Background
Robert Everett was born on 29 May 1901 in Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia.
Robert Everett was born on 29 May 1901 in Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia.
Knowledge of Everett"s life is fragmentary, with just a few notable events. In 1929, he rode "Gregalach" in the Grand National at Aintree, winning by six lengths from "Easter Hero". This race had the largest Grand National field ever and Everett was praised for his horsemanship over heavy ground.
At the same time, Everett had become an amateur pilot and jointly owned, with his father, a De Havilland Puss Moth, a relatively high-performance aircraft of its day.
In 1934, with another Australian, Jimmy Melrose, he entered the MacRobertson Air Race (or the Melbourne Centenary Air Race) to Melbourne from Mildenhall, in England. This was successfully completed in 120 flying hours, despite landing at Darwin with empty fuel tanks.
Everett joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Fleet Air Arm in October 1940 and served with 760 Naval Air Squadron at HMS Heron, Yeovilton. Later he volunteered for 804 Naval Air Squadron, which for a time supplied pilots for fighter catapult ships and The Communications Advertising and Marketing ships.
While he was on HMS Maplin, a Condor was sighted on 1 August 1941 and Everett"s Hawker Hurricane was launched.
After a hard fight, the Condor was shot down with Everett"s last shots ("By this time I had reached the starboard bow and three machine guns opened up as well as the forward cannon I did a quick turn to port and opened up just abaft the beam I fired five second burst at this range and my guns were empty"). He managed to ditch near to HMS Wanderer which was escorting the nearby convoy, SL.81. Everett was awarded the Defence Science Organisation for this action.
Robert Everett died on active service on 26 January 1942, when his Hurricane crashed on the beach at Llanddona, Anglesey, Wales.
He is buried in Street Dona’s Church in Llanddona.