Clyde Fenton

Clyde Cornwall Fenton OBE (16 May 1901 – 28 February 1982) was the Northern Territory's first flying doctor. Unlike the other doctors with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, Fenton was also his own pilot. It is alleged that Fenton flew without the aid of any navigation equipment, air charts, and often proper landing strips. He enjoys a particular renown as a unique and dashing Territory character. Biography Fenton was born in Warrnambool, Victoria in 1901 and graduated as a medical doctor in 1925 from Melbourne University. Soon after he crashed this plane, and when sailing home to Melbourne, he was persuaded by Cecil Cook to stay in Darwin for five months as a doctor. In 1936 he made an unsanctioned flight to China after hearing of his sister's death in child-birth there, he flew there in a small open aircraft to bring his mother home. Fenton in 1937 at Newcastle Waters Station, after being rescued by William Hely. On 14 May 1940 he received his call up for the RAAF by telegram. He was eventually based at Manbulloo airstrip near Katherine, from where he made many emergency medical flights; during this period he worked closely with Olive O'Keeffe a nurse working at the Katherine Hospital. In August 1942 the No 6 Communications Flight was formed with Flight Lieutenant Fenton in command; this was known as `Fenton’s Flying Freighters’. He married Sheila Ethyl Young, a nurse and widow, in Sydney on 10 October 1949 and they divorced in October 1959. He transferred to Melbourne in 1949 and on 29 March 1963 he married Lavinia Florence Catalano. He retired from medicine in March 1966 and died on 27 February 1982.

Legacy One of the planes he flew, a Gipsy Moth, is on display at the Fenton Hangar at the Katherine Historical Society Precinct. His name was also given to a World War II airstrip, Fenton Airfield near Hayes Creek, and is remembered by the Clyde Fenton Primary School in Katherine.

Awards Oswald Watt Gold Medal, presented by the Associated Australian Aero Clubs in 1937 and is Australia's highest aviation award.

Namesakes Clyde Fenton Primary School, Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia Fenton Airfield, World War II airfield in the Northern Territory, Australia Clyde Fenton Hangar, Katherine Historical Society Precinct, Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia