John Henry Arthur TREACY

     Joined the Australian Imperial Forces on 3 July 1916 aged 21 years.

     At that time, his mother, Sarah Anne Treacy, was living at Adelong via
     Mt Horeb in NSW which is south-east of Wagga Wagga.

     He served in 4/2 Australian Flying Squadron.

     There are 64 file pages of both WW1 and WWII records in the National
     Archives of Australia.

     In 1927 a letter from the Prime Minister’s office was sent to the
     Secretary, Department of Defence, regarding Treacy’s application to
     fly from Australia to England and return.

     Jack and Eva were living at Short Street, Norman Park in Brisbane at the time.

     In 1931 Treacy published several books
     Aviation as a Career
     Model Aeroplane the Flying Fox
     Model Aeroplane the Brolga
     Model Aeroplane the Magpie
     Model Aeroplane the Kookaburra Twin Pusher
     Model Aeroplane the Kingfisher

     Another pilot and acquaintance of Mac Williams was John “Jack” Henry
     Arthur Treacy, who had served in WWI in the 4/2 Australian Flying
     Squadron. Whilst living in Brisbane at Norman Park, Jack had built
     three aircraft in his garage by 1927.

     When the Queensland Air Navigation Company was registered on 10th June
     1928 with the intention to provide aerial services between Brisbane,
     Rockhampton and Townsville, Jack was the chief pilot and technical
     officer for the company.  One of the company’s aircraft was a De
     Havilland Gypsy Gypsy Moth 60G registered G- AUIR which had been
     previously owned by Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services
     Limited - Q.A.N.T.A.S. Queensland Air Navigation also purchased two
     Avro Ten aircraft. When Jack Treacy flew one of these airliners,
     registered VHF-UNJ into Brisbane’s Eagle Farm airport on 17th February
     1930, Mac Williams was a passenger. Also aboard was Wilmot Hudson
     Fysh, the founder of  Q.A.N.T.A.S. Two weeks later official services
     began with two flights per week to Townsville.

     Unfortunately Queensland Air Navigation Limited went into liquidation
     and operations ceased in January 1931. The two Avro Tens were then
     purchased by New England Airways which had established their company
     in 1930 with a Brisbane to Lismore service, later extending to Sydney.


       http://users.senet.com.au/~wil/avhisn.html#T

       TREACY JACK (1895- ) During the 40 years of his flying career until his
       retirement to Yamba,northern Queensland, he set up tiny bush airlines and
       flying schools . Born in Wagga he went to WW1 as a mechanic but flew
       later and was awarded the AFC . Back in Australia after the war he became
       the 'Flying Picture Show Man' , delivering the new 'movies' to outlying
       towns in the 20s ( NSW and Queensland) . Stunt flying promoting pictures
       supported a meagre existance. In 1928 he joined Queensland Air Navigation
       Ltd. flying between Brisbane, Rockhampton and Townsville to a regular
       schedule. Establishing a flying school at Townsville he charged 4pounds
       18 shillings for an hour's dual instruction. In New Guinea, later, he
       took on most dangerous flights up in the mountains with mist and short
       runways. ( Heroic Aust. Air Stories- by Terry Gwynn-Jones)

       Lieutenant J.H.A. Treacy was the pilot of an R.E.8 with No. 3 Squadron A.F.C.

      This was written after an interview with the Australian Society  of World
      War 1 Aero Historians

     Jack Treacy made his first combat patrol on the 20th February, 1918 with
     Lieut. Otto H. Suess as a gunner/observer. The one and half hours flight
     was uneventful although Jack recorded in his log book that they fired 50
     rounds into the Hun lines.

     Jack pointed out that although termed observer, the second member of the
     R.E.8 team was a rear gunner; it was the pilot who did the "actual
     observing and signalling". Your aerial gunner is watching all the time for
     the enemy, and he lets you know if you are about to be attacked.

     Photos were taken with a camera mounted in the rear of the aircraft behind
     and under the gunners seat. The camera for oblique and map making plates
     was automatically driven and it changed the plates. itself. All the pilot
     had to do was to count the time for exposure and overlap on his stop watch
     and press the button; the camera did the rest itself. The aerial gunner
     would change the magazines in the camera on signal from the pilot.

