HUGH ^p'ftw
BUGGY w&
who was his j
personal friend
"YHE
day I met Smithy, oil Sydney was panting under a
heavy pall of
humidity.
/ went into
the long bar of the Hotel Australia toescape the heat haze that danced in
Martin pl.
And it was
there-on this blistering 1927 summer day-thatI first looked into the cool, blue
eyes of Charles Kingsford Smith.
I would
probably never have met him but for an oil company
executive I knew.
"Come
over here and meet a good bloke," he said. "He may be ableto give you
a couple of news stories later. He's talking about flying roundAustralia in 10
days ..."
"Smithy's
the name," said the sandy-haired "bloke," about 5ft. Sin.,with an aquiline nose and a keen, regular, rather handsome
face.
"Smithy"
was the name then, and at all our many meetings.
Five years
later, although he was deeply sensible of the
honor that had
been done him, he would have winced hadyou called him "Sir Charles."
"Smithy"
had the facultyof quickly making it clearthat he was a plain Australian who
hated swank, cant,and humbug.
He was a
straight thinker anda straight talker. He was sincere,and
he gave you a sense of powerand intensity of purpose.
He told me
he had been a FirstWar pilot, and he talked abouthis projected round-Australia
dashin a seven-year-old Bristol Tourer.
He said that
Mr. H. CampbellJones, then managing editor of theSydney "Sun," for
which I worked,was interested in the flight.
"I
think I will bë able to giveyou a few pretty good aviationstories before
long," he said. "Thisflight is only the preliminary tosomething . much bigger that I
have in
mind."
I kept in
touch with him, and afew months later secured his ownstory of that record
round-Australia flight.
That was to
become the forerunner of thc 200,000 words aboutSmithy
and his achievementswhich I was to write in the nextfour years.
Few
adventure tales of fictioncan'rival the Smithy story, whichcovered a little
less than eightyears - from 1927 to 1935.
Yet rich and
glowing as hisstory is in . courage
and solidachievement, it has its darker andsadder side.
What I set
down in this seriesis not based on mere hearsay. Itis not dredged from Smithy's
private papers, of which he kept veryfew.
It is
written from my personalknowledge of and 'friendship withthe man himself,
gained in a fairlyclose association with him in thefirst four years of his
fame.
GRAPH of the
fortunes of
Sir Charles
KingsfordSmith would resemble a crosssection of the Dolomite Alps..
One of his
brightest days waswhen he tottered into an investiture at Buckingham Palace to
receive his Military Cross.
He was badly
wounded in onefoot, had lost three toes, and wasvery rocky on his legs.
IcingGeorge V helped to steady Smithywhile he pinned the M.C. on hisbreast.
One of his
darkest days wasafter the then Prime Minister, Mr.W.
M. Hughes, had debarred himfrom attempting to- win the£10,000 offered by the
FederalGovernment for the first man tofly from England to Australia.
Depressed
and nearly broke, hewent to America to get a job asa Hollywood stunt pilot.
ALL HE HAD
WHEN HEREACHED CALIFORNIA WASTHE UNIFORM HE WORE, 8/-,AND
ONE ORANGE.
There was a
day in 1903 whena half-gale raked Sydney Harbor.It thrashed wildly through
thebackyards on the heights aboveNeutral Bay.
On the roof
of a hen-house asmall boy of six battled with abig umbrella.
"Look
out, Lefty. I'm going tofly. Watch me."
Gripping the
handle of the umbrella with tiny fists, the boy leapt
the roo£ of the
henhouse,with the open umbrella above hishead, he dropped with chiidlsh
confidence.
But even the
weight of a small
He
startedwith 8/
boy of six is
too great for anumbrella to play the part of aparachute. So it was that thisair
pioneer fared. like Icarus.
He crashed
on the shoulders of"Lefty." his brother, ,t
reboundedinto the backyard, arid broke acollarbone. There were tears, rebukes,
arid remorse.
This aerial
mishap took placelong before Bleriot startled theworld by flying the English
Chan
nel.
But the
youthful pilot of theumbrella plane was to makeBleriot's air pioneering look
puny
indeed.
Determinedto
fly
|J|f was to
become Sir Charles? ? Edward Kingsford Smith, captain
in the Royal Flying Corps,honorary Air Commodore in theR.A.Á.F, major in the
New Zealand Air Force, Military Crosswinner, Air Force Cross winner,and known
throughout the worldas Australia's wonder pilot.
One night at
the end of May,1928, Smithy's father, Mr.
WilliamKingsford Smith, told me the storyof his son's first flight in a
lighterthan-air machine from the roof ofthe hen house.
