Sir Keith Macpherson Smith,

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

(20 December 1890 – 19 December 1955) was an Australian

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

, who, along with his brother, Sir

Ross Macpherson Smith Sir Ross Macpherson Smith, (4 December 1892 – 13 April 1922) was an Australian aviator. He and his brother, Sir Keith Macpherson Smith, were the first pilots to fly from England to Australia, in 1919. Early life Smith's father migrated ...

, Sergeant James Mallett (Jim) Bennett and Sergeant Walter (Wally) Shiers, became the first people to fly from England to Australia.

Early life

Smith's father emigrated from Scotland to Western Australia, and later became a pastoralist in South Australia. His mother was born in Western Australia, daughter of a Scottish pioneer. Both boys boarded at

Queen's School, North Adelaide Queen's College was a privately owned and run school for boys on Barton Terrace, North Adelaide. It ran continuously from 1891 to 1949, an Australian record for a proprietary boys' school. History In 1885 Rev. Thomas Field (later Canon Field) and ...

, and for two years at Warriston School, in Scotland. He was medically unfit to join the

First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main Expeditionary warfare, expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following United Kingdom of Great Bri ...

but was accepted into the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

as a pilot between 1917 and 1919.

The Great Air Race

In 1919 the Australian government offered a prize of £A10,000 for the first Australians in a British aircraft to fly from Great Britain to Australia. On 12 November 1919, the brothers, along with Sergeant Jim Bennett and Sergeant Wally Shiers, departed from

Hounslow Heath Aerodrome Hounslow Heath Aerodrome was a grass airfield, operational 1914–1920. It was in the London borough of Hounslow, and hosted the British Empire's first scheduled daily international commercial flights, in 1919. The site today includes the main ...

, England, in a

Vickers Vimy The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft developed and manufactured by Vickers Limited