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((short description|Australian aviation pioneer))
((Use dmy dates|date=September 2014))
((Use Australian English|date=September 2014))
((Infobox military person
| image = Watt oswald obit 1921.jpeg
| caption       = Oswald Watt, Australian Flying Corps
|birth_name     = Walter Oswald Watt
| birth_date    = 11 February 1878
| death_date    = ((death date and age|1921|5|21|1878|2|11|df=yes))
| birth_place   =[[Bournemouth]], England
| death_place   =[[Bilgola, New South Wales|Bilgola]], New South Wales, Australia
| nickname      = "Toby"
| allegiance    =Australia; France
| branch        =[[Australian Military Forces]]<br />[[French Foreign Legion]]<br />[[Australian Flying Corps]]
| serviceyears  =1900–19
| rank          =[[Lieutenant colonel]]
| unit          =[[New South Wales Scottish Regiment|NSW Scottish Rifles]] (1900–14)<br />[[Aviation Militaire]] (1914–16)<br />[[No. 1 Squadron RAAF|No. 1 Squadron AFC]] (1916)
| commands      =[[No. 2 Squadron RAAF|No. 2 Squadron AFC]] (1916–18)<br />[[No. 1 Wing RAAF|1st Training Wing AFC]] (1918–19)
| battles       =World War I
* [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]
* [[Battle of Cambrai (1917)|Battle of Cambrai]]
| awards        =[[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]]<br />[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (2)<br />[[Legion of Honour]] (France)<br />[[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de guerre]] (France)
| relations     =[[John Watt (Australian politician)|John Brown Watt]] (father)
| laterwork     =[[Pastoral farming|Grazier]], businessman
))

'''Walter Oswald Watt''', ((post-nominals|country=AUS|sep=,|size=100%|OBE)) (11 February 1878&nbsp;– 21&nbsp;May 1921) was an Australian aviator and businessman. He served as a pilot during World War I with, firstly, the French [[French Foreign Legion|Foreign Legion]] and, secondly, the [[Australian Flying Corps]] (AFC).

The son of a Scottish-Australian merchant and politician, Watt was born in England and moved to [[Sydney]] when he was one year old, returning to Britain at the age of eleven for education at [[Bristol]] and [[Cambridge]]. In 1900 he returned to Australia, and enlisted in the [[Australian Army Reserve|Militia]], before acquiring cattle [[Station (Australian agriculture)|stations]] in [[New South Wales]] and [[Queensland]]. He was also a partner in the family shipping firm.

The first Australian to qualify for a [[Royal Aero Club]] flying certificate, in 1911, Watt joined the ''Aviation Militaire'' of the French Foreign Legion as a pilot on the outbreak of World War&nbsp;I.  He transferred to the Australian Flying Corps in 1916, quickly progressing from [[Flight (military unit)|flight commander]] with [[No. 1 Squadron RAAF|No.&nbsp;1 Squadron]] in Egypt to [[commanding officer]] of [[No. 2 Squadron RAAF|No.&nbsp;2 Squadron]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]. By February 1918, he had been promoted to [[lieutenant colonel]] and taken command of the AFC's [[No. 1 Wing RAAF|1st Training Wing]] in England.

A recipient of France's [[Legion of Honour]] and [[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de Guerre]], and twice [[mentioned in despatches]] during the war, Watt was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] in 1919. He left the military to pursue business interests in Australia, and was lauded for his generosity to other returned airmen. In 1921, at the age of 43, he died by accidental drowning at [[Bilgola Beach, New South Wales|Bilgola Beach]], New South Wales. He is commemorated by the [[Oswald Watt Gold Medal]] for outstanding achievement in Australian aviation, and the Oswald Watt Fund at the [[University of Sydney]].

