Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC , AFC ( 9 February 1897 – 8 November 1935 ) , often called by his nickname " Smithy " , was an early Australian aviator . In 1928 , he earned global fame when he made the first trans - Pacific flight from the United States to Australia . He also made the first non - stop crossing of the Australian mainland , the first flights between Australia and New Zealand , and the first eastward Pacific crossing from Australia to the United States . He also made a flight from Australia to London , setting a new record of 10 . 5 days . World War I and early flying experience . At 16 , Kingsford Smith became an engineering apprentice with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company . In 1915 , he enlisted for duty in the 1st AIF ( Australian Army ) and served at Gallipoli . Initially , he performed duty as a motorcycle despatch rider , before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps , earning his pilot ' s wings in 1917 . In August 1917 , while serving with No . 23 Squadron , Kingsford Smith was shot down and received injuries which required amputation of a large part of his left foot . He was awarded the Military Cross for his gallantry in battle . As his recovery was predicted to be lengthy , Kingsford Smith was permitted to take leave in Australia where he visited his parents . Returning to England , Kingsford Smith was assigned to instructor duties and promoted to Captain . On 1 April 1918 , along with other members of the Royal Flying Corps , Kingsford Smith was transferred to the newly established Royal Air Force . On being demobilised in England , in early 1919 , he joined Tasmanian Cyril Maddocks , to form Kingsford Smith , Maddocks Aeros Ltd . , flying a joy - riding service mainly in the North of England , during the summer of 1919 , initially using surplus DH . 6 trainers , then surplus B . E . 2 s . Later Kingsford Smith worked as a barnstormer in the United States before returning to Australia in 1921 . He did the same in Australia and also flew airmail services , and began to plan his record - breaking flight across the Pacific . Applying for a commercial pilot ' s licence on 2 June 1921 ( in which he gave his name as ' Charles Edward Kingsford - Smith ' ) , he became one of Australia ' s first airline pilots when he was chosen by Norman Brearley to fly for the newly formed West Australian Airways . During the First World War , Ken Richards had been the observer in Kingsford Smith ' s plane in France . Later Richards moved to Cowra , New South Wales . Kingsford Smith owned an old Avro plane and in 1922 flew to Cowra to see his old comrade . Kingsford Smith and Richards flew under the Cowra traffic bridge . They also attempted to fly under the nearby railway bridge , but Richards fortunately noticed the telephone lines and pulled the aircraft away only seconds from impact . 1928 Trans - Pacific flight . In 1928 , Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm arrived in the United States and began to search for an aircraft . Famed Australian polar explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins sold them a Fokker F . VII / 3m monoplane , which they named the " Southern Cross " . A similar aircraft , the " Bird of Paradise " , had made the first trans - Pacific flight from California to Hawaii for the United States Army Air Corps the year before . At 8 : 54 a . m . on 31 May 1928 , Kingsford Smith and his 4 - man crew left Oakland , California , to attempt the first trans - Pacific flight to Australia . The flight was in three stages . The first , from Oakland to Wheeler Army Airfield , Hawaii was , taking an uneventful 27 hours 25 minutes ( 87 . 54 mph ) . They took off from Barking Sands on Mana , Kauai , since the runway at Wheeler was not long enough . They headed for Suva , Fiji , away , taking 34 hours 30 minutes ( 91 . 45 mph ) . This was the most demanding portion of the journey , as they flew through a massive lightning storm near the equator . The third leg was the shortest , in 20 hours ( 84 . 15 mph ) , and crossed the Australian coastline near Ballina before turning north to fly to Brisbane , where they landed at 10 . 50 a . m . on 9 June . The total flight distance was approximately . Kingsford Smith was met by a huge crowd of 26 , 000 at Eagle Farm Airport , and was welcomed as a hero . Australian aviator Charles Ulm was the relief pilot , and the other crewmen were Americans James Warner , the radio operator , and Captain Harry Lyon , the navigator and engineer . The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia has a film biography of Kingsford Smith , called " An Airman Remembers " , and recordings of Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm talking about the journey . A young New Zealander named Jean Batten attended a dinner in Australia featuring Kingsford Smith after the trans - Pacific flight and told him " I ' m going to learn to fly . " She later convinced him to take her for a flight in the " Southern Cross " and went on to become a record - setting aviatrix , following his example instead of his advice ( " Don ' t attempt to break men ' s records – and don ' t fly at night " , he told her in 1928 and remembered wryly later ) . 