Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: New South Wales, Australia
About Guy Menzies
- Guy Lambton Menzies (20 August 1909 – 1 November 1940) was an Australian aviator who flew the first solo trans-Tasman flight, from Sydney, Australia to the West Coast of New Zealand, on 7 January 1931. The first crossing of the Tasman by air had been achieved on 10–11 September 1928 by Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm in the Southern Cross.
- The plane Menzies used for his solo crossing was the Avro Sports Avian that Smith had flown from England to Australia, the Southern Cross Junior.
- Fearing he might be denied permission for the flight, Menzies informed the authorities and his family that he was flying to Perth.
- Instead, he left Sydney at 1 am on 7 January 1931, and headed for Blenheim, New Zealand.
- Poor weather forced Menzies off course, and after 11 hours and 45 minutes he crash-landed upside-down in the La Fontaine Swamp near Hari Hari on New Zealand's west coast.
- Despite the unfortunate landing, Menzies had broken Smith and Ulm's time by 2½ hours. An extensive outdoor historical marker with photographs and descriptions is located at GPS coordinates -43.076716, 170.531477 (south latitude, east longitude).
- The marker is approximately 1/2 km southwest of the actual landing spot (now on private land), which is marked by a pole with wind sock that are visible from the historical marker.
- News clippings and additional historical details are on display in the lobby of the Hotel Hari Hari, a few km away on the main highway 6. During the Second World War, Menzies was a Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force.
- He and his crew were killed on 1 November 1940, when his flying boat was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea while en route from Malta to Sicily.
- No remains of the aircraft or crew were ever found.
- He is commemorated at the Alamein Memorial in Egypt.On 7 January 2006, celebrations were held in Hari Hari to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Menzies' trans-Tasman voyage, and were marked by a re-enactment of the flight by adventurer Dick Smith.
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