Charles Kingsford Smith: ,Sir Charles Kingsford Smith: A Pioneer of Flight, biography of charles kingford smith,history of Charles Kingsford Smith

 Charles Kingsford Smith: ... 

During the late 19th century, a German mannamed Otto Lilienthal achieved some of the first successful, repeated flights using gliders. Regrettably, he suffered a crash on August9, 1896, and died the next day. Reportedly, his last words were "Sacrificesmust be made!" This was a mentality shared by all the pioneersof flight. During the inception of aviation, there werefew professions out there more dangerous. A quick look at all the pilots from the firstdecades of flight and you will find very few of them who got to see retirement after along and successful career. If you'll pardon the cliché, these men andwomen were made of sterner stuff than the rest. One of these daredevils was Australian CharlesKingsford Smith. He discovered his passion for flying duringWorld War I and, for the rest of his life, always looked for new opportunities to soarthrough the skies. In the process, he set a number of world firstssuch as the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia. Unfortunately, like many of his peers, KingsfordSmith's career ended in tragedy and his final resting place remains, to this day, a mystery.

 Early Days

Born on February 9, 1897, in Hamilton, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia, Charles Edward KingsfordSmith was the seventh child of a banker named William Charles Smith and Catherine Mary,née Kingsford. Although the family originally went simplyby Smith, they added the surname Kingsford in 1903 when they relocated to Canada. The move did not last long and, in 1907, theKingsford Smiths were back in Australia, but this time in Sydney. Charles became known as Smithy, a nicknamehe would carry for the rest of his life. When he was nine years old, Charles almostdrowned at Bondi Beach when he got dragged out to sea by a rip current. The young boy struggled to stay afloat, buteventually lost consciousness. He was saved just in time by the lifeguardservice which had only recently came into existence, and was resuscitated by a nursewho was in the right place at the right time. Later, during his aviation career, peoplesaid that Kingsford Smith was terrified of flying over the ocean and would get sick wheneverhe did it. This may have been the genesis of his angst. As a teenager, Charles enrolled at a technicalschool where he studied to become an engineer.

 He also joined the Senior Cadets, a militaryyouth organization. Service in the WarImage suggestion: Sapper in World War I After the outbreak of World War I, KingsfordSmith enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in February 1915. The 18-year-old took part in the Gallipolicampaign where he served as a sapper with the 4th Signal Troop, 2nd Division SignalCompany. He had his second brush with death here. As he described in a letter to his parents,he heard some "ping" noises very close to him. When he finally reached shelter, KingsfordSmith noticed that a bullet came so close to his head that it had frayed the edge ofhis cap. Later, he became a dispatch rider during campaignsin Egypt and France. After being promoted to sergeant, Smithy transferredto the Australian Flying Corps in October 1916. This is where he got his first taste of flyingand developed a passion that would follow him for the rest of his life. He trained in England where he showed immediateaptitude as a pilot. He was commissioned as second lieutenant withthe Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the precursor to the Royal Air Force.


Kingsford Smith was sent to the French frontas part of the No. 23 Squadron. There, he shot down four enemy aircraft, aswell as launching multiple attacks on ground targets and balloons. Inevitably, Smithy was bested in a dogfightand was shot down himself. He walked away from the crash, although hisinjuries did require amputation of several toes. Kingsford Smith received the Military Cross"for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty". Because his recuperation would take a longtime, he was allowed to visit his parents and Australia and, upon returning, was promotedto Captain and assigned as a flying instructor. Life after the WarBy the time Smithy was fully healed, the war had ended. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with hislife, but he knew that it had to involve flying. He teamed up with another pilot named CyrilMaddocks and formed a joy-flight company that offered pleasure airplane trips throughoutEngland. However, the young Smith was already lookingfor opportunities that would bring him fame and fortune. In 1919, Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughesannounced the Great Air Race.

