A pair of vintage photographs of Kingsford Smith's famous monoplane the 'Southern Cross' (VH-USU), damaged in a night landing at Mascot Aerodrome after participating in the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on 19 March 1932

[KINGSFORD SMITH, Sir Charles]

About this Item

Two gelatin silver photographs, each 62 × 87 mm, on Kodak Print Velox photo paper (indicating that these are contact prints). Some unobtrusive signs of age and handling; in excellent condition. The 'Sydney Morning Herald' for 21 March 1932 describes the incident: 'Air-Commodore Kingsford Smith, after returning from participating in the display of illuminations at the Harbour Bridge on Saturday night, suffered a mishap at Mascot in which the 'plane "Southern Cross" was damaged. He made a good landing in the dark at 9 o'clock, but a wheel of the 'plane collapsed and the machine fell on to its side. Portion of the undercarriage and a tip of one of the wings were damaged. The 'plane carried three engineers and six passengers, who were thrown violently from their seats. However, none was injured. Mr. D. Macfarlane, chief engineer of Australian National Airways, who was in the 'plane, said that Air-Commodore Kingsford Smith acted with remarkable quickness and saved the 'plane from being further damaged. He had switched off the petrol supply and the three engines in the few seconds before the 'plane came to rest. Air-Commodore Kingsford Smith was very distressed at the damage to his historic monoplane. It is expected that it will take about a fortnight to repair the machine. The "Southern Cross" attracted considerable interest over the harbour on Saturday night. It took part in the illumination display by dropping flares, and was once lit up by the searchlights of the warships'. Both photographs have contemporary captions written in ink on the verso, and one draws attention to the gas lamps (used to illuminate the airfield) at the right of the image. Kingsford Smith had completed his historic Trans-Pacific and Trans-Tasman flights in the 'Southern Cross' (a Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor monoplane) four years earlier. [2 items].

Seller Inventory # 138541

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A pair of vintage photographs of Kingsford Smith's famous monoplane the 'Southern Cross' (VH-USU), damaged in a night landing at Mascot Aerodrome after participating in the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on 19 March 1932
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Australia
  • Aviation
  • Original Photographs