Tony Gaze: an Ace in the sky and a jet on land

Revered Flying Ace, Tony Gaze OAM, who passed away in 2013, was a decorated WWII Allied fighter pilot, and Australia’s first ever Formula 1 driver.

After his incredible exploits over the skies of Europe alongside his numerous RAF squadrons, not ony was Gaze the first to drive in a Formula 1 world championship race, but he’d also be on to be a motorsport pioneer for Australia on a few fronts.

Born in Prahran, Melbourne, in 1920, Gaze (Frederick Anthony Owen Gaze) joined the RAF in 1940 and would be accredited with 12.5 confirmed victories (11 and three shared).

A genuine second world war flying ace (5 or more victories during aerial combat) Gaze took down his first Messerschmitt BF 109 flying cross channel sweeps out of the RAF Westhampnett base in West Sussex.

Months later he was awarded the first of three DFC’s (Distinguished Flying Cross) and his brother Scott Gaze joined him in the skies in the No.610 Squadron, but was killed in action in 1941.

After being posted as an instructor, the Melbournian then returned for a second tour in 1942, flying a high altitude Spitfire Mk.VI.

Gaze was one of only 47 WWII fighters to awarded three DFC’s

He received a second DFC for taking part in the ill-fated planned landing on the German occupied port of Dieppe in Northern France, before being posted in command of the No.64 Squadron RAF, flying the new Spitfire IX.

A failed operation where a number of fighters became scattered in high altitude winds then lost in support of bombing raid, led to Gaze being made a scapegoat, and was posted back to the No. 616 Squadron as a flight commander, but he was later fairly exonerated of blame for the failed mission.

Gaze flew the Spitfire MK VI over the skies of europe in 1942

Following a rest from operations in 1943, he was reposted to operations with the No.66 Squadron, where he shot down a German Focke Wulf 190, but was himself downed (flying a Spitfire V) behind enemy lines by the famed German pilot Heinz-Gerhard Vogt.

Gaze survived the crash with minor injuries, and evaded capture with the aid of the French Resistance, where he made his way to Spain.

He rejoined the No.610 Squadron in 1944, where he became the first Australian pilot to down a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet, or the Strumvogel (Storm Bird) for which he then became one of only 47 men to be awarded a third DFC.

Gaze was the first Australian pilot to shoot down the German Messerschmitt Me 262 jet, in 1944

Before returning to Australia, Gaze was noted for suggesting to the Duke of Richmond and Gordon that the roads around the RAF Westhampnett base would be a good location for a race track. In 1948, the Duke acted on the suggestion and opened the famed Goodwood Circuit.

Gaze was the first Australian to start a world championship grand Prix, driving a british built HMV Alta

Gaze brought a British built Alta racing car with him when he returned home, and when he returned to Europe in 1951, raced in Formula 2 around Europe.

The following season, he switched it up for a HWM-Alta and took part in several non-championship Formula 1 events, before travelling to Belgium in June of ’52 to compete in the Belgian Grand Prix.

Tony Gaze behind the wheel of his Ferrari 500

He qualified in P16 and took the #44 straight-four engined HWM Alta to P15, becoming the first Australian to compete in world championship race against the likes of Stirling Moss and Alberto Ascari, and worlds first ever F1 champion, Nino Farina (for the record, Ascari took Farina by 1:55.2s).

As a privateer, Gaze also raced at the Silverstone British Grand Prix, and the German Grand Prix at the ‘Green Hell’, retiring from both, as well as the Italian GP at Monza, where he failed to Qualify.

In 1953, Gaze’s need for speed saw him join up with Stan Jones and Lex Davison to become the first Aussie crew to tackle the famed Rallye Monte Carlo in a Holden FX.

Tony Gaze (R) at the Rallye Monte Carlo in 1953 with Lex Davison, and Stan Jones (R), and the Aussie Holden FX

Turning to Sports car racing, he also survived a serious accident in an Aston Martin DB3 at the Portuguese Grand Prix after being thrown from the DB3 after it hit a tree. He was carried to safety by spectators after it burst into flames, suffering only minor injuries.

After then racing in non-championship F2 events in a Ferrari 500 that was once driven by Alberto Ascari, he started up Australia’s first ever international racing team called the kangaroo Stable, of whom Jack Brabham was one of his young chargers.

The team ran the Aston Martin DB3S, however, the 1955 Le Mans disaster that killed 83 spectators led to many of the events being cancelled that season, and the team was disbanded.

Gaze at the wheel of an HWM Alta in New Zealand in 1954

He spent one more season racing the Ferrari 500 and a HWM-Jaguar in Australia and New Zealand.

He also briefly returned to the air in a different form, representing Australia in the 1960 World Gliding Championships in the West of Germany, in an airfield near Cologne.

Along with his three DFC’s, Gaze was also awarded two Bars and an Order of Australia.

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