When I Think Back... by Neville Williams `Smithy and the Southern Cross - 2 Radio essential for long distance flights If the epic flights of Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith helped pave the way for today's national and international airlines, they also served to emphasise that reliable two-way radio and direction-finding facilities were not just an option; they were an essential adjunct to pioneering long-distance flights, and would be no less so for future intra- and inter-continental airline services. Reminiscing in the NZ amateur radio time and completed the overall 3200km to Perth to an enthusiastic welcome. On magazine Break-In (March 1972) about TYPICAL MESSAGES: the first-ever flight across the Pacific, their return, they registered themselves as described last month, Tom Clarkson Hawaii-Fiji, June 4-5, 1928 Australian National Airways. ZL2AZ emphasises the key role played 4.55pm GIST de KHAB — hr TR 6 p.m. Then came the idea of flying the Tas- position lat three deg thirty five north lon- by amateur operators on that occasion. gitude one sixty nine and zero eight — man to New Zealand, which both The on-board operator, Jimmy Warner, sumthing made a sharp turn — banks of regarded as a logical passenger/mail route was himself a licensed amateur. heavy cloud — altitude now six thousand for ANA. This was despite the fact that By way of interest, Tom Clarkson smithy still making for altitude first right the Tasman was seen as 1425 miles quotes excerpts from the logbook of NZ then left irs a great game dodging these (2300km) of treacherous ocean. To com- amateur station 1FQ, for June 4-5th, 1928 dark douds — a bit bumpy now. plete the crew, they chose M.A. Litchfield — examples of which appear in the ac- 5.35pm — hr we still trying to gain al- as navigator and T.H. McWilliams as titude to avoid storm clouds motors ap- radio operator. companying panel. parently OK there is our friend the moon For Kingsford-Smith and Ulm, the peeking over a bank of clouds — our al- It did indeed prove a hazardous, if ul- flight was a dream fulfilled against daunt- titude now seventy-eight hundred feet timately successful, journey with storms ing odds. But back in Sydney, having at- but still clouds above us and all around and severe icing problems. (Which sug- tended to urgent matters and bidden us — that man Smith deserves credit gested a reason for the disappearance of he's a good pilot — one generator quit Moncrieff and Hood, two young farewell to Warner and Lyon, they faced only three hours out and no chance to the inevitable question: What next? charge both batteries — a nice full moon. Australians who had previously at- tempted the crossing.) At the height of the Both were convinced that the time was 6.50am hr wil ga for 5 mins on 700 ripe to establish an Australian national metres pse get QTE QRX nw storm, McWilliams reported that he could airline. But before committing themselves 7.30am hr Southern Cross to not contact either Australia or New to such a venture, they were keen to fly westwards of course abt approx position Zealand by radio. from Australia to Britain, thereafter cross- now due north of Suva — Only about fore Following another warm welcome, the ing the Atlantic ocean and continental hours at most left speed 75 knots may be Royal New Zealand Air Force undertook USA to California to become the first able to make it to Suva but yet doubtful to service the Southern Cross free of QRX. charge, while the fliers toured the country aviators to circumnavigate the globe. erpte from the log of 1FO, At that juncture, however, Keith Ander- frExc Break-In for March 1972) in a borrowed NZ Air Force Bristol. Ironi- son complicated matters by suing Smithy cally, while Ulm had proved himself a in the NSW Supreme Court, to recover capable pilot, he was not officially certifi- expenses which he claimed to have in- cheque, with the stated intention of using cated and this, too, was made good under curred for the Pacific venture on the un- it as a down payment on a Westland NZ Air Force supervision. derstanding that he was to be a member of Widgeon aircraft, with which to earn a the crew. It was a divisive issue which future living. Christened Kookaburra, the Dark days ahead polarised the press and public and, while Widgeon was to haunt Smithy in the years Back again in Sydney, the same four- Smithy ultimately won the case, it was ahead. man crew set about preparing for the not a victory which gave him any Taking advantage of the delay, Smithy doubly delayed flight to Britain — one pleasure. and Ulm decided to set a record for a that was to result in a major setback for According