England to Australia flight
Encyclopedia
In 1919 the Australian government offered a prize of £A10,000 for the first Australians in a British aircraft to fly from Great Britain to Australia. Of the six entries that started the race, the winners were two brothers and their two crew in a Vickers Vimy
.
, Prime Minister of Australia
, and Senator George Pearce
, Minister for Defence (Australia)
, in consultation with the Royal Aero Club
, stated that valid aircrews must all be Australian nationals, the aircraft must have been constructed in the British Empire
, and the journey must be completed within 720 consecutive hours (30 days) and be completed before midnight on 31 December 1920. The departure point must be either Hounslow Heath Aerodrome
(for landplanes) or RNAS Calshot (for seaplanes and flying boats), with reporting points at Alexandria
and Singapore
, and final destination in the region of Darwin
. Each flight was to take place under the competition rules of the Royal Aero Club, that would supervise the start, and control the competition generally.
and Vienna
, then they were imprisoned as suspected Bolsheviks in Yugoslavia
, with further delays due to snow at Belgrade
. A cracked engine cylinder at Constantinople
, and bad weather at Aleppo
caused more delays. Finally, on 17 April 1920, the Wallaby crashed on landing at Grokgak, on Bali
. Matthews was slightly injured.
entered a converted Vimy
bomber (G-EAOU) (the registration being whimsically said to stand for "God 'elp all of us"), crewed by Captain Ross Macpherson Smith
with his brother Lieutenant Keith Macpherson Smith
as co-pilot and mechanics Sergeant W.H. (Wally) Shiers and J.M. (Jim) Bennett. The Vimy left Hounslow Heath at 8am on 12 November 1919. It flew via Lyon
, Rome
, Cairo
, Damascus
, Basra
, Karachi
, Delhi
, Calcutta, Akyab, Rangoon racecourse, Singora (Songkhla
) (in Siam unscheduled in heavy rain), Singapore, Batavia
and Surabaya
where the aircraft was bogged and had to make use of a temporary airstrip made from bamboo
mats, reaching Darwin at 4.10pm on 10 December 1919. The flight distance was estimated as 17,911 kilometres (11,123 mi) and total flying time was 135 hours 55 minutes (131.8 km/h or 81.9 mph). The prize money was shared between the Smith brothers and the two mechanics. The Smith brothers each received a knighthood for this exploit, and the company presented their aircraft to the Australian government. It is now displayed at Adelaide Airport.
DCM
and Lieutenant J.S.L. Ross took off from Hounslow Heath in an Alliance P.2 Seabird (G-EAOX) named 'Endeavour'. It crashed in an orchard in Surbiton
; Ross was killed outright, and Douglas died soon after of his injuries.
(G-EAOW) had selected as navigator the Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith
. Smith withdrew from the contest, and Captain Hubert Wilkins MC and bar took his place. On 21 November 1919, the Kangaroo took off from Hounslow Heath, piloted by Lieutenant V. Rendle with Captain Wilkins, Lieutenant D.R. Williams and Lieutenant Garnsey St. C. Potts as crew. Problems were experienced with the engines, and the plane was forced down over France
. Repairs were made and the flight continued, still with engine problems. On 8 December 1919, the aircraft crash-landed at Suda Bay, Crete
, ending up against the fence of a mental hospital. The crew escaped without injury.
and Lieutenant George Henry Fraser
left London in a Martinsyde
Type A Mk.I (G-EAMR) aircraft. On 9 December, the aircraft disappeared near Corfu
. The wreckage and Howell's body were found offshore, but Fraser's body was never found.
(G-EAQM), piloted by Lieutenant Ray Parer
, with co-pilot Lieutenant John C. McIntosh, took off from Hounslow Heath. The aircraft completed the flight in an epic 206 days later, earning Parer the sobriquet "Battling Ray". Although outside the time limit, the crew was awarded a consolation prize of £A1,000, second only to the Vimy. The DH.9 has been restored and placed on display at the Australian War Memorial
at Canberra
.
Vickers Vimy
The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft of the First World War and post-First World War era. It achieved success as both a military and civil aircraft, setting several notable records in long-distance flights in the interwar period, the most celebrated of which was the first non-stop...
.
The Competition
In early 1919, the Commonwealth Government of Australia offered a prize of £A10,000 for the first flight from Great Britain to Australia, under specific conditions. In May 1919, Billy HughesBilly Hughes
William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
, Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
, and Senator George Pearce
George Pearce
Sir George Foster Pearce KCVO was an Australian politician who was instrumental in founding the Australian Labor Party in Western Australia....
, Minister for Defence (Australia)
Minister for Defence (Australia)
The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.-Ministers for Defence:...
, in consultation with the Royal Aero Club
Royal Aero Club
The Royal Aero Club is the national co-ordinating body for Air Sport in the United Kingdom.The Aero Club was founded in 1901 by Frank Hedges Butler, his daughter Vera and the Hon Charles Rolls , partly inspired by the Aero Club of France...
, stated that valid aircrews must all be Australian nationals, the aircraft must have been constructed in the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, and the journey must be completed within 720 consecutive hours (30 days) and be completed before midnight on 31 December 1920. The departure point must be either Hounslow Heath Aerodrome
Hounslow Heath Aerodrome
Hounslow Heath Aerodrome was a grass airfield, operational 1914-1920. It was situated in the London borough of Hounslow, and in 1919 was the location from which the first scheduled daily international commercial air services took place.-1909-1914:...
(for landplanes) or RNAS Calshot (for seaplanes and flying boats), with reporting points at Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, and final destination in the region of Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
. Each flight was to take place under the competition rules of the Royal Aero Club, that would supervise the start, and control the competition generally.
Sopwith Wallaby
At 11.44 a.m. on 21 October 1919, Captain George Campbell Matthews AFC as pilot, and Sergeant Thomas D. Kay as mechanic, took off from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome in a Sopwith Wallaby (G-EAKS). Bad weather caused delays at CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, then they were imprisoned as suspected Bolsheviks in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, with further delays due to snow at Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. A cracked engine cylinder at Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, and bad weather at Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
caused more delays. Finally, on 17 April 1920, the Wallaby crashed on landing at Grokgak, on Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
. Matthews was slightly injured.
Vickers Vimy
VickersVickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
entered a converted Vimy
Vickers Vimy
The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft of the First World War and post-First World War era. It achieved success as both a military and civil aircraft, setting several notable records in long-distance flights in the interwar period, the most celebrated of which was the first non-stop...
bomber (G-EAOU) (the registration being whimsically said to stand for "God 'elp all of us"), crewed by Captain Ross Macpherson Smith
Ross Macpherson Smith
Sir Ross Macpherson Smith KBE, MC & Bar, DFC & Two Bars, AFC was an Australian aviator, who, along with his brother, Sir Keith Macpherson Smith, became the first pilots to fly from England to Australia, ....
with his brother Lieutenant Keith Macpherson Smith
Keith Macpherson Smith
Sir Keith Macpherson Smith KBE, was an Australian aviator, who, along with his brother, Sir Ross Macpherson Smith and two other men, became the first people to fly from England to Australia....
as co-pilot and mechanics Sergeant W.H. (Wally) Shiers and J.M. (Jim) Bennett. The Vimy left Hounslow Heath at 8am on 12 November 1919. It flew via Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
, Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, Calcutta, Akyab, Rangoon racecourse, Singora (Songkhla
Songkhla
Songkhla is a city in the Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. As of 2006 it had a population of 75,048...
