Bart Bear's Blog

In the Kingsford-Smith Memorial at Brisbane airport they have a couple of models of Smithy's other aircraft, as well as the original "Southern Cross". The one that I am looking at here is the "Lady Southern Cross". This was a special Lockheed Altair that Smithy bought to enter the 1934 Mac Robertson England-Australia air race. He broke every city-to-city record in her before setting off for England. At Cloncurry he found serious damage to the engine cowling and had to pull out of the race. People called him "chicken", so he proved them wrong by doing what was thought to be impossible. With PG Taylor, he flew the "Lady" across the Pacific from Australia to America in October 1934. This was not only the first west-to-east crossing of the Pacific, but the first crossing in a single-engined plane. Smithy hit financial troubles and planned to make a record flight between England and Australia. He left England in the "Lady" on November 6, 1935 and disappeared somewhere over the sea near Burma. Two years later one of the wheels and part of the undercarriage of the aeroplane were found on Aye Island, but nothing else has ever been found. It is likely that the engine failed, the "Lady Southern Cross" hit the top of a hill on the island and crashed into the sea. I wish I could have met Smithy, Australia's most famous airman.

Labels: aircraft, Brisbane, heroes, Queensland