GREAT AIR RACE CENTENARY
— great air race CENTENARY —
First UK to Australia flight and airmail
1919-2019
Michael Smith’s latest adventure is to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of this historic flight by retracing it in Southern Sun.
In 1919 Prime Minister Billy Hughes, sensing the importance aviation may one day have, put up a challenge, aimed squarely at the wiley Australia pilot service men waiting to return home from the “Great War” – a 10,000 pound prize for the first to fly from the UK to Australia; multiple parties set out and the Great Air Race turned out to be demanding, difficult and finished by few.
Philatelic collection to be carried on the flight.
2019 is the 100th Anniversary of this first flight from London to Darwin, the challenge conquered by Keith and Ross Smith - in Nov/Dec 1919. The flight was an extraordinary achievement, not only the first flight to connect the countries - but they also brought a bag of mail - which became the first airmail when it arrived into Darwin, Australia’s original International Airport! The flight paved the way for not only the future of popular passenger travel, but the much faster mail service by air was as important then as the introduction of email and the internet nearly a century later.
Our next grand adventure, in the new Southern Sun, a custom built Flying Boat, designed for adventure and to retrace historic routes, will follow this epic flight visiting as many of the original cities as geopolitics allows... and bring a bag of commemorative mail from the West London departure point to be posted in Australia. A commemorative stamp has been created for the 364 items of mail on this journey, which nicely accompanies the Australia Post commemorative stamps created which will also be used. A combination of letters, envelopes, first day covers, postcards and even aerogrammes will be carried, and will be postmarked in Hounslow the day before and by a period attired Australia Post Postman in Darwin on the Dec 10th upon arrival.
The March 1921 edition of National Geographic was dedicated entirely to the Smith Brother’s Vickers Vimy trip - with intricate detail and photos, it will be the guide for the journey. Oh, and maybe that navigation screen will help too..
Southern Sun will depart London 100 years later in mid November from White Waltham airfield, very close to the original Hounslow Heath field. All going well we’ll land in Darwin Airport on the 10th of December at 3.45pm, exactly 100 years after the Smith brothers landed their Vicker’s Vimy which led to the birth of the Kangaroo Route and international airmail.
The route will follow the original as closely as possible, allowances for conflict zones, weather and permissions will dictate the exact timings. The planned cities, of which some may be overflown, are:
London - Lyon - Pisa - Rome - Tarant0 - Souda Bay - Cairo - (unfortunately bypassing Syria, Iraq and Iran) - UAE alternate - Pakistan - Delhi - Allahabad - Calcutta - Rangoon - Bangkok - Singapore - Surabaya - Bima - Atamboea - (Dili) - Darwin.
Original 1919 route of the Vickers Vimy.
This website will be the home of the online journal that follows the journey, with an update of pictures and stories from each city visited. We’ll be filming along the way to share the story in glorious filmic style upon the return. There will be weekly radio crosses on a Sunday morning, as well as a weekly video summary on YouTube to appeal more directly to a younger audience.
More details updating as planning progresses, with a certain amount being worked out along the way… To acquire or maybe even send mail on the trip and stay up to date with the latest adventure subscribe to our mailing list, or follow the Online Journal, oh ok, a Blog.
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