Charles kingsford smith m.c. A.f.c.

liverpool annie · Oct 16, 2008

Did they ever find anything ?

The Last Flight
The fate of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith remains one of aviation's great unsolved mysteries. On 6 November 1935, Smithy and his co-pilot mechanic, Tommy Pethybridge took off on a planned flight from England to Australia in the Lady Southern Cross, a Lockheed Altair. At dusk on 7 November 1935 he and Pethybridge, departed Allahabad, India to fly non-stop overnight to Singapore. They passed over Calcutta, Akyab and Rangoon - which they overflew at 1:30 am. Just before 3:00AM, 8 November, another Australian pilot, Jimmy Melrose who was heading south from Rangoon in a much slower plane, a Percival Gull, saw the Altair overtake him above the Andaman Sea. In Singapore later that day Melrose was surprised to learn that the Lady Southern Cross had not arrived. Despite the RAF's search of the entire Rangoon-Singapore route, no trace of the Altair was found for 18 months. In May 1937 its starboard undercarriage leg was picked up by Burmese fishermen on the rocky shore of Aye Island off the south coast of Burma about 140 miles south-east of Rangoon. The theory grew that Smithy had flown into the 460-foot top of the jungle-covered island and the aircraft had plunged into the sea, the wheel breaking off and floating ashore. But an Australian expedition to the island in 1983 searched the seabed without success.

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Memorial
By Robyn Jaffrey, 1998.

This monument commemorates the first flight over the Pacific Ocean by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith (a former pupil of Sydney Technical High School) and his companions Charles Ulm, James Warner and Harry Lyon.

Location

The Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Memorial is situated on the western wall of the foyer of Sydney Technical High School auditorium. The school is located on the eastern side of Forest Road Bexley in the Sydney Municipality of Rockdale, Parish of St.George, County of Cumberland. It is bounded by Anderson Street on the north, Botany Street on the south and Ethel Street on the East.

Memorial Inscription

THIS MEMORIAL
COMMEMORATES
THE FIRST FLIGHT
OVER THE PACIFIC OCEAN BY
SIR CHARLES KINGSFORD SMITH M.C. A.F.C.
AND HIS COMPANIONS
31ST MAY - 9TH JUNE, 1928.
HE WAS AN OLD SCHOLAR OF
SYDNEY TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL
UNVEILED BY THE HON. R. W. ASKIN M.L.A.,
PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES
(OLD SCHOLAR)
ON 8TH JUNE, 1969.
ERECTED BY BEXLEY R.S.L.

Sydney Technical High School

Antipodean Andy · Oct 19, 2008

Nothing, IIRC, Annie.

spidge · Nov 1, 2008

From: Air Commodore Charles Edward Kingsford-Smith, MC, AFC
Air Commodore Charles Edward Kingsford-Smith, MC, AFC

Date of birth: 09 February 1897
Place of birth: Brisbane, QLD
Date of death: 06 November 1935
Place of death: Sea off the Burma Coast

Charles Edward Kingsford-Smith
A03349

Australia's most famous aviator, Charles Kingsford-Smith was born in Brisbane on 9 February 1897. He enlisted in the AIF in February 1915 and, after a brief period in the artillery, was posted to the 2nd Division as a signaller. He served on Gallipoli and then in Egypt and France as a dispatch rider. In October 1916, as a sergeant, Kingsford-Smith transferred to the Australian Flying Corps. In March 1917 he was discharged from the AIF and commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps. Having been promoted to flying officer, he was posted to No. 23 Squadron in France in July 1917. Shot down and wounded a month later, Kingsford-Smith was awarded the Military Cross, having shot down four German aircraft in his first month of operational flying.
Kingsford-Smith was promoted to lieutenant in April 1918 and served as an instructor for the rest of the war. In the years after the war, he worked in varying capacities as a pilot, including a brief period as a stunt flyer in California, before joining the fledgling aviation industry in Australia. In 1927 he and his flying partner, Charles Ulm, became the first airmen to fly around Australia. The following year, with the support of wealthy businessmen and government grant money - Kingsford-Smith, Ulm and two Americans, Harry Lyon and Jim Warner, became the first airmen to cross the Pacific. The following August, Kingsford Smith and his crew flew the Southern Cross from Point Cook to Perth and, shortly afterwards, from Sydney to Christchurch, becoming the first airmen to cross the Tasman Sea. His next aerial adventure, a planned flight to England ended in disaster when he made a forced landing in remote north-western Australia. Rescued after more than two weeks in the wilderness, Kingsford-Smith and his crew resumed the journey, eventually breaking the record for a flight between Australia and England. In England, he and Ulm purchased a fleet of four aircraft with which to open an inter-capital air service in Australia. Australian National Airways, as the company was called, commenced operations in January 1930. Business interests in Australia notwithstanding, Kingsford-Smith made an east-west crossing of the Atlantic, receiving a rousing welcome in New York in June 1930. In October he broke the record for a flight between England and Australia, and in November was made an air commodore. In 1932 he received a knighthood for his services to aviation but he was dogged by business failures and periods of ill-health. In May 1935 he began a trans-Tasman airmail service. But for the bravery of his co-pilot who climbed out onto the wing of their aircraft over the Tasman Sea to repair a damaged engine, the inaugural flight would have ended in disaster. On 6 November 1935, he and another airman, J. T. Pethybridge, took off from England in an attempt to break yet another aviation record, but the pair were lost when their aircraft crashed into the sea off Burma.
Click to expand...

