Charles Kingsford Smith and Those Magnificent Men

by P Fitzsimons

  65Purvis and Priest, op. cit., p. 12.

  66‘Broadcast Address’, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 October 1930.

  67‘Official Welcome Mascot Aerodrome’, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 October 1930.

  68‘Father’s Ashes Cast on Pacific by Kingsford Smith from Plane’, New York Times, 5 November 1930.

  69‘“Smithy” Spreads Father’s Ashes over Ocean Rollers’, Daily Telegraph, 5 November 1930.

  70‘Kingsford Smith: Scenes at the Wedding’, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 December 1930.

  71Mackersey, op. cit., p. 263.

  72Mollison, Jim, Playboy of the Air, Michael Joseph, London, 1937, p. 23.

  73ibid., p. 58f

  74Kingsford Smith, op. cit., p. 186.

  75Mackersey, op. cit., p. 264.

  76Kingsford Smith, Charles, letter to the Secretary of the British Air Ministry, sent from Sydney, November 1930.

  77Fysh, Sir Hudson, Qantas Rising: The Autobiography of the Flying Fysh, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1966, p. 257.

  78Davis, Pedr, Charles Kingsford Smith: Smithy, The World’s Greatest Aviator, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1985, p. 94.

  79Slipstream, 1 December 1930 (Vol. 2, No. 4).

  80Macfarlane, Dan, previously unpublished reminiscences, 1967, private collection of his daughter, Ashlyn Macfarlane.

  81‘Southern Cloud Laid to Rest’, Friends, 3 September 2006 (Vol. 17).

  82Macfarlane, op. cit.

  83Kingsford Smith, My Flying Life, op. cit., p. 189.

  84‘Desperate Search for the Missing Plane’, Sydney Morning Herald, 25 March 1931.

  85Tumut and Adelong Times, 31 October 1958.

  86‘Flashes in the Hills’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 March 1931.

  87‘The Southern Cloud: Kingsford Smith’s Spectacular Flight’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 March 1931.

  88‘Missing Plane Search Continues’, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 March 1931.

  89‘The Southern Cloud: Hope Practically Abandoned’, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 March 1931.

  90Scott, C.W.A., The Life and Mildenhall-Melbourne Flight of C.W.A. Scott, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1934, pp. 29, 33f.

  91Swinson, Arthur, The Great Air Race, Cassell, London, 1968, p. 137.

  Chapter Sixteen: To and Fro…

  1‘Kingsford Smith, Life of Adventure’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 June 1928.

  2‘Arrival at Brisbane, Kingsford Smith’s Plans’, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 April 1931.

  3Kingsford Smith, Sir Charles, My Flying Life: An Authentic Biography Prepared under the Personal Supervision of and from the Diaries and Papers of the Late Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, Andrew Melrose, London, 1937, p. 198.

  4Qantas Heritage Collection, Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney.

  5ibid.

  6‘Death of Nellie Stewart’, Argus, 22 June 1931.

  7Argus, 24 June 1931.

  8Campbell, Eric, The Rallying Point: My Story of the New Guard, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1965, p. 100.

  9Kingsford Smith, op. cit., p. 202.

  10‘My Co-Pilot was Called Death’, Liberty Magazine, 28 December 1935.

  11‘Kingsford Smith Reaches England, Story of the Flight’, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 October 1931.

  12McNally, Ward, The Man on the Twenty Dollar Note: Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, A & A Reed, Sydney, 1976, p. 119.

  13ibid., p. 119.

  14‘My Co-Pilot was Called Death’, Liberty Magazine, 28 December 1935.

  15‘Kingsford Smith, Delay at Athens’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 October 1931.

  16‘Speed Record 408.8 Miles an Hour’, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 October 1931.

  17‘Kingsford Smith, Overdue at Marseilles’, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 October 1931.

  18ibid.

  19Rogers, Ellen, Faith In Australia: Charles Ulm And Australian Aviation, Book Production Services, Sydney, 1987, p. 74.

  20‘Air Liner Crashes in Siam, Col. Brinsmead Injured’, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 December 1931.

  21ibid.

  22Taylor, Sir Gordon, ‘Kingsford Smith as I Remember Him’, Sir Hudson Fysh Papers, Mitchell Library, ML MSS 2413, Box 10, K21829, ca. 1817-1974.

  23Rogers, op. cit., p. 52.

  24‘Southern Star, Arrival in England’, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 December 1931.

  25‘Hinkler at the Royal Aero Club’, Flight, December 1931 (Vol. XXIII).

