and Mr Price read a piece out of the Bible and a prayer, the same prayer every day. The prayer was out of the prayer book, and was the best ever written. We all knew it by heart. Then, all too often, before telling us the ‘Order of the day’, he would announce with regret that ‘So-and-so’ had been killed in action; ‘he’ had attended the College in ‘such-and-such’ year. The Headmaster, Mr Price, was as hard as flint. However he found these announcements hard. Once he had announced the death of the boy who had been Head Prefect and winner of the College Cup the year before. It was too much for him, and he made the announcement in a hushed voice to a stunned school, then almost ran from the Hall. Perhaps that was the only time in his life he cried. Years later I got to know a member of the ground staff, who saw the plane crash that killed that young boy. So when one morning Mr Price paused after his prayer, and announced that W D Sloane had been killed whilst flying, I knew the world would never be the same for me. However, the Sloane family took the loss bravely. He had given his life for his country. However his mother, though she showed a brave heart to the general public, covered her sorrow by taking on the hardest of the war work. Heartbroken, she gave demonstrations of how to make Trench Fuel, and cook a meal out of a handful of newspaper as fuel. The idea was to cook newspapers in fat, dry it, and you could cook eggs or boil a billy in no time with it. Tons of it left Australia. No doubt smoked many a trooper out.’ As Ian Sloane remembered, men like Douglas Sloane started a lot. It is all summed up in the hymn:
‘Time like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten as a dream
Dies at the opening day.’ His brothers,
Alexander James Sloane (1886-1971), and
Hume Robertson Sloane (1888-1972), alos boarded at Geelong College and served in World War I.
Sources: Based on an edited extract from Geelong Collegians at the Great World War compiled by James Affleck. pp111-112 (citing Alexander and Anne Sloane, To Fly Like an Eagle: The Vision, Achievements and War Service of Australian pioneer aviator Douglas Sloane 1890-1917; F M Cutlack, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918: Vol. VIII The Australian Flying Corps; Commonwealth War Graves Commission; Photo Alexander and Anne Sloane.)