The first flight across the Tasman
Photographer unknown, Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (right of centre), and others, upon the arrival of the aeroplane 'Southern Cross' at Wigram, Christchurch, 11 September 1928, Black and white original negative, Evening Post Collection, Photographic Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library, Reference: 1/2-084047-G
The first flight across the Tasman
On 11 September 1928 the Australian airman Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew of three crossed the Tasman Sea by air. It was the first time anyone had done this. They flew from Sydney to Christchurch in a three-engined Fokker Southern Cross; their journey took 14 hours and 25 minutes.
A crowd of approximately 35,000 people waited at Wigram Airport to welcome the crew and the event was broadcast live over the radio.
Kingsford Smith's flight was a continuation of a much longer journey, from San Francisco to Brisbane, stopping on the way in Hawaii and Fiji. The flying time for that voyage was nearly 84 hours. Today, the same journey takes about 14 hours.
An attempt at the trans-Tasman crossing had been made six months earlier by two New Zealand airforce pilots, Captain George Hood and Lieutenant John Moncrieff. A crowd was waiting to greet them at Trentham, but tragically their single-engined craft never arrived.
In the late 1920s and early 1930 aircraft and navigation systems were primitive, and Kingsford Smith's brave exploits made him an international celebrity. It was a dangerous era to be flying, especially long distances. When Kingsford Smith's aircraft Lady Southern Cross mysteriously disappeared off the coast of Myanmar in November 1935, the world mourned one of its most charismatic heroes. He was only 38 years old.
Interested in pioneering pilots? Check out our feature on New Zealand-born pilot Jean Batten.
Permission of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga O Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image
