After leaving school he served on a sugar plantation in British Guiana for a short time before returning to England and in 1922 joining the Royal Air Force, where he learned to fly.

He left the RAF in 1926 and emigrated to Australia, where he took up a post as a commercial pilot for the fledgling airline company Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (now Qantas).

Competing against fellow pilots such as Bert Hinkler, Charles Kingsford Smith and Jim Mollison, Scott went on to beat the Australia–England solo flight record in 1932 and then re-took the England–Australia the same year.

[citation needed] With the onset of World War II Scott served for a time as an Air Raid Precautions (ARP) civil defence ambulance driver then he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) as a lieutenant, and took part in the Dakar landing.

Following the war, and after becoming estranged from his third wife,[7][better source needed] Scott took a post at the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) headquarters in Germany.

Scott did not enjoy his time at the sugar plantation and after 18 months and a bout of malaria his father arranged for his release of the five-year contract and for his passage back home to London.

[22] On returning to his camp he received a personal commendation from his Wing Commander, who then informed Scott that he had been selected to box for the RAF against the Army, Navy, and Marines.

This meant that instead of returning immediately to his unit Scott went to RNAS Lee-on-Solent with the rest of the RAF team to train for the I.S.B.A Championships, to be held at HMNB Portsmouth, again he failed to beat his opponent but put up a much better fight than he had done the previous year.

[31] On 4 September 1928 Scott crashed the Qantas DH.50J named Hermes registered G-AUHI in bad weather six miles north-east of Parafield Aerodrome, South Australia, resulting in the death of his engineer George Nutson.

Salmond's tour ended in Adelaide and not long after an early morning take-off, on the return journey to Longreach Scott crashed in hilly country and bad weather.

[34] In addition to the tragedy of Nutson's death, the crash came as a heavy financial blow and caused major disruptions to Qantas' operations, especially the planned Brisbane service.

"I find on present evidence that the pilot (Scott) committed a serious error of judgement in leaving Parafield Aerodrome in weather which was unsuitable...and when there was no need for hurry."

"[citation needed] On 16 October, Fysh reported to McMaster that in his interview with Scott he had "gained nothing that would tend to make us take a more lenient view of his general behaviour and the Adelaide crash" in fact, wrote Fysh, "Scott had made matters worse by saying that the petrol was placed in the cabin to enable him to return via Broken Hill and Thargomindah right across more or less unknown country, and without even informing us".

I quite realize that for a man such as yourself, with unlimited energy, ambition and skill it must come hard to sit down and not act..." McMaster then soundly reprimanded Scott for his off duty conduct, saying "It was common street talk that only a few days previous to you leaving Longreach for Hughenden to pick up Sir John Salmond you had been drinking heavily.

Scott did not make reference to these disciplinary proceedings in his book in 1934, though does write in detail about the crash and the spin from eighteen hundred feet in cloud to the ground.

[37][38][39] It was announced in the London Gazette for 30 June 1931 that "The King has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of the Air Force Cross to Mr. Charles William Anderson Scott in recognition of the distinguished services rendered to aviation by his recent flights between England and Australia.

This was not only thought to be highly beneficial as an air mail and passenger route, but would also enable troops and supplies to be quickly and efficiently moved to the area should there be any future military threats from South East Asia.

In early 1934 Scott was called to Stag lane for a meeting with the business manager of the de Havilland Aircraft Company, where he was introduced to Arthur Edwards, an entrepreneur and speculative property developer.

[45] With one day to go before the start of the race, amidst frantic last-minute preparations a Royal visit was made by the Prince of Wales whom Scott was photographed with explaining the new variable-pitch propeller system fitted to his Comet.

[47] He was suffering badly from cramp in his leg because they feared that the port engine was seizing up so had throttled it down, this meant that Scott was forced to compensate for the uneven port/starboard power levels by constantly applying pressure to the Rudder control pedal with his right foot during flight.

Each pilot flew for half an hour at a time while the other smoked or slept, but this then proved impossible, so by mutual consent the periods were cut down to twenty minutes and then to ten.

Using all the strength and ability he had remaining Scott landed the victorious Comet at nearby Laverton Aerodrome and they declared themselves winners of the "Speed Section" of the race eligible for the First Place Prize of 10,000 pounds.

Scott and Black were then put through yet another flight as they were ferried in two De Havilland DH.60 Moths back to Flemington Racecourse for an official public reception, where they were greeted by Sir Macpherson Robertson the organizer of the race.

Celebrations followed and when all the qualifying back markers had arrived in Melbourne they were all paraded through the streets in open top cars C. W. A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black at the front of the procession with other competitors like the popular young Australian Jimmy Melrose following behind.

He took a boat trip from Brisbane to Hong Kong via Thursday Island and Manilla, NSW, down along the South China Sea to Singapore, and back via Java and Celebes.

[73] On 17 September 1936, just twelve days before he entered the Schlesinger race, Scott married Greta Constance Bremner at Caxton Hall register office in London.

In 1936, when he won the Rand Race with Guthrie in a Percival Vega Gull, flying from Portsmouth to Johannesburg in fifty-two hours and fifty-six minutes, the fever broke out afresh.

In 1945 the race to Melbourne was as remote in most people's minds as Waterloo or the sinking of the Armada, six years of war having erected a great barrier of experience and feeling and loss.

IMPULSIVE, impatient, intolerant of things and people he disagreed with, Charles Scott (whose death was announced on Saturday) will ever be remembered as a leading figure in the now sadly depleted gallery of flying men and women who made the helter-skelter aviation history of the twenties and thirties.

Nearly 12 long years ago Scott and Tom Campbell Black took off from Mildenhall in a de Havilland Comet, and reached Melbourne 2 days and 23 hours later.