  26‘Mr Bert Hinkler, South Atlantic Flight, Most Hazardous of his Career’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 December 1931.

  27Sprigg, C. St John, Great Flights, London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1936, p. 86.

  28‘Mr Hinkler Successful Flight’, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 November 1931.

  29ibid.

  30‘Mr Hinkler Story of Flight’, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 December 1931.

  31Mackenzie, Roy D., Solo: The Bert Hinkler Story, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1979, p. 110.

  32ibid., p. 92.

  33‘Hinkler at the Royal Aero Club’, Flight, December 1931 (Vol. XXIII).

  34Purvis, Harry and Priest, Joan, Outback Airman, Rigby, Adelaide, 1979, p. 15.

  35ibid., p. 12

  36‘Sir “Smithy” Intrepid Airman Here’, Canberra Times, 4 June 1932.

  37Wixted, Edward P., The Life and Times of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith: An Illustrated Chronology, private source, Queensland, 1996, p. 140.

  38‘Sir “Smithy” Intrepid Airman Here’, Canberra Times, 4 June 1932.

  39Wixted, op. cit., p. 140.

  40Purvis and Priest, op. cit., p. 20.

  41Wixted, Edward P., The Last Flight of Bert Hinkler, Vantage Press, New York, 1992, p. 10.

  42‘Seeing “Smithy” off’, Kiama Independent, 14 January 1933.

  43Taylor, op. cit.

  44‘Seeing “Smithy” off’, Kiama Independent, 14 January 1933.

  45Priest, Elaine; Bellini, Bruce; Dobson, Peter and Lockstone, Brian (eds), Bell Block: A Local Aviation History, New Plymouth Aero Club, New Plymouth, 2003, p. 28.

  46Purvis and Priest, op. cit., p. 25.

  47Wixted, The Life and Times of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, op. cit., p. 153.

  48Mackersey, Ian, Smithy: The Life of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Little, Brown, London, 1999, p. 292.

  49Davis, Pedr, Charles Kingsford Smith: Smithy, The World’s Greatest Aviator, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1985, p. 17.

  50‘Joyriding Flights, Smithy Makes Money’, Northern Territory Times, 10 June 1932.

  51Purvis and Priest, op. cit., p. 17.

  52Priest, et al., op. cit., p. 18f.

  53Kingsford Smith, op. cit., p. 154.

  54Mackersey, op. cit., p. 279f.

  55Mackenzie, op. cit., p. 119.

  56Wixted, The Last Flight of Bert Hinkler, op. cit., p. 49.

  Chapter Seventeen: Troubles

  1McNally, Ward, The Man on the Twenty Dollar Note: Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, A & A Reed, Sydney, 1976, p. 156.

  2Purvis, Harry and Priest, Joan, Outback Airman, Rigby, Adelaide, 1979, p. 10.

  3Australian Hansard, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 4 July 1933.

  4Bird, Nancy, My God, It’s A Woman!, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1990, p. 31.

  5‘Mail in Ten Days, London to Sydney’, Brisbane Courier Mail, 16 October 1933.

  6Kingsford Smith, Sir Charles, My Flying Life: An Authentic Biography Prepared under the Personal Supervision of and from the Diaries and Papers of the Late Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, Andrew Melrose, London, 1937, p. 236.

  7‘Suva Landing Spectacular’, New York Times, 6 June 1928.

  8Wixted, Edward P., The Life and Times of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith: An Illustrated Chronology, private source, Queensland, 1996, p. 141.

  9ibid.

  10‘Aviation, Kingsford Smith’s Flight’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 October 1933.

  11Sheil, Beau, Caesar of the Skies: The Life Story of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Cassell, London, 1937, p. 138f.

  12McNally, Ward, op. cit., p. 141.

  13‘To Australia in
7 Days, Record Broken’, The Times, 12 October 1933.

  14‘League Team’s Message’, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 October 1933.

  15‘Kingsford Smith Enthusiast Welcome in Sydney’, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 October 1933.

  16Kingsford Smith, op. cit., p. 241.

  17Stannage, John, Smithy, Oxford University Press, London, 1950, p. 7.

  18McNally, op. cit., p. 25.

  19‘Grant of £5,000 or a Job, Kingsford Smith, Federal Cabinet Proposal’, Courier-Mail, 19 October 1933.

  20Gunn, John, The Defeat of Distance: Qantas 1919–1939, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, 1988, p. 195.

  21McMaster, Fergus to Hudson Fysh, 23 April 1934, Hudson Fysh Papers, Mitchell Library, Sydney.

