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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1553.PDF
142 FLIGHT AUGUST QTH, 1945 OLD FLIES TIMER AGAIN just run-c.t-the-line airway pilots of Ihisort that could be hired anywhere tor a few pounds a week. Some smaller ven-ture that would make the headlines was necessary before anyone would take theirbig ambition seriously. So the pair climbed into their Bristol in June, 1927,and broke a local record by hurtling the 7,500 flying miles around Australia in10 days 5 hour.-. After that they linked up with a third pilot, Keith Anderson,and set out for (he United States. Kingsford Smith and his partnerslanded in San Francisco on August 5th, 1927, to buy a machine and fly back toAustralia. But they did not leave until nine months later, on May 31st, 1928.Financial and all other sorts of troubles besieged them, not least of them theresult of the tragic Dole air race to Hawaii, when seven lives were lost, andsupport ior aviation slumped in Western •\merica. , They secured The Southern Cross, butit was not paid for and their hold on it was mighty uncertain. To raise funds,they made five attempts to break the German-held "sustained flight" recordof 52 hours 22 minutes. On the fifth try they remained, in the air for 50 hours4 minutes, and were satisfied that it was impossible to get The Southern Cross offthe ground on the available runways with a load of fuel capable of keeping her upany longer. In the five flights she had proved herself an ideal machine for thelong-distance hops they contemplated over the Pacific. With a wing loading of23.2 and power loading of 26.3, she had handled a composite load of 49.5, theheaviest ever lifted, and her engines had behaved magnificently. But what wasthe use of that, when it looked as if they would never be able to start on the bigflight? Their saviour was Capt. G. AllanHancock, who bought The Southern Cross for them and advanced funds aswell. Anderson had returned to Aus- tralia, but Smith and Ulm were morethan ready. With C. C. Maidment, who had been Charles Lindbergh's mechanic, to tune their motorsto |>erlection, they had no doubt of the ability of the machine nr themselves. The Southern Cross carried 1,298 gallons ot fuel in all itstanks. Its engines reached 1,800 r.p.m. and gave 120 m.p.h. at full throttle. Cruising speed was 94 m.p.h. at 1,600 revs,with fuel consumption of 11 gallons an hour. All that re- mained was to fly and navigate it over thousands of milesot hungry sea, through whatever storms and hours of darkness intervened. • Oakland to Brisbane Kingstord Smith and Ulm, with two Americans, Capt. HanyLyon and James Warner, as navigator and radio operator, took off from Oakland airport on May 31st, 1928. On the morningof June 9th they arrived in Brisbane, with 7,938 miles of ocean behind them, and enthusiastic crowds waiting to welcome themin all Australian cities. That flight, and the many which followed it, were as lullof adventure as all long-distance flights were in 1928, and Sir Charles Kingsford Smith has (old ot them in detail, and withhumour and observation, in his book, " My Flying Life." Here, their very number and variety leaves no space for detail. The ciew received cash and honours for their great effort.Total ot money from an Australian Government grant and newspaper and other subscriptions was more than ^20,000,and trophies included the American National Geographic Society's medal an.:! the trophy of the Federation AeronahqueInternationale. Warner and Lyon returned to the United States, and Kuigsford Smith carried on with other crews. Australia'sislative headquOVER CANBEover the nation's in Canberra—duri:found it hard to 1st famous aircraft, The Southern Cross, fliesrters—the Commonwealth Parliament House Pilots of escort planes with camera-men aboarddown during run although The Southern Cross lade up to 100 miles an hour. First, The Southern Cross made a non-stop dash of 2,090miles across Australia- Then she was made ready for a com- paratively short but extremely hazardous flight from Australiato New Zealand, over the Tasman Sea. " Doc " Maidment came & to Australia to look after the engines, and both mechanica)*^and flying skill were needed. The aircraft fought through storms ovei one of the wildest seas in the world, and KingsfordSmith was almost tragically trapped when ice, which also damaged an airscrew, jammed up the airspeed indicator, caus-ing him to miscalculate and nurtie hundreds of feet towards the water before he reaJised what was wrong. The first flightacross the Tasman was completed on September nth, 1928, and then the machine was flown back to Australia. Australian National Airways were formed by Smith andUlm on their return, and they decided to fly The Cross to England, to buy aircraft. They left the southern part ofAustralia on March 31st, 1929, with the far north-west port of Wyndham scheduled as then first landing point. Unin-tentionally misleading directions pointed by mission natives on the ground caused them to become hopelessly lost, andthey landed in swampy, wild country, unharmed, but so bogged and short of fuel that it was impossible to shift the machine. It was not until April 18th that The Southern Cross wasable to take to the air again, and intervening days were bitter ones for the stranded, foodless airmen. Several times they tawaircraft which did not see them despite the great size of the wing of The Cross and the fiies which they kept burning.By the time they were located, by Capt. Leslie Holden in his DH6, they were ..tarving to death. It was terrible country,and during the search for then, their former partner, Keith
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