On this day a century ago, Captain Percy William Snell thrilled Brisbane by performing aviation stunts in a biplane right over the centre of the city. After seeing an ad for his 1920 joy flights, I went down the rabbit hole and discovered a man who rose from childhood tragedy to be a Great War fighter ace — but who may also have committed wartime atrocities. After he came back home, Percy Snell introduced thousands of his fellow citizens to aviation, entertained a future King of England and was pilot to a socialist state premier on an aerial election campaign tour that ended in what may have been the first political assassination attempt against an Australian politician in our history.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.