Recent from talks
Southern Cross (aircraft)
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Southern Cross (aircraft)
The Southern Cross is a Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor monoplane that was flown by Australian aviators Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harry Lyon and James Warner in the first-ever trans-Pacific flight to Australia from the mainland United States, a distance of about 11,670 kilometres (7,250 mi), in 1928.
The Southern Cross began life as the Detroiter, a polar exploration aircraft of the Detroit News-Wilkins Arctic expedition. The aircraft had crashed in Alaska in 1926, and was recovered and repaired by the Australian expedition leader, Hubert Wilkins. Wilkins, who had decided the Fokker was too large for his Arctic explorations, met with Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm in San Francisco and arranged to sell them the aircraft, without engines or instruments.
Having fitted the aircraft with engines and other required parts, Kingsford Smith made two attempts at the world endurance record in an attempt to raise funds and interest for his trans-Pacific flight. However, after the New South Wales government withdrew its sponsorship of the flight, it looked as if the money would run out and Kingsford Smith would have to sell the Southern Cross. The aircraft was bought by American aviator and philanthropist Allan Hancock, who then loaned it back to Kingsford Smith and Ulm. The three Wright Whirlwind engines were funded by Melbourne businessman Sidney Myer.
On 31 May 1928, the crew — Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, and Americans Harry Lyon (navigator) and James Warner (radio operator) — took off from Oakland, California, United States. The Southern Cross stopped for rest and refuelling in Hawaii before setting off for Fiji. This leg of the journey took 34+1⁄2 hours of flight across open seas before gliding past the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva, where a large and enthusiastic crowd saw the first aircraft to land in Fiji touch down at Albert Park. The Southern Cross landed at Eagle Farm Airport in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, on 9 June, where a crowd of 25,000 people were waiting to greet the Southern Cross on its arrival at the airport. The Southern Cross flew on to Sydney the following day (10 June).
The aircraft was in constant radio communication with ships and shore during the flight using four transmitters and three receivers powered by a ram air turbine attached to the fuselage below the cockpit. Transmitters included one 50-watt short-wave set operating at a 33.5-metre wavelength and two 60-watt sets operating at a 600-metre wavelength, with one 600-metre emergency waterproof set capable of operating eight hours submerged. Receivers, sharing a common audio amplifier, included a short-wave, long-wave and beacon. The first paid commercial messages were sent and received during the flight and a new world record distance for radio was set with a short-wave reception at Bloemfontein, South Africa, the long way around the world at 20,600 kilometres (12,800 mi). Direct short-wave aircraft-to-shore communications were maintained with the Pacific Coast until the flight was four hours out of Honolulu which had been monitoring the flight from two hours after departure with a similar reception overlap on the Honolulu to Suva leg. Success on this flight influenced Admiral Byrd to equip his three Antarctic Expedition aircraft with similar equipment.
Kingsford Smith, Ulm, Litchfield and McWilliams also made the first nonstop Trans-Tasman flight in the Southern Cross — over the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand — beginning with the first crossing on 10–11 September 1928, a distance of 2,670 kilometres (1,660 mi). They then flew back to Australia.[citation needed]
Guy Menzies completed the first solo trans-Tasman flight in the Southern Cross Junior in 1931.[citation needed]
In 1929, Kingsford Smith and Ulm set out on the Southern Cross from Sydney for England. When radio contact was lost, a search was organised. In April 1929, Australian National Airways or the Sydney Citizens' Relief Committee engaged Les Holden to join the search. According to one newspaper article, Holden flew a total of 14,000 kilometres (9,000 mi) and was in the air for 100 hours, before spotting the missing aircraft on a mud flat near the Glenelg River in Western Australia. The crew of Southern Cross were rescued, though two other searchers, Keith Vincent Anderson and Henry Smith "Bobby" Hitchcock, lost their lives due to dehydration, when they were forced to land their Westland Widgeon aircraft known as the Kookaburra in the Tanami Desert, due to an engine problem with the aircraft and a faulty compass.