  22McNally, op. cit., p. 143.

  23Kingsford Smith, op. cit., p. 241.

  24‘Qantas Australian Air Mail Successful Tenders’, The Times, 20 April 1934.

  25‘Brisbane Is Air Mail Terminal’, Courier-Mail, 20 April 1934.

  26‘Kingsford Smith’s Disappointment’, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 April 1934.

  27McGinness, Paul to Hudson Fysh, 23 April 1934, Hudson Fysh Papers, Mitchell Library, Sydney.

  28Mackersey, Ian, Smithy: The Life of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Little, Brown, London, 1999, p. 306.

  29Swinson, Arthur, The Great Air Race, Cassell, London, 1968, p. 7.

  30Kingsford Smith, op. cit., p. 242.

  31This Fabulous Century, TV series, 1979, Peter Luck.

  32‘To Australia in 7 Days, Record Broken’, The Times, 12 October 1933.

  33‘His Cards On the Table’, Smith’s Weekly, 13 October 1934.

  34ibid.

  35Taylor, Sir Gordon, The Sky Beyond, Cassell, Melbourne, 1963, p. 48.

  36http://www.adastron.com/lockheed/altair/h1gross.htm A letter written on 28 August 1934 by Robert E. Gross, the president of Lockheed, to one Carter Tiffany, who is believed to have been an east coast representative of Lockheed.

  37‘His Cards On the Table’, Smith’s Weekly, 13 October 1934.

  38Sheil, op. cit., p 182.

  39‘The Air Race, Kingsford Smith in New York’, Age, 18 June 1934.

  40ibid.

  41Taylor, P.G., Pacific Flight: The Story of the Lady Southern Cross, John Hamilton, London, 1936, p. 5.

  42ibid., p. 7.

  43Purvis and Priest, op. cit., p. 45.

  44For this, and much of the research which follows, I am indebted to Ron Cuskelly’s website The Lockheed File. Its comprehensive history of the Lady Southern Cross draws heavily on the National Archives of Australia Series: MP 113/1 Item: VH/USB. It can be accessed on http://www.adastron.com/lockheed/altair/altair.htm.

  45http://www.adastron.com/lockheed/altair/altair4.htm

  46Swinson, op. cit., p. 74.

  47‘Flier Issues A Denial’, New York Times, 30 August 1934.

  48Purvis and Priest, op. cit., p. 52.

  49‘Tremendous Task Faced “Smithy”’, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 October 1934.

  50Kingsford Smith, op. cit., p. 248.

  51Ellison, Norman, Flying Matilda: Early Days in Australian Aviation, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1957, p. 317.

  52Kingsford Smith, op. cit., p. 249.

  53Taylor, Sir Gordon, ‘Kingsford Smith as I Remember Him’, Sir Hudson Fysh Papers, Mitchell Library, ML MSS 2413, Box 10, K21829, ca. 1817-1974.

  54‘His Cards On the Table’, Smith’s Weekly, 13 October 1934.

  55ibid.

  56ibid.

  57‘Smithy Gets the White Feather’, Smith’s Weekly, 20 October 1934.

  Chapter Eighteen: The Great Race

  1Stannage, John, Smithy, Oxford University Press, London, 1950, p. 14.

  2‘Mildenhall to Melbourne’, Time, 29 October 1934.

  3Swinson, Arthur, The Great Air Race, Cassell, London, 1968, p. 101.

  4ibid., p. 89.

  5‘Mildenhall to Melbourne’, Time, 29 October 1934.

  6Swinson, op. cit., p. 89

  7This Australia Program, ABC Radio, Albury, 14 February 1984.

  8Swinton, Stuart, P.G. Taylor: The Last of the Great Air Pioneers—A Personal Tribute From Stuart Swinton, Australian Military History Publications, Loftus, New South Wales, 2006, p. 32.

  9Taylor, Sir Gordon, The Sky Beyond, Cassell, Melbourne, 1963, p. 50.

  10McNally, Ward, The Man on the Twenty Dollar Note: Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, A & A Reed, Sydney, 1976, p. 152.

  11‘The Comet’s Amazing Flight’, The Times, 24 October 1934.

  12Swinson, op. cit., p. 137.

  13‘The End of the Race’, Canberra Times, 24 October 1934.

  14Swinson, op. cit., p. 131.

  15‘A Case for Snail Brooms’, Bulletin, 7 November 1934.

  16‘The Centenary Air Race’, Canberra Times, 25 October 1934.