     The R.E.8 was equipped with a wireless set and the aerial was wound in and
     out on a reel, and on one occasion, Jack recalls "I was on the way back to
     our aerodrome at Bertangles when I saw many diggers walking along a road
     and I thought that I would give them a cheer up and decided to fly down to
     within 50 feet and wave to them, but I noticed that as we waved they were
     running out of the way off the road and we suddenly realised that we had
     forgotten to wind in the aerial and it was swinging along the road just
     over their head!.

     "The only way to fight with an R.E.8 was to go into a circle when attacked.
     You tip up on your side and put your engine full on and as soon as the
     fellow dived you pulled the stick back and made circle tight. The German
     can't get inside and your man can stand and shoot.

     "Never go into a spin because he can dive down the centre of the spin. You
     can get into a spiral - you can side-slip if you like - you give yourself
     opposite rudder and slip down careful that you don't get into a spin."

     Jack had a chance to use these tactics when at 5.50 am on the 6th June
     1918, whilst on an artillery reconnaissance about two miles east of
     Dernacourt with Lieut. N. H. Jones as gunner, he was attacked by an
     Albatros scout. "The AIbatros was well streamlined and they could dive very
     fast, although they only had fabric covered wings." Meeting determined
     resistance, the enemy withdrew. Jack recorded the expenditure of 5I rounds
     in this engagement.

     "Most of the German types we were engageded against were Albatros and
     Fokker scouts, the Fokker Triplane and later the D VII. Although I did not
     fly any captured German aircraft, I was there when Armstrong and Mart
     captured the Halberstadt ( Clll, on 9 June 1918). It flew up alongside (of
     Armstrong) and the Germans put up their hands in surrender. Armstrong
     pointed and they glided over to our aerodrome with the German machine-
     gunner keeping his hands in the air. They landed just as we were changing
     the guard and the Germans thought that it was a firing squad. Anyway,
     through a Russian officer we had at the Squadron, we managed to talk to
     them and we took them up to the Officers' Mess and gave them a few drinks.
     The German pilot had exceeded the required height for his reconnaissance as
     our "Archie" was too hot for him, and it was recorded on the barometers on
     the wings (of the Halberstadt); so they thought it was a good idea to
     surrender. Germany was beaten by then anyhow.

     "The German airmen were more humane and decent than they were in the second
     war. There was a tremendous espirit de corps amongst the early type of
     German airmen and he would give you a good fight for it. They were brave
     enough and good airmen.

          " I had two R.E.8s, one nearly to the end of the war. One day I was
          over the lines and it gave me a bit of trouble and so, while it was
          being repaired I was loaned another. While over the lines it began to
          backfire and cough as if it had water in the petrol tank, then it
          burst into flames under the bonnet over the carburettor. The
          carburettor on these machines would be approximately 18 inches high by
          10 inches in diameter and it blazed up about the size of a 4 gallon
          bucket, and was getting larger when I turned off the petrol at the
          tank and opened up the throttle and the fire went out. I glided down
          7,000 feet and landed at Bailleul aerodrome which was situated close
          to the lines.

          "This particular machine was kept in the Squadron instead of being got
          rid of, and it later (12 April 1918) burned to death Lieut. George
          Best, the pilot and Lieut. Lewis, his gunner whilst they were on a
          photographic mission from our Poulainville aerodrome. Lewis was two
          weeks off home establishment leave and Lieut. Best had recently joined
          the Squadron. It happened near a village in France called Villers
          Bocage. It was a sad sight. I was sent down to the Abbeville Hospital
          to identify the bodies and the only way I could do so was the fact I
          knew them so well. Lewis was a tall man and Best was short and stocky.
          They were burned so badly their features were unrecognisable.

          "After my accident with it, the machine should have been put into the
          Squadron workshop and the engine taken out and thoroughly examined.
          After the fatal fire, it was examined and it was found that the engine
          had a twisted cam shaft. There was no reason for keeping it in the
          Squadron as at time as we had a full complement of aircraft.