Hub AI
Southern Cross (aircraft) AI simulator
(@Southern Cross (aircraft)_simulator)
Southern Cross (aircraft)
The Southern Cross is a Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor monoplane that was flown by Australian aviators Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harry Lyon and James Warner in the first-ever trans-Pacific flight to Australia from the mainland United States, a distance of about 11,670 kilometres (7,250 mi), in 1928.
The Southern Cross began life as the Detroiter, a polar exploration aircraft of the Detroit News-Wilkins Arctic expedition. The aircraft had crashed in Alaska in 1926, and was recovered and repaired by the Australian expedition leader, Hubert Wilkins. Wilkins, who had decided the Fokker was too large for his Arctic explorations, met with Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm in San Francisco and arranged to sell them the aircraft, without engines or instruments.
Having fitted the aircraft with engines and other required parts, Kingsford Smith made two attempts at the world endurance record in an attempt to raise funds and interest for his trans-Pacific flight. However, after the New South Wales government withdrew its sponsorship of the flight, it looked as if the money would run out and Kingsford Smith would have to sell the Southern Cross. The aircraft was bought by American aviator and philanthropist Allan Hancock, who then loaned it back to Kingsford Smith and Ulm. The three Wright Whirlwind engines were funded by Melbourne businessman Sidney Myer.
On 31 May 1928, the crew — Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, and Americans Harry Lyon (navigator) and James Warner (radio operator) — took off from Oakland, California, United States. The Southern Cross stopped for rest and refuelling in Hawaii before setting off for Fiji. This leg of the journey took 34+1⁄2 hours of flight across open seas before gliding past the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva, where a large and enthusiastic crowd saw the first aircraft to land in Fiji touch down at Albert Park. The Southern Cross landed at Eagle Farm Airport in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, on 9 June, where a crowd of 25,000 people were waiting to greet the Southern Cross on its arrival at the airport. The Southern Cross flew on to Sydney the following day (10 June).
The aircraft was in constant radio communication with ships and shore during the flight using four transmitters and three receivers powered by a ram air turbine attached to the fuselage below the cockpit. Transmitters included one 50-watt short-wave set operating at a 33.5-metre wavelength and two 60-watt sets operating at a 600-metre wavelength, with one 600-metre emergency waterproof set capable of operating eight hours submerged. Receivers, sharing a common audio amplifier, included a short-wave, long-wave and beacon. The first paid commercial messages were sent and received during the flight and a new world record distance for radio was set with a short-wave reception at Bloemfontein, South Africa, the long way around the world at 20,600 kilometres (12,800 mi). Direct short-wave aircraft-to-shore communications were maintained with the Pacific Coast until the flight was four hours out of Honolulu which had been monitoring the flight from two hours after departure with a similar reception overlap on the Honolulu to Suva leg. Success on this flight influenced Admiral Byrd to equip his three Antarctic Expedition aircraft with similar equipment.
Kingsford Smith, Ulm, Litchfield and McWilliams also made the first nonstop Trans-Tasman flight in the Southern Cross — over the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand — beginning with the first crossing on 10–11 September 1928, a distance of 2,670 kilometres (1,660 mi). They then flew back to Australia.[citation needed]
Guy Menzies completed the first solo trans-Tasman flight in the Southern Cross Junior in 1931.[citation needed]
In 1929, Kingsford Smith and Ulm set out on the Southern Cross from Sydney for England. When radio contact was lost, a search was organised. In April 1929, Australian National Airways or the Sydney Citizens' Relief Committee engaged Les Holden to join the search. According to one newspaper article, Holden flew a total of 14,000 kilometres (9,000 mi) and was in the air for 100 hours, before spotting the missing aircraft on a mud flat near the Glenelg River in Western Australia. The crew of Southern Cross were rescued, though two other searchers, Keith Vincent Anderson and Henry Smith "Bobby" Hitchcock, lost their lives due to dehydration, when they were forced to land their Westland Widgeon aircraft known as the Kookaburra in the Tanami Desert, due to an engine problem with the aircraft and a faulty compass.
Recent media