==Early career==
Born on 11 February 1878 in [[Bournemouth]], England, Oswald Watt was the youngest son of [[John Watt (Australian politician)|John Brown Watt]], a Scot who had migrated to [[New South Wales]] in 1842 and became a successful merchant and politician, frequently representing his state on overseas missions.<ref name="ADB">
((cite book
 |chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/watt-walter-oswald-1010
 |title=Watt, Walter Oswald
 |access-date=23 October 2013
 |last=Johnston|first=Susan |work=[[Australian Dictionary of Biography]], Volume 12
 |publisher=Melbourne University Press
 |year=1966 |chapter=Watt, Walter Oswald (Toby) (1878–1921)
 ))</ref><ref>((cite book
 |chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/watt-john-brown-1008
 |title=Watt, John Brown
 |access-date=23 October 2013
 |last=Walsh |first=G.P.
 |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6
 |publisher=Melbourne University Press
 |year=1976
|chapter=Watt, John Brown (1826–1897)
 ))</ref> Oswald's Australian-born mother, Mary Jane, died when he was one and shortly afterwards the family relocated to [[Sydney]]. Oswald was sent back to England at the age of eleven to complete his schooling at [[Clifton College]], [[Bristol]], before going on to study at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where he received a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in 1899.  Returning to Sydney in 1900, he was commissioned as a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[New South Wales Scottish Regiment|New South Wales Scottish Rifles]], a [[Australian Army Reserve|Militia]] unit, and in 1902 was appointed an [[aide-de-camp]] to the [[Governor of New South Wales]].  On 27&nbsp;September that year, he married Muriel Williams at St.&nbsp;John's Anglican Church in [[Toorak, Victoria|Toorak]], Victoria; the couple had one son.<ref name="ADB"/><ref>((acad|id=WT896WO|name=Watt, Walter Oswald)) Retrieved 10 November 2013.</ref>

[[File:C02799WattBleriot1914.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|Watt's Bleriot XI monoplane in Egypt, 1913–14|alt=Single-engined monoplane on airfield in front of hangar with Union Jack on flagpole]]
Watt's family was wealthy, and he was able to establish himself as a [[Pastoral farming|grazier]] by purchasing several cattle [[station (Australian agriculture)|stations]] in New South Wales and [[Queensland]]. Travelling abroad again, he obtained his [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] degree from Cambridge in 1904.<ref name="ADB"/><ref name="Stephens">Stephens, ''The Royal Australian Air Force'', pp. 16–19</ref>  In October the following year he was promoted to [[Captain (armed forces)|captain]] in the Scottish Rifles.<ref>((cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14743169|title=The defence forces: Appointments and promotions.|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=9 October 1905|page=7|access-date=12 November 2011))</ref> On a subsequent trip to England he took flying lessons at the [[Bristol Aeroplane Company|Bristol aviation school]] on [[Salisbury Plain]], where his fellow students included [[Eric Harrison (RAAF officer)|Eric Harrison]]. Watt attained his [[Royal Aero Club]] certificate, no.&nbsp;112, on 1&nbsp;August 1911, becoming the first Australian citizen so qualified.<ref>((cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15282267 |title=Australians abroad|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=18 October 1911|page=5|access-date=12 November 2011))</ref><ref name="High Fliers">Stephens; Isaacs, ''High Fliers'', p. 16</ref> Upon his return to Australia later that year, he publicly declared that the time was "rapidly approaching when an aero corps [would] have to be inaugurated" as part of the country's "military defence scheme".<ref name="High Fliers"/>

