SIR KINGSFORD SMITH

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 302, 19 November 1935, Page 2

SIR KINGSFORD SMITH

REMARKABLE RECORD. There is something unique in the appearance of the name of Sir Charles I Kingsford Smith as written in the rej cord of famous airmen. Heroism and i skill are qualities which emblazon all the names appearing on that honoured roll, yet in the case of Sir Charles an additional, elusive ingredient has embellished the writing. Many have said it is an uncanny power of escaping from tight corners. I Some have seen it as the light from a lucky star. Others have been content to call it personality. Whatever the answer be, the story of Sir Charles shows him as a “born airman,” one of those personalities produced by the present century to demonstrate the conquest of man and machine over the air. A belief that | such an affinity in conquest exists has j been implied by his eagerness to share ! with “the old bus,” the famous Southern Cross, the credit for so many of his great flights. Slight of stature and modest in demeanour before strangers, he has proved himself over and over again a giant in determination and courage when the only hope of avoiding death lias lain in his own coolness of head and sure grasp of hand. Many a stern battle has be fought with the elements in some lonely place in the sky, and 1 won his way through to the plaudits i and congratulations of an anxiously I waiting public. And in these moments of triumph he has not. forgotten an i affectionate word for his colleagues in I adventure. , There are stories of his boyhood ! doings that foreshadowed the man and ! the airman, such as leaping from a i height with an open umbrella for a I parachute and, with keen delight, i making model aeroplanes that flew, this at a time when models as a rule did not attain to such perfection. Then, as a youth, his urge for mechanics turned him to motor-cycling, and, while still in his teens, he became a despatch rider in the Great where" his adventurous spirit found much scope for expression. But even this exciting life fell short of something that he desired and be transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, and soon became known as a daring ngh er in the air. For bravery at pres he was decorated with the Military Cross. With the coming of peace most men found their way back to safe pursuits, : but not so Sir Charles, as his post-war record of notable achievements so torIcibly shows. Resting on honours won has not been for him.