Australian aviation history digital archive

DerekB30/11/202223/11/2024

In its mission to preserve and promote Australia’s aviation heritage, the AHSA hosts the following digital archives. Click on the image to go to the selected archive.

CAC Factory Reports 1937 – 1943

1928 At 10:50 am on 9 June 1928 Charles Kingsford Smith (pilot), Charles Ulm (co-pilot), Harry Lyon (navigator) and James Warner (radio operator) landed at Eagle Farm Airport, Brisbane, Queensland, completing the first trans-Pacific flight from mainland United States to Australia. Their historic flight in the Fokker F.VIIb/3m "Southern Cross" (US registration NC1985) had begun at Oakland, California, on 31 May at 8:51 am local time. The first leg of the flight from Oakland Field to Wheeler Field, Hawaii, a distance of 2,406 miles took 27 hours, 28 minutes, landing at 9:49 am local time on 1 June. After resting in Hawaii, the crew made a short hop to the western Hawaiian island of Kauai (118 miles), departing from Wheeler Field at 4:30 pm local time on 2 June, landing at Barking Sands at 5:53 pm. The third leg of the flight from Barking Sands to Suva, Fiji was a distance of 3,133 miles. The Southern Cross departed Barking Sands at 5:20 am local time on 3 June and landed at Albert Park in Suva at 2:20 pm local time after a flight of 34 hours, 33 minutes - the longest over-water flight recorded to that date. The Southern Cross was the first aircraft to land in Fiji. Another short hop from Suva to Naselai (also in Fiji) of 10 miles was made on 7 June, landing at 12:00 noon. The fifth and final leg to Brisbane covered 1,733 miles (2,788 kilometers) and took 21 hours, 35 minutes. The Southern Cross departed from Naselai at 2:52pm local time on 8 June and landed at Eagle Farm Airport, just northeast of Brisbane, on 9 June where an estimated 25,000 people thronged to see the arrival. Source: Parnell, N. and Boughton, T., Flypast, A Record of Aviation in Australia, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1988 pp.66-67