YMMB - Harry Hawker
For anyone with an interest in Australian aviation history, YMMB was named for Harry Hawker and there is a little monument to him close to the road near the airport's head office. It has a pointy little roof and houses some memorabilia telling the story of HH who came from the district and went to England pre WW1 and was one of Sopwith's stars, assisting with design and building and testing. (e.g. Sopwith Pup, Sopwith Camel and numerous others.) In 1914 he came to Melbourne from England with a Sopwith Tabloid in his luggage and made some notable flights in Melbourne and Sydney. He died in a crash test flying a few years after the end of WW1. The Sopwith company had gone into liquidation, but when Sir Thomas revived it he named the new firm after HH, such was his respect and admiration for HH, and of course the name lives on today in Hawker Pacific.
The museum at YMMB today is well worth a visit. They do a great job with limited resources. If Mark Pilkington is there he will be working on the Catalina in all probablity and ever ready to recount how they are going to acquire sufficient bits to put together a complete Cat. (Their one, once a houseboat on the Murray, is the only surviving RAAF "Black Cat" of those that flew the extraordinary mine laying ops in WW11. (20-25 hrs round trip typical, deep into enemy territory. google catalina flying memorial ltd to read about the latest efforts to recognise in perpetuity those gallant crews and those who kept them flying.)