In March 1912, Watt recommended a location in Canberra near the [[Royal Military College, Duntroon]], as a base for the Army's proposed [[Central Flying School RAAF|Central Flying School]]. Owing to its altitude and nearby mountainous terrain, the site was rejected by the school's nominated commanding officer, Lieutenant [[Henry Petre]].<ref>Wilson, ''The Brotherhood of Airmen'', p. 1</ref> Petre eventually chose 297 hectares at [[RAAF Williams#RAAF Base Point Cook|Point Cook]], Victoria, an area suitable for seaplanes as well as land-based aircraft, to become the "birthplace of Australian military aviation".<ref>Odgers, ''Air Force Australia'', pp. 13–14</ref><ref>Stephens, ''The Royal Australian Air Force'', p. 3</ref> Watt also advocated manufacturing foreign-designed aircraft under licence in Australia, but this would not be pursued until after World War&nbsp;I.<ref>Coulthard-Clark, ''The Third Brother'', pp. 248, 500</ref> In 1913 he was divorced on the grounds of "misconduct" with actress Ivy Schilling, and lost custody of his son in the judgment.<ref name="ADB"/><ref>((cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10299911?|title=The Watt divorce case|newspaper= [[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |location=Hobart |date=18 September 1913|page=5|access-date=20 February 2010))</ref> He then went to Egypt, where he purchased and practised flying a [[Blériot&nbsp;XI]] monoplane; while there he met leading French aviators [[Louis Blériot]] and [[Roland Garros (aviator)|Roland Garros]].<ref name="SMH">((cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15950786|title=Colonel Watt: Drowned near Newport|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=23 May 1921|page=8|access-date=12 February 2010))</ref>

==World War I==
[[File:C02797Watt1915.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Watt flying a Farman biplane over Europe, 1915|alt=Overhead view of single-engined military biplane with twin-tail boom in flight]]
In May 1914, the [[francophile]] Watt left Egypt with his aeroplane and took up employment at the [[Blériot Aéronautique|Blériot]] factory and airfield in [[Buc, Yvelines|Buc]], outside Paris.<ref name="SMH"/><ref name="French Tribute">((cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15955618|title=Late Col. Watt: A French tribute|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=27 May 1921|page=9|access-date=12 February 2010))</ref> Fired by the widely held conviction that Britain would stay out of a European conflict, Watt offered his services and his plane to the French government on 2&nbsp;August, the day [[World War I|France declared war on Germany]]. This gesture was welcomed and he joined the Aviation Militaire section of the [[French Foreign Legion|Foreign Legion]] as a pilot. Though he was ranked an ordinary soldier, his colleagues in Bleriot Squadron No.&nbsp;30 referred to him as "''Capitaine''" in deference to his previous status in the Australian Militia. Posted to [[Farman Aviation Works|Maurice Farman]] Squadron No.&nbsp;44 in April 1915, he earned the [[Legion of Honour]] badge after he and his observer crash-landed in [[no man's land]] and succeeded in making their way back to French lines with valuable intelligence under intense fire from German positions. Soon afterwards, Watt was awarded the [[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de Guerre]]—with palm leaves personally presented by General [[Joseph Joffre|Joffre]]—and promoted to the provisional rank of captain. He was not eligible to command a French unit because he was a foreigner.<ref name="SMH"/><ref name="Cutlack">Cutlack, [http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1069787--1-.PDF ''The Australian Flying Corps'', pp. 41–42] ((webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110012309/http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1069787--1-.PDF |date=10 November 2013 ))</ref> Watt always proclaimed his [[Antipodes|antipodean]] connection while serving France, painting a [[kangaroo]] on the nose of his plane, which he named ''Advance Australia''.<ref name="Stephens"/> Considered a no-nonsense type, he once introduced himself to a British pilot with the words "I am an Australian and I haven't got any manners".<ref>Molkentin, ''Fire in the Sky'', p. 61</ref>

