Flights
In 1919 the Australian government, led by Prime Minister Billy Hughes, offered a £10,000 prize for the first Australian airmen to fly from England to Australia within 30 days. Of the six aircraft to enter only one made it in the timeline given, and the £10,000 prize was awarded to the Smith Brothers and the crew of the Vickers Vimy. Another aircraft did complete the flight but took 206 days, the DH.9 of Ray Parer and John McIntosh. Although outside the time limit, the crew was awarded a consolation prize of £A1,000, this aircraft is now housed at the Australian War Memorial.
Record flight attempts from England to Australia became a benchmark, but the record-breaking Australian circumnavigation by Goble and McIntyre in 1924 caught the publics imagination and in 1928 Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's Pacific crossing and Bert Hinkler's solo England-Australia flight made headlines around the world. Fast forward to September 2025 and Jennifer Hunt is currently attempting to become the youngest female to fly around Australia solo.
Soon we will be making avialable articles of some of these flights to non members to assit them further in their research, if you require infomation about a particular aviator, please Contact Us.