On that
night Smithy's parentsand the whole of Australia werewaiting to hear the
world-stirringnews that this pathfinder had be
gun the first
flight across the Paci-,
fie.
"That
was the first step of youngCharlie in aviation," said Mr.Kingsford Smith.
"But aeroplaneshave been his waking and
sleepinghobby for years.
"I haye
always had the utmostconfidence in him and in his ability to one day fly the
Pacific. Hetold his mother and myself in letters that
he would not come homeunless he flew home.
"'Daà,'
he wrote to me, 'whenyou and all Australia see thismachine Southern Cross, you
andeverybody will understand why weare confident. And make no mistake,
Australia WILL see thisplane."'
To most Australians the nameof Slr Charles Kingsford Smith isbecoming a
fast receding memory.
Sydney's
overseas air terminal atMascot is named in his honor, butis still better known
as Mascot.
His name has
been given to aFederal electorate, but in a fewyears it will convey as little
to the
present generation
of Australiansas Hume or Blaxland.
Yet the
story of Kingsford Smithis one of the most stimulatingsagas of adventure,
courage, and.towering achievement in our his
tory.
It is the
story, too, of an honestDigger and great Australian
whofought back resolutely and cheerfully against blows of fate, againstsetbacks
and rebuffs that wouldhave wrecked many lesser men.
As a sturdy,
self-reliant boy witha lively Imagination, a boy whonever knew fear, the late
SirCharles Kingsford Smith was nick
. CHARLES
KingsfordSmith first took to the airwhen he was six. He piloted
an umbrella
from the roof
of a
hen-house!
named by his
Sydney -schoolmates"The Mad Yank."
It is sad to
reflect that hadSmithy been an American . ratherthan an Australian he would probably be living vi
affluence today.
Had he not
rejected a luscious,dollar-edged inducement held outto
him to become ari Americancitizen and preferred to remain anAustralian, he
might now be a. bigfigure in United States civil avia
tion.
What
glittering rewards wouldhavetbeen showered on an American had he been the first
to flythe Pacific and the first to girdlethe world by air!
TBut being
an Australian, .CharlesKingsford Smith found, like DonBradman, that a notable
recordof achievement, is, so to speak,a hothouse plant
in this country.
Its bloom
fades quickly andmust constantly be renewed byfresh achievement. There can beno
resting on laurels.
Bradman had
to go on makingdouble centuries. Smithy had togo on
breaking flight records.Otherwise from that small butvoluble element of
sceptics andsnipers would have come thatcruellest of taunts, "back
number."
Kingsford
Smith's waking andsleeping dream was a great overseas air mail and passenger
service. But he was plagued by thelack of the big money needed tolaunch such a
service.
He was a man
deficient in thepower to sell himself. He was nomaster of ballyhoo.
Arid so to
remain in the publiceye, to focus public attention onair routes over oceans he
had tokeep on flying, keep on breakingspeed records in an endeavor toget the
money.
HE HAD TO
WEAR DOWN HISHEALTH AND GO TO HISDEATH TO CONVINCE A STUBBORN AND SCEPTICAL
OFFICIALDOM OF THE FEASIBILITY OF A DREAM WHICHBECAME A REALITY TWOYEARS AFTER
HE HAD PERISHED. . .
Smithy was
acknowledged in every
country as the
greatest airman of
his time.
He was the
outstanding aerialpathfinder ever. He gave a newmeaning .to Australian
aviationand to overseas air ? transport.
He brought a
new stimulus tothe aircraft industry as betterplanes were built to try to
emulate
his records.
By his own
genius he fired theambition of others in all airminded countries, and set in
motionthc research which in a few yearsrevolutionised aviation.
Because of
his meticulous planning, no man contributed more tothe flying safety we enjoy
today.No man- up to his time faced the
hazards of the air
over vaster expanses of ocean than Smithy.
AND NO MAN
SINCE THEEARLY NAVIGATORS AND EXPLORERS BROUGHT GREATERPRESTIGE TO THIS
COUNTRY.
He piled up
long-distance speedrecords which amazed the worldduring the eight crowded years
inwhich he dominated the air.
Certainly
the growth of enginepower and the march of jet propulsion caught up on his
records,but Kingsford Smith was theFIRST man to probe
the secretsof ali- routes that had never beenflown, the first (to use-his
ownphrase) to range out into regionsof "virgin" air.
Smithy's
path certainly was notone of "roses all the way."
It was beset
by heartbreaks andcruel blows. It bristled with obstacles which would have
daunteda weaker character.
.At almost every step there wasobstruction and irritation by bumbling
officialdom. Even after
his
fame had rung
round the worldhe still had to sumer the pin pricksof a meddlesome bureaucracy.
