Kingsford Smith Flies Across the Pacific

On 31 May 1928, Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his co-pilot Charles Ulm departed Oakland, California, aboard a Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor named the Southern Cross. Accompanied by American navigator Harry Lyon and radio operator James Warner, they aimed to complete the first transpacific flight from the mainland United States to Australia. The airframe had previously served as a polar exploration aircraft called the Detroiter, which Hubert Wilkins had repaired after an Alaskan crash before selling the engineless fuselage to the Australians in San Francisco. Financing the enterprise required crucial private backing: Melbourne businessman Sidney Myer paid for the three Wright Whirlwind engines, and American philanthropist Allan Hancock purchased the monoplane when state sponsorship fell away, lending it straight back to the crew.

The journey covered about 11,800 kilometres across three distinct stages. The first leg took the crew southwest to Hawaii for rest and replenishment. The second phase, departing Honolulu for Albert Park in Suva, Fiji, proved the most exhausting section of the itinerary. The Southern Cross remained aloft over open water for thirty-four and a half hours, touching down at Albert Park to become the first aircraft to land in Fiji. After refueling, the crew embarked on the final leg across the southwestern Pacific, landing at Eagle Farm Airport in Brisbane on 9 June 1928 before an estimated welcoming crowd of 25,000 spectators.