Frederick Anthony Owen Gaze, DFC & Two Bars, OAM (3 February 1920 – 29 July 2013) was an Australian fighter pilot and racing driver.
He flew with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, was a flying ace credited with 12.5 confirmed victories (11 and 3 shared), and later enjoyed a successful racing career in the UK, Europe and Australia.
[2][3] He was educated at Geelong Grammar School, and when war was declared in September 1939 he was a student at Queens' College, Cambridge.
Gaze crash landed 20 miles from Dieppe with slight injuries, evaded capture and made his way, with help from the French Resistance, to neutral Spain.
[citation needed] In February 1944 Gaze joined the Air Fighting Development Unit (ADFU) at Wittering, rejoining No.
616 squadron, becoming one of the first Australians (after F/O JN McKay, RAAF)[4] to fly the Gloster Meteor in combat during the closing stages of the war.
During the war he had also flown with some of the most famous names including Wing Commander Douglas Bader, top Allied ace Johnnie Johnson (38 victories) as part of the RAF's Tangmere Wing and Paul Tibbets, pilot of the 'Enola Gay', B29 Bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Gaze ended the war as Australia's tenth ranking highest ace, claiming 12.5 confirmed destroyed (11 and 3 shared (note: below list includes the destruction of a V1)), 4 probables, and 5 damaged in 488 combat missions, all while flying Supermarine Spitfires of various Marks.
[5] In 1946, Gaze suggested to the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, better known as "Freddie March", that the roads around RAF Westhampnett would be a good location for a racing track.
He took part in a number of non-championship F1 events, and then in June travelled to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the Grote Prijs van Belgie.
[11] This was followed by appearances in the RAC British Grand Prix[12] and the Groβer Preis von Deutschland,[13] although he failed to qualify for the Gran Premio d’Italia.
[11][14] The following year, he was a member of the first Australian crew to attempt the Rallye Monte Carlo in a Holden FX with Lex Davison and Stan Jones.