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Anzac & aviator : the remarkable story of Sir Ross Smith and the 1919 England to Australia Air Race / Michael Molkentin ; [foreword by Andy Thomas, NASA Astronaut (Retired)].

Anzac & aviator : the remarkable story of Sir Ross Smith and the 1919 England to Australia Air Race / Michael Molkentin ; [foreword by Andy Thomas, NASA Astronaut (Retired)].

The story of extraordinary Australian, Ross Smith, who rode to war at Gallipoli on horseback and by the end of the war, was one of the most highly awarded fighter pilots. In the smouldering aftermath of the First World War a young Australian pilot and his crew prepare to attempt the inconceivable: a flight, halfway around the globe, from England to Australia. The 18,000 kilometre odyssey will take 28 days and test these men and their twin-engine biplane to the limit. It is a trans-continental feat that will change the world and bring the air age to Australia. It will also prove to be the culminating act in the extraordinary and tragically brief life of its commander, Captain Sir Ross Smith. Raised on a remote sheep station in the dying days of Australia's colonial frontier, there was little in Ross Smith's childhood that suggested a future as one of the world's great pioneering aviators. He went to war in 1914, serving with the light horse at Gallipoli and in the Sinai before volunteering for the fledgling Australian Flying Corps. In a new dimension of warfare, Ross Smith survived two gruelling years of aerial combat over Palestine to emerge as one of the most skilled and highly decorated Australian pilots of the war. In 1919 he was a pilot on the first ever mission to survey an air route from Cairo to the East Indies, before gaining international fame as the winner of the government's £10,000 prize for leading the first aircrew to fly from England to Australia. His attempt to exceed this by circumnavigating the world by air in 1922 would end in disaster. Drawing on the rich and extensive collection of Ross Smith's private papers, Anzac & Aviator tells, for the first time, the gripping story of a remarkable aviator, the extraordinary times in which he lived and the air race that changed the world.

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Barcode Shelf Location Collection Volume Ref. Branch Status Due Date Reserve
200343100 B SMIT
Biographies   Batemans Bay . . Available .  
200374192 B SMIT
Biographies   Narooma . . Available .  
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Catalogue Information
Field name Details
Shelf Location B SMIT
Author Molkentin, Michael
Title Anzac & aviator : the remarkable story of Sir Ross Smith and the 1919 England to Australia Air Race / Michael Molkentin ; [foreword by Andy Thomas, NASA Astronaut (Retired)].
Alternate Titles Anzac and aviator
Publication Details Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2019.
Description xviii, 406 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits, facsimiles ; 24 cm.
Notes The story of extraordinary Australian, Ross Smith, who rode to war at Gallipoli on horseback and by the end of the war, was one of the most highly awarded fighter pilots. In the smouldering aftermath of the First World War a young Australian pilot and his crew prepare to attempt the inconceivable: a flight, halfway around the globe, from England to Australia. The 18,000 kilometre odyssey will take 28 days and test these men and their twin-engine biplane to the limit. It is a trans-continental feat that will change the world and bring the air age to Australia. It will also prove to be the culminating act in the extraordinary and tragically brief life of its commander, Captain Sir Ross Smith. Raised on a remote sheep station in the dying days of Australia's colonial frontier, there was little in Ross Smith's childhood that suggested a future as one of the world's great pioneering aviators. He went to war in 1914, serving with the light horse at Gallipoli and in the Sinai before volunteering for the fledgling Australian Flying Corps. In a new dimension of warfare, Ross Smith survived two gruelling years of aerial combat over Palestine to emerge as one of the most skilled and highly decorated Australian pilots of the war. In 1919 he was a pilot on the first ever mission to survey an air route from Cairo to the East Indies, before gaining international fame as the winner of the government's £10,000 prize for leading the first aircrew to fly from England to Australia. His attempt to exceed this by circumnavigating the world by air in 1922 would end in disaster. Drawing on the rich and extensive collection of Ross Smith's private papers, Anzac & Aviator tells, for the first time, the gripping story of a remarkable aviator, the extraordinary times in which he lived and the air race that changed the world.
Subject Smith, Ross, -- Sir,1892-1922
Australia. -- Australian Army. -- Australian Light Horse
Australia. -- Australian Army. -- Australian Flying Corps
Australia. -- Australian Army
Aeronautics -- Flights
Airplane racing -- Australia -- History
Airplane racing -- England -- History
Soldiers -- Australia -- Biography
Air pilots -- Australia -- Biography
Added Author Thomas, Andy
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