“GREAT LADS!”

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20054, 11 March 1935, Page 6

“GREAT LADS!”

BLACK AND SCOTT HONOURED

CENTENARY AIR RACE

“Great Lads!”—This term, used by the Recorder of Brighton (Mr J. D. Cassels, K.C., M.P.), well sums up Brighton’s approbation of the two heroes of the Australian Air Race. Mr Tom Campbell Black and Mr C. W. A. Scott, to whom the town paid honour, says the “Brighton and Hove Herald”). It was characteristic of the traditions of his family that when Tom Campbell Black spoke at the dinner given to his co-pilot and himself at the Royal Pavilion in the evening, he said next to nothing of the air race, and devoted most of his remarks to the important position held by Brighton and the rosy future prospects of the joint Municipal Airport at Shoreham.

The Royal Pavilion function will long be remembered as one of the most significant episodes in Brighton’s history, marking as it did not only a great achievement by a son of Brighton, but the opening of a phase in which Brighton and its near neighbours are to take a vital and increasing part in the development of aviation. Honour was paid at the dinner not only to the victors of the great air race, but also to Alderman and Mrs H. Milner Black, the parents of Tom Campbell Black, who, in addition to a year of Mayoral office some ten years ago, have rendered many enduringservices to the public and social life of Brighton. The tribute paid to them was not the least affecting episode of the celebrations. A civic welcome was extended to the two airmen at Brighton Railway Station. where the hearty greetings of the Mayor and Mayoress (Councillor and Mrs S. G. Gibson) were supplemented by those of many leading inhabitants and a throng of admirers and wellwishers.

In vivid passages, the Recorder of Brighton outlined some of the great incidents in the progress of aviation, in proposing the health of the airmen in the Banqueting Room at the Royal Pavilion, where a large company assembled under the chairmanship of the Mayor. “The World Stood Aghast!” Mr Cassels reminded »the company that in less than three days the guests of honour flew half-way round the world. “Small wonder that the world stood aghast, and marvelled that so much could be done by British pluck and British endurance in a British machine (Applause.) . . . While the epic journey was being made, and the world read and listened to the progress of these two young men, a brave but anxious father and mother in a Brighton home wopdered and hoped and prayed, but never lost confidence, and at last rejoiced in that flight’s successes. “And Brighton rejoiced with them, for Campbell Black is a sop of Aiderman and Mrs Milner Black, a former Mayor and Mayoress of Brighton. He was born in Brighton, he was educated in Brighton, he spent his youth in Brighton, and if I may say so, he is our Brighton boy. We are holding this dinner to-night so that we can do honour to a great man, and in doing that honour, we can express our heartiest and most sincere congratulations to his father and mother, whose hearts must beat with pride.” Referring to the aerial achievements of Mr Black, the Recorder said that he had made twelve flights between London and East Africa, and had flown from Ndirobi to Croydon in record time. He possesses a gold trophy for flying, and is a member of the East African Air Board. When Mr Cassels went on to say that Black is a “great lad” and Scott is a “great lad,” there was enthusiastic applause. The airmen were accorded musical honours. Mr T. C. Black’s Response Mr Black, who was evidently moved by the enthusiasm of his fellow townsmen, made a modest response. He expressed his deep gratitude at being thus honoured “in the place of my birth and in the presence of my parents.” Speaking of his early days in Brighton, Mr Black recalled watching an air race round Britain in which Brighton was one of the control points. On that occasion one of the aviators who landed at Shoreham was fined by the Brighton Magistrates for driving his motor-car at an excessive speed. He (Mr Black) feared as an aviator that he would also be fined by the Brighton Magistrates, because he heard that Brighton was seeking to impose a thirty miles an hour speed limit. (Laughter.)

Much amusement was caused by Mr Scott at the outset of his response by the humorous manner in which he protested that as aviators, Tom Campbell Black and himself could not be expected to be public speakers. “The only thing I wish to say is how much I owe to Tom Campbell Black, and there is no more fittingplace to say it than in Brighton, before his own people.” Team work meant everything in aviation, as in many other departments of life, and together Black and himself had been able to accomplish something which neither could have achieved alone. Scott’s Appreciation of Black “By pooling our resources, our initiative. and our knowledge, we were able to fly to the other side of the British Empire. So I just want to make this public acknowledgment of my appreciation of Tom Campbell Black in his own town. I have often thanked him privately, but not in any way adequately in public before. “We both shared the work, the labour, and the anxiety, and here in Brighton I say Thank you so much, Tom, for all you did—and if I did anything for you, you have got to thank me later. (Laughter.) I realise, too, that, as well as thanking Tom, I must thank Tom’s father and mother.” (Applause.)