Eric Harrison (RAAF officer)
Eric Harrison was an Australian aviator who made the country's first military flight, and helped lay the foundations of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
Harrison at the Central Flying School, Point Cook, 1914
Lieutenants Petre (left) and Harrison (right) in a B.E.2 at the Central Flying School, Point Cook, 1914
Harrison (left) in a Bristol Boxkite, greeted by Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds, first commanding officer of No. 1 Squadron AFC, at Point Cook, c. 1916
DC-2 airliner Kyeema; Harrison was a member of the court of inquiry into its crash on 25 October 1938.
Henry Aloysius Petre, DSO, MC was an English solicitor who became Australia's first military aviator and a founding member of the Australian Flying Corps, the predecessor of the Royal Australian Air Force. Born in Essex, Petre forsook his early legal career to pursue an interest in aviation, building his own aeroplane and gaining employment as an aircraft designer and pilot. In 1912, he answered the Australian Defence Department's call for pilots to form an aviation school, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Australian Military Forces. The following year, he chose the site of the country's first air base at Point Cook, Victoria, and established its inaugural training institution, the Central Flying School, with Eric Harrison.
Henry Petre at Central Flying School, 1914
Lieutenants Petre (left) and Harrison (right) in a B.E.2 at Central Flying School, Point Cook, 1914
Caudron G.3 of the Mesopotamian Half Flight
Captain Petre (far left), Captain White (second left) and Lieutenant Merz (far right) of the Mesopotamian Half Flight at Basra, July 1915