Lacking the
grand manner, hewas far too tolerant in the face ofthis nonsense which any
othersimilar world figure would have
derided.
Like other
far-seeing Australiansbefore him, Charles KingsfordSmith learned that to have
longerand wider vision than those aroundhim is not exactly popular in this
country.
His vision
of a regular air service across the Pacific and Tasman,a
vision conjured up in 1927, waslooked upon by most Federal Ministers of his day
as a form ofmental aberration.
They had
neither the imaginationnor the horse sense to grip the
idea.
It was
fantastic. It had neverbeen attempted. It had neverbeen thought of. Sb why do
anything about it?
When Smithy
resolved to provethat the air conquest of the vastPacific was possible and
sought financial backing, , business menlistened
politely but seemed tothink that his distinguished servicein the First World
War had impaired his mentality.
Federal
Ministers received theproposal coldly, and Smithy wastold that no Commonwealth
moneywould be forthcoming for such afoolhardy enterprise.
Yet when,
without Federal aid,Smithy became the first to
blazethe Pacific air trail, those sameFederal Ministers scrambled on tohis
bartdwaggon.
Their
industrious Press secretaries sweated out for them tributes in elegant prose
that glitteredwith such resounding soubriquetsas "Rider of the
Winds," "Knightof the Air," "Paladin of the Sky."
They
meandered on about the
commercial air service
across thePacific in the future, which thegreat, flight portended, but theyleft
consideration of that serviceto a very distant future.
In windy perorations Smithy wasgiven the accolade of knighthoodat a
score of luncheons and ornatebanquets.
But was the
Pacific flight-afeat that shook the aviation world-recognised by an immediate
recommendation for knighthood?NOT AT ALL.
While the
level-headed unpretentious Kingsford Smith neversought such honor, his
admirersand the newspapers began toclamor for prompt recognition.NOTHING
HAPPENED.
It was not-
the fate of Charles "Kingsford Smith to have been theproduct of the choice
pasture ofcolonial aristocracy.
And although
he had little interest in politics didn't he drive hisclose friend, Joe Lamaro,
laterJudge Lamaro, around his Enmoreelectorate on polling day?
And although the most unassuming of politicians, wasn't JoeLamaro a
Labor man?
Honor
cametoo late
CO it was
that Smithy's re
commendation for
knighthood was
delayedmysteriously.
Shiny
rewards were distributedfreely as the last benefaction in the .gift of the
Bruce-Page Ministry.
They went to
people, no doubtworthy, but some of whom werehardly known to the generalpublic.
Yet any sort
of honor for Australia's hero of the hour was stilldeferred while Ministers
evaded
Press questions
on the subject andthe Bruce-Page Government whichapproved such rewards fell,
and theScullin Labor Government whichscorned them succeeded it.
It was not
until 1932, and afteranother change in Government,that
Smithy received his knighthood.
In the 1920's
there was littlestability in government in NewSouth Wales. At each State
election the political pendulumoscillated violently.
Labor
Governments were swept,out of office and the
Nationalist(now Liberal) Party was swept in.
Nationalist
Governments in turnfell and voters sent back theLabor Party. This
swing occurredthree times in, 10 years.
One such
political convulsion in1927, dislocated the maturing
plansof Kingsford Smith for his epochmaking Pacific flight.
? It left
him and his two mates,Charles Ulm and Keith
Anderson,almost flat broke and in debt inCalifornia.
Smithy was
to have bitter memories of the fickleness of the NewSouth Wales electors.
A few months
earlier thePremier of New South Wales, Mr.John Lang, and his Labor Cabinet, had
guaranteed Smithy£3,500 as preliminary expenses'forthe. proposed
Pacific flight.
. Fares of
the party to San Fran
cisco were paid
by the State Government which also was preparedto supply the petrol and have
ltstored along the route.
Mr. Lang
liked Charles Kings- ?ford Smith from the first momenthe met him in June, 1927.
"I
could see he was an ideal' <ist," he said.
"He was determined
to fly the
Pacific. He wanted Aua- itralia to be there first. He coulddo
it. All he needed- was themoney. There was no humbugabout him. He had a
fixed idea.
Nothing
would shift him. . There »was only one way to sum him'up.He was a good
Australian."
A film
magnet in the UnitedStates had promised 50,000 dollarsto the first airman to
fly the
Pacific.
Kingsford
Smith had told those <from whom he sought financial
backing that if he
won that prize .he would have enough money topay back every penny put into the
venture.
Still there
was no plane for thejob and no funds to pay passagesto the United States.
