The poster for the 2019 Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize.
- The 2019 Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize was launched on 11 November 2018 - Remembrance Day 2018. Information and entry forms are available at http://anzaccentenary.sa.gov.au/events/2019-premiers-anzac-spirit-school-prize/
- The 2019 Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize launch and this blog posting tells the story of World War 1 veterans Ross Smith and Keith Smith and their Vickers Vimy biplane that is shown on the 2019 poster. The story of their post-war participation in the 2019 Air Race between England and Australia is one that needs to be told to South Australian students.
THE SMITH BROTHERS’ EPIC FLIGHT OF
1919
THE RACE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
In recognition of the role of aviators
in the Great War, the 2019 Premier’s Anzac Spirit School Prize poster displays
the picture of South Australian brothers Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith and their
crew. Behind them is their World War 1 Vickers Vimy biplane, in which they
became the first men to fly from England to Australia in the 1919 Air Race.
Sir
Ross (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-sir-ross-macpherson-8529) and
mechanics Wally Shiers (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/shiers-walter-henry-8419) and Jim
Bennett (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bennett-james-mallett-5211) were
members of the Australian Flying Corps in World War I. Sir Keith (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-sir-keith-macpherson-8478) flew
with Britain’s Royal Flying Corps in England. After the Armistice the four men took on the challenge
of the air race.
This is
just one of the many post-World War 1 stories that all South Australian should
know. While still focussing on the sacrifices of World War 1, the 2019
Premier’s Anzac Spirit School Prize invites students to consider the inter-war
years leading to the events of World War 2.
The flight
In 1919, Australian Prime
Minister Billy Hughes was flying between England and France for the Paris Peace
Conference, and realised the potential of aviation to link his young nation to
the world. Knowing it would also build pride after a devastating war that
claimed 60,000 Australian lives, he announced a £10,000 prize for the first
Australians to fly from London to Darwin in a British-made plane.
By today’s terms the aircraft were
very basic, with open cockpits and only maps and compasses for navigation. Many
countries along the route had no airfields. Yet six Australians crews took up
the challenge: two were killed; two crashed out. A French pilot made it all the
way to Asia before he also crashed out. Only one crew made it home inside the
required 30 days. They were the South
Australian brothers Ross and Keith Smith, with their mechanics Wally Shiers and
Jim Bennett, left England on 12 November 1919 and flew into Darwin on 10
December. Brian Riddle, Chief Librarian at the National Aerospace Library in
England, believes the Smith crew’s achievement was “in its time as remarkable a
journey as that of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing just 50 years later”.
The men
Brothers Ross and Keith Smith, both born in Semaphore,
were knighted by King George V soon after landing in Darwin. Both had flown
during WWI – Sir Ross becoming one of Australia’s most decorated airmen. He was
a pilot to Colonel T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia) and was also given
command of the only twin-engine bomber to fly over Egypt and Palestine.
Sergeants Wally Shiers (SA) and Jim Bennett (Victoria)
were both mechanics with the Australian Flying Corps’ No.1 Squadron, trusted by
Ross Smith to keep his planes in the air. Tragically, Sir Ross and Jim Bennett
were killed in a plane crash in England just two years after the air race,
while preparing for a flight around the world.
The plane
The Vickers
Vimy biplane was designed as a bomber, but didn’t see active service during WW1.
Made chiefly of wood and fabric, the 21m Vimy had open cockpits and only a
compass for navigation. It was one of the first planes to fly through international
airspace after the war and was given the registration letters G-EAOU. Ross
Smith said it stood for “God ’Elp All Of Us”.
The Vimy can still be seen today in its 1950s hangar near the long-term
car park at Adelaide Airport.
The centenary
As the first flight across the
planet, the 1919 Epic Flight was one of the world’s greatest pioneering
achievements. In South Australia, a series of exhibitions, air shows and events
are planned to celebrate the race centenary in 2019, and inspire a new generation
to reach for the skies. One
of the main goals for the centenary year is to engage, inspire and celebrate the
story of the Smith brothers with the South Australian community – to bring the incredible
story back to life. The profiling of the story of Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith
by the 2019 Premier’s Anzac Spirit School Prize is just one way for South
Australian students to know about the deeds of the Smith brothers in war and
after the war as aviation pioneers.
Further information:
· www.epicflightcentenary.com.au:
the website will feature extensive resources for SA teachers and school
students from early December 2018.
· South Australian Aviation Museum: http://www.saam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SAAM-Profiles-ROSS-SMITH-and-the-Vimy-Crew.pdf
·
In 2017 Sunday Mail columnist Lainie Anderson travelled overseas on a
Churchill Fellowship to gauge the international significance of the flight and
the plane, and retrace the route of the 1919 Air Race from England to
Australia. Her fellowship report can be viewed here: https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fellows/detail/4093/Lainie+Anderson
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