The reporting points were at Alexandria and Singapore, and final destination in the region of Darwin.
As few people owned aircraft capable of such a flight, AND had the financial ability, the airplane companies sponsored teams. The flight also carried the first overseas airmail to Australia.
Vickers entered a converted Vimy bomber (G-EAOU) (the registration being whimsically said to stand for "God 'elp all of us"), crewed by Captain Ross Smith with his brother Lieutenant Keith Smith as co-pilot and mechanics Sergeant Wally Shiers and Sergeant Jim Bennett.
Ross Smith was one of Australia’s most decorated airmen of WWI. He was even Lawrence of Arabia’s pilot!
The Vimy flew via Lyon France, Rome Italy, Cairo Egypt, Damascus Syria, Basra Iraq, Karachi Delhi and Calcutta India, Akyab and Rangoon racetrack in Burma, to Bangkok in Siam, Jakarta and Surabaya Indonesia, then to Singapore.
Keep in mind, there was no guarantee of fuel at landing, or food, or radio comms, or even a landing strip! This entire flight was dead reckoning navigation, with a compass... and wind speed indicator. No altimeter, no auto pilot
The Smith brothers' flight was not without problems, in Surabaya the aircraft was bogged to the axles.
Locals from the nearby village dismantled their huts and began to lay the bamboo and reed mats on the field. One day and many mats later, G-EAOU headed down the 1,200-foot runway on the home stretch.
But far worse awaited them in Australia.
In Cairo, following a safe crossing of the Mediterranean, a crack opened up in one of the cooling water pipes and had to be sealed. More repairs followed in Iraq. The reward was a few days of fair weather and a chance to soar above the Taj Mahal.
The trip from Darwin to Sydney took almost twice as long as the flight to Australia. The Vimy was forced down at Cobbs Creek, with a split propeller.
In 52 degree heat, the mechanics toiled for three days to make repairs, gluing wood splinters into the shattered end and reshaping it using glass from a broken bottle. They made another unscheduled landing near Charleville, when their out-of-balance port engine exploded. This repair alone took 50 days.
Before the crew were allowed to leave the machine, they had to be examined by the Quarantine officer
One of the mechanics summed up his views of the journey as a whole by saying that he would not do it gain for £100,000. "Believe me," he said, "It was no joy ride. The engines went well, but of course, we had to work practically every night at one thing or another. However, it's all right now."
Shiers and Bennett received the new Air Force Medal bar and became honorary lieutenants.
The prize money was shared between the Smith brothers and the two mechanics. The Smith brothers each received a knighthood for this exploit.
After arriving in Australia, the Smiths, Bennett and Shiers flew to Point Cook, Victoria.
On 19 March 1920 it was formally handed over from Vickers to Billy Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia, on behalf of the Commonwealth. The handover caused something of an outcry, Hughes apparently being the only member of the Government who was aware of the arrangement!
The Prime Minister immediately gave the crew permission to fly the aircraft to their home town of Adelaide. In 1921 the aircraft was entered on the RAAF Register as A5-1 (the only Vimy to officially serve with the RAAF).
At the time, the flight from London to Australia was the longest in the history of the world
Although outside the time limit, the crew was awarded a consolation prize of £A1,000.
They were the only other aircraft that completed the trip.
The DH.9 has been restored and placed on display at the Australian War Memorial at Canberra.
Only two original Vimy aircraft remain in the world – Alcock and Brown’s Vimy at the British Science Museum and the Smith crew’s Vimy at Adelaide Airport.
in 1994, the flight was recreated http://www.vimy.org/flights/flights2.htm with a new built Vimy.
The circumstances were uncannily similar to the situation confronted by the Smith brothers. The local farmers helped to construct an airfield. A new engine and other parts were flown in on a twin-engine plane lent by the Australian Army. Six days after the crew faced disaster, the Vimy was again on its way to Australia.
Well,I will comment! Thank you Jesse for a great report on what was,arguably,the greatest endurance feat/challenge of man and machine of it's time! Personally,I believe that the Moon landings were marvellous;but in comparison to the available technology of half a Century earlier and doing it "by the seat of your pants" as they used to say...say no more. But,just think for one moment.....All that came to pass in 50 short years ! It's a damn shame that Humans can't seem to fix the "real" problems in our world as easily as they do the physics type ones! Rant over.
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome! It's due to Robert's motivation though, truly, he had looked to see if I'd posted about this, and learning that I hadn't yet, told me I should check it out. He is right, it's an essential part of vehicle history. The machine, and the people, plus the geography, made this accomplishment a historic pioneering event I certainly must add to my knowledge, and to what I want to share with anyone else who hadn't learned of this history. It's not the distance, and the time, that they flew.. it's over coming the unknown and scary challenges that easily could have killed them, as it did the other 4 entries in the race. Plus, unknown natives encountered on the way, unknown diseases, animal encounters (scorpions, snakes, bird strikes, malaria) all could have killed them or prevented them from getting off the ground at any of their fuel stops... and yet they braved into the unknown hazards
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