RFD Winged Target – 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...

1928 Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harold Litchfield and Thomas H. McWilliams completed the first flight from Australia to New Zealand, from Richmond, New South Wales to Christchurch in Fokker F.VIIb/3m 'Southern Cross' on Tuesday, 11 September 1928. As reported in "The News": The Tasman Sea has been crossed by aeroplane at last! Leaving Sydney at 5.30 o'clock (Sydney time) Squadron-Leader Kingsford Smith and Flight-Lieut. C. T. P. Ulm, assisted by Messrs. H. Litchfield (navigator) and T. H. McWilliams (wireless operator), piloted their magnificent aeroplane Southern Cross over the waters that divide New Zealand from Australia. A perfect landing was made at Christchurch at 9.23 o'clock this morning. The course followed was not a direct one, for the Southern Cross was over Wellington at 7.15 this morning, and then had to fly 190 miles south before it came to rest at its destination. The flight of 1,430 miles occupied 14 hr. 23 min., notwithstanding that a storm was encountered at sea early this morning. There was intense excitement in Wellington when unexpectedly the whirr of the engines of the aeroplane was heard over that city. Everybody was astonished, for it had been thought that Squadron-Leader Kingsford Smith would fly direct to Christchurch. Source: News (Adelaide, SA), Tue 11 Sep 1928, Page 1, TASMAN SEA CROSSED

1944 Avro Anson LT781 operated by 1 Air Observers School Evans Head, RAAF crashed at Glen Innes, NSW on 11 September 1944. The aircraft suffered a structural failure pulling out of an apparent low dive, crashed and caught fire. The following personnel were killed in the crash: FLTSGT James Ian Brisbane Noble (36496), 1 AOS Evans Head, pilot; PLTOFF William Henry Osborne (411513), 1 AOS, Wireless Operator; LAC Roy Cecil Edwards (440278), 1 AOS, Trainee Navigator; LAC William John Ervin (431474), 1 AOS, Trainee Navigator; and Sgt. Joan Mary McCormack (92527), 1 AOS Cootamundra, passenger. Sources: Australia at War website; ADF-Serials; aviation-safety.net website

1990 A Qantas Boeing 747 with 360 people aboard missed a USAF C-5 Galaxy plane by a reported 17 metres, while flying over Phuket on 11 September 1990. The case raised air traffic control clearance issues. Source: Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 14 September 1990. via aph.gov.au website

1990 A Qantas Boeing 747 with 360 aboard missed a USAF C-5 Galaxy plane by a reported 17 metres, while flying over Phuket on 11 September 1990. The case raised air traffic control clearance issues. Source: Age and Sydney Morning Herald 14 September 1990. via aph.gov.au website