FAINTEST HOPES FOR "SMITHY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 269, 13 November 1935, Page 7

FAINTEST HOPES FOR "SMITHY."

NO INFORMATION OF MR. MELROSE.

United Press Association. —Copyright.—Rec. 1.30 p.m. SINGAPORE, November 12. There is still no news of "Smithy." The faintest hopes i are now entertained. It is confirmed that Mr. Melrose is overdue, but no details , are at present available.

"PHOT NO. 1."

"SMITHY"—TIJE MAN. Blazing Aerial Trail Around The World. I HALE OF OCEANS SPANNED. i 1 Adventure in these civilised days 5 is given to comparatively few men. None in all this century have found it so continuously and "with such a reward of national and international popularity as has Air-Commodore Sir Claries Kingsford Smith, recordIreaker and aerial trail-blazer, known to all the world as plain "Smithy." Probably the only man the London "limes" has referred to by nickname, is 38 years old, with weather-beaten, loughly-hewn features and a kindly smile. He learned to fly with the Royal fljing Corps during the war and was ilot down by Baron von Richtofen in Ul7. A burst of machine-gun fire went through his machine, but, although covered with blood, "Smithy" landed and lived to be regarded as one of the World's greatest airmen. His first "flying wash was at the age of five, when he jtifflped from a roof, holding an Umbrella, which. he thought would act •s a parachute. He broke a collarbone ® the attempt. Smithy" leapt into fame when he "Ued m three attempts to break the Wds endurance record at San'Fran(i/° 8 1? immedia tely afterwards hopped on the amazing three-stage flight to wisbane, via Honolulu and Suva. This fiiMj » ■ 8 k° n d with that wonderin a P' ane > the Southern Cross, which j| r ares "Smithy's" glory in the Great Pacific Flight. aimed at a continent and "Wn » -Atlantic in 33 hours, but (i 1 7 fl ew from Honolulu, a dot in greatest ocean of them all, to Suva, Tri!I eil t T 9ma,ler tlot > in 34 hours. The fl° i n ,°' u ' u ' 10 P took 27J hours, and 2° hm S - ta " e fr' om Suva to Brisbane " • 111 ternpestutous weather. s * e P was the first successful takimr V, rC f in S an( l return, the latter jv >°, hours, against head winds. Wtti on De ! amted at Richmond, Sydney, Since „,T^ es .' P etrol in the tank's. Tasmor, - , Smithy" has crossed the lions' 11 Southern Cross on four i -P ac ific journey, he was %t» , ntei J on the first two Tasman a i nf 4 lat ° ,¥>;• c - T. p. Ulm, airmen Australia s world-famous lie 1? va ™ s hed in the course of Decernl*, , anc ' sc °-Honolulu flight in Southern p St " The p^ir next took the : nam j OSS 0n a flight to England, on a m udflat in the days .1, J - erri tory. Marooned for 12 tearc'uro' 6 ? Were found after two If had been lost - Shortly restarted and flew to 6 m the record time of 121 days. "S "fi »Encircled. HayfiJ an( l Ulm went separate the Wi ~e Southern Cross, which If hchaspH f " Government this year If %() nn Canberra Museum for s 11 crew « more carrie( l "Smithy" and Oakland Atlantic and on to !' Alkn r* Tr° rnia ' wllere lived Caphad «' ancoc k, the oil millionaire Pnr.*c . flyers on their 'P'ane, whJ l , He presented the pletelv j by then flown comf Smith. wor ld, to Kingsford The 6t eamer a +i ter leturnedI eturned to England by 'tie s Ol A. en ® ew solo in a new 'plane, record +- rn oss Junior, to Australia I Allowed Southern Cross * as to spp ßl mas^er * n a ship's hold, but sSjifeiiia V !-^ la ! ly more useful tasks in '""tools ' c, famous pilot at the a ' r niai'le i 00 ' i the first Christmas 8 to England and back; she

helped in the search for the vanished Southern Cloud, with its eight occupants, over the Australian Alps in 1931; she flew on the passenger airways for thousands of miles. In between times, '"Smithy" took her across the Tasman and.back. His final Tasman trip was started in May of this year to connect with the New Zealand jubilee mail, but the veteran 'plane at long last fell down on the job, and the airman and his companions took her limping back home across 500 miles of eager ocean. Much of the precious mail had to be jettisoned. That was the Southern Cross' last flight of consequence, and even in defeat she struggled to bring her master back to safety. Kingsford Smith made another solo flight from England to Australia, in the ill-fated Southern Minor, in October, 1933, setting up the record of 7 days 4 hours 27 minutes—beaten only by his fellow-Australians, C. J. Melrose (in the Melbourne Centenary race) and H. F. Broadbent, who reached Darwin only last Saturday. The Lady Southern Cross. "Smithy" purchased the Lockheed Altair monoplane which he used on the present trip in America for the Centenary race, but fuel restrictions in Australia prevented his getting to the starting-point in time. On October 20— the day the race started—he began a flight from Brisbane to Suva, Honolulu and San Francisco, reversing the order of his first great flight. He went on by steamer to England, where he opened negotiations in connection with the founding of the Tasman Air Development Company with capital of £100,000, to compete with the Britishowned Imperial Airways, Limited, for operation of a Tasman air mail and passenger service. He planned tentatively to use American-built Sikorsky flying boats. Mr. J. W. Stannage, his companion on the Atlantic and many other epic flights, is secretary of the organisation in Sydney. "Smithy" made his last visit to England in connection with machines to be used. He wanted to beat the Centenary race record of 50 hours to Darwin and 72 hours to Melbourne. Strict British fuel-loading restrictions precluded, any possibility of this, however, and he had to land at Marseilles en route. He returned to England and started afresh. The machine was the same Lockheed Altair, ranamed Lady Southern Cross. C. J. Melrose, who turned back from a solo flight to Australia, was on the same hop from India to Singapore and reported that "Smithy's" speedy 'plane passed 200 feet above him at an altitude of from 8000 to 9000 feet above the Bay of Bengal, overtaking him at twice his own speed—about 110 m.p.li. Melrose flew on to Singapore, but "Smithy" had not arrived. Knights of the Air. Kingsford Smith is one of Britain's seven knights of the air, four of whom were honoured in pairs. Three of the seven were Australiana. "Smithy," aircommodore in the Royal Australian Air Force, holds the highest honorary rank of them all. He is acknowledged even in the United States as the world's No. 1 pilot. His honours include the medal of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, world governing body in aviation; the rarely-awarded gold medal of the American Geographic Society; the Britannia and Segrave trophies, classic English awards for the most outstanding performance by a Britisher on land, sea and air (the latter jnedal twice); a rare Dutch award; the Oswald Watt memorial plaque for an outstanding feat by an Australian, on three occasions; the Air Force Cross, and numerous foreign awards. Before he became famous, "Smithy" spent six years in commercial aviation in Australia, ' and continued this work up to the present. In between recordbreaking, pioneering air trails and conducting air services, he found time to marry twice. His second wife was Mis? Mary Powell, member of a wealthy Melbourne family. He and Lady Kingsford Smith—who fervently believes that he is safe—have an infant son.