Completion of first solo trans-Tasman flight

Australian Guy Menzies’ flight from Sydney ended embarrassingly when he crash-landed in a swamp at Harihari on the West Coast. But set against the backdrop of the Depression, his heroic flight helped to lift spirits on both sides of the Tasman.

The first successful flight across the Tasman Sea had been completed by the illustrious Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew aboard the Southern Cross in September 1928. While Menzies’ landing was undignified, he took more than 2½ hours off Kingsford Smith’s time, completing the flight in 11 hours 45 minutes.

The 21-year-old had taken off from Mascot aerodrome, Sydney, in Southern Cross Junior, an Avro Avian biplane. To avoid getting into trouble with Australian authorities (or worrying his parents), Menzies declared that he was bound for Perth. He encountered rough weather over the Tasman and was driven well south of his intended destination, Blenheim. Shortly before 3 p.m. Menzies mistook the La Fontaine swamp near Harihari for flat land and crash-landed his aircraft, which flipped upside down.

When regular air services across the Tasman began in April 1940, flying boats took about nine hours to make the journey.

Image: Te Ara