Roderick Herbert JULIUS [586]

  General Notes:

Julius Roderick Herbert
1914 - 1914 House Town Junior
Christ's College School List 1850 - 1965

Roderick was schooled at Tudor House Moss Vale and Sydney C of E Grammar School. He worked as a car salesman, interested in aviation he obtained the agency for Taylor Cub Light Planes, forming Wings Pty Ltd, with Clarence Stumbles to train pilots on the aircraft. He travelled around Australia in these aeroplanes but was killed when he crashed flying over the Magalong Valley Narrow Neck Blue Mountains in fog. Roderick was aged 35 at his death.
Ref: Brian Conlon http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/adder.htm#top <http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/adder.htm

SIR GEORGE JULIUS' SON MARRIED.
The marriage of Mr. Roderick H. Julius, son of Sir George Julius, of Darling Point, and Miss Jessica Mack, daughter of Mr. Mack, K.C., was celebrated quietly at the Presbyterian Church, Wentworthville, on Tuesday afternoon. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. F. Barclay.
Sydney Morning Herald 3 Nov 1933

Early Disaster Light Plane Flight Around Australia
MACHINE CRASHES
SYDNEY, Wednesday.
Two young Sydney pilots, J. Clancy and H, Julius who left Mascot this morning in a light plane to fly around Australia, crashed at Old Bar aerodrome near Taree when taking off for Grafton. The plane was damaged but the pilots escaped serious Injury. The pilots plan to fly around Australia In their Taylor Cub cabin monoplane, one of the smallest light planes In Australia. They left Mascot at 7 a.m., and Intended to reach Brisbane tonight. Just after the plane left Old Bar a down current of alr struck the machine and It nose dived from a height of 20 feet, One of the wings was damaged, but both men were able to extricate themselves from the cabin. Julius received slight abrasions to the head, but Clancy escaped with a shaking, The plane will be shlpped to Sydney and reconditioned for another attempt.
Ref: Warwick Daily News (Qld) Thu 29 Jul 1937

"A BUMPY TRIP"
AROUND AUSTRALIA FLYERS.
Flying a small slngle-engined monoplane, with an engine rating ot 40 horse power, Messrs, R. H. Julius and J. C. Clancy arrived in Longreach yesterday afternoon on the third hop of their flight around Australia. The flight Is by way of demonstrating the utility of the light plane: its adaptability in Australian conditions and its capability of covering long distances. The plane left Sydney on Tuesday on its circuit of Australia and it is expected that a month will elapse before that city ls again reached. On Tuesday Brisbane was reached and the second day's journey was completed at Charleville. That town was left yesterday morning at 8.30 and it was 4.15 p.m. when the Longreach drome was reached. Landings were made en route at Tambo and Blackall. Very bumpy conditions have been encountered since the plane left Sydney. Yesterday's flight was particularly rough with heavy headwinds and a 15 degree drift on all day. Mr. Clancy told the "Leader" last night that the machine whilst behaving very well did a lot of bucking and at times was practically going sideways. The flyers expect to depart at 7.30 this morning and will spent to-night at Cloncurry. The route mapped out is by way of Darwin, Broome, Perth and then back to Adelaide. It is claimed by Mr. Julius that this machine, the Taylor Cub is the lowest powered plane to undertake the trip around Australia. It has a single engine with a rating of 40 horse power, the average cruising speed is 70 miles per hour and the range is 200 miles. For this flight the tank capacity has been doubled and the petrol load is now 16 gallons which will carry the plane 400 miles. The plane has a nicely fitted cabin with dual control and a wing span of 35 feet. Both Messrs. Julius and Clancy are pilots.
Ref: The Longreach Leader (Qld) Sat 11 Sep 1937

Penny-a-mile-Flyers To Speed Up In North-west
DARWIN. Thursday.
Continuing their penny-a-mile flight around Australia, J. Clancy and K. Julius, of Sydney, left Darwin for Katherine soon after daybreak today. The tanks in their tiny Taylor Cub monoplane were filled to their modest capacity of 16 gallons. Rather than risk trouble, the pair propose to cover the lonely north-west in the shortest possible stages.
Ref: The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld.) Fri 17 Sep 1937