1928 Trans - Tasman flight . After making the first non - stop flight across Australia from Point Cook near Melbourne to Perth , in Western Australia in August 1928 , Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm registered themselves as Australian National Airways ( see below ) . They then decided to attempt the Tasman crossing to New Zealand not only because it had never yet been done , but also in the hope the Australian Government would grant Australian National Airways a subsidised contract to carry scheduled mail regularly . The Tasman had remained unflown after the failure of the first attempt in January 1928 , when New Zealanders John Moncrieff and George Hood had vanished without trace . Kingsford Smith ' s flight was planned for takeoff from Richmond , near Sydney , on 2 September , with a landing around 9 : 00 a . m . on 3 September at Wigram Aerodrome , near Christchurch , the principal city in the South Island of New Zealand . This plan drew a storm of protest from New Zealand churchmen about ‘ setting the sanctity of the Sabbath at nought ’ . The mayor of Christchurch supported the churchmen and cabled a protest to Kingsford Smith . As it happened , unfavourable weather developed over the Tasman and the flight was deferred , so it is not known whether or how Kingsford Smith would have heeded the cable . Accompanied by Charles Ulm , navigator Harold Arthur Litchfield , and radio operator Thomas H . McWilliams , a New Zealander made available by the New Zealand Government , Kingsford Smith left Richmond in the evening of 10 September , planning to fly overnight to a daylight landing after a flight of about 14 hours . The 1 , 600 - mile / 2 , 600 - km planned route was only just over half the distance between Hawaii and Fiji . After a stormy flight , at times through icing conditions , the " Southern Cross " made landfall in much improved weather near Cook Strait , the passage between New Zealand ' s two main islands . At an estimated 150 miles out from New Zealand , the crew had dropped a wreath in memory of the two New Zealanders who had disappeared during their attempt to cross the Tasman earlier that year . There was a tremendous welcome in Christchurch , where the " Southern Cross " landed at 0922 after a flight of 14 hours and 25 minutes . About 30 , 000 people made their way to Wigram , including many students from state schools , who were given the day off , and public servants , who were granted leave until 11 a . m . The event was also broadcast live on radio . While the New Zealand Air Force overhauled the " Southern Cross " free of charge Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm were taken on a triumphant tour of New Zealand , flying in Bristol Fighters . The return to Sydney was made from Blenheim , a small city at the north of the South Island . Hampered by fog , severe weather and a minor navigational error , the flight to Richmond took over 23 hours ; on touchdown the aircraft had enough fuel for only another 10 minutes flying . " Coffee Royal " incident . On 31 March 1929 , en route from Sydney to England , the " Southern Cross " with Kingsford Smith at the helm made an emergency landing on a mudflat near the mouth of the Glenelg River , in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia . The " Southern Cross " was found and rescued after a fortnight ' s searching , with George Innes Beard , Albert Barunga and Wally from the Kunmunya Mission the first overland party to reach the downed aircraft . Two men ( both old friends of Kingsford Smith ) — Keith Vincent Anderson and Henry Smith " Bobby " Hitchcock , in their Westland Widgeon plane named " Kookaburra " — crash landed in the Tanami Desert in Central Australia and died of thirst and exposure on 12 April 1929 while on their way to help with the search . Despite Kingsford Smith ' s being exonerated by an official enquiry , many sections of the media and public felt that the forced landing , dubbed the " Coffee Royal " incident after the brew of coffee and brandy which the crew had drunk while awaiting rescue , had been a publicity stunt and that Kingsford Smith was responsible for the deaths . His reputation within Australia never fully recovered during his lifetime . The bodies of Anderson and Hitchcock were later recovered from the Tanami Desert . Hitchcock ' s body was returned to Perth for burial at Karrakatta Cemetery , while Anderson ' s body was returned to Sydney . Over 6000 mourners attended Keith Anderson ' s funeral . It was an elaborate affair befitting a national hero . Anderson was buried at Rawson Park , Mosman , on 6 July 1929 . A " grand " memorial was later erected at the gravesite in his honour . Later flights . Collecting his ' old bus ' , Southern Cross , from the Fokker Aircraft Company in Holland where it had been overhauled , in June 1930 he achieved an east - west crossing of the Atlantic from Ireland to Newfoundland in 31½ hours , having taken off from Portmarnock Beach ( The Velvet Strand ) , just north of Dublin . New York gave him a tumultuous welcome . In 1930 , he competed in an England to Australia air race , and , flying solo , won the event taking 13 days . He arrived in Sydney on 22 October 1930 . In 1931 , he purchased an Avro Avian he named the " Southern Cross Minor " , to attempt an Australia - to - England flight . He later sold the aircraft to Captain W . N . " Bill " Lancaster who vanished on 11 April 1933 over the Sahara Desert ; Lancaster ' s remains were not found until 1962 . The wreck of the " Southern Cross Minor " is now in the Queensland Museum . Also in 1931 , Smith began developing the Southern Cross automobile as a side project . In 1933 , Seven Mile Beach , New South Wales , was used by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith as the runway for the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand . In 1934 , he purchased a Lockheed Altair , the " Lady Southern Cross " , with the intention of competing in the MacRobertson Air Race . He was unable to make it to England in time for the start of the race , and so flew the " Lady Southern Cross " from Australia to the United States instead ; the first eastward crossing of the Pacific Ocean by aircraft . Disappearance and death . Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and co - pilot John Thompson " Tommy " Pethybridge were flying the " Lady Southern Cross " overnight from Allahabad , India , to Singapore , as part of their attempt to break the England - Australia speed record held by C . W . A . Scott and Tom Campbell Black , when they disappeared over the Andaman Sea in the early hours of 8 November 1935 . Despite brave search for 74 hours over Bay of Bengal by test pilot Eric Stanley Greenwood OBE - their bodies were never recovered . Eighteen months later , Burmese fishermen found an undercarriage leg and wheel ( with its tyre still inflated ) which had been washed ashore at Aye Island in the Gulf of Martaban , off the southeast coastline of Burma , some south of Mottama ( formerly known as Martaban ) . Lockheed confirmed the undercarriage leg to be from the " Lady Southern Cross " . Botanists who examined the weeds clinging to the undercarriage leg estimated that the aircraft itself lies not far from the island at a depth of approximately . The undercarriage leg is now on public display at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney , Australia . In 2009 , Filmmaker and explorer Damien Lay stated he was certain he had found the " Lady Southern Cross " . The location of the claimed find was widely mis - reported as " in the Bay of Bengal " – the 2009 search was at the same location where the landing gear had been found in 1937 , at Aye Island , in the Andaman Sea . Kingsford Smith was survived by his wife , Mary Kingsford Smith , and their three - year - old son Charles Jnr . Kingsford Smith ' s autobiography , " My Flying Life " , was published posthumously in 1937 and became a best seller . Following The Joint Australian Myanmar Lady Southern Cross Search Expedition II ( LSCSEII ) in 2009 , Lay conducted a total of ten further expeditions to Myanmar to recover wreckage from the site . In 2011 , wreckage from the location was positively identified and confirmed as being from the " Lady Southern Cross " . The location of the site , approximately 1 . 8 miles off the coast of Myanmar has never been publicly released . Lay has worked closely with both the Smith and Pethybridge families since 2005 . The privately funded project now running in its 8th year has been supported by the government and people of Myanmar . Honours and legacy . Kingsford Smith was knighted in the 1932 King ' s Birthday Honours List as a Knight Bachelor . He was knight ed on 3 June 1932 by the Australian Governor - General Sir Isaac Isaacs for services to aviation and later was appointed honorary Air Commodore of the Royal Australian Air Force . The major airport of Sydney , located in the suburb of Mascot , was named Kingsford Smith International Airport in his honour . The federal electorate surrounding the airport is named the Division of Kingsford Smith , and includes the suburb of Kingsford . His most famous aircraft , the " Southern Cross " , is now preserved and displayed in a purpose - built memorial to Sir Charles Kingsford Smith near the International Terminal at Brisbane Airport . Kingsford Smith sold the plane to the Australian Government in 1935 for £3000 so it could be put on permanent display for the public . The plane was carefully stored for many years before the current memorial was built . Kingsford Smith Drive in Brisbane passes through the suburb of his birth , Hamilton . Another Kingsford Smith Drive , which is located in the Canberra district of Belconnen , intersects with Southern Cross Drive . Opened in 2009 , Kingsford Smith School in the Canberra suburb of Holt was named after the famous aviator , as was Sir Charles Kingsford - Smith Elementary School in Vancouver , Canada . He was pictured on the Australian $ 20 paper note ( in circulation from 1966 until 1994 , when the $ 20 polymer note was introduced to replace it ) , to honour his contribution to aviation and his accomplishments during his life . He was also depicted on the Australian one - dollar coin of 1997 , the centenary of his birth . Albert Park in Suva , where he landed on the trans - Pacific flight , now contains the Kingsford Smith Pavilion . A memorial stands at Seven Mile Beach ( New South Wales ) commemorating the first commercial flight to New Zealand . Qantas named its sixth Airbus A380 ( VH - OQF ) after Kingsford Smith . KLM named one of its Boeing 747s ( PH - BUM ) after Kingsford Smith . A satellite of Saturn , Kingsford Smith is named after him A personal memorial . Australian aviation enthusiast Austin Byrne was part of the large crowd at Sydney ' s Mascot Aerodrome in June 1928 to welcome the " Southern Cross " and its crew following their successful trans - Pacific flight . Witnessing this event inspired Byrne to make a scale model of the " Southern Cross " to give to Kingsford Smith . After the aviator ' s disappearance , Bryne continued to expand and enhance his tribute with paintings , photographs , documents , and art works he created , designed or commissioned . Between 1930 and his death in 1993 , Byrne devoted his life to creating and touring his " Southern Cross " Memorial . Popular culture . Also commemorating him are :