Air race competitors

On 19 March 1919 Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes announced a competition for the first Australian aviators to fly from England to Australia within 30 days with a prize of £10 000.

The rules of the air race stipulated that:

• the crew members must be Australian,
• the aircraft built in the British Empire,
• the flight be completed within 30 days and before 31 December 1920,
• the flight depart from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome (landplanes) or RNAS Calshot (seaplanes and flying boats) and
• the flight arrive in the region of Darwin.

There were six eligible crews:

• Sopwith Wallaby with a crew comprising Captain George Campbell Matthews as pilot and Sergeant Thomas D Kay as mechanic. Departed Hounslow 21 October 1919, crashed at Grokgk, Bali 17 April 1920.
• Vickers Vimy with a crew comprising Captain Ross Macpherson Smith as pilot, Lieutenant Keith Macpherson Smith as co-pilot and navigator and Sergeants Walter Shiers and James Bennet as mechanics. Departed Hounslow 12 November 1919, landed Darwin 10 December 1919 and claimed the £10 000 prize.
• Alliance P.2 with a crew comprising of Lieutenants Roger M Douglas and James Ross. Departed Hounslow 13 November 1919, crashed not longer after take-off; Ross was killed in the crash and Douglas died later of wounds.
• Blackburn Kangaroo with pilot Lieutenant Valdemar Rendle and a crew comprising of Lieutenants David Williams and Garnsey Potts and Captain Hubert Wilkins. Departed Hounslow 21 November 1919, crashed at Suda Bay, Crete 8 December 1919.
• Martinsyde Type A with Captain Cedric Howell as pilot and Lieutenant George Henry Fraser as mechanic. Departed Hounslow 5 December 1919, crashed at sea near Corfu 9-10 December 1919. Howell's body was recovered and shipped back to Australia but Fraser's remains were never found.
• Airco DH.9 with Lieutenant Ray Parer as pilot and John McIntosh as co-pilot. Departed Hounslow 8 January 1920 (after the Vickers Vimy crew had already successfully completed their flight), landed Darwin 2 August 1920. They were the first single-engined aircraft to complete a flight from Engalnd to Australia and although ineligible for the competition - their flight having taken 206 days and the Vimy crew already having been successful - they were awarded a £1000 consolation prize.

French pilot Etienne Poulet and his mechanic Jean Benoist also attempted to fly to Australia at the same time, despite being ineligible for the competition. They left Paris on 14 October 1919 in a Caudron G4. The Vimy overtook Poulet in Burma on 29 November 1919 and he decided to abandon his attempt in Thailand around 12 December 1919.