While others
were debating thedoubts, the difficulties, and thedangers of such an
enterprise, Mr.Lang had the utmost confidence inthe courage and ability of
Smithyto span the Pacific by air.
He promised
him further advances. He foresaw that such atriumph would stimulate aviation '
in Australia.
He felt too,
that it would earna vast amount of desirable pub
licity for the
State of New South 1Wales. He was prepared to gamble ;
on the
project.
But then
came the turn of the :political tide.
Mr. Lang and
his Government, ,after two yéars of power, went
down at the
polls. Mr. Tom Bavin, >
late Sir Thomas
Bavin formed ;
his first
Nationalist Ministry and
took office.
Mr. Bavin
was not prepared togamble on the Pacific flight project. He was haunted by the
fearthat Kingsford Smith and hiscompanions would lose their livesin an
enterprise he regarded asbeing reckless.
Nobody had
ever attempted to
fly the Pacific
AND HE DOUBTED ,WHETHER ANYONE COULD. 1
Neither Mr.
Bavin nor members jof his Cabinet desired to be assort- ;ated
in any way with a flight .which they were certain would end j
in disaster. .
His Cabinet
would not' advance >or guarantee any further sums. He ?urged
Kingsford Smith to sell theFokker monoplane he had boughtin America, abandon
the flight, and
come home.
This was a
shattering blovywhich would have crushed thespirit of many a man.
It left
Kingsford Smith in a fin- '.ancial morass. 'It seemed to spell
the end of his
dream of flying from !California to Australia.
Yet the
irrepressible Smithy waa
undaunted. \
Severe as
the setback was, it .
served only
further to stimulate hia 'ambition to silence the doubtersby doing the job.
. Continued
on P. 2 ;
1+ Continued
from Page 1
SMITHY
FLEWPAST SCORN
|| pOLITICÁL bumbledom did not hold Smithy back - with
fl typical
Digger tenacity he sought Americambacking.
S And it was
AMERICAN money that finallyll made possible his great Pacific flight.
iii That fact
alone was in||| the nature of a reproach on||| the Australian Government
O and also
on the new Govern
j'l ment in New
South Wales.
ti In their
forebodings- of
1| disaster . they showed a lack!|| of
confidence in KingsfordUl Smith which was not shared|l| in America. And they
passedI i up the golden chance of giv;'M ing official imprimatur to a||}|
notable and historic achieve
( I ment.
''?j Five months later, in June, 1928,'.'I when the whole
world was hailing
'.'} the triumph of Smithy, the Fede- ?
, ral
Government gave him £5,000.J Then later the Prime Minister,N']
Mr. Bruce, stipulated that the sum
I should be
divided among Smithy
and his three
.companions in the, í enterprise.
ít i Had such
a division been, made,u ¡j Kingsford Smith would have re% j ceived from a
"grateful" Govern^{ ment about a quarter of the costS_ ]' of an
overseas trip by a Federal¿ . Minister and his retinue.
II Setbacks
If . - ??-~- ?
|| came fas*
¿¡¡j ANOTHER
gift of £5,000 by
M one Sydney
business man,I f Mr. Lebbeus Hordern,
equalledkl the grant of the Federal Govern
V, ment.
m Setbacks
and disappointments as
ti. I well as
air triumphs studded the ,kl career bf Charles
Kingsford Smith.$!$ Demobilised from the Royal Fly
Af.a ing
Corps after the first war in
fyi 1919, he
set his heart on winning
wa a prize of
£10,000 offered by the
|ts Australian Government for theZ.j first flight.from England to AusII
tralia.
He was
debarred by the then¡,¡8 Prime Minister, Mr. W. M.lUfl
Hughes, from making the attempt.
|;| The
grounds of the embargo
", were
the extreme youth of Smithy
il J (22) and
the fact that neither he|||| nor his two ex-Flying Corps com\; .¡j panions,
George Maddocks and BillS A Rendle, knew anything about airI !| navigation.
II At the
height of his fame Kingsj 1 ford Smith was keen to win theI tl
England-to-Australia air race, aII feature of the Melbourne Centenl'S ary in
1934.
f i There was
a £10,000 prize hangj Á ing to that air dash, BUT AGAINI fl HE WAS THWARTED.
5 a He had
bought in America theMI fastest commercial plane that had¡ha been seen in
Australia up to thatM time. But being a foreign-built air
craft he was
hampered by lack
B| of a
United States certificate ofsj« air worthiness which the rules of.ff] fl the
race demanded.
Wffl When he
finally received a clearys ance and sought to make a quickf<i| dash, to
England to be in time toii it start in the race, a cracked enginef! § cowling delayed him in Northern
D' j|- Australia. .
lj| They
called ?.
