Colin Defries

Colin Defries (1884–1963) was an English racing driver and pilot who made his first powered aeroplane flight over Australia on 9 December 1909. Defries managed to fly at height of about 15 ft (5 m) at a speed of about 36 mph. He then lost control and crashed, that led to the opinion that no controlled flight was achieved. that the definition of flight established by the Gorell Committee on behalf of the Aero Club of Great Britain dictates the acceptance of a flight or its rejection, therefore giving Colin Defries credit as the first to make an aeroplane flight.

However, a wider examination of the RAC's Gorell Committee's rejection of the 1908 Flight by A.V.Roe as the "first flight in Britain" questions that assessment: "The committee does not deny that Mr. Roe rose from the ground during his 1908 experiments, but holds that the machine was making a hop rather than a free, controlled flight." - The RAC's Gorell Committee instead recognised Frenchman J. T. C Moore-Brabazon, as being the first to demonstrate powered controlled flight for "flying a circular mile on an all- English-mode machine in 1909".

The Gorell Committee was never asked to assess the Defries claims, but the parallels with the Defries and Houdini flights are obvious.

Defries left Australia soon after and apparently made no subsequent personal claims or memoirs about the December 1909 flight.

His Mechanic Ralph Banks took the aircraft to Victoria where he crashed it at Diggers Rest.

The owner of the aircraft, Lawrence Adamson, "dumped it at sea" in order to avoid paying customs duties. Most of the plane was lost, although the engine and two propellers were later salvaged. The engine now belongs to Museum Victoria, where it is regarded by the handler, David Crotty, as "one of the most significant aeronautical artefacts" in the collection.