ROUND AUSTRALIA ON 1d A MILE.
Julius and Clancy flying well.
Sir George Julius has received a telegram from his son Rod Julius, who with Jack Clancy is flying around Australia in a 40 h.p. Taylor Cub, stating that the airmen reached Port Headland from Broome yesterday , a day ahead of schedule.
Their machine carries only 10 gallons of petrol, and the flight has cost about 1d a mile.
The young Sydney airmen have completed the most difficult portion of the flight, across Northern Australia, and have covered 4000 of its 7600 miles. They are navigating by instruments and strip map and have had no engine trouble since leaving Sydney on September the 7th.

ROUND-AUSTRALIA FLIGHT.
To be Continued Tomorrow.
Unexpected delay in overhauling the engine of their Taylor Cub monoplane will prevent the departure of Messrs. R. H. Julius and J. Clancy from Maylands today on the remainder of their flight round Australia. It is now expected that the plane will leave tomorrow for Kalgoorlie, where the airmen hope to spend the night. By a coincidence, Mr. Julius was able to greet his father, Sir George Julius, at Maylands yesterday when the latter stepped from the airliner Bungana, on which he had flown from Adelaide. Sir George Julius is visiting Perth as an executive member of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in company with Professor A. C. V. Richardson, and his visit was planned after the departure of Mr. Julius from Sydney on his flight round Australia. Another passenger on the Bungana was Mr E. Wimperls, the British aeronautical scientist, who joined Sir George Julius in an interested examination of the diminutive aeroplane, which has already made a remarkable flight.
Sydney Morning Herald 1 Oct 1937

PENNY-A-MILE FLIERS
TRIP DELAYED
PERTH, Friday.
Because of the arrival by mail plane of Sir George Julius, father of Mr. R. H. Julius the departure of the aerial penny-a-milers
from Perth has been postponed until to-morrow morning.
Messrs R. H. Julius and J. Clancey, the Sydney fliers, have had their Taylor Club monoplane overhauled. They plan to land at Tammin, Southern Cross and Kalgoorlie on Saturday, Zanthus, Rawlinna, and Forrest on Sunday; Cook, Caloma and Ceduna
on Monday; and Port Pirie and Adelaide on Tuesday.
Ref: Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) Fri 1 Oct 1937

FLIGHT COMPLETED.
Round Australia in Midget Plane.
SYDNEY, October 11.
R. Julius and J. Clancy, who left Sydney five weeks ago on a flight around Australia In a Taylor Cub monoplane, returned to Mascot to-day, having accomplished an 1000-mlle flight without mishap. The only mechanical dificulty experienced on the journey was an engine seizure near Roeburne (West Australia). when a forced landing was made without trouble.
Ref: Queensland Times (Ipswich Qld.) Tue 12 Oct 1937

PLANE HITS MOUNTAIN SIDE
Crash at Megalong Valley
ON FLIGHT TO AIR PAGEANT
SYDNEY, Monday.
With the bodies of two men lying in the wreckage, a plane was found on a rocky ledge, 100 feet above the Megalong Valley in the Blue Mountains this afternoon.
The plane, a tiny Piper Cub, had left the Kingsford Smith aerodrome on Saturday, bound for the Orange Air Pageant, and was flying low above the mist shrouded mountains when it crashed against a precipitous cliff.
The victims in the Blue Mountains crash were Roderick Julius, 33, son of Sir George Julius, and, Clarence Edward Stumbles, 32, of Bankstown.
About midday on Saturday, three brothers, - named Kirby, who live in the Megalong Valley, a famous tourist resort in the Blue Mountains, saw a yellow object on a narrow neck, but believing it to be the reflection of the sun on a wet rock they paid no attention to it.
This morning the object was still there and one of the brothers identified it as a wrecked plane through a pair of binoculars.
The three brothers and a man named McCarthy, traversed the rugged country to the spot where the plane crashed, and found the bodies of the two men in the wreckage.
The Kirby brothers remained at the plane while McCarthy returned to Katoomba and brought back a party of police and ambulance men. The journey took several hours. Sir George Julius travelled by car to Katoomba this evening.
When Julius and Stumbles took off from Mascot on Sunday morning a strong wind was blowing and flying conditions were difficult, but they were intent on reaching the pageant.
Last year Julius and another companion encircled Australia in a light plane.
Ref: Canberra Times 31 Jan 1939.

