Last Flight of Southern Cross: Historic Farewell Flight

The Last Flight of the Southern Cross: 18 July 1935 (Aamc.515) Mascot Airport to Richmond flown envelope, signed by the pilot, Charles Kingsford Smith and the others on-board for this historic farewell flight: Mary Kingsford Smith, John Stannage, Beau Sheil, P.G.Taylor, John Ulm & C.G. Scrimgeour. The attached vignette illustrates the route by which the 'Southern Cross' circumnavigated the globe. By 1935 Sir Charles Kingsford Smith was in deep financial trouble. The dramatic failure of the Jubilee Air Mail flight to New Zealand in May forced Smithy to contemplate the fact that the hitherto reliable Southern Cross was, by then, getting beyond long-distance flights. Conscious that the Southern Cross had become an icon and a national treasure, Smithy was able to negotiate a sale of the aircraft to the Australian Government for £3,000 (although only half was ever paid before his death). On the 18th of July 1935, Smithy flew his faithful 'Old Bus' for the last time, from its base at Sydney's Mascot aerodrome (that one day would become Kingsford Smith International Airport) to RAAF Richmond for storage.