Sir Ross Smith

Captain Sir Ross Smith K.B.E., M.C., D.F.C., A.F.C. was born on 4 December 1892 to Andrew and Jessie (nee Macpherson) in Semaphore, Adelaide. Married in 1888, Andrew and Jessie brought up their sons Ross, Keith and Colin on Mutooroo Station where they gained skills in riding and bushcraft.

In 1906 the family moved to Andrew Smith's home in Moffat, Scotland, where the brothers studied at Warriston School for two years. The family returned to Australia in 1908 and the brothers attended Queen's School and St Peter's College.

In 1910 Ross toured Britain and the US with a party of mounted cadets led by Colonel James Rowell.

Ross was employed as a warehouseman in Adelaide for G. P. Harris Scarfe & Co. at the outbreak of World War One. Ross enlisted in August 1914 and sailed in the first troop convoy from South Australia. With the Light Horse he was involved in heavy fighting at Gallipoli and Romani. In October 1916 he began training as an observor with the Australian Flying Corps, qualifying in January 1917. After gaining 200 hours flying time he successfully completed training gaining him his pilot's wings in March 1917. By the end of the war he had flown 400 hours as a pilot. A total of 600 hours flying time saw him gain the M.C. with a bar and the D.F.C. with two bars.

In late November 1918 a Handley Page bomber piloted by General Burton and Ross Smith with Sergeant mechanics James Bennett and Walter (Wally) Shiers flew from Cairo, Egypt to Calcutta, India. Plans to fly from India to Australia were initially thwarted by the destruction of the R.I.M.S. Spinx. A replacement vessel enabled Ross to gain first-hand information regarding potential landing sites in S.E. Asia and the Dutch East Indies. However, the loss of the Handley Page bomber ended the attempt.

Learning of the England to Australia competition for £10,000 Ross and the sergeant mechanics returned to England, with considerable aid from General Burton. Vickers Ltd were persuaded to supply a Vimy bomber for the flight.

After overcoming considerable pre-flight obstacles the Ross (pilot) and his brother Keith (assistant pilot) and mechanics Bennett and Shiers left Hounslow, England at 9.05 a.m on 12 November 1919. Although Ross' pre-flight plans were to prove unrealistic, the flight landed at Fanny Bay, Darwin, at 3.00 p.m. on 10 December 1919, some 52 hours short of the 30 day deadline set by the competition. The drama and adventure of the flight is well illustrated through reference to the other four competitors, all of which crashed, four of the fourteen aviators not surviving the attempt.

The continuation of the flight from Darwin to the mainland cities was in itself a saga of considerable difficulties, including numerous forced landings. The Australian public received the airmen enthusiastically. Numerous congratulations were received from notables including King George V, Lloyd George and W.M. Hughes. Both Ross and Keith were awarded K.B.Es. The sergeant mechanics Bennett and Shiers were made lieutenants and a bar added to their A.F.Ms.

Sir Ross and Sir Keith returned to Mutooroo with their parents prior to Ross touring Australia giving lectures on the flight. A similar tour of England enabled preparations to be made for a world flight. Vickers Ltd. made available a single engine Viking amphibious craft. By early April 1922 pre-flight planning was almost completed and a tentative date of 20 April set for the flight to commence. On 13 April the Viking was formally handed over to Sir Ross at Brooklands, England, by Captain Cockerell, a Vickers test pilot. In front of a considerable crowd of onlookers, including Sir Keith, Sir Ross and Bennett were killed in an accident later attributed to 'death by misadventure' by an inquest and later by a confidential report of the Accidents Committee.

Numerous services and ceremonies were held for the airmen in Australia and England. Sir Ross was returned to Adelaide, South Australia, and Bennett to Melbourne, Victoria, where they lay in state at St Peters Anglican Cathedral and Queens Hall of Parliament House respectively.

Sir Ross is buried at the Smith family plot at North Road Cemetary, Nailsworth, Adelaide.

For a full biography of Sir Ross Smith visit his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry.