Ross Macpherson Smith was born on the 4th of December 1892 in Adelaide, South Australia. Smith's tent mate with 1 Sqn AFC, Les "Woodie" Sutherland wrote of Smith; "To us who knew him first in Khaki, he was a solid lump of a chap, 5 feet 10 inches high, fair and fresh complexioned. For an Aussie, he had a fine command of English, and an unusually impressive diction. He had a lovable smile, was intensely athletic, and was a man all through. ....... A leader born, he was absolutely fearless. He was thrice valuable on the Eastern Front [Syria/Palestine], because, on top of his other war qualities he was a great pilot, a deadly gunner, and he had brains." "Many is the time I have heard Lighthorseman say : 'Jacko [The Turks] bombed hell out of us on such and such day, but Ross Smith'll fix the ________.' (description according to heaviness of bombardment) Smith and Sutherland both fought with the Lighthorse at Gallipoli and met after being evacuated together. Ross Macpherson Smith was born on the 4th of December 1892 in Adelaide, South Australia and was working as a warehouseman before joining the Australian Lighthorse. Smith served in the Peninsula (Gallipoli). Joined 1 Sqn AFC on the 24th of October 1916 to the 29th of November 1918.

January 19th the squadron did their first deep reconnaissance in the Turkish rear around the towns of Beit Jibrin, Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Jericho. Performed by ROberts and Smith escorted by Murray Jones and Ellis in Martinsydes. They dicovered enemy railways and troop movements far from the front which needed disrupting.

After the Amistice England became enamoured with the idea of planes flying across the Atlantic to North America. The Australian Government in an attempt to raise enthusiasm for opening up air lanes to the Antipodes decided to put up prize money of 10,000 pounds for the first successful flight from England to Australia by an Australian Airmen. The prize money was contrained by the requirement for the flight to start in Great Britain and end in Australia within 720 consecutive hours [30 days], the offer would remain open until the 31st of December 1920, the aircraft and all components having been constructed within the British Empire, the pilots and crew must be of Australian nationality, the entries must be submitted through the Royal Aero Club in London, one machine only is to be used through the flight, the starting place is to be Hounslow aerodrome or Calshot seaplane station in England, the final landing place is to be in the area of Port Darwin.

Among the entries were the crew of Captain Ross Smith, the navigator Keith Smith, Sergeant J.M. Bennett and Sergeant W.H. Shiers in the Vickers Vimy G-EAOS. Keith Smith is Ross Smith's brother and veteran of the Royal Air Force, the two mechanics and riggers for the trip were both veterans of 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps campaign through Syria and Palestine. The Vimy was capable of carrying 865 gallons of petrol and was capable of a cruising range of 2,400 miles. Smith had previously reconnoitered by sea for possible landing places and fuel supplies points through the East Indies for the planned trip, returning to England in September with the route in mind and a speil for the Vickers aircraft manufacturer.

The Vimy and crew left England on November 12th between bursts of freezing bad weather. Leaving the aerodrome at 8.00 AM and flying in the bitter cold of the Northern Hemisphere. The flight across Europe to Taranto in Italy taking five days through rain, frost, snow and constant heavy cloud. The Crew avoided Rome due to bad weather and travelled to Crete, staying at Suda Bay before arriving at Cairo at 1 Squadrons old stamping ground of Heliopolis. Smith wrote;

"On November 19th we left Cairo for Damascus. Our route lay over the old battlefields, Romani, El Arish, Gaza and Nazareth. It revived many memories for me, for this land over which we were passing was the arena of my war service."

As the Vimy and crew flew over Mesopotamia they finally hit good weather and continued on to Delhi, spending twenty six hours out of fifty four in the air before flying onto Calcutta and then to Rangoon. The Vimy now on the end leg of it's journey travelled through Siam [modern day Thailand] and the Dutch East Indies [modern day Indonesia]. The aircraft and crew landed at a specially constructed landing ground at Kalidjati where the East Indian Governer learning of the Australian Air Challenge had aerodrome's constructed at differant points in the island chain.

The crew landed the aircraft at Sourabaya where the aerodrome was hard no the surface but underneath was soft reclaimed land. Ross Smith wrote;

"The thirty days of the competition were now closing in, and anxieties increased. We extracated the machine with the greatest difficulty, and at one time I feared it would be impossible ever to start off from that aerodrome again. I had a roadway of bamboo mats laid down, 350 yards long and 40 yards wide. The machine was hauled from the bog by a swarm of natives to this improvised pathway. We made a perilious take-off, with bamboo flying in all directions from our propellers."

The Crew passed over the HMAS Sydney in the Torres Strait where Smith ahd asked it to be incase they hit difficulties, before landing in Darwin on December 10th after travelling 11,240 miles in 28 days. Smith wrote;

"The land speedily assumed more definite countours; and details became manifest. Darwin came into view. In a few minutes we were circling above the town. Then down, down, in a steep descending spiral - and we had touched Australian soil."

Interestingly a Frenchman, Lieutenant Poulet had left France before the Vickers Vimy of Smith but had been overtaken by the Vimy enroute. The Caudron aircraft Poulet was flying was under-powered for the task and Poulet abandoned his flight at Rangoon. When the Smith brothers with Bennett and Shiers landed in Port Darwin, two of the onlookers to greet the crew were Hudson Fysh and "Ginty" McGuiness, both former squadrn members with Smith. Seeing the Vimy land convinced Fysh and McGinness there was future in commercial civil aviation, the pair would soon after start the Queensland And Northern Territory Aviation Service, or better known by it's modern name, QANTAS.

More recently a replica Vickers Vimy built in Queensland, Australia retraced the England to Australia route flown by Smith and his crew. The same Vimy is currently been repainted to represent the Vimy flown by Alcock and Brown which crossed the Atlantic. Smith KBE MC & bar, DFC & 2 bars, AFC. Knighted

Ross Smith was one of the greatest aviators of the First World War and the early civil aviation era of the 1920's. Smith was the leading ace of the Middle Eastern theatre and a pivotal leader with 1 Sqn AFC, respected by all, even those on the ground fighting with the Lighthorse. Graduating from the Peninsula, as the veterans of Gallipoli called it back then, to dominating the skies over Palestine with a mixture of dedication, leadership, aggressiveness and aviator skill. Smith's effect on aviation is far wider than the breaking of new air lanes, he opened up Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Thailand to the world by air. Routes that are travelled regularly by the major Air lines today. Unfortunately Ross Smith and Bennet were killed on the 14th of April 1922 while test flying a Vickers Viking amphibian that they were preparing for a round the world flight.