| Born on this day Tuesday, February 9, 1897. : Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith is born. Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, nicknamed 'Smithy', was born on 9 February 1897 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Passionately interested in flying and mechanics from an early age, he became one of Australia's best-known aviators. He completed the first non-stop crossing of the Australian mainland and the first flight from Australia to New Zealand. In 1930 he flew 16 000 kilometres single handedly and won the England to Australia air race. Kingsford Smith is perhaps best known for being the first to cross the Pacific from the United States to Australia. On 31 May 1928, he and his crew left the United States to make the first Trans-Pacific flight to Australia in the Southern Cross, a Fokker FVII-3M monoplane. The flight was in three stages, from Oakland, California to Hawaii, then to Suva, Fiji, and on to Brisbane, where he landed on 8 June 1928. On arrival, he was met by a huge crowd at Eagle Farm Airport, and was feted as a hero. Fellow Australian aviator Charles Ulm was the relief pilot, and the other two crew members were Americans James Warner and Captain Harry Lyon, who tooks the roles of radio operator, navigator and engineer for the trans-Pacific flight. Kingsford Smith disappeared in 1935 in the Bay of Bengal whilst flying from England to Australia in the Lady Southern Cross. Wreckage from the aircraft was located off the south coast of Burma eighteen months later, but no evidence of the crew was ever found. Sydney's major airport was named Kingsford Smith International Airport in his honour. A federal electorate, for the federal parliament of Australia, which encompasses the airport is called Kingsford Smith. His original aircraft, the Southern Cross, is now preserved and displayed in a memorial at the International Terminal at Brisbane Airport. Kingsford Smith Drive in Brisbane passes through the suburb of his birth, Hamilton. |
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