[[File:Watt1914-16.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Watt in the Aviation Militaire|alt=Half portrait of man in military uniform with kepi, outdoors]]
The French recognised that Watt's talents were not being fully utilised due to his ineligibility to lead a squadron, and recommended that he transfer to the [[Australian Flying Corps]].<ref name="SMH"/> Watt did so on 1&nbsp;March 1916, with the rank of captain. Posted to Egypt in May, he was made commander of B&nbsp;Flight, [[No. 1 Squadron RAAF|No.&nbsp;1 Squadron]], and took charge of the unit's first contingent of [[Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2]]s the following month.<ref name="Cutlack"/><ref>Cutlack, [http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1069787--1-.PDF ''The Australian Flying Corps'', pp. 33–36] ((webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110012309/http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1069787--1-.PDF |date=10 November 2013 ))</ref> No.&nbsp;1 Squadron was engaged mainly in [[aerial reconnaissance]] and [[Close air support|army co-operation]] duties, but the two-seat B.E.2 proved inferior to German [[Fokker]]s and [[Rumpler]]s in speed, time-to-climb, and manoeuvrability.<ref>Stephens, ''The Royal Australian Air Force'', pp. 10–11</ref>  In September 1916, Watt was promoted to [[Major (rank)|major]] and given command of [[No. 2 Squadron RAAF|No.&nbsp;2 Squadron]], which was formed in [[El-Qantarah el-Sharqiyya|Kantara]].<ref name="ADB"/><ref name="2Sqn">((cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_10836.asp|title= 2 Squadron AFC|publisher=[[Australian War Memorial]]|access-date= 28 January 2010))</ref> He was [[mentioned in despatches]] by General [[Archibald Murray]], Commander-in-Chief of the [[Egyptian Expeditionary Force]], on 13&nbsp;October; the commendation was promulgated in the ''[[London Gazette]]'' on 1&nbsp;December.<ref>((London Gazette|issue=29845 |supp=y|pages=11802–11803|date=1 December 1916))</ref> No. 2 Squadron's personnel was composed largely of former [[Australian Light Horse|Lighthorsemen]], as well as thirteen mechanics from the Australian Flying Corps' first combat formation, the [[Mesopotamian Half Flight]], led by Flight Sergeant [[George Mackinolty]]. Watt personally trained the force in England commencing in January 1917, before deploying it to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] that September.<ref name="Stephens"/><ref name="2Sqn"/>  He was "a born leader of men", according to one officer; another recalled that "In the things that mattered, his men knew he stood for absolute obedience. They also knew that when discipline could be safely relaxed he would be quick to grant them some relief from the strain."<ref>Molkentin, ''Fire in the Sky'', p. 205</ref>

[[File:D00126Watt1918x.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|Lieutenant Colonel Watt (front row, second from right) with staff of the 1st Training Wing AFC, 1918|alt=Formal portrait of seven men in military uniforms with peaked caps, four seated and holding canes, and three standing behind them]]
In the vicinity of [[Saint-Quentin, Aisne|Saint-Quentin]] on 2&nbsp;October, No.&nbsp;2 Squadron became the first AFC unit in Europe to see aerial combat when one of its patrols engaged some German two-seaters, which managed to escape.<ref>Cutlack, [http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1069815--1-.PDF ''The Australian Flying Corps'', pp. 178–180] ((webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110012303/http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1069815--1-.PDF |date=10 November 2013 ))</ref> Because the [[Airco&nbsp;DH.5]]s in the squadron were handicapped as [[Fighter aircraft|fighters]] by engine problems and low speed, the squadron was employed mainly in [[Close air support|ground support]] duties. During the [[Battle of Cambrai (1917)|Battle of Cambrai]] that commenced on 20&nbsp;November 1917, Watt led his pilots on daring low-level bombing and strafing attacks against enemy fortifications and lines of communication. Their loss rate reached 30%, but morale remained high.<ref name="Stephens"/><ref name="Wilson">Wilson, ''The Brotherhood of Airmen'', p. 25</ref> After visiting the squadron, the [[Royal Flying Corps]]' Major General [[Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard|Hugh Trenchard]] described its airmen as "really magnificent" and [[Charles Bean]], war correspondent and future editor of the ''[[Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918]]'', commented on their "remarkably high level of conduct and general tone".<ref name="Stephens"/> Six of Watt's officers were awarded the [[Military Cross]] for gallantry during the battle, prompting General [[William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood|Sir William Birdwood]] to send him a personal message of congratulation on 16&nbsp;December, declaring: "...&nbsp;This is indeed a magnificent record for your squadron, and one of which I am sure everyone of you must rightly be extremely proud; I doubt if it has been beaten anywhere&nbsp;..."<ref name="Wilson"/><ref>((cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/records/awm28/2/awm28-2-113-0071.pdf |title=My dear Watt|publisher=Australian War Memorial|access-date=12 February 2010))</ref>  By this time, No.&nbsp;2 Squadron had begun converting to [[Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5]]s, though it could achieve little in the winter months due to inclement weather.<ref name="2Sqn"/> Watt himself, now almost forty, was beginning to show the strain of frontline command. Bean found him looking "very worn" and noticed him shivering even while seated in front of the mess hall fire.<ref>Molkentin, ''Fire in the Sky'', p. 231</ref>