\\ him coward! '
t j TTE had
to return to SydneyLl for a new cowling, and|, j when it Vas fitted there
wasi¡; j not sufficient time to fly to Eng
Í-: \ñ land.
1 |i] Smithy
learned then how thef à hero worshippers of one day canfe i-Iii become the
snipers .and the
6 ;||
"knockers" of another.
\ f He received from Australians in
' suiting anonymous
letters whichI ü charged him with havingpi I "squibbed" facing up to
the Cen\< \ tenar y air race. "
\\ '« And
this man with a magnifi
ât cent war
record, pioneer of the*fi s Pacific air route, conqueror of the
Tasman, and
master of the eastwest Atlantic air route was sent dvicious letter which . enclosed ctwhite feather!
His Pacific
and Tasman triumphsearned for Kingsford Smith promotion, first to the rank of
Honorary Wing Commander, and laterto thát of - Honorary Air Commodore of the
Royal Australian Air
Force.
Those
promotions, of course, didnot carry with them the emoluments pertaining to
those exalted
ranks. .
In 1932 it
was suggested thatboth he and Bert Hinkler were tooold for employment in the. AirForce. Smithy was then 35 andHinkler 39.
THE GREATEST
AIRMAN OFHIS , TIME WAS HELD TO BETOO OLD AT 35 TO
GIVE THEAIR FORCE THE BENEFIT OFHIS UNRIVALLED PRACTICALKNOWLEDGE! ,
As a former
First War pilot.Kingsford Smith, between thewars, brought greater distinctionto
Australian aviation than anyother living airman.
But this did
not give him Immunity from the petty irritationsof a meddling bureaucracy.
On the eve
of one of his recordbreaking flights the Air Boardbilled him for £26 for the
servicing of his famous monoplane,Southern Cross, at
Richmond,
N.S.W.
And the
Board reminded himalso that he still owed 5/ an hourovertime
to the Air Force mechanics who worked on the job!
Had
Kingsford Smith been anAmerican the resources of theUnited States Air Force
wouldhave been, placed at his disposalwithout charge.
Any
reasonable Australian wouldhave thought that the first acquaintance of our Air
Force withengines of a type never before seenin Australia would have been
sufficient recompense. But bureaucracywas unmoved and
adamant.
Smithy,
smiled wryly as he toldme of this accounting pleasantryjust before he took off
from Richmond aerodrome on his' recordbreaking Australia to England
flight, in 1929.
Bumbledomhos
its way
TTE just
shrugged his
shoulders when he
washanded copies of safety regu
lations which he
himself hadoriginated or inspired.
He was
distinctly angered by theimputations of cowardice ' in theanonymous letters in
1934. But hewas deeply hurt by the last brushhe had with Australian
officialdoma year before his death.
When the
blue, streamlinedLockheed Altair was bought byKingsford Smith in America in1934
he named the plane Anzac.He intended to fly this plane Inthe Centenary air
race.
He had seen
service on Gallipoliwhen he was only 19, and he feltthat the name
"Anzac," as he putit, "would give him something tolive up
to" and enable him to putup a good show in the race.
But it was
not to be.
His dismay
can be imaginedwhen he was told by officers otthe Customs Department that
hewould not be allowed to land theaircraft in Sydney from the linerMonterey
until the word "Anzac"was obliterated from either sideot the machine!
Legislation
had been passed toprevent the word "Anzac" being
commercialised.
It was felt
generally in' Sydneyat the time that the Departmentwould see flt to make an
excep
tion in the case
of Sir Charles'Kingsford Smith who proposedthen to carry the name
"Anzac" inthe historic Centenary air race. But
no.
In all itsx
rigidity the regulationwas applied to the Lockheed.
It was
futile to argue that anaircraft named "Anzac" flown bya distinguished
Australian. - whowas himself an Anzac, couldhardly
bring the word into disre
pute.
Customs
officers ordered thatpieces of paper be pasted over
theword "Anzac" on either side of theLockheed before it was landed
ona punt.
Later at
Mascot aerodrome aCustoms officer stood on guardwhile painters obliterated the
name"Anxac"' from the plane. Onlywhen this was done would thejgive it
a Customs clearance.
Smithy, who
stood nearby, saidnothing, thought a lot, and renamed the aircraft Lady
Southern
Cross.
NOWN to his mother, Mrs.
Catherine
KingsfordSmith, always by his babynickname "Chilla," Charles Kings
ford Smith was
born in the Bris- .bane suburb of Hamilton on February 9, 1897.
His father, a bank manager, wastransferred to Sydney at. the turnof
the century, and New SouthWales, always regarded Smithy as
her own.
