Lt Irvine Owen Gaze

Irvine Owen Gaze was born on the 5th July 1890. He was educated at Scotch College, West Australia.

Irvine was working in Melbourne when he went down to the port to see his cousin, the Reverend Arnold Spencer Smith, off who was serving as Chaplin/Photographer for the Ross Sea Party of Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. At the last minute one if the party withdrew and so because they were now one person short Irvine volunteered to join the Expedition as a General Hand. On the 15th December 1914 Irvine and the rest of the party set sail from Sydney aboard the Aurora and set sail for the Antarctic. Irvine was described by his companions as:

“a sporty Australian – eager to join the expedition and lead a ‘real life’. His enthusiasm and easy-going humour won him the job and helped keep spirits up on the trail.”

The expedition was split into two groups, the Weddell Sea Party, led by Shackleton, which would attempt to cross the Antarctic while the Ross Sea Party would lay supplies on the other side of the Continent for the other party’s arrival. There orders from Shackleton were

"Proceed to the Ross Sea, make a base at some convenient point in or near McMurdo Sound, land stores and equipment, and lay depots on the Great Ice Barrier, in the direction of the Beardmore Glacier for the use of the party that I expected to bring overland from the Weddell Sea coast"

The expedition failed when the Wendell Sea Party’s ship, Endurance, was crushed by pack ice before the crossing was even attempted. The Rose Sea Party’s support ship, Aurora slipped its mooring, drifting away stranding 10 men. 3 members of the party died including Irvine’s cousin Arnold.

Rescued members of Ross Sea Party and Shackleton. Irvine is standing in the middle at the back

On the return to Australia the men were updated on the news from Europe and felt compelled to do their bit and enlist. Irvine wanted to join the Royal Flying Corp and so Shackleton arranged for him passage on a ship to England. Irvine moved to London staying briefly with his Aunt, Mrs C Spencer Smith of 51 Palace St, Westminster, London before he joined the Royal Flying Corp as a cadet on the 29th August 1917 and began training to become a pilot. He eventually joined 48 Squadron.

On the 4th November 1918, just 7 days before the Armistice, Irvine was shot down and captured by the Germans.

When they interrogated him, they noticed the white ribbon on his uniform. And he said, "Oh, well, that's the Polar Medal. I've just come back from the Antarctic." And everyone was happy to have a drink with him and everything else, except Goering, who was apparently was a bit sulky about it. But anyway, they had a nice dinner and then, of course, he went to the prisoner-of-war camp.(Tony Gaze)

Hermann Goring became the Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War.

Irvine left the RAF on the 26th August 1919. Between the two World Wars held an executive position with the Clifton Shoe Company at Clifton Hill Victoria.

During World War Two Irvine served as an instructor with the RAAF and became a Squadron Leader. His two sons Tony and Scott both enlisted in the RAF. Tony became a Spitfire Flying Ace who was decorated three times for galentry. Unfortunately Scott died in a flying accident.

After the war he returned to Australia and farmed sheep.

Irvine died in 1988.

Tony Gaze went on to be Australia's first Formula One racing Car taking part in 5 races.

Further Information

Culture Victoria - The Ross Sea Party
Talking Heads - Tony Gaze

Who Do You Think You Are

It was very bizarre few years ago to be watching TV and suddenly seeing my Grandfather. Julian Clary was featured on the BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are investigating his family history. His Grandfather Jack Clary was a Chief Mechanic for 48 Squadron.

Jack Clary

In a group photo of the Squadron shown Reginald is seen standing in the same row as Jack.

Manual: Magnetic Compass

Manual: Aerial Navigation

Belgian Medals Continued

One of my main aims in this blog is to try and find out why my Grandfather was awarded the his two Belgian medals, La Croix de Guerre and La Décoration Militaire.

I have now found the award of the medal in four different publications but none of them gave a reason for the award.

• London Gazette
• Edinburgh Gazette
• Daily Orders of the Belgian Army
• Honours page of Flight Magazine

An article in Flight magazine on the history of 48 Squadron says that only 2 Croix de Guerres were award to men of the Squadron. The other Croix de Guerre was awarded at the same time to the pilot Lt. Norman Hunt. Hunt was not awarded La Décoration Militaire but instead was awarded the Chevaliers de l'Ordre de Leopold II which is practically a knighthood in Belgium.

I've asked on the Great War Forum for suggestions on where to find the citations and general opinion is that there unlikely to be one. A likely scenario is that Belgian government made the decorations available and the British Military Authorities made the decision on who to give them to.

So Reginald and Hunt might have just been chosen to represent the Squadron in accepting these decorations, but why these two men.

Was it a random choice or was there something special about them that pushed them to the front?
Is it a coincidence that a pilot and an observer in a Squadron are both awarded La Croix de Guerre?
Were they flying together on a patrol when some extraordinary event occurred?

Manual: Topography

48 Squadron Rugby Team

48 Squadron Rugby Team (photo from Trevor Henshaw)

Major Keith Parks is in the center of the group with the gloves and walking stick.

Lt Brunton receiving the Cup for 48 Squadron Rugby Team

A quiet game of chess

Photos of some of the men from the squadron taking time out to play chess.

Malin & Blanc

Wood & Ward



Not sure who is in the last picture but it appears to be in the same room as where the chess games were being played.

48 Squadron

Thank you very much to Trevor Henshaw for sending me this fantastic photograph of 48 Squadron taken shortly after the war. Reginald can be found in the middle row just left of centre, he is man standing head and shoulders above everyone else in his row.

Looking back at his service record it says that Reginald was 5 foot 10 when he enlisted but in the picture he looks more like his final height as a man of 6 foot 2. It just brings back the fact that he was still such a young man when he served in the RAF and still going through a late growth spurt.

This photo must have been taken before the 18th February 1919 as Capt.L.Payne can be seen sitting in the middle of the photo next to Major Keith Parks. Payne was killed on this date. Capt Freddie Cunningham, the other side of Park, had a copy of this picture with Cologne writen on the back so suggests the photo was taken while the squadron were at Bickendorf. If this is the case then the photo must have been taken at some time between the 19th December 1918 and 18th February 1919.