In February 1918, Watt was promoted to [[lieutenant colonel]] and given command of the AFC's [[No. 1 Wing RAAF|1st Training Wing]] (Nos. [[No. 5 Squadron RAAF|5]], [[No. 6 Squadron RAAF|6]], [[No. 7 Squadron RAAF|7]] and [[No. 8 Squadron RAAF|8]] Squadrons) headquartered at [[Tetbury]] in [[Gloucestershire]], England; the wing's role was to train replacement pilots for the four operational AFC squadrons in Palestine and France.<ref name="ADB"/><ref>Garrisson, ''Australian Fighter Aces'', p. 12</ref> Watt proposed moving the wing to France, but it remained in England.<ref name=SMH /> He was mentioned in despatches by Field Marshal [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Sir Douglas Haig]] on 7&nbsp;April, and the commendation was [[Gazette#Gazette as a verb|gazetted]] on 28&nbsp;May.<ref>((London Gazette|issue=30706 |supp=y|pages=6195–6200|date=28 May 1918))</ref> Shortly after the end of hostilities in November 1918, novelist [[William John Locke]] visited 1st Training Wing and found that "there was not one [of Watt's men] who&nbsp;...&nbsp;did not confide to me his pride in serving under a leader so distinguished".<ref name="Stephens"/> A pilot later opined that as well as having "courage, determination, and an immense capacity for work", Watt possessed "the greatest factor in leadership, a genius for endearing himself (without conscious effort) to all who served under him".<ref name="Cutlack"/>

==Post-war career and legacy==
[[File:D00427BirdwoodWattPhillippsHolden1919.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|General Sir William Birdwood (fifth from left) with (left to right behind Birdwood) Major [[Roy Phillipps]], Captain [[Les Holden]] (in flying suit), and Lieutenant Colonel Watt, [[Minchinhampton]], March 1919|alt=A group of military personnel in an aircraft hangar, four of whom are in a row facing another man, while the remainder stand informally, one of them wearing a flying suit]]
Watt was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] on 1&nbsp;January 1919, in recognition of his war service.<ref>((London Gazette|issue=31097 |supp=y|pages=83–86|date=1 January 1919))</ref> He returned to Australia on 6&nbsp;May with the rest of 1st Training Wing's personnel, aboard the troopship ''Kaisar-i-Hind'', on which he was the ranking officer.<ref name="SMH"/><ref>((cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/units/people_7460.asp |title=Lieutenant Colonel Walter Oswald Watt, OBE|publisher= Australian War Memorial|access-date=12 February 2010))</ref> Leaving the AFC soon afterwards, he was elected president of the [[Royal Aero Club of New South Wales|New South Wales section of the Australian Aero Club]].<ref name="ADB"/><ref name="Stephens"/> He also served as senior delegate on a committee of veteran military pilots examining applications for appointment to a proposed independent Australian air service.<ref>Coulthard-Clark, ''The Third Brother'', p. 20</ref> Watt was esteemed as a man who did not forget old comrades, providing former AFC members with financial aid and helping them re-establish themselves in civilian life. He maintained an interest in commercial flying but refused an offer to take up the position of controller of civil aviation in 1920 owing to his business interests, which included partnership in the family shipping firm of Gilchrist, Watt & Sanderson Ltd, and directorships of mining, rubber, and art corporations.<ref name="ADB"/><ref name="SMH"/> He also turned down invitations to stand for parliament, and to join the fledgling [[Royal Australian Air Force]].<ref name="SMH"/><ref name="Sutherland">Sutherland, ''Command and Leadership in War and Peace'', pp. 4, 34–36</ref>

