The Missing Man: From the Outback to Tarakan, the Powerful Story of Len Waters, Australia's First Aboriginal...

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Peter Rees

The Missing Man

From the Outback to Tarakan, the Powerful Story of Len Waters, Australia's First Aboriginal...

Peter Rees

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Paperback

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English

Allen & Unwin
27 June 2018

Biography: historical, political & military; History; Second World War

He was our first Aboriginal fighter pilot, he flew multiple sorties during Australia's World War II Pacific campaign, and he should have had a world of opportunity ahead of him at the war's end, but Len Walters became the missing man in the country's wartime flying history.

Len Waters was the first and only Aboriginal to serve as a fighter pilot during World War II. Although Australia had officially barred or restricted the recruitment of Aborigines in earlier periods (out of fear that they might side with the enemy), these impediments were significantly relaxed after Japan entered World War II, and Australia came under direct attack for the first time. Although he had not completed his schooling, Len volunteered for service in the RAAF and was accepted.

When he was posted to New Guinea as a pilot, the Kittyhawk he was allocated had by chance been nicknamed by its previous pilot 'Black Magic' and those words were painted on its nose. Len found the name of his plane an amusing coincidence and chose to retain it. He flew 95 sorties in it.

After the war, Len attempted to join the burgeoning Australian commercial airline industry without luck. He never flew a plane again. He wrote later that, having taken off his uniform, he simply 'returned to being a blackfellow'. What happened to him afterwards is simply heartbreaking.

By: Peter Rees
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
Weight: 506g
ISBN: 9781760296414
ISBN 10: 1760296414
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 27 June 2018
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Peter Rees has been a journalist for forty years, working as federal political correspondent for the Melbourne Sun, the West Australian and the Sunday Telegraph. He is the author of The Boy from Boree Creek: The Tim Fischer Story (2001), Tim Fischer's Outback Heroes (2002), and Killing Juanita (2004), which was a winner of the 2004 Ned Kelly Award for Australian crime writing, as well as Desert Boys, Lancaster Men: The Aussie heroes of Bomber Command (2013), The Anzac Girls (2014) and Bearing Witness (2015).