Mail Associated with the ill-fated 1935 Trans-Tasman Jubilee Flight: The exhibit and supplementary material

In June 1928 Charles Kingsford Smith achieved international fame with the first Trans‐Pacific flight in his tri‐motor plane, the Southern Cross. He subsequently undertook a number of notable flights, including the first flight across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand in September 1928. Between 1928 and 1934 he undertook six flights between the two countries. He was knighted for his services to aviation in 1932.In early 1935 a British delegation met with the two governments to discuss the extension of the Imperial Airways All‐Empire Air Mail scheme to include the Australia‐New Zealand section using flying boats. Lobbying both governments to support an Australian initiative for this leg, Kingsford Smith was able to obtain permission for a special bi‐directional Trans‐Tasman flight in recognition of King George V’s Silver Jubilee. Additional arrangements included the sale of the soon to be issued New Zealand air mail stamps at post offices in Australia and the use of postage stamps from either country for prepayment of return postage.Taking off from Sydney on 15th May 1935, the Southern Cross carried 28,279 mail items (which included some 7,000 items from New Zealand). Over the Tasman Sea the propellor on the starboard engine was damaged and the engine had to be shut down. Kingsford Smith was forced to turn back and jettison most of the mail and freight to lighten the load for the overheated engines.This book presents the award-winning philatelic exhibit Mail Associated with the Ill-fated 1935 Trans-Tasman Jubilee Flight as well as significant other material that serve to make this an extraordinary reference work. Read more