Career
He piloted a Wright Model A airplane approximately 100 yards (91 m), although the flight was not officially recognised. Defries managed to fly at a height of about 15 ft (5 m) at a speed of about 36 mph. With the Aerial League and a newspaper denying that the flight had occurred at all, Defries made a second attempt on 18 December.
Finally, his mechanic, R. C. Banks, made an attempt of his own on 1 March 1910, and crashed the plane again.
Wing Commander Harry Cobby wrote in Aircraft in March of 1938 that "the first aeroplane flight in the Southern Hemisphere was made in 1909 by Mr Colin Defries, a Londoner, at Victoria Park Racecourse, Sydney, in a Wilbur Wright aeroplane". Colin Defries was a trained pilot, having learnt to fly in Cannes, France.
By modern standards his flight time was minimal, but in 1909 he had enough experience to become an instructor. He took it off, maintained straight and level flight, albeit briefly, and landed safely, on his first flight.
His crash landing on his second flight demonstrated what a momentary lack of attention could cause while flying a Wright Model A.
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 curator, David Crotty, as "one of the most significant aeronautical artefacts" in the collection. In the 1940s Defries was married to pianist Moura Lympany, a woman 32 years his junior.
They divorced in 1950.
