Clearing all doubt

David Shakes made reference to lan Mackersey’s recent book, Smithy (PI M March 99), doubting his assertion that Kingsford Smith took off in the Southern Cross from Albert Park in Suva for Naselai Beach, believing instead that the aircraft was barged to the beach.

I also doubted Mackersey’s research until I read the relevant articles in the Fiji Times Centennial Issue 1869-1969. In a piece enti tled “Police turned them away’, reproduced from the Fiji Times of June 5, 1965, R C Farquhar, who was in charge of Suva Radio in June 1928, wrote: “At 7am on June 7 the Government vessel Pioneer, with Captain J Mullins in charge, left for Naselai with avia

tion spirit, oil and other materials, including a few article off-loaded from the Southern Cross to lighten it. “About 10.30 am the Southern Cross with “Smithy’ and Ulm left Albert Park. The other two men went to Naselai Beach by sea in the Government vessel Adi Beti.”

Kim Gravelle, in his book, Fiji Times, A History of Fiji, confirms that everything was taken out of the plane to lighten it, “and with only a few gallon of fuel in the tanks, the empty aircraft was flown to the sand beach”.

R A Derrick, in his authoritative geography of Fiji, The Fiji Islands, wrote: “The Southern Cross landed at Albert Park, Suva ... The plane could not, when fully loaded, take off from so restricted an area; so it was flown empty to Naselai Beach ...”

Perhaps confusion has arisen in some people’s minds from the Fiji Times article of June 6, 1928, which dramatically claimed that: “Southern Cross cannot leave from where it landed. To get away from Fiji a longer runaway than Albert Park will have to be found ...” A little bit of journalistic licence obviously added something to the drama unfolding. However, embellishing the truth is another matter. In Charles Kingsford Smith: Smith, The World’s Greatest Aviator, Pedr Davis claims that, “Almost the entire population of the island (presumably the author means Viti Levu) turned out to greet the Southern .” Being generous, we might call this a lazy piece of research. No so well known is that Kingsford Smith touched down again on Albert Park in October 1934 as part of the first eastbound Trans-Pacific

flight (Brisbane-Suva-Honolulu-San

Francisco). He was flying a Lockheed Altair, the Lady Southern Cross, accompanied by co-pilot and navigator Captain P G Taylor.

Once again, Kingsford Smih took off from the park for Naselai Beach where fuel was then loaded.

Michael Smith

44 Norwood Road, Bayswater, Auckland 1309.