Flights in Australia by 'Lady Southern Cross'

Flights in Australia by VH-USB Lady Southern Cross

Date

From

To

Pilot

Co-Pilot

Remarks

*

17JUL34
Anderson Park, Neutral Bay Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor After unloading from the Mariposa.
1

26JUL34
Mascot Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Test flight.
1

03AUG34
Mascot Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Test flight: Norah Head to Macquarie Light.
3

03AUG34
Mascot Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Test flight: On a one mile course diagonally across Mascot Aerodrome.
3

04AUG34
Mascot Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Test flight: Fuel consumption at 15,000 feet.
4

06AUG34
Mascot Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Test flight: Speed and fuel consumption.
5

10AUG34
Mascot Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Test flight: Fuel consumption.
1

18AUG34
Richmond Richmond Smithy ? Test flight: Max take-off weight with 478 gallons of fuel and "42 lb of air force lead ballast". Mascot not suitable for heavy take-offs. Presumably P.G. Taylor occupied the co-pilot's seat.
6

21AUG34
Mascot Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Departed for Melbourne but immediately force landed near Cook's River at Mascot when the engine failed.
1

22AUG34
Mascot Essendon Smithy P.G. Taylor Departed Mascot at 1415K. Flight time 2 hrs 25 mins.
1

30AUG34
Essendon Essendon Smithy E. Chaseling Demonstration flight over Melbourne. (Note: 3)
2

31AUG34
Essendon Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Departed Essendon at 1432K. Record flight 2 hrs 11 mins.
1

07SEP34
Mascot Laverton Smithy P.G. Taylor Mascot, Richmond and Essendon were all unsuitable for a heavy take-off. Mascot and Richmond were saturated and Essendon had insufficient runway length. Flight time 3 hrs 14 mins.
1/9

08SEP34
Laverton Maylands Smithy P.G. Taylor Departed Laverton at 0610K. Record flight 10 hrs 19 mins.
1

09SEP34
Maylands Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Take-off rejected.
1

11SEP34
Maylands Forrest WA Smithy P.G. Taylor Departed Maylands at 0355K. Arrived Forrest at 0630K (estimated by compiler). Fuel stop. (Note: 4)
1

11SEP34
Forrest Parafield Smithy P.G. Taylor Departed Forrest at 0710K (estimated by compiler). Arrived Parafield at 1130K. Record flight 6 hrs. (Note: 4)
7/8

11SEP34
Parafield Hay NSW Smithy P.G. Taylor Departed Parafield at 1210K. Arrived Hay at 1425K. Fuel stop. (Note: 4)
8

11SEP34
Hay Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Departed Hay at 1505K. Arrived Mascot at 1617K. Record flight Adelaide-Sydney 3 hrs 32 mins. (Note: 4)
8

19SEP34
Mascot Archerfield Smithy P.G. Taylor Record flight 2 hrs 35 mins.
11

20SEP34
Archerfield Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Record flight 2 hrs 16 mins.
10

20SEP34
Mascot Mascot P.G. Taylor N.J. Lennon Familiarisation flight. (Note: 1)
1

27SEP34
Mascot Mascot Smithy Note: 2 Performance testing.
1

28SEP34
Mascot Mascot Smithy Note: 2 Performance testing.
1

29SEP34
Mascot Charleville Smithy P.G. Taylor For London to compete in Centenary Race.
1

29SEP34
Charleville Cloncurry Smithy P.G. Taylor Turned back when the engine cowling was found to be damaged.
1

30SEP34
Cloncurry Blackall Smithy P.G. Taylor To check the damaged cowling.
1

30SEP34
Blackall Charleville Smithy P.G. Taylor To check the damaged cowling.
1

30SEP34
Charleville Roma Smithy P.G. Taylor Overnight.
1

01OCT34
Roma Archerfield Smithy P.G. Taylor With multiple en route stops (not listed) to check the condition of the damaged cowling.
1

01OCT34
Archerfield Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor For repairs to cowling.
1

18OCT34
Mascot Mascot Smithy P.G. Taylor Fuel comsumption test after fitment of additional fuel tanks.
1

19OCT34
Mascot Archerfield Smithy P.G. Taylor Departed "shortly after noon" and arrived "a little over three hours later".
1

20OCT34
Archerfield Archerfield Smithy P.G. Taylor Fuel consumption test over Moreton Bay.
1

21OCT34
Archerfield Albert Park, Suva, Fiji Smithy P.G. Taylor Departed Archerfield at 0403K. Having made its first Australian flight from a public park, the aircraft departed Australia for another public park, never to return to Australia.
1

NOTES
1	P.G. Taylor does not record the date of this flight in Pacific Flight but he sequences it before the 22AUG flight to Melbourne. However, Source: 9 records the date as 20SEP34 which presumably was sourced from P.G. Taylor's log book. P.G. Taylor identifies the occupant of the rear seat only as "engineer Lennon". An engine log book for DH60M VH-UOZ of Kingsford Smith Air Service held in the Crome Collection bears the signature of N.J. Lennon. It is believed that his first name was Norman.
2	Available records of these test flights do not record how many crew were on board but clearly these critical performance tests would have required that the co-pilot's seat be occupied and P.G. Taylor would be the obvious candidate. In his book, P.G. Taylor does not mention his presence on these test flights.
3	Eric Chaseling was reported as being the chief pilot of the Victorian Flying School. He was also a pilot with ANA. This demonstration flight was initially planned for 24AUG but was postponed because Smithy had influenza. P.G. Taylor was not available for this flight as he had been required to dash back to Sydney to deputise for the bed-ridden Smithy to honour a long-standing commitment to fly the Southern Cross to a fund-raising event at Crookwell. There was nobody available at Mascot to fly the Southern Cross so Bill Purton flew down to Melbourne in a Gipsy Moth to collect P.G. Taylor who returned to Melbourne in "the Gull" (presumably VH-CKS, pilot not recorded) in time for the return flight of the Altair on 31AUG.
4	P.G. Taylor records the date as 10SEP34 but Sources: 7 & 8 state it was 11SEP34. Given the planned departure time of 0300 the confusion is not surprising. These flights operated with a reduced fuel load because of undercarriage damage.
5	K = local time
6	As the Altair was then the fastest civil aircraft in the country it should not be surprising that so many of its flights broke records.

* SOURCES
1	P.G. Taylor, Pacific Flight, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, First Edition November 1935 and Second Edition December 1935. The second edition corrects the spelling of Tommy's name from Pethebridge to Pethybridge but the Altair is still shown as arriving on the Monterey when it was actually the Mariposa.
2	Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 31 August 1934, page 12
3	Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 4 August 1934, page 15
4	Sydney Morning Herald, Monday 6 August 1934, page 11
5	Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 7 August 1934, page 10
6	Sydney Morning Herald, Monday 20 August 1934, page 9
7	Age (Melbourne), Tuesday 11 September 1934, page 9
8	Age (Melbourne), Wednesday 12 September 1934, page 11
9	Rick Searle, The Man Who Saved Smithy, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2016, page 130. The author had access to P.G. Taylor's log books.
10	Age (Melbourne), Friday 21 September 1934, page 9
11	Courier-Mail (Brisbane), Thursday 20 September 1934, page 16

Newspapers accessed via TROVE

Issue	Date	Remarks
3	12JAN22	Revised Note 1.
2	23DEC21	Added sources 10 & 11.
1	22DEC21	Original issue.

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