2019 will see the centenary of an historic flight from England to Australia

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Next year will be the centenary of an air flight from England to Australia. The then Prime Minister Billy Hughes offered £10,000 to the first Australian airmen to fly from England to Australia in 30 days. Six teams took up the challenge in very rudimentary and unreliable aircraft. Only two of the teams actually made it to Australia. The winners were South Australian brothers Ross and Keith Smith. Their mechanics were Wally Shiers, also from South Australia and Jim Bennett from Victoria. Today the flight is regarded as as significant as man landing on the moon or Christopher Columbus discovering the New World. The Vickers Vimy bomber is on display at Adelaide Airport. The race was conceived with an eye to the potential of aviation technology, and how it could be used to Australia's benefit. The men left on 12 November 1919, in bad weather and were often forced to fly low. Thanks to their war service, the brothers had knowledge of parts of the route. From Europe they flew to the Middle East, India, South-East Asia and on to Darwin. A series of events will be held next year (2019) to commemorate this historic event. At the time, this must have been incredibly exciting for those waiting for the first glimpse of the little plane as it neared Darwin. The photo is of the memorial to Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew who took off from Malahide’s Portmarnock’s beach in 1930 and continued on to complete a circumnavigation of the world. You can see Australia on the right of the globe and a dotted line showing the flight path.