Oswald Watt drowned at [[Bilgola Beach, New South Wales|Bilgola Beach]], near [[Newport, New South Wales|Newport]], New South Wales, on 21&nbsp;May 1921.<ref name="ADB"/> Cuts and bruising on his body indicated that he had slipped on rocks, struck his head, and rolled unconscious into relatively shallow water. Survived by his 15-year-old son, he was accorded a military funeral two days later at [[Randwick, New South Wales|St Jude's Church, Randwick]]. Members of the AFC, [[Royal Air Force]], and Australian Aero Club formed a guard of honour at the service,<ref name="SMH"/> one of the largest in the suburb's history, which also included representatives of the [[Royal Australian Navy]] and [[Australian Army]]. Among the tributes was a floral wreath from an anonymous group of French admirers, and another that was dropped by parachute from a low-flying plane.<ref name="French Tribute"/><ref>((cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15945306|title=The late Col. Watt: Tributes in church and cemetery|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=24 May 1921|page=8|access-date=12 February 2010))</ref> On 31&nbsp;May, Watt's body was cremated and his ashes interred in the family vault at St Jude's.<ref>((cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15935153 |title=Late Colonel Watt: Remains cremated|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=1 June 1921 |page=12|access-date=12 November 2011))</ref>

In his will, Watt left two bequests to the Australian Aero Club, one of which was used to establish the [[Oswald Watt Gold Medal]] for outstanding achievement in Australian aviation. Winners of the award have included [[Charles Kingsford Smith]], [[Bert Hinkler]], [[Henry Millicer]], [[Ivor McIntyre]], [[Jon Johanson]] and [[Andy Thomas]].<ref>((cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=948TAAAAIBAJ&pg=2420,1081120|title=Encouraging aviation: Late Colonel Watt's legacies|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=12 July 1921|page=5|access-date=12 February 2010))</ref><ref>((cite web|title=Awards: Oswald Watt Gold Medal|url=http://rfaca.com.au/awards/|publisher= Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia|access-date= 14 February 2010))</ref> He also bequeathed a sum to the Royal Military College, Duntroon, to award annually a set of binoculars for the best cadet essay on military aviation or aeronautics. The award was founded as the Oswald Watt Prize later in 1921.<ref name="Pathfinder">Air Power Development Centre, "Oswald Watt: The Leader the RAAF Never Had"</ref><ref>((cite web|url=http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/a/1938-24/19960305-38118/pdf/1938-24.pdf |title=Walter Oswald Watt Memorial Fund Act 1938|publisher=Australian Capital Territory Government| access-date= 12 November 2011))</ref> Most of the residue of Watt's estate went to the [[University of Sydney]].<ref>((cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16248637|title=Oswald Watt estate: Bequest to university|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=15 October 1925|page=8|access-date=12 February 2010))</ref> Considered one of the university's great benefactors, he was commemorated by the Oswald Watt Fund.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.usyd.edu.au/senate/historyOrationSpeeches.shtml |title=Centenary 1950–1952|publisher= [[University of Sydney]]|access-date= 12 February 2010))</ref> In May 1923, the Oswald Watt Wing of the Havilah Home for Orphans, [[Wahroonga, New South Wales|Wahroonga]], was opened by the [[Governor-General of Australia]].<ref>((cite journal|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=v7coAAAAIBAJ&pg=3210,5212952|title=At the official opening of the Oswald Watt Wing of the Havilah Home for Orphans, Wahroonga|journal=The Sydney Mail|date=23 May 1923|page=16|access-date=12 February 2010))</ref> Watt was acknowledged as both a source and a reviewer by F.M. Cutlack in the latter's volume on the Australian Flying Corps that was first published in 1923 as part of the ''Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918''.<ref>Cutlack, [http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1069784--1-.PDF ''The Australian Flying Corps'', pp. iii–vii] ((webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110012253/http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1069784--1-.PDF |date=10 November 2013 ))</ref> During World War I, Oswald Watt had been the only AFC officer to command a [[Wing (military aviation unit)|wing]] apart from Lieutenant Colonel [[Richard Williams (RAAF officer)|Richard Williams]], who was later to become known as the "Father of the RAAF".<ref name="Sutherland"/> In 2001, military historian Alan Stephens noted that "had fate drawn him to a post-war career in the Air Force instead of to business and an untimely death, 'Toby' Watt might have challenged Richard Williams as the RAAF's dominant figure in its formative years".<ref name="Stephens"/>

