Thomas White
Australian politician
Died when: 69 years 170 days (833 months)Star Sign: Taurus
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Sir Thomas Walter White, KBE, DFC, VD (26 April 1888 – 13 October 1957) was an Australian politician and pilot in the First World War.
In 1914 he became one of the first airmen trained for the Australian Flying Corps (AFC), and the following year he was among the first AFC members to see action when he was deployed to the Middle East with the Mesopotamian Half Flight.
After carrying out several missions behind Turkish lines, he was captured in November 1915 but escaped in July 1918.White was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and twice mentioned in despatches for his war service.
He married Vera Deakin, a Red Cross worker and daughter of former Australian Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, in 1920.White began his parliamentary career in 1929 when he was elected to the House of Representatives as the Member for Balaclava in Victoria.
He served as Minister for Trade and Customs in Joseph Lyons's United Australia Party government from 1933 to 1938, but resigned when he was excluded from Lyons's inner cabinet.
He joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War and saw service in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Returning to parliament as a member of the newly formed Liberal Party in 1945, he served as Minister for Air and Minister for Civil Aviation in Robert Menzies's government from 1949 to 1951.
His term coincided with the commitment of RAAF squadrons to the Korean War and the Malayan Emergency.Australia's high commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1951 to 1956, White was knighted in 1952 and died in October 1957.
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