to Ward McNally, he met non-stop flight across Australia. Ignoring Smithy and Ulm. Anderson privately afterwards and in- bad weather, they took off from the Taking off from the Richmond RAAF sisted that he accept an ex gratia refund of RAAF base at Point Cook, Victoria, base for what promised to be a routine $1000. Anderson reportedly accepted t' reached and circled Adelaide in record trans-Australia flight to Wyndham, the 40 ELECTRONICS Australia, July 1992 Fig.1: Smithy with John Stannage (left), one of the two men who found the 'Southern Cross' at 'Coffee Royal. A Professional marine wireless operator, Stannage also helped guide the plane to a safe landing in Newfoundland. (Picture supplied by the Feature Bureau, John Fairfax & Sons Ltd., Sydney). plane had been in the air for only half an — which left the plane intact but bogged Reputation at stake! hour when, taking a bearing on the Sun, in thick mud. Desperate efforts to effect Litchfield accidentally bumped the trail- an emergency radio transmission were Meanwhile, the rest of Australia was ing aerial mechanism — causing the unsuccessful and, to make matters worse, buzzing with allegations, attributed in spool to unwind and the aerial to disppear they searched in vain for emergency ra- part to the now-defunct Sydney Guardian into space. tions which the RAAF had put aboard the newspaper and to Smith's Weekly. Unable to receive incoming signals, plane the day before their departure. The emergency was a 'put-up job', it McWilliams requested Smithy to return to Apparently, the food had been pilfered was said, in collaboration with certain Richmond for a replacement. But rather from the unguarded plane during the major Australian newspapers which had than dump 3000 litres of fuel to permit a night by a hungry vagrant. As a result, the negotiated exclusive rights to the venture safe landing, he decided to press on. crew developed dysentry and headaches through John Uhn. Some even went so far What Smithy didn't know was that the from a starvation diet of marsh mussels as to suggest that Anderson was in on the RAAF had just received news that the and coffee made on brackish water — deal, destined to become a national hero weather over the red centre had turned fortified with a dash of brandy and baby for finding the lost fliers. The scheme had foul, and was trying desperately to warn food from a parcel destined for a chemist come tragically unstuck, they reasoned, him to return to Richmond to await better in Wyndham. when he himself had become lost. conditions. But the message was never Smithy christened it 'Coffee Royal' — The Southern Cross was eventually received... a term that was later picked up by the found by pilot Leslie Holden and radio As a result, the Southern Cross headed media and used to identify — and ridicule operator John Stannage (Fig.1) in the straight into a deadly mix of wind, rain — the whole unfortunate episode! chartered Canberra. and dust, which coated it with red mud Meanwhile seven planes based on Dragged from the bog and re-fuelled, and reduced visibility to occasional Wyndham were searching for them in the Southern Cross was flown back to glimpses through the windscreen and the vain — one of them the Kookaburra, Wyndham by Smithy and thence to Rich- prevailing murk. piloted by Keith Anderson with Bob mond. Once again he was greeted by a Finally, unable to establish their Hitchcock as navigator. Forced down in large crowd — but this time, they were whereabouts and with fuel virtually ex- the desert, without food or water, both booing rather than cheering. hausted, Smithy decided to make an were to die a lonely death before the I was only a schoolkid at the time, but I emergency landing at the first opportunity Widgeon was finally located. recall that to be 'for Smithy' put one in ELECTRONICS Australia, July 1992 41 WHEN I THINK BACK the same dubious category as a 'teachers' pet'. Perhaps more than any other person I can remember, Smithy became a victim of Australia's infamous 'tall poppy' syndrome, to be honoured more after his death than during his eventful life. Two days after the Southern Cross returned to Sydney, Prime Minister S.M. Bruce ordered a top-level inquiry into the affair by an expert committee — which was certainly not biased in Smithy's favour. Having considered all points of view, the committee ruled that they could find no convincing evidence that the forced landing had been a hoax. Smithy and his crew were completely cleared, but to their dying day, both he and Ulm suffered at the hands of 'poppy cutters' who preferred their own 'gut feeling' to the verdict of an exhaustive inquiry.