          "After my experience with this particular machine, they sent me down
          to Auxi-le-Chatea to get a new machine. Next day (9 July 1918)
          McCudden was taking off in a snow storm and he hit one of the pine
          trees at the edge of the aerodrome and was killed". Jack recalls that
          McCudden was not stunting and attributes his crash to the snow storm.
          (Note: Major James McCudden, VC, MM, DSO and Bar, MC and Bar was an
          ace pilot who had been flying since 1916. Only a few months earlier he
          had been awarded his Victoria Cross in England and was returning to
          France to take command of 60 Squadron R.A.F. He had stopped only to
          refuel his SE5 before proceeding to his new Squadron's base.)

     Jack's log book records many Line Patrols where he was sent over the lines
     to spot targets and then convert them into shoots. "We were at 7,000 feet
     because they were 'Achieing' us. We had been sent over because this battery
     was causing a lot of trouble and, after we'd spotted the target, about
     eight rounds from a howitzer fired onto it. When one shell burst in the gun
     pit, it lifted the gun right out of the pit. We didn't know how many
     Germans were destroyed but there were fires and cordite burning everywhere.
     Another time, Wackett was leading a flight arid I was one of three with
     him. There was a German observation balloon near Corbie and we got up close
     to this balloon when I spotted some dust in the road about two or three
     thousand yards on the German side and I dived and dropped my bombs on the
     transport and Wackett tapped out an LL call (LL call means: all available
     batteries to open fire.) We used Cooper bombs - daisy-cutters we called
     them. We dropped them on infantry, motor transport and trenches where they
     were open. You would fly along the trench and let them all go in a line."
     Jack also did a lot of contact patrol work and would take six bombs with
     him to drop on likely targets. On other occasions he dropped phosphorus
     bombs to provide a smoke screen for the infantry, and once containers of
     ammunition on parachutes designed by Capt. L. J. Wackett. Jack states that
     they were not always a success as the wind carried them into the German
     lines.

     On 3 May I918 Jack had an unusual experience. He was on a Line Patrol with
     Lieut. N. H. Jones as gunner in R.E.8 No. 4821, when he saw an L.V.G. two
     seater shot down by a Camel and crash in the Allied lines. Jack landed
     beside the downed German aircraft with the intention of removing a few
     parts. Then he discovered "I couldn't take off as I hadn't enough petrol
     for the R.E.8; when it was on the ground, had its nose up high and the
     petrol tank ran back. I didn't know how to get a message back (to the
     Squadron) as there was no one there but after a while hundreds of diggers
     came along. I got slapped under open arrest for landing beside the German,
     for although he'd come down on our side, the landing may have given the
     position away and when the crowd gathered the German artillery may have
     opened up. I managed to get a message away by getting Jones to hold the
     aerial on a piece of rubber and the Squadron sent a plane over which
     spotted me and they then sent a tender out with petrol. I flew the machine
     back and had the Spandu machine gun and camera from the L.V.G. as
     souvenirs. I was released from open arrest the next day when I had
     explained to the Squadron Commander who gave me a severe reprimand".

     Jack did not have an opportunity to fly the Bristol Fighter whilst they
     were with 3 Squadron. "The Bristol Fighter was a wonderful thing. We were
     only given Bristols when the Hindenburg Line was to be broken and then they
     only let us have them for about three or four weeks and then they took them
     away again Just let us do all the photographic dirty work and then the
     British took them back. If we had had Bristols in the early days the Huns
     would have got a lot more than they got. One day coming back from the
     lines, I did see a number of Bristol Fighters - there must have been 21 of
     them - and were coming back fairly high when attacked by German fighters
     and within a few minutes there were German aircraft coming down in flames
     everywhere. The Bristol Fighters cleaned them up and the rest cleared off
     for their lives. You never saw anything more efficient than a Bristol
     Fighter in the air. I think that Captain Brearley and Capt. Wackett flew
     the Bristols with 3 Squadron". Unfortunately the Squadron was to soldier on
     with their R.E.8's until the Armistice.

