Jimmy Melrose

Charles James Melrose (13 September 1913 – 5 July 1936) was an Australian aviator who held a number of flying records, and was the youngest and only solo flier to finish the Melbourne (MacRobertson) Centenary Air Race in 1934.

[1] He flew a DH80A Puss Moth registered VH-UQO and christened "My Hildergarde" to England just after his 21st birthday to compete in the race, reaching Croydon in 8 days, 9 hours; a record.

[3] In November 1935 he was again returning to Australia in a Percival Gull Four registered VH-UVH christened "Westley" when he helped in the unsuccessful search for Sir Charles Kingsford Smith around the Bay of Bengal.

[4] A public appeal to reward him financially was decried by his uncle Sir John Melrose, pointing out that the family could well afford to support Jimmy's hobby.

He died in July 1936, at the age of 22, when his new high-wing monoplane "Billing",[6] a Heston Phoenix registration VH-AJM, broke up in turbulence over South Melton, Victoria on a charter flight from Melbourne to Darwin.