From the
time when he was ableto walk young "Chilla" was always a fearless boy
- too daringoften for the peace of mind of his
mother.
Soon after
the umbrella "hop"and the broken collarbone, youngCharles was taken
by his parentsto Vancouver, Canada.
. His father
had accepted a position as 'a superintendent in theCanadian Pacific Railway
service.
Smithy
received his early schooling in Vancouver, where his family Intended
to make their home.Had they carried out that intention the mind of their famous
sonmight never have turned to avia
tion.
Young
"Chilla" went within anace of falling overboard on thevoyage to
Vancouver.
He was
reported, missing one
"Chiflo"
wastoo daring,
. BLERIOT'S
feat in flyingthis plane across the English Channel inspired Kings-,
ford Smith.
morning. His
anxious parentssearched the ship but failed to find
him.
A breathless
passenger racedalong the deck to report that heknew where "Chilla"
was, but hewas jammed."
A search
party found him hanging from the anchor hawser hole
in the bows.
"Chilla"
had sought to show asmall pal how easy it was to reachthe hawser hole, but he
found hecouldn't get back to the deck. Hehad to be hauled
from his-precarious perch by crew members.
When the
Kingsford Smiths returned to Sydney about 1909 youngCharles was sent to St.
Andrew'sCathedral School.
He threw
himself into any sportthat was strenuous and demandedcourage y yet on Sundays
he wasto be found in cassock and surplice' singing in tht choir of St. David's.
From the age
of 12 he readeverything he could find about flying machines, as they were then
called.
And what a
vista opened upbetween 1909 and 1914 to stimu.late the imagination of any
ah>minded schoolboy!
First there
was Bier lot's flightacross the Channel in a monoplane named the Antoinette.
That feat
made world headlines.And the speed of the Antoinette- 37 miles an hour - then
seemedincredible.
From that flight rapid strideswere made in many countries inthe effort
to conquer the air.
''THINGS
were happening
overhead in
Australia aswell as overseas during the
Edwardian era.
, A daring
young man namedGeorge Taylor flew a box-kiteglider at Narrabeen, N.S.W.,. in1909, and Houdini, the magicianpilot, brought the first
poweredaeroplane to Australia in 1910 andflew it at Diggers' Rest, ¡Victoria.
J. R.
Duigan. a mechanic, butlthis own machine and got into
theair in it at Mia Mia, Victoria-, onJuly 16. 1910.
Pioneers
led Smithy
. ABOVE:
Smithy and hisLockheed Altair in 1934.Customs officers would notallow him to
land the planein Sydney until Smithy hadscraped the word "Anzac"from
the fuselage (see picture right). He renamed itthe "Lady Southern
Cross."
Every Australian schoolboy wasthrilled by the exploit of W. E.Hart a few
months later. Hartflew a
powered plane 30 miles fromPenrith to Sydney at a time whenan air swoop of one
mile was regarded as praiseworthy.
Harry Hawker
in 1911 stirred aCaulfield race crowd to wild enthusiasm by flying round the
course.
Fourteen
years later KingsfordSmith told me that he had read
and re-read the
details- of all those .early flights in a Sydney weekly -"World's
News."
He said that
these aviationstories and fanciful predictions onthe course of the next war
betweenFrance and Germany provided themost stirring reading of his boyhood. r
The flight
which appealed tohim most was that of the French
man
Maurice Guillaux from Mel- .bourne to Sydney in 9 hours
25.minutes on July 19, 1914.
Guillaux flew a Bleriot monoplane with a
rattling Gnome rotary engine, and was sharply reprimanded by the Sydney
ÇityCouncil for having dared to flyover Sydney at night.
"All
this striving in various
parts of the
world to master the.air used to set me tingling withexcitement as a boy,"
said Smithy.
"I
never once dreamed in thatfirst aviation era that I would everget a chance to
fly in a plane, letalone to fly one myself.
"But
for thc lucky chance ofbeing selected for
the"Royal FlyingCorps in the First War just because I was pretty bright in
takingmachinery to bits and putting it
together again I
might never haveflown a plane."
But at the
age of 13 the careerof the boy who was to become theworld's greatest airman was
againnearly cut short.
Young
"Chilla" got out of hisdepth in rough surf at Bondi beachand was
carried out by the under
tow.
Lifesavers
went after him andbrought him back to the. beachunconscious.
They worked hardto revive him, but ' there was no
response. '
They thought
he was dead.
Nurse saveshis life
TTE owed his
life to a nurse
who bustled out
of thecrowd " on the beach and
worked on him for
more than anhour. Her"" efforts succeeded inbringing him round.