==Notes==
((reflist))

==References==
* ((cite journal|author= Air Power Development Centre |date=October 2011 | title= Oswald Watt: The leader the RAAF never had| journal= Pathfinder |issue=166 | url=http://airpower.airforce.gov.au/Publications/Details/468/166-Oswald-Watt-The-Leader-the-RAAF-Never-Had.aspx))
* ((cite book|last=Coulthard-Clark| first=Chris|year=1991| title=The Third Brother: The Royal Australian Air Force 1921–39| location=North Sydney| publisher=Allen & Unwin|url=http://airpower.airforce.gov.au/Publications/Details/437/The-Third-Brother-The-Royal-Australian-Air-Force-1921-39.aspx|isbn=978-0-04-442307-2))
* ((cite book|last=Cutlack | first=F.M.|author-link=Frederic Cutlack| orig-year=1923|year=1941| title=The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 (11th edition): Volume VIII&nbsp;– The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914–1918 | location=Sydney| publisher=Angus & Robertson|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/RCDIG1069925/|oclc=220900299))
* ((cite book|last=Garrisson|first=A.D.|title=Australian Fighter Aces 1914–1953|url=http://airpower.airforce.gov.au/Publications/Details/220/Australian-Fighter-Aces-1914–1953.aspx|publisher=Air Power Studies Centre|location=Fairbairn, Australian Capital Territory|year=1999|isbn=978-0-642-26540-1))
* ((cite book|last=Molkentin| first=Michael|year=2010| title=Fire in the Sky: The Australian Flying Corps in the First World War| location= Crows Nest, New South Wales| publisher=Allen & Unwin|isbn=978-1-74237-072-9))
* ((cite book|last=Odgers| first=George|author-link=George Odgers|orig-year=1984|year=1996| title=Air Force Australia| location=Frenchs Forest, New South Wales| publisher=National |isbn=978-1-86436-081-3))
* ((cite book|last=Stephens| first=Alan|orig-year=2001|year=2006| title=The Royal Australian Air Force: A History|location=London| publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-555541-7))
* ((Cite book|last=Stephens| first=Alan|author2=Isaacs, Jeff  | year=1996| title=High Fliers: Leaders of the Royal Australian Air Force|location=Canberra|publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service|isbn=978-0-644-45682-1))
* ((cite book|editor-last=Sutherland|editor-first=Barry |title=Command and Leadership in War and Peace 1914–1975: The Proceedings of the 1999 RAAF History Conference|publisher=Air Power Studies Centre|location=Canberra|year=2000|isbn=978-0-642-26537-1|url=http://airpower.airforce.gov.au/Publications/Details/206/RAAF-History-Conference-1999-Command-and-Leadership-in-War-and-Peace-1914-1975.aspx))
* ((cite book|last=Wilson| first=David|year=2005| title=The Brotherhood of Airmen| location=Crows Nest, New South Wales| publisher=Allen & Unwin |isbn=978-1-74114-333-1))

==Further reading==
* ((cite book|last1=Clark|first1=Chris|title=The High Life of Oswald Watt: Australia's First Military Pilot|date=2016|publisher=Big Sky Publishing|location=Warriewood, New South Wales|isbn=9781925275797))

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[[Category:1878 births]]
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[[Category:Accidental deaths in New South Wales]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Australian aviators]]
[[Category:Australian military personnel of World War I]]
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[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
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