  17‘The Centenary Air Race’, Aviation Heritage, The Journal of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia, (Vol. 24, No 1/2, special combined issue), p. 43, http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/ahsabackissues301101.doc.

  18http://airsports.fai.org/mar2001/mar200015.html

  19This Australia Program, ABC Radio, Albury, 14 February 1984.

  20Purvis, Harry and Priest, Joan, Outback Airman, Rigby, Adelaide, 1979, p. 60.

  21Swinson, op. cit., p. 151.

  22This Australia Program, ABC Radio, Albury, 14 February 1984.

  23‘The Resourceful Australian’, Bulletin, 7 November 1934.

  24ibid.

  25‘Kingsford Smith Has Grudge’, Canberra Times, 24 October 1934.

  26Taylor, P.G., Pacific Flight: The Story of the Lady Southern Cross, John Hamilton, London, 1936, pp. 122, 124.

  27Kingsford Smith, Sir Charles, My Flying Life: An Authentic Biography Prepared under the Personal Supervision of and from the Diaries and Papers of the Late Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, Andrew Melrose, London, 1937, p. 252.

  28‘My Co-Pilot was Called Death’, Liberty Magazine, 28 December 1935.

  29McNally, op. cit., p. 154. See also: Taylor, Sir Gordon, ‘Kingsford Smith as I Remember Him’, Sir Hudson Fysh Papers, Mitchell Library, ML MSS 2413, Box 10, K21829, ca. 1817-1974

  30Taylor, The Sky Beyond, op. cit., p. 53.

  31Swinton, op. cit., p. 40.

  32Taylor, The Sky Beyond, op. cit., p. 53.

  3333 Swinton, op. cit., p. 40.

  34Taylor, ‘Kingsford Smith as I Remember Him’, op. cit.

  35‘At Honolulu Kingsford Smith’s Pacific Flight’, Sydney Morning Herald, 31 October 1934.

  36Taylor, Pacific Flight, op. cit., p. 218.

  37‘Kingsford Smith Here After Epoch-Making Trans-Pacific Flight, Cheered by 20,000’, Los Angeles Times, 5 November 1934.

  38ibid.

  39McNally, op. cit., p. 155.

  40‘Pacific Fliers Warm Welcome’, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 November 1934.

  41‘At Honolulu Kingsford Smith’s Pacific Flight’, Sydney Morning Herald, 31 October 1934.

  42Stannage, John, High Adventure, MacDonald, Christchurch, 1944, p. 154.

  43United Press Association, Telegraph Copyright (Rec. 7.10 p.m.), San Francisco, 17 November 1934.

  44‘Kingsford Smith Harassed’, Southland Times, 19 November 1934.

  45‘Pacific Airplane Seized for Debt’, New York Times, 6 November 1934.

  46ibid.

  47‘Ulm Ship Takes Off for Sydney from California’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 4 December 1934.

  48‘Air Service Within Two Years, Honolulu–Sydney, Ulm Plans Weekly “Planes”’, Canberra Times, 3 December 1934.

  49‘Ulm Lost Somewhere at Sea’, Canberra Times, 6 December 1934.

  50‘Ulm’s Ill-Fated Dash Held a Blow to Flying’, Washington Post, 8 December 1934.

  51‘Ulm on Trans-Pacific Flight, Good Speed to Honolulu Flying at 150 Miles an Hour, “Plane Makes Excellent Progress”’, Canberra Times, 5 December 1934.

  52‘Ulm Ship Takes Off for Sydney from California’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 4 December 1934.
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  53‘Ulm on Trans-Pacific Flight, Good Speed to Honolulu Flying at 150 Miles an Hour, “Plane Makes Excellent Progress”’, Canberra Times, 5 December 1934.

  54‘Ulm, Forced Down at Sea Near Hawaii, Hunted by Surface Craft and Planes’, Los Angeles Times, 5 December 1934.

  55ibid.

  56ibid.

  57‘Ulm Lost Somewhere at Sea’, Canberra Times, 6 December 1934.

  58Stannage, High Adventure, op. cit., p. 156.

  59‘“Smithy” in Joy and Sorrow, Loss of Ulm, Flying Pal Grief-Stricken’, Sun, 11 December 1935.

  60ibid.

  61Taylor, Sir Gordon, lecture, Royal Aeronautical Society, New South Wales, 12 November 1959.

  62‘Flyers Dead, Say Experts in the Sea Hunt’, Los Angeles Times, 7 December 1934.

  63Gunn, John, The Defeat of Distance: Qantas 1919–1939, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, 1988, pp. 211–15.