Harry Kauper (1888–1942) was born on 12 March 1888 at
Hawthorn, Melbourne, the son of Charles Henry Kauper, a carpenter and later a fruit grower, and his wife Rosa Victoria. On leaving school Kauper became an automobile mechanic, specializing in the electrical systems. He became interested in aviation after going to see the demonstrations of powered flight made by
Harry Houdini in March 1910 and in May 1911, with his mechanic friends
H. G. Hawker and
Harry Busteed,( known as the three Harry's), Kauper went to
England to study aviation. After working for
Sunbeam, in June 1912 he got a job as a mechanic with
Thomas Sopwith's flying school at
Brooklands. Kauper later introduced Hawker to Sopwith, who employed him as a mechanic. When the
Sopwith Aviation Company was formed in 1913 Kauper became foreman of works. In August 1913 Kauper, accompanied
Harry Hawker, by then qualified as a pilot, as his mechanic in the £5000
Daily Mail Circuit of Britain race. They were the only competitors to start, but had to withdraw after Hawker damaged the
purpose-built floatplane when landing near
Dublin. Although they had only covered two-thirds of the course, Hawker was awarded a prize of £1,000 and was also awarded the
Royal Aeronautical Society's silver medal: Kauper was awarded a bronze medal. In January 1914 Kauper accompanied Hawker on his trip to Australia to demonstrate the
Sopwith Tabloid to the Australian Defence Department. They returned to England in June and on the outbreak of the
First World War Kauper became works manager for Sopwiths. Here he developed the
Sopwith-Kauper interrupter gear which allowed the firing of a machine-gun through a rotating aircraft propeller. First used in April 1916, 3,950 were fitted to Sopwith aircraft during the war. On 12 May 1919 he married Beatrice Minnie Hooper, who had also worked at Sopwiths. In 1919 he returned to Australia and in October formed the
Harry J. Butler & Kauper Aviation Co. Ltd, which pioneered commercial aviation in South Australia but went into liquidation in 1921. Kauper had become interested in radio, and in 1920 he established station 5BG, one of the earliest low-powered crystal radio transmitters in Australia, at
Dulwich Hill, New South Wales. In 1925 Kauper and George Towns built the first portable radio for the Rev.
John Flynn. Powered by a generator driven by the rear wheel of Flynn's truck, it worked well but Flynn wanted a radio which did not rely on a fuel supply: in 1926 Kauper introduced Flynn to
Alfred Traeger who developed the pedal wireless which was to be used by the
Flying Doctor Service of Australia. In June 1926 Kauper became the chief engineer of 5CL, Adelaide (Central Broadcasters Ltd). When 5CL was taken over by the
National Broadcasting Service in January 1930 he became chief engineer for 5AD (The Advertiser Broadcasting Network, Pty) and in 1931 he became the supervisory engineer to the Melbourne station 3DB, building much of their equipment. In 1940 he was appointed to the Australian Aeronautical Inspection Directorate and put in charge of the radio, electrical and instrument section. He died on 22 April 1942 of coronary vascular disease. ==Notes==