 A prize of £10,000 would be awarded to thefirst person who completed a flight from Great Britain to Australia in under 30 days. Unsurprisingly, Kingsford Smith wanted totake part in the race, but he was denied membership into the Royal Aero Club of Australia (RACA),and, by default, entry into the competition. Officials were concerned over Smithy's lackof navigational experience over the 11,180-mile route and thought that it would be dangerousto let him race. Instead, the prize was claimed by brothersSirs Ross and Keith Macpherson Smith. Although he was not allowed to compete inthe Great Air Race, an idea sprouted in Smithy's mind. It was another surefire way to glory: thefirst trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia. Spoiler alert: this would be the feat thatbrought him everlasting fame, but now was not the time. Kingsford Smith traveled to America to searchfor sponsors for his daring escapade but failed to find any. He occupied his time with other flying gigswhich included stunt work for a circus and for Hollywood movies. However, he saw another pilot die in an accidentand decided that the job was too risky, even for him. He returned to Australia in 1921.

Back HomeHe might have had it with life as a stunt pilot, but the experience did not detractfrom Smithy's pleasure of flying. Back home, he started another joy-riding company. He also became a salaried pilot with the WestAustralian Airways. Started by another RFC veteran, Sir NormanBrearley, this was the first Australian airline with a scheduled air service. In his personal life, Smithy married ThelmaEileen Hope Corboy in 1923. By all accounts, it was an unhappy marriagethat only lasted for a few years as Kingsford Smith was not made for a stable life in oneplace. His biographer Ian Mackersey said that theaviator's mind was always in the sky, thinking about the next time when he would be ableto fly again. When he was on the ground, Kingsford Smithenjoyed women, booze, and spending his money almost as fast as he made it. The Trans-Pacific FlightSmithy believed there was huge potential for an airmail service in Australia. Together with another aviator called CharlesUlm, he started the Interstate Flying Services, but found it difficult securing contracts. To show people that airmail was the future,the two pilots wanted to perform some demonstration flights to attract sponsors and investors.

They did a round trip of Australia in a littleover 10 days which garnered plenty of attention. Sensing an opportunity to secure funding,Kingsford Smith forgot all about his airmail business and, instead, once again promotedhis true dream: the trans-Pacific flight. This time, it worked. Kingsford Smith not only obtained a grantfrom the government of New South Wales, but also received financial backing from two businessmen:Myer Department Store founder Sydney Myer and California oil tycoon George Allan Hancock. Image suggestion: The Southern CrossFirst off, they had to buy a plane. Smithy and Ulm traveled all the way to Americato find the one they wanted but, bizarrely, still ended up buying one from another Australian. Specifically, they purchased a Fokker F.VIIfrom polar explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins. It started life as the Detroiter, but Smithrechristened it the Southern Cross.

The goal was to take off from Oakland, California,and finish in Australia. This was not a non-stop flight, so they wouldland to refuel two times, the first of which would be in Hawaii. Over the previous year, ten pilots had diedattempting just this leg of the trip. The odds were not in their favor, but theairmen were determined to carry on. Image suggestion: The flight teamhttps://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/gallery/13673 Kingsford Smith had a four-man team. He was the pilot while Ulm acted as reliefpilot. On board were also two Americans: James Warnerwho was the radio operator and Harry Lyon who served as navigator. The foursome took off from Oakland on May31, 1928. They reached the island of Kauai to refuelafter an uneventful 27 hours. From there, they set off on the longest stageof their journey to Fiji. To make matters worse, they encountered amassive lightning storm but, nevertheless, reached the island of Suva in one piece. The final stage saw them fly into BrisbaneAirport to a hero's welcome as tens of thousands of people cheered them on. After 83 hours and 38 minutes of flying time,Kingsford Smith and his crew completed the first ever trans-Pacific flight. Across the Tasman SeaKingsford Smith received a ton of rewards for his feat, including the Air Force Cross,an honorary position as squadron leader with the Royal Australian Air Force and over £20,000in funding. Now that the trans-Pacific flight was outof the way, he could focus again on his more practical ambition – that of establishingan airmail company.


Like before, he considered a series of daringflights to be the best way of showcasing the viability of such a service. In August 1928, just a few months after hisjourney across the Pacific, Smithy performed the first non-stop flight across mainlandAustralia, taking off from Point Cook near Melbourne and landing in Perth. Then, less than a month later, he alreadyhad a new ambition – to be the first to fly across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. Not only would this have been another gratifyingfeather in Smithy's aviator cap, but he hoped that it would also secure an airmail contractbetween the two countries. At the time, achieving the first trans-Tasmanflight was the "next big thing" for many Australian and New Zealand aviators. However, in January of that year, two Kiwipilots named John Moncrieff and George Hood disappeared over the sea while attemptingthe flight. No trace of them or their plane, the Aotearoa,has ever been found. Kingsford Smith's venture in September 1928was the first attempt since their disappearance. Image suggestion: Southern Cross landing inNew Zealand https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/7481/southern-cross-monoplaneHe had a crew of four again. Charles Ulm was by his side as relief pilotand joining them were radio operator Thomas McWilliams and navigator Harold Arthur Litchfield. They boarded the Southern Cross and took offon September 10.

