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England To Australia FlightIn 1919 the Commonwealth Government of Australia offered a prize of 10,000 for the first flight by Australians in a British aircraft from Hounslow or Calshot in England to Australia accomplished within 720 hours. Vickers entered a Vimy bomber, registered G-EAOU, crewed by Captain Ross Smith that left Hounslow at 8am on 12 November, 1919. On board were his brother Lieutenant Keith Smith (co-pilot) and mechanics Sergeant W.H. Shiers and J.M. Bennett. It routed via Lyons, Rome, Cairo, Damascus, Basra, Karachi, Delhi, Calcutta, Akyab, Rangoon racecourse, Singera (in Siam unscheduled), Singapore, Batana and Surabaya, reaching Darwin at 4.10pm on 10 December, 1919. The flight distance was estimated as 11,130 miles and total flying time was 135 hours 55 minutes. The Smith brothers each received a knighthood for this exploit and the company presented their aircraft to the Australian government. It was placed on display in Adelaide.
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