3-076-467 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Sir Ross Macpherson Smith's and Keith Smith's Vickers Vimy aircraft, G-EAO (in which they flew from England to Australia), The Smith brothers and their two mechanics left Hounslow, England on 12 November 1919 and reached Darwin on 10 December 1919. On 12 November 1919, assisted by his brother Keith and two mechanics, Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett, he set out to fly from England to Australia in a large Vickers Vimy bomber. It was an epic 28-day flight, completed at an average speed of 137 kilometres per hour, but not without mishap. On their arrival, the pioneering flyers were welcomed home as national heroes; their £10,000 prize money was shared equally. The two brothers were knighted. In April 1922, while preparing for a record-breaking around the world flight, Smith and Bennett were killed in a crash.