 After a flight of 14 hours and 25 minutes,they landed at Wigram Airport in Christchurch. Tens of thousands of people were there tocheer them on, including students and public servants who were given the day off for thismomentous occasion. After the Highs Come the LowsWith another world first under his belt, Kingsford Smith was the talk of the town once again,but he would soon find himself involved in a few controversies with fatal consequencesthat had a lasting impact on his reputation. Now that the trans-Tasman flight was alsoout of the way, Kingsford Smith's pragmatic side started showing again. In 1929, he intended to fly to England topurchase four new aircraft for his budding company. He took a crew with him aboard the SouthernCross, but had to make an emergency landing in the middle of nowhere in Western Australia. The crew was safe, but the plane was in nocondition to fly, so they patiently waited to be rescued. Of course, the disappearance of a hero thestature of Charles Kingsford Smith prompted a massive search involving many other pilots. Among them were two of his friends named KeithAnderson and Bobby Hitchcock. They flew aboard the Kookaburra hoping tospot a sign of the downed airplane. Unfortunately, they also suffered problemsand crash landed in the Tanami Desert.

While Smithy and his crew would be found andrescued, these two pilots died of exposure. Image suggestion: Kookaburra MemorialIt hardly seemed fair to blame Kingsford Smith for the tragedy, but rumors soon started circlingthat the forced landing of the Southern Cross had been nothing but a publicity stunt. The media sensed a juicy story and fannedthe flames of controversy. Some even accused the aviator of purposelymaking it harder for search teams to find them. That way, the longer they stayed gone, themore press they received. The incident became known as the "Coffee RoyalAffair", named so after the black coffee and brandy drink which the crew of the SouthernCross purportedly drank while awaiting rescue. An official inquiry was launched into thematter and, although Kingsford Smith was exonerated, his reputation was tarnished in Australia. Australian National Airways Opens and ClosesOverseas, everyone still loved Smithy so he climbed into his trusty Southern Cross andtook to the skies for a few more headline-grabbing flights. In June 1930, he completed an east-west crossingof the Atlantic from Ireland to America in thirty-one-and-a-half hours.

This also meant that he completed a circumnavigationof the world which he started with his first trans-Pacific journey. Later that year, he won an air race from Englandto Australia, breaking the speed record while flying solo. Alongside Charles Ulm, in 1929 Smithy finallyfounded the airline he dreamed of for years, which was called Australian National Airways. It commenced operations in January 1930 withfive airplanes with Kingsford Smith himself flying the Southern Cloud. The company wasn't around for long. The airline had to close down following anotherlandmark moment in the history of aviation, but one that Kingsford Smith could have certainlydone without – the first airliner to disappear during a flight. On March 21, 1931, the Southern Cloud leftSydney for Melbourne. Kingsford Smith was not the one flying. On board were two crewmen and six passengers. They all perished in a crash in the SnowyMountains of New South Wales due to bad weather. Their final location remained a mystery for27 years until a hiker named Tom Sonter stumbled upon the wreckage.

 It goes to show that, back then, being a passengeron an airplane took about as much courage as being a pioneering aviator. Image suggestion: Southern Sun crashhttps://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-144699765/view A few months later, the Southern Sun alsocrashed while trying to make the first airmail delivery from Australia to England. Charles Kingsford Smith spent all his timeand money convincing everyone that flying was a safe and practical way to transportmail and people in order to start a successful airline. Once he finally launched his company, he showedthem the exact opposite. Back then, at least, flying was still anythingbut safe. The Journey of the Southern Cross MinorIt seems like almost every other plane that Kingsford Smith piloted apart from the SouthernCross was destined for tragedy. In 1931, he added a new aircraft to his collection:an Avro Avian Mk.V he dubbed the Southern Cross Minor. He wanted to use it to set a new speed recordfor the Australia-England flight, but was unsuccessful. He sold it a few years later to another aviationpioneer, British pilot Bill Lancaster. Image suggestion: Bill and Jessiehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Billandchubbie.jpg Lancaster had a career worthy of mention.

