About
John F.
Williams
In 1969, John F. Williams was a 21-year-old unlicensed co-pilot with no business being in a cockpit. Fifty-two years later, he is the last living survivor of the race, the crash, and the secret that came with them.
John F. Williams had barely finished high school when, at twenty-one, a chance encounter changed the course of his life. Working in Sydney's booze-soaked 1960s advertising world and fleeing an abusive past, he talked his way into the co-pilot's seat of a 1936 Supermarine Walrus seaplane, owned by Australian land developer Horace "Hockey" Treloar, entered in the 1969 London to Sydney Air Race.
What followed was forty-five days that took him across the Australian outback and into East Timor, where he, the pilot, and two English models were reported missing. The Walrus never finished the race. Instead, it came down in a crash landing just north of Sydney, in the small town of Taree, an ending that left everyone alive and no one talking about what had actually happened.
That same chance encounter also launched an international advertising career that would span five decades with some of the world's largest agencies. But the true cause of the Walrus's crash stayed buried for fifty-two years, known only to Williams and to Hockey Treloar himself. It was only after Hockey's death, at the age of 100 years and three weeks, that Williams became the last person alive who knew the whole story, and finally decided to tell it.
“WALRUS: The Last One Flying isn't always the last one standing. Sometimes, history's most extraordinary adventures start with a hangover.”
From the PreludeWalrus: The Last One Flying is dedicated to Horace "Hockey" Treloar, and the forty-five days that changed everything.
The story so far
Forty-Five Days
That Changed
Everything
From a chance encounter in Sydney to a crash landing in Taree — and the fifty-two years of silence that followed.
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A 21-year-old unlicensed co-pilot talks his way aboard a 1936 Supermarine Walrus, entered in the London to Sydney Air Race.
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Forty-five days across the Australian outback and into East Timor, missing along with the pilot and two English models.
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A crash landing just north of Sydney, in Taree. The true cause stays hidden.
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An international advertising career spanning five decades and some of the industry's largest agencies.
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Hockey Treloar dies at 100 years and 3 weeks old. The last man who knew the full story can finally tell it.
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Walrus: The Last One Flying is published, John F. Williams's debut novel.