Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC AFC (9 February 1897 – 8 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer.

After the war's end, Kingsford Smith worked as a barnstormer in England and the United States before returning to Australia in 1921.

They subsequently established Australian National Airways, but the airline and Kingsford Smith's other business ventures failed to achieve commercial success.

In 1935, Kingsford Smith and his co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge disappeared over the Andaman Sea while attempting to break the Australia–England speed record.

After his death Sydney's primary airport was named in his memory and he was featured on the Australian twenty-dollar note for several decades.

Initially, he performed duty as a motorcycle dispatch rider, before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps, earning his pilot's wings in 1917.

It went on to recount how Kingsford Smith was preparing to also fly under the nearby railway bridge, but was warned by Richards of telegraph wires just in time to prevent a catastrophe.

In this version of events, the feat was accomplished "just after the Armistice"[16] (11 November 1918), but may have been in July 1921, when Kingsford Smith was hosting "joy flights" there, in an aircraft owned by the Diggers' Cooperative Aviation Company.

[18] He became one of Australia's first airline pilots when he was chosen by Norman Brearley to fly for the newly formed West Australian Airways,[7] and piloted their Bristol Type 28 Coupe Tourers plane (G-AUDF) that made bi-weekly mail drops to the astronomers during the 1922 Solar Eclipse expedition at Wallal, Western Australia.

Famed Australian polar explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins sold them a Fokker F.VII/3m monoplane, which they named the Southern Cross.

The first, from Oakland to Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii,[22] was 3,870 kilometres (2,400 mi), taking an uneventful 27 hours 25 minutes (87.54 mph).

[34] A young New Zealander named Jean Batten attended a dinner in Australia featuring Kingsford Smith after the trans-Pacific flight and told him "I'm going to learn to fly."

[36] The Tasman had remained unflown after the failure of the first attempt in January 1928, when New Zealanders John Moncrieff and George Hood had vanished without a trace.

After a stormy flight, at times through icing conditions, the Southern Cross made landfall in much improved weather near Cook Strait, the passage between New Zealand's two main islands.

About 30,000 people made their way to Wigram, including many students from state schools, who were given the day off, and public servants, who were granted leave until 11 a.m.[39] The event was also broadcast live on radio.

Hampered by fog, severe weather and a minor navigational error, the flight to Richmond took over 23 hours; on touchdown the aircraft had enough fuel for only another 10 minutes flying.

The passenger, mail and freight service commenced operations flying between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, in January 1930, with five aircraft but closed after crashes in March and November the next year.

[48] Kingsford Smith and co-pilot John Thompson 'Tommy' Pethybridge were flying the Lady Southern Cross overnight from Allahabad (modern Prayagraj), India, to Singapore, as part of their attempt to break the England-Australia speed record held by C. W. A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black, when they disappeared over the Andaman Sea in the early hours of 8 November 1935.

Aviator Jimmy Melrose claimed to have seen the Lady Southern Cross fighting a storm 150 miles (240 km) from shore and 200 feet (61 m) over the sea with fire coming from its exhaust.

[49] Despite a search for 74 hours over the Bay of Bengal by one person, British pilot Eric Stanley Greenwood, OBE, their bodies were never recovered.

[50] Botanists who examined the weeds clinging to the undercarriage leg estimated that the aircraft lies not far from the island at a depth of approximately 15 fathoms (90 ft; 27 m).

[58] In 1930, Kingsford Smith was the inaugural recipient of the Segrave Trophy, awarded for "Outstanding Skill, Courage and Initiative on Land, Water [or] in the Air".

[64] His most famous aircraft, the Southern Cross, is now preserved and displayed in a purpose-built memorial to Kingsford Smith near the International Terminal at Brisbane Airport.

[79] Australian aviation enthusiast Austin Byrne was part of the large crowd at Sydney's Mascot Aerodrome in June 1928 to welcome the Southern Cross and its crew following their successful trans-Pacific flight.

Witnessing this event inspired Byrne to make a scale model of the Southern Cross to give to Kingsford Smith.

After the aviator's disappearance, Byrne continued to expand and enhance his tribute with paintings, photographs, documents, and artworks he created, designed or commissioned.

[80] An aircraft similar to the Southern Cross, the Bird of Paradise, had made the first flight over (though not across) the Pacific, from California to Hawaii for the United States Army Air Corps, in 1927.