It mirrored that of Kingsford Smith and washighlighted by triumphs, controversies, and death. He also started flying during World War Iand later pursued it as a career. In 1927, he achieved one of the longest flightsin a small aircraft by journeying from England to Australia. He was accompanied by his lover, Jessie "Chubbie"Miller, who became a successful aviatrix in her own right. A few years later, the two were living inMiami, Florida. While Lancaster was in Mexico, looking forwork, they brought in a writer named Haden Clarke to help Miller write her memoirs. They started an affair and Miller even decidedto leave Lancaster for her new beau. Upon hearing this, the aviator returned homeand, soon enough, Clarke was found dead from a gunshot to the head. Lancaster was charged with murder. His alibi didn't hold water and he admittedto forging two suicide notes. He had recently purchased a revolver and witnessesheard him say that he will get rid of Clarke. You would think this would be an open & shutcase, but Lancaster was actually found "not guilty". He might have dodged prison, but his reputationtook a big hit and Lancaster became a pariah. He was desperate to regain just a fractionof his lost prestige and that is where the Southern Cross Minor came in. Lancaster decided to go for the England-SouthAfrica speed record as that was the in vogue flight of the day.

 He bought the plane from Kingsford Smith andset off on April 11, 1933. Everything that could go wrong did. Lancaster had gotten lost several times andfell behind schedule. He was so sleep deprived that officials triedto detain him when he landed for refueling. He ignored them and pressed on and crashedin the Sahara Desert. Image suggestion: Wreck of the Southern CrossMinor Miraculously, the pilot escaped his ordealalmost unscathed. He still had a serious problem, though, asnow he was stranded in the middle of the desert with few supplies. He waited to be rescued, occasionally firingoff flares, but the rescue never came. Lancaster died eight days later, on April20, 1933. It was almost 30 years until French troopsfound his mummified corpse and the wreck of the Southern Cross Minor. He had left behind a diary detailing his lastdays on Earth which was later published with Miller's permission. What's left of the plane sits in the QueenslandMuseum. The Lady Southern Cross and Smithy's FinalFlight In 1935, Kingsford Smith had a very closecall in the Southern Cross while attempting the first trans-Tasman airmail flight. One of the plane's three motors stopped dueto a damaged propeller blade.

 The three men aboard the craft only survivedbecause Smithy's co-pilot, P.G. Taylor, climbed out of the cockpit and transferred oil fromthe dead motor to the others using a suitcase and a thermos flask. Kingsford Smith had to dump all the mail andextra cargo and barely made it back to Sydney. This was a sign that, perhaps, it was timeto retire the Southern Cross. Smithy purchased a new plane – a LockheedAltair called the Lady Southern Cross. He sold his famous airplane to the Commonwealthof Australia so it could be put on display in a museum. At first, the new aircraft appeared to bea worthy replacement. With it, Kingsford Smith performed the firsteastward flight over the Pacific Ocean, going from Australia to the United States. In 1935, he decided to use it in order tobreak the England-Australia speed record. He set off on November 6, 1935. With Smithy was co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge.

 His longtime flying partner, Charles Ulm,had vanished and, presumably, died a year prior while flying over the Hawaiian islands. Image suggestion: Leg of Lady Southern Crosshttps://collection.maas.museum/object/141688 Unfortunately, this was a fate the two wouldshare because the Lady Southern Cross also disappeared over the ocean. On November 8, it took off from India andwas headed to Singapore, but was never seen again. It is presumed the plane crashed in the AndamanSea, off the coast of Burma, killing Charles Kingsford Smith and his co-pilot, Tommy Pethybridge. A year and a half after the disappearance,an undercarriage leg and wheel washed up ashore on an island and remains the only part everrecovered from the Lady Southern Cross. In recent times, filmmaker Damien Lay claimedin 2009 to have found the wreckage of the airplane. His proclamation has been met with much skepticismfrom experts and aviation historians. He has not made the location public and, presumably,is still trying to raise funds for a recovery expedition.