Smiths’ historic Vickers Vimy to get new home at Adelaide Airport
The famous aircraft South Australian brothers Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith flew from England to Australia a century ago will be housed in this new home at Adelaide Airport.
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Here is the first look at the planned new building at Adelaide Airport to house one of the nation’s most important aircraft.
It is 100 years since South Australian brothers Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith made the epic flight in the Vickers Vimy from England to Australia in the Great Air Race, a pioneering achievement likened to man landing on the moon for the era.
The brothers along with crew James Bennett and Wally Shiers became the first pilots to complete the journey and the four men shared a ten thousand pound prize.
The aircraft is housed in a special building near the airport’s long term carpark but will be moved to a much more prominent home as shown in this artist’s impression.
Release of the image comes as members of the public get the first close-up look at the historic Vickers Vimy today as part of the count down to the Epic Flight Centenary celebrations in November and December.
More than 600 people have registered to access the building housing the aircraft and see it from all angles — usually it can only be viewed from the outside through floor to ceiling windows.
The building is climate and UV-controlled, and the aircraft sits on vibration dampers due to its fragile state.
Interest in the open day means it is already fully subscribed and anyone simply turning up today without being registered will not be able to access the building.
The celebrations start from 10.30am at the Vickers Vimy hangar on Sir Richard Williams Ave and the first members of the public will have access from 11am.
A fly-past of vintage aircraft will include two Tiger Moths, two Chipmunks and a Dragon on a round trip route from Aldinga passing sites including the Semaphore boyhood home of the Smiths, Norwood which was Wally Shiers’ enlistment address and Centennial Park where the heroic aircrew rest in peace.
Adelaide Airport managing director Mark Young said members of the public — other than by special invitation — had never previously been allowed inside the Vickers Vimy building.
“This will be an unprecedented opportunity for aviation enthusiasts and history buffs to get such a close-up look at the Vickers Vimy. We opened up bookings to view the Vimy via our aviation and history partners and all spots were quickly snapped up,” Mr Young said.
“The good news for those who missed out is that for the next 100 years the Vimy will be a whole lot closer to the travelling public.
“We’ll be relocating the Vimy to a new purpose-built and more accessible space within the newly expanded terminal in 2021, thanks to recent funding commitments by the State and Federal Governments and Adelaide Airport.”
Epic Flight Centenary Committee chair Greg Mackie said Smith brothers’ pioneering flight from England to Australia was a landmark event.
“The Smith crew left Hounslow in England on November 12, 1919 and spent 28 days battling every climatic condition imaginable to reach Darwin on December 10, with Sir Ross Smith remarking that he was in awe of the Vimy because she’d got the crew home without once being under cover on the journey,” Mr Mackie said.
“The crew joked that the Vimy’s G-EAOU registration stood for ‘God ’Elp All Of Us’, but the four men grew very attached to the aircraft and I think they’d be really chuffed that a special day has been set aside for the Vimy in this centenary year.”
SA Aviation Museum chairman David Byrne said people lucky enough to walk inside the Vimy hangar would get a whole new perspective on the 100-year-old aircraft.
“When you see the Vimy up close, you get a better appreciation for just how huge it is, and you start to imagine what the crew endured sitting in those open cockpits as they flew through snowstorms and torrential rain for hours at a time,” he said.