AIR CRASH MYSTERY
Was Machine Returning to Sydney?
PILOT CHANGED SEATS
SYDNEY Wednesday
The efforts of officials to check the movements of the Taylor Cub, in which Roderick Julius and Clarence Stumbles were killed when it crashed in the Megalong Valley on Saturday,
became more difficult to-day when it was found that Roderick Julius' body was found in the front seat, of the plane.
When the machine left Mascot aerodrome on Saturday for Orange, Mr. Colman, chief inspector of the Kingsford Smith Air Services asserts that Julius was in the back scat. It now seems certain that the flyers made a landing on their way to Orange, but no such landing has been reported.
The plane, had sufficient petrol for four hours flying when it took off, but evidence shows that it crashed nine hours after leaving the aerodrome.
From the position of the plane experts believe that the flyers were returning to Sydney when they crashed into the mountain. The fact that the throttle head had been torn back indicates that the pilot saw the mountain ahead shortly before the crash occurred.
Ref: Canberra Times 2 Feb 1939.
Clarence Stumbles was involved in Theatre as probably was Roderick - Ref B Conlon.

  Other Records

1. Round Australia Flight, 1937.
ROUND AUSTRALIA FLIGHT.
The above diagram shows the stopping places and distance of each "hop" on the route which Messrs. Rod Julius and Jack Clancy intend to follow in their flight around Australia in a Taylor Cub plane. Latest advices are that they plan to leave Sydney on Tuesday next. Their machine is a light monoplane, which will cost only one penny a mile to operate. They set out on a prevlous attempt on July; 28, but the machine crashed and was damaged at Old Bar.With an early start on Tuesday, the flyers hope to reach Brisbane by nightfall, after stops at Old Bar, Grafton, and Lismore. They probably will remain at. Archerfield all day on Wednesday, when the machine can be inspected, and will continue the flight on Thursday.
The airmen are not out to break speed records, for their light plane cruises at only 70 miles an hour. The route to be followed is for the most part along, recognised air services, and they expect to cover a distance of 7,300 miles in 29 days. Keeping to schedule they should reach Darwin on September 18; Perth on September 26, Adelaide on October 1, Melbourne on October 5, and Sydney on October 9.
Ref: The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld) Fri 3 Sep 1937

2. Roderick Julius, Jul 1937, Old Bar NSW.
THE FLIGHT THAT FAILED
The smallest light cabin monoplane in Australia, a "Taylor Cub," known as the "Sterling," which crashed when leaving Old Bar, on the first leg of a proposed round Australia flight, piloted by two young Sydney airmen, Messrs. J. Clancy and H. Julius.
The pilot stated that the load was too heavy for the plane to clear some trees, and they decided to make a crash landing. The plane was fitted with a 40 h.p. motor, costing Id a mile to operate, and had a cruising speed of nearly 70 m.p.h. Mr Julius (with glasses) is shown discussing his flight with Mr. J. Beveridge, of the Shell Company. Shell spirit and oil were to have been used exclusively by the little aircraft in its flight.
Ref: Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW) Fri 30 Jul 1937

Roderick married Jessica K MACK [587] [MRIN: 171] on 31 Oct 1933 in Wentworthville Presbyterian Church Sydney. (Jessica K MACK [587] was born in 1905 and died in 1936.)