? Soon
after, this narrow escapefrom death, young Chàrlés left theCathedral School and
was enrolledat the Sydney Technical College,where he
studied electrical engineering. By the age of 14 he wasquite
proficient in English and revelled in mathematics.
Masters who
taught Smithy toldme that no matter what aspect ofthe subject he worked on, he
applied himself to it with rare tenacity and intense concentration.
They said he
aimed at learningeverything possible about any kindof machine'or electrical or
mechanical process. - ,
"He had
that quality of 'stickatitness' which he carried into hisflying," said the
then head masterof Sydney Technical, Mr. John
Williams.
Smithy had a
small sailing boat,and in his school holidays he
spenthis time exploring the' HawkesburyRiver and the waterways behindBroken
Bay.
Once or
twice he dared the opensea beyond Sydney Heads;
. He had to
abandon his sailingwhen he was apprenticed at 16 taelectrical engineering ' and
beganwork in the machine shop of thcColonial Sugar Refining Companjin Sydney.
That was
early in 1913, and ht
had completed
nearly two years ofhis apprenticeship when FirstWorld War began.
In those
first dramatic weeksof the, great conflict, when Belgiumwas overrun and Paris
was threatened by the German armies,Charles Kingsford
Smith wantedto join the A.I.F.
His parents,
however, made himpromise that he would ? not attempt to enlist by giving a falseage. They urged him
to wait until
he was 18.
?Six days after
his birthday, onFebruary 15, 1915, Smithy was . accepted
as a recruit in the artillery.Just before his unit left Australiahe transferred
to the Signal Engineers, and with them landed onGallipoli.
He ' saw
service as a despatchrunner during that grim campaignuntil the evacuation.
Then, while
serving as a despatchrider with the A.I.F. in France,his
skill in handling machinery
came under
notice.
In late October. 1916,
KingsfordSmith was one of a group of 140Australians selected from the
A.I.F.ranks to go to England to train
for a
commission in the Royal Ply
ing Corps.
For the
first time in his life hewas brought into close contact withaircraft, and he
realised quicklythat he had found his real career.
He became
absorbed in the studyof planes, and after a remarkablyshort period of
instruction he wasable to fly solo.
As the
aircraft used in the FirstWorld War were far less complicated than the
high-speed bombersand fighters of the Second War,,pilots
were trained much «more
rapidly.
.. In April,. 1917, Kingsford Smithwas in France with the 56th
Squadron, but after his recovery from-anillness he was switched to the
23rdSquadron of Spads.
After a
period of scouting andartillery spotting over the Ypressalient, Smithy passed
on to histoughest, assignment - strafingGerman trenches and aerodromeswith
machine-gun fire. .
Smithy, in
the steadily growingair war over France in 1917, became a daring pilot with
completecontrol of his machine.
I VER
Flanders he swoopedw down on a column ofGerman troops massing forattack,
scattered them with ahurricane of machine-gun fire, andhalted the pending
thrust.
On the same
day he shot down atwo-seater enemy plane in flames.It plunged into an enemy
camp andset a line of wooden huts ablaze.
' He had four
"kills" to his credHwhen he became involved in awhirlwind
"dog-fight" with aswarm of German planes over the
Somme front.
Before the
fire of his guns threeGerman planes nosedived in flames,and
then he was shot down him
self. »
Clash
withRichthofen
It was said
later that in the final
fierce duel his
opponent was theredoubtable German air ace Baronvon Richthofen.
Smithy's
machine ran into *astorm of machine-gun bullets, andhe was severely wounded in
thefoot. He suffered a temporaryblackout from the pain of hiswound, and his
plane went into a
spin.
' By sheer
determination he overcame his faintness long enough' tostraighten out and make
a fairly
good landing.
A hero
discharged
r\NE of his
feet was badly
mangled by bullets,
andthere were 168 bullet holes iir. the fuselage of
his machine. .Threeof his toes had tb be amputated,;and
after a term in' hospital in -England hè was invalided'back toAustralia. ?
:>
He had been
discharged as unfitfor further active service,
butsomehow wangled his way back toEngland in August, 1918. .
He at once
sought further servicewith the Royal Flying Corps, butmedical officers would
not pass him.
He was
promoted to the rank ofcaptain, and appointed a flying instructor, a post which
he held untilhis demobilisation in May, 1919.
Smithy's
attack on the Germancolumn earned him the MilitaryCross for outstanding
gallantry in
. action. .
He hobbled
on crutches intoBuckingham Palace to receive hisM.C. He was very rocky on
hislegs after a long spell in hospital.
King George
V himself helped tosteady him as he pinned thc medalon
Smithy's tunic. The King toldhim that because of his
disabilityhe was at liberty to retire in anyway he chose, so that he might not
fall.