Nostalgair · Nov 16, 2008

Hi All,

It's a truly amazing story.

'Smithy' was a childhood hero and I was very lucky a few years back to sit in his 'old bus' The Southern Cross.

The wheel from his Lockheed Altair is now at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

94/64/1 Aircraft undercarriage, starboard, Lockheed Altair, Lady Southern Cross, with wheel and oleo strut, metal / rubber, made by Lockheed, USA, 1933 - Powerhouse Museum Collection

View attachment 2313

Cheers

Owen

liverpool annie · Dec 4, 2008

Nostalgair said: ↑

Hi All,

It's a truly amazing story.

'Smithy' was a childhood hero and I was very lucky a few years back to sit in his 'old bus' The Southern Cross.

The wheel from his Lockheed Altair is now at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

94/64/1 Aircraft undercarriage, starboard, Lockheed Altair, Lady Southern Cross, with wheel and oleo strut, metal / rubber, made by Lockheed, USA, 1933 - Powerhouse Museum Collection

View attachment 2313

Cheers

Owen
Click to expand...

Hi Owen !

You've probably seen this already ... but just in case ...... !

Splendid Fellows, clip 3 (has teachersâ€™ notes) - australian screen

Annie

Antipodean Andy · Mar 20, 2009

While I do hope he's found it, I also hope that he's taken into account that, since Smithy was lost, quite a few other aircraft have crashed in that area.

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's final resting place found, says film crew | National News | News.com.au

IT is one of Australia's oldest mysteries and greatest legends. There's the war hero and adventurer, the world record attempt, the sudden disappearance and the small clues hinting, whispering, of their tragic end.

But after almost 75 years of intrigue, the final resting place of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith may have been found by a Sydney film crew, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The wreckage is believed to be incredibly well preserved beneath a layer of mud off the Burmese coast, giving hope to the aviator's family that his remains and artefacts will finally complete their voyage home.

Filmmaker Damien Lay said he was "100 per cent" certain that the grainy black and white sonar images of seabed near Aye Island, in the Bay of Bengal, shows Sir Charles' plane the Lady Southern Cross.

But it was Mr Lay who in 2005 claimed the Japanese midget submarine that went missing after a raid on Sydney Harbour was resting near Broken Bay. Divers found it the next year 5km off the Northern Beaches.

"To me it's 100 per cent proof positive," Mr Lay said.

"The critical pieces of evidence are three equilateral triangles contained within what I believe is the starboard wing.

"These structures don't occur in nature and they measure exactly 1.5mx1.5mx1.5m. We know those are the dimensions in which these aircraft were manufactured."

The images were taken during filming of Mr Lay's documentary The Last Anzac on February 23 and 24, with divers sent down on February 25 to find a layer of mud.

Mr Lay will take images to the aircraft manufacturers Lockheed Martin in the US to analyse the images before organising a salvage mission.

"We had very long discussions about it and both families are absolutely adamant they would like not only the aircraft recovered but also the remains, if they exist, and returned to Australia," Mr Lay said.

Sir Charles, co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge and their Lockheed Altair aircraft went missing in 1935 during an attempt to break the England-Australia speed record.

They departed Allahabad, in India, on their way to Singapore before the final leg to Australia. Their last recorded position was over Rangoon at 1.30am on November 7, 1935. It wasn't until 1937 that a fisherman found its starboard undercarriage leg on Aye Island, south of Rangoon.

Mr Lay would not reveal the latitude and longitude of the find.

"What we're going to see is an incredibly tragic yet heroic ending to these men's incredible lives. It's an enormous find in terms of our history and shows how incredibly wrong the official history has been," he said.
Click to expand...

Nostalgair · Mar 20, 2009

Unbelievable!

Thanks VERY much for the post Andy.

Cheers

Owen

liverpool annie · Mar 20, 2009

I think we really need to wait and see - don't you ?!! wonder how long it would take ?

I hope hope they don't poke around too much ... it is a watery gravesite ..... interesting though !!

Nostalgair · Mar 20, 2009

Hi Annie,

Yes, it's early days. It will be interesting to see whether it is actually the Lady Southern Cross.

Cheers

Owen

Log in or Sign up

Charles kingsford smith m.c. A.f.c.

liverpool annie New Member

Antipodean Andy New Member

spidge Active Member

Nostalgair New Member

liverpool annie New Member

Antipodean Andy New Member

Nostalgair New Member

liverpool annie New Member

Nostalgair New Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Charles kingsford smith m.c. A.f.c.

Thread Tools

liverpool annie New Member

Antipodean Andy New Member

spidge Active Member

Nostalgair New Member

liverpool annie New Member

Antipodean Andy New Member

Nostalgair New Member

liverpool annie New Member

Nostalgair New Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches