Arguably one of the most successful pioneer flyers of all time, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith remains a household name in Australia as a national hero.

Born on 9 February 1897, Kingsford Smith was an adventurous boy and loved a dare. He completed school and trained as an Electrical Engineer before joining the AIF at eighteen years serving in Gallipoli, Egypt and France as a dispatch rider. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and became a Second Lieutenant Flying Officer. His outstanding flying capability was immediately apparent bringing down four enemy aircraft along with other targets. His exploits earned a Military Cross – at 20 years of age, Kingsford Smith was a war hero.

Back in Australia after the war, Kingsford Smith flew for Norman Brearley’s West Australian Airways flying mail and passengers around the outback. Then it was to Sydney with Keith Anderson and Charles Ulm to operate Interstate Flying Services. But Kingsford Smith dreamed of doing more, especially a trans Pacific flight between the US and Australia.

To successfully gain Government contracts to fly mail in those days you had to have a reputation as an experienced flyer. To gain such a reputation many flyers did promotional flights to show off their ability to conduct long distance services. Kingsford Smith and his colleagues conducted such a flight around Australia in 10 days five hours in 1927. This feat gained a £9,000 grant from the New South Wales Government. With the backing of Sidney Myer and the Californian oil magnate G. Allan Hancock, it was off to America later that year where a Fokker Trimotor plane was acquired and named “Southern Cross”.

On 31 May 1928, Kingsford Smith with co-pilot Charles Ulm, Americans navigator Harry Lyon and radio operator James Warner, took off from Oakland, California bound for Australia. Flying across the Pacific via Hawaii and Fiji they reached Brisbane in 83 hours 38 minutes flying time – a remarkable and historic first air crossing of the Pacific. This incredible feat placed Kingsford Smith at the forefront of world flying.

In succeeding months Kingsford Smith made the first non-stop flight across the Australian Continent and the first flight across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. In early 1929 he set off for England in the Southern Cross only to be forced to land on the Glenelg River estuary flats without radio contact. Unfortunately crew members Keith Anderson and Robert Hitchcock perished before help arrived thirteen days later. The flight resumed in June that year and reached England in a record 12 days 13 hours flying.

In 1930 he established and flew regular services for Australian National Airways. But adventure flying was Kingsford Smith’s passion. He again set off for England that year and flew the “Southern Cross” across the Atlantic from east to west. When he arrived in Oakland California on 4 July 1930 he was the first man to circumnavigate the globe by air.

His next long distance flight was England – Australia in an Avro Avian biplane “Southern Cross Junior” which beat Bert Hinkler’s record by five and a half days.