THIS, IN EFFECT. MEANTTHAT
HE HAD PERMISSION TOTURN HIS BACK ON THE KING.AND HE BECAME ONE OF THEFEW
COMMONERS TO BEGRANTED THE PRIVILEGE.
Charles
Kingsford Smith was inhis 22nd year when the war ended.
Aviation had
him in its grip. Heforesaw the great stimulus the waiwould give to aircraft
constructionand flying techniques. Life as anengineer had ' lost its appeal foi
him.
Flying for
money
""jV/TY intention is to take ur.
flying in
Australia on nijreturn," he wrote to hisparents. "It is an honorable
anc,an interesting career, and at hom<there will be
openings for our ser
vices."
What the
youthful Smithy did noforesee, however, was that he himself was to bring as
great honoto the profession of flying as an;man in his generation. .
Kingsford
Smith did not returiimmediately to Australia when hwas "demobbed." He
scoutearound in England with restlesenergy for some means of employlng his
skill as a pilot.
At the war's
end there was littlstoring of the planes which hahelped the Allies to victory.
They had not
been the expensivjobs to build that the fighters anbombers were in the Second
GresWar. They became more or leslumber, and 'anyone who felt likrisking his
neck could buy theifrom the War Ministry at almoigive-away prices.
Smithy went
into partnershiwith two other former pilots of trRoyal Flying Corps - George
Macdocks and Bill Rendle - on
barnstorming project in
the nortof England.
They bought
three D.H.6's alsurdly cheap, and began taklipassengers up for joy rides.
With
aviation still more or lein its swaddling clothes, these shoflits in any sort
of aircraft beean'popular after the long agony of tlfirst War. Because of their
novelthey remained so for more thitwo years.
. Thousands
of people wanted
.. -. -, . frc ':? V
be able to say
that they had "gonaup" in an aeroplane.
It was a
craze that became thetheme of a straight play and thena musical comedy. "Going Up," byOtto Hauerbach and Louis Hirsch.
Kingsford
Smith and his twomates found their flimsy planesrushed by customers. Main
valueof these short flights to Smithywas that they added to his
flyingexperience and set his mind revolving on long-distance odysseys over
oceans.
They
awakened him, also, to thevast possibilities of long-distancecommercial flights
when bigger aircraft with greater power were built,
"You didn't
need any heavensent inspiration to see the possibilities ahead," he said
to me.
"Those
helter-skelter dashesaround England appeared to me, to be the foundation of
commercial flying. In the mind's eye you. only had to magnify the planes
? and the passenger accommodation;; and you could visualise
highly pay
vable air
services.
"There
was nothing fantasticabout this thought, but when Igot back home I was told
that Iwas thinking far ahead of my time,WHAT DAMNED
NONSENSE!
"Everything
has to have a startand somebody has to give it a
start.
"They
laughed
at me . .
"T
BEGAN to think of the
Pacific as
early as 1919,and they laughed at me.".
There was
not thc slightest doubtthat Charles Kingsford
Smithcould have flown one of the largerFirst War planes to Australia in
1919.
To try to
win the £10,000 prizeoffered by the Australian Government to the first man to
fly fromEngland to Australia became hisconsuming ambition..
He- raced round , England Insearch of the right' aircraft, andproposed
that his two barnstormingpals, Maddocks and Rendle, shouldshare in whatever
honors, he might
earn.
He had the
experience and theability to get through such a flightsafely. But then came the
first ofhis many setbacks..
Ministerial
advisers, those mysterious, , omnipotent figures in
thebackground, had advised the thenPrime Minister, Mr. W. M. Hughes,that there
was such a science asair navigation.
. There was
-» but it was in veryrudimentary form in 1919. It hadnot
reachced the peak of perfectionnine years later.
Young Smithy
was not a navigator, nor were Maddocks and
Rendle.
They, too,
were In the early 20's,but the whole party felt that,
provided they maintained a compasscourse, they could take in the shortsea hops
on the route with ease.
Mr. Hughes,
who was then inEngland for the Peace Conference,stepped
in and debarred Kingsford
Smith from
taking part in any such
race.
First, he
said, Smithy and hiscolleagues had no knowledge ofnavigation, and, second, they
were
too young.
"Billy"
apparently had forgottenfor the moment that William Pittbecame Prime Minister
of England
at 23.
That rebuff
could easily have lostto Australia the greatest airman of
his time.
Smithy
immediately went off toAmerica to get a job as a stuntpilot in Hollywood.
He was so
broke when he reachedCalifornia that his. sole
possessionswere the uniform he wore, eightshillings, and one orange.
*