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FENTON, CLYDE CORNWALL (1901–1982), ‘flying doctor’, was born on 16 May 1901 at Warrnambool,
Victoria and educated at St Patrick’s Christian Brothers College, Xavier, and the University of Melbourne (Newman
College). He graduated Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Melbourne in
1925.
Looking for excitement, he joined the Royal Air Force in England in 1928 but it did not teach him to fly.
He returned to Australia and headed for the outback, first to Wyndham in Western Australian and then to Darwin
for four months.
Life was too restrictive for this irrepressible personality. He learned to fly but the Royal Flying Doctor Service
was cautious and would not employ him. His mother raised the money for a used Gypsy Moth aircraft and in
March 1934 he returned to the Northern Territory as the government medical officer at Katherine. On his own
initiative he started an aerial ambulance or rescue service, which grew into the Northern Territory Aerial Medical
Service. He was paid mileage for the aeroplane at the same rate as mileage for the use of a private car.
Most requests for help came by pedal-radios through the two Royal Flying Doctor Service radio stations at
Cloncurry and Wyndham which then sent the messages on by telegram. With great daring and disregard for personal
safety, Fenton landed on crude airstrips and saved lives, which might otherwise have been lost. He arranged for
flares to light the airstrip near the hospital and advised people in the outback on the use of flares or car lights so he
could fly at night. There was scant navigational equipment and no radio communication to guide him but flying
back to Katherine he had two reliable markers, the shiny lines of the railway and the Katherine River which flowed
beside the hospital. He would ‘buzz’ the hospital, flares would be set out and lit and he would land. The people in
the outback loved the drama and daring but the Civil Aviation Department saw only broken rules. Fenton was not
blameless as he did aerobatics over Darwin, once buzzed a crowded open-air picture theatre and in 1938 landed a
government aircraft on Mindil beach, Darwin, a feat that earned him an official reprimand.
On 30 May 1934 he was to fly a government geologist from the Ord River to Katherine when he received an
emergency call to the other side of the Territory. He took off in the moonlight, planning to make Wave Hill that
night, but the telegram he sent was not received until the next day. He made a forced landing near Victoria River
Downs and wrecked the aircraft. In later years he survived two more crashes, one at Manbulloo, and the third
on the golf course near Darwin. In the latter he suffered a broken nose, a scar he carried for life. Dr Fenton’s
second aircraft, another Gypsy Moth, VH-VO1, was bought with money borrowed from the government and then
deducted from his salary. He gave them his life insurance policy as a guarantee. The people of Darwin, in whose
eyes he was a hero, bought the third aircraft through public subscription.
In March 1936 his sister died in China, leaving his elderly mother bereaved. A couple of days later, with extra
fuel tanks from his first aircraft, he was on his way to Swatow in China with nothing more than his passport.
This trip, which took three months, much initiative and even more audacity, was a feat of some magnitude in a
small open aircraft.
Early in 1937 the government decided to purchase a bigger aircraft, but it was not ready by June when the
chief medical officer asked Dr Fenton to check on three very isolated cattle stations. As there was an emergency
obstetric case to be delivered at Beetaloo he did that first, flew to Newcastle Waters and headed for Tanumbirini
on the morning of 21 September. A strong wind off the Barkly Tableland possibly caused drift; he missed OT and
could not find Tanumbirini. With his petrol running short he made a forced landing near a lagoon with clear water.
He was found five days later by Lieutenant W Hely, Royal Australian Air force (RAAF), having killed for food
an emaciated cow bogged in the lagoon. This highlighted the need for a radio in the aircraft but the problem was
to find one small enough. After this near tragedy in 1937 he took a holiday and returned with the new government
aircraft.
The government aeroplane could carry a stretcher case and a nurse as escort but he used his own aircraft to
land on strips too short for the bigger government aircraft. As time permitted, Dr Fenton visited missions and
cattle properties to assess the health of the Aborigines. There was a limit to how much one man could do as he was
always on call for emergencies. He also provided a medical clinic at Pine Creek each Saturday morning.
Dr Fenton played a considerable role in urging people to clear airstrips for emergencies, advising them on
suitable sites and the need for all-weather strips.
For almost four years, Dr Fenton demanded a transceiver based at Katherine for medical calls to supersede
the system of telegrams via Adelaide to Darwin from both Wyndham and Cloncurry. This was being installed
in May 1940 when he was called up for the RAAF. He also wanted a transceiver for the aircraft so he could
make contact when on the ground; contact in the air was more difficult. Radios with batteries weighed about
54 kilograms and he needed a lightweight radio of no more than 6.8 kilograms. While on leave he discussed the
need at length with Qantas and Amalgamated Wireless Australia Ltd’s senior personnel. The light radio for the
aircraft had become a possibility, but it had not been installed before he joined the RAAF.
The call-up for the RAAF arrived by telegram on 14 May 1940. When he left, the whole service was transferred
to Darwin where a local pilot, Roy Edwards, was employed to fly the government aircraft. Either a doctor or a
nurse could accompany the pilot on emergency flights. Being in Darwin helped overcome the problem of servicing
the aircraft. Dr Fenton was not an aircraft mechanic, yet he had done the day-to-day running repairs. The service
which he had started continued but with the pilot, doctor and mechanic as separate individuals, a policy which was
to continue.
The RAAF used Fenton at Camden in New South Wales as a flying instructor, then sent him back to Darwin
in February 1942 to help select sites for dispersal airstrips. He was to service the outlying bases and went to
Melbourne on 18 February to select a suitable aircraft. Darwin was bombed the next day. Dr Fenton was then based