) (in Siam unscheduled in heavy rain), Singapore, Batavia
History of Jakarta
The history of Jakarta begins with its first recorded mention as a Hindu port settlement in the 4th century. Ever since, the city had been variously claimed by the Indianized kingdom of Tarumanegara, Hindu Kingdom of Sunda, Muslim Sultanate of Banten, Dutch East Indies, Empire of Japan, and finally...
and Surabaya
Surabaya
Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...
where the aircraft was bogged and had to make use of a temporary airstrip made from bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
mats, reaching Darwin at 4.10pm on 10 December 1919. The flight distance was estimated as 17,911 kilometres (11,123 mi) and total flying time was 135 hours 55 minutes (131.8 km/h or 81.9 mph). The prize money was shared between the Smith brothers and the two mechanics. The Smith brothers each received a knighthood for this exploit, and the company presented their aircraft to the Australian government. It is now displayed at Adelaide Airport.
Alliance P.2
On 13 November 1919, Lieutenant Roger M. Douglas, MCMilitary Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
DCM
DCM
DCM may refer to:Technology:* Data Center Manager* Deep chlorophyll maximum, subsurface maximum in the concentration of chlorophyll* Dichloromethane, a common solvent in organic chemistry...
and Lieutenant J.S.L. Ross took off from Hounslow Heath in an Alliance P.2 Seabird (G-EAOX) named 'Endeavour'. It crashed in an orchard in Surbiton
Surbiton
Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...
; Ross was killed outright, and Douglas died soon after of his injuries.
Blackburn Kangaroo
A team with a Blackburn KangarooBlackburn Kangaroo
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography...
(G-EAOW) had selected as navigator the Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith
Charles Kingsford Smith
Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC, AFC , often called by his nickname Smithy, was an early Australian aviator. In 1928, he earned global fame when he made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia...
. Smith withdrew from the contest, and Captain Hubert Wilkins MC and bar took his place. On 21 November 1919, the Kangaroo took off from Hounslow Heath, piloted by Lieutenant V. Rendle with Captain Wilkins, Lieutenant D.R. Williams and Lieutenant Garnsey St. C. Potts as crew. Problems were experienced with the engines, and the plane was forced down over France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Repairs were made and the flight continued, still with engine problems. On 8 December 1919, the aircraft crash-landed at Suda Bay, Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, ending up against the fence of a mental hospital. The crew escaped without injury.
Martinsyde Type A
On 5 December 1919, Captain Cedric E. HowellCedric Howell
Cedric Ernest "Spike" Howell DSO, MC, DFC was an Australian fighter pilot and flying ace of the First World War. Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1916 for service in the First World War and was posted to the 46th Battalion on the Western Front...
and Lieutenant George Henry Fraser
George Henry Fraser
George Henry Fraser was a navigator and aircraft mechanic who flew with pilot Cedric Howell as one of the teams competing in the England to Australia air race in December 1919...
left London in a Martinsyde
Martinsyde
Martinsyde was a British aircraft and motorcycle manufacturer between 1908 and 1922, when they were forced into liquidation by a factory fire.-History:...
Type A Mk.I (G-EAMR) aircraft. On 9 December, the aircraft disappeared near Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
. The wreckage and Howell's body were found offshore, but Fraser's body was never found.
Airco DH.9
On 8 January 1920, Airco DH.9Airco DH.9
The Airco DH.9 - also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 - was a British bomber used in the First World War...
(G-EAQM), piloted by Lieutenant Ray Parer
Ray Parer
Raymond John Paul Parer AFC , was an Australian aviator.Parer was born in Melbourne, and developed an interest in aviation at an early age. He enlisted in the Australian Flying Corps in 1916, initially as a mechanic, but was soon accepted to train as a pilot. His initial training was conducted at...
, with co-pilot Lieutenant John C. McIntosh, took off from Hounslow Heath. The aircraft completed the flight in an epic 206 days later, earning Parer the sobriquet "Battling Ray". Although outside the time limit, the crew was awarded a consolation prize of £A1,000, second only to the Vimy. The DH.9 has been restored and placed on display at the Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
at Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
.