Stella Australis: Lost Flight of Ulm and Crew

The loss of the, Stella Australis, - Charles Ulm & crew - December 1934. A folio of 21 original press photographs (various sizes), and 3 original hand-drawn maps (as published), all from the, San Francisco Examiner, archives. The photos show Ulm and his crew preparing for the flight, signing registers, fuelling the plane and the plane at take off. The maps show the planned route from San Francisco via Honolulu, fanning Island, Suva, Auckland and on to Sydney, plus the area from which the last definitive report was received and finally, the search area after contact was lost. A unique assembly. (24 items). One of the photos carries the following text from associated press: Pacific Fliers missing: Co-Pilot George Littlejohn of the missing plane, star of Australia, shown atop the plane, just before the hopoff from the Oakland, Calif. Airport Dec.3 for a flight to Honolulu, Suva and Australia. The plane carrying flight Lieutenant Charles T.P. Ulm, Navigator-Radio Operator Jay Skillings and Littlejohn was reported forced down on an undetermined spot in the Pacific Ocean. At 10 am on 3 December, after sending a series of Morse coded radio messages to Hawaii over five hours advising that they were lost and running out of fuel, the Envoy ditched into the sea. Despite an extensive and immediate search by aircraft and 23 naval ships, no trace of Stella Australis or her crew was ever found. Ulm had chosen not to carry a life raft on board, preferring to save weight and predicting that the aircraft would float for two days if it were forced to land on the water.