Eric Bonar – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB06/03/202303/06/2023

Aviation Heritage Vol. 54 No. 1 (March 2023) Contents Listing

The latest quarterly edition (March 2023) of the AHSA journal – Aviation Heritage – has recently been posted to members. The full contents are...

1935 While trying to break the England to Australia speed record, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and John Thompson "Tommy" Pethybridge went missing over the Andaman Sea on 8 November 1935 on a leg between Allahabad, India and Singapore, Malaya. The Lockheed Altair 'Lady Southern Cross' and both fliers were lost. It is assumed they crashed into the sea somewhere off the coast of Burma while flying at night towards Singapore. Kingsford Smith was survived by his wife, Mary, Lady Kingsford Smith, and their three-year-old son Charles Jnr. Kingsford Smith's autobiography, My Flying Life, was published posthumously in 1937 and became a best-seller. Sources: Australian Dictionary of Biography, Wikipedia.

1954 Justice Webb of the High Court of Australia issued a written judgement against the Royal Victorian Aero Club (plaintiff) in their case against the Commonwealth of Australia (defendant) on 8 November 1954, finding that an RAAF pilot flying an RVAC aircraft for training was not guilty of "wilful misconduct" when the aircraft crashed and therefore the club was not able to claim £1,067 16s. 0d. compensation from the defendant Commonwealth for the destruction of the club's aircraft. An aeroplane owned by the club crashed on 21 December 1951 while piloted by an Air Force trainee (Graeme Lowe) who was practising the technique required to make a forced landing. The trainee, who had carried out the practice several times and was well versed in judging a height of 200 feet, had been instructed that on fields of his own selection he was not to come below that height. On the occasion in question, which was on a field of his own selection, the trainee was not absolutely certain when he was about 200 feet from the ground, whether he would have made the field had he to come down or whether he was landing "dead into the wind". He accordingly came down "slightly" further to check. At about 50 to 70 feet he noticed two wires running across the boundary fence and attempted to regain height. The engine spluttered, however, in consequence of which the plane touched the wires and crashed. The trainee was aware that he was flying below 200 feet, but he did not think of the instruction to the contrary until after the crash. Justice Webb also found in favour of the Commonwealth's counter-claim for £47 16s. 0d. which it has paid to the State Electricity Commission for repairs to the high-tension wires, and ordered the RVAC to cover the Commonwealth's counter-claim and legal costs. Source: https://staging.hcourt.gov.au/assets/publications/judgments/1954/070--ROYAL_VICTORIAN_AERO_CLUB_v._THE_COMMONWEALTH--(1954)_92_CLR_236.html