FORTY YEARS LATER.—Mr T. H. McWilliams, of Auckland, who was wireless operator in Kingsford Smith’s aircraft, the Southern Cross, on the first successful flight across the Tasman Sea 40 years ago, seated at the controls of an Air New Zealand DCB airliner at Auckland Airport before leaving for Sydney this week. With him is his son, Captain Ross McWilliams, captain of the airliner. In Sydney Mr McWilliams met the only other survivor of the first crossing, Mr H. A. Litchfield, the navigator, and then travelled to Brisbane Airport to see the Southern Cross in its glass display building. Mrs T. H, McWilliams accompanied her husband on the flight to Sydney. It was their first ride in a DCB and the first time their son had taken them flying.

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31783, 13 September 1968, Page 26

FORTY YEARS LATER.—Mr T. H. McWilliams, of Auckland, who was wireless operator in Kingsford Smith’s aircraft, the Southern Cross, on the first successful flight across the Tasman Sea 40 years ago, seated at the controls of an Air New Zealand DCB airliner at Auckland Airport before leaving for Sydney this week. With him is his son, Captain Ross McWilliams, captain of the airliner. In Sydney Mr McWilliams met the only other survivor of the first crossing, Mr H. A. Litchfield, the navigator, and then travelled to Brisbane Airport to see the Southern Cross in its glass display building. Mrs T. H, McWilliams accompanied her husband on the flight to Sydney. It was their first ride in a DCB and the first time their son had taken them flying.