The full-size flying replica of Kingsford Smith’s Southern Cross will appear at a series of events across New South Wales this month, including aviation heritage, airport and memorial commemorations.
The Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor replica, operated by the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS), is scheduled to feature at three public events in March, subject to operational conditions.
Heritage and commemoration
The aircraft will first appear at the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame induction dinner on Saturday 14 March, where attendees will gather beside the replica at the HARS Aviation Museum at Shellharbour Airport ahead of the evening’s ceremony.
Four pioneers, Bill Bristow, Greg Dunstone, Billy Hart and Sir Ivan Holyman, will be inducted during the event.
Built in South Australia in the 1980s using traditional construction techniques, the replica commemorates the 1928 trans-Pacific crossing by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harry Lyon and James Warner. After sustaining damage in an undercarriage failure in Adelaide in 2002, the aircraft was restored by HARS and returned to flight more than two decades later.
Return to Sydney Airport
The Southern Cross replica is also expected to make its first post-restoration flight into Sydney Airport on Thursday 19 March, recreating Smithy’s arrival nearly a century ago following the original trans-Pacific journey from Oakland via Hawaii and Fiji to Brisbane and Sydney.
Organisers note that the 1928 arrival drew an estimated 300,000 spectators to Mascot Aerodrome from a city population of about two million.
The aircraft is scheduled to arrive at Sydney Airport shortly after 10 am, subject to operational factors.
Southern Cloud memorial
Later in the month, the replica will fly to Cooma for memorial events marking the 95th anniversary of the loss of the airliner Southern Cloud in the Snowy Mountains.
A memorial dinner will be held on Saturday 21 March, hosted by the Cooma Lions Club. Guests are expected to include Tom Sonter, who located the wreckage in 1958, along with descendants of the crew and passengers.
The aircraft will operate from the HARS Aviation Museum to Cooma Airport for the commemorations, with HARS crew participating in the events.
Visitors can also view the Southern Cross replica and other aircraft at the HARS Aviation Museum at Shellharbour Airport, which is open daily for guided tours.