The double sunrise

22nd July 2025

On 12th November 1919, Sir Ross Macpherson Smith and his brother Sir Keith Macpherson Smith along with their crew Sergeant W.H 'Wally' Shiers and Sergeant J.M 'Jim' Bennett got into their Vickers Vimy and set off to make history in what would become known as The Great Air Race, they would become the first pilots to fly from the United Kingdom to Australia, receiving a knighthood for their remarkable achievement by His Majesty King George V.

The aircraft in question was a converted Vickers Vimy bomber registered G-EAOU to which it was dubbed to mean by the crew rather wittingly as 'God 'elp all of us'. The Vimy departed at 08:30 from Hounslow Heath and flew via Lyon, Rome, Cairo, Damascus, Basra, Karachi, Delhi, Calcutta, Akyab, Rangoon racecourse, Singora, Singapore, Batavia and Surabaya enduring tremendous hardship and adversity including the need to construct a temporary airstrip out of bamboo mats to become unstuck in Surabaya.

The crew reached Darwin in Australia at 16:10 on 10th December 1919 racking up a distance of over 11,000 miles and flight time of 136 hours in total. They were awarded prize money of £10,000 - worth £450,000 today. The same Vickers Vimy is now on display at Adelaide Airport.

We feel this is a vital look into our history as a flying nation. The pioneering and innovative people we have always been. Telling these stories will be a regular and common thing here at British Atlantic and will always celebrate our achievements as a country. Never shying away from our accomplishments and rich history.