     Jack recalled a photographic patrol of the morning of 6 May 1918. "Captain
     Henry Ralfe was patrolling the sector adjoining me and there was a low mist
     at about 3,000 feet and thin. I could see Ralfe in his sector doing his
     work. Then I saw a bunch of Huns above the mist - they wouldn' t attack you
     under the mist for although slow, the R.E.8 was pretty hot stuff and would
     fight off two or three of them (Germans) sometimes. But they broke through
     the mist and Ralfe was attacked by five German machines over Morlancourt
     Ridge. The machine went down in flames and buried itself 15 feet in the
     soft ground of the Somme, but Lieut. W. A. J. Buckland, the gunner, jumped
     out rather than burn. It was a bad show not having parachutes in those
     days, but the idea was we would jump if we had to ... no fear of that. And
     when you got into a fight your eye was on the telescopic sight and you were
     moving into position to get the fellow who was out to get you."


     Development of Brisbane's New International Airport

     ... developed as a centre for regular air services.
     as a landinq f i e l d by Captain Jack Treacy in 1922.
     Services northward to Townsville commenced in April 1930
     when Captain Jack Treacy formed. Queensland Aerial Navigation Services.
     by agreement of the Premier of Queensland

     search.informit.com.au/fullText;dn=698884893165731;res=IELENG

     Eagle Farm | ourbrisbane.com

     In 1922 the Civil Aviation Branch of the Department of Defence established
     the original Eagle Farm Aerodrome, west of Schneider Road.

     In 1942 a major air base was established at Eagle
	 Farm and Brisbane Airport operated there from 1948 until 1988.

     The area is currently heavily industrialised with few houses.

     In December 1922 Jack Treacy, a former World War 1 pilot, was the first to
     land his Sunbeam Avro on Brisbane’s new Eagle Farm aerodrome.

     Despite the title Treacy landed on the bumpy surface of a dairy farm paddock,
     which was owned by Mr Wilson.


     www.ourbrisbane.com/suburbs/eagle-farm/history

     StephenRowe55  also has a Pat Treacy


     Thursday 28 June 1928

     MISSING PILOT Marooned On Island RESCUED BY LAUNCH

     ROCKHAMPTON, Wednesday.

     Great anxiety was fell last night when Captain Treacy, chief pilot of
     the Queensland Aero Navigation Company, failed to arrive according
     to schedule. Later it was stated that he had been forced to descend
     at Lilley Island owing lo a shortage of petrol. The island is Isolated.
     Captain Treacy was rescued by a motor boat from the shore.

     http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1234352
     ===================================


     Monday 14 January 1929

     QUEENSLAND AIR ROUTES.

     Air routes over the northern coastal country of Queensland have been mapped
     by Captain J Treacy chief pilot of the Queens- land Air Navigation Co Ltd.
     He has been about 13 weeks at the work and has travelled 8,000 miles


     He went to World War 2 [War Record National Archives Australia –  NX-146674

     At the time he was living at 15 Oxford St, Petersham, NSW with Eva.

     In 1980 they attended the 50th Anniversary of his first flight, when
     they flew into Townsville in Queensland.

                               Map of Flight 

     http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/3988064?searchTerm=Captain+Treacy

     http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/logicrouter/servlet/LogicRouter?PAGE=object&OUTPUTXSL=object_enc36ui.xslt&pm_RC=PICTQLD&pm_OI=17113&api_1=GET_OBJECT_XML&num_result=0

     http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/logicrouter/servlet/LogicRouter?PAGE=object&OUTPUTXSL=object_enc36ui.xslt&pm_RC=PICTQLD&pm_OI=17980&pm_GT=Y&pm_IAC=Y&api_1=GET_OBJECT_XML&num_result=6

     http://www.goldenyears.ukf.net/reg_VH-U.htm


     http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1861058?lookfor=Treacy&offset=34&max=57




     Biographical cuttings on John Henry Arthur Treacy, aeronautics engineer]
     Book
     Bib ID  1861058
     Format  Book
     Subjects        Treacy, John Henry Arthur - 1895- 1984.

---

Jack aged 24 married Eva Rosina Alexander aged 19, in 2nd quarter of 1919
in Windsor Berkshire.
Volume Number: 2c Page Number: 1488

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Eva and Jack had at least two children :-

• Patricia Treacy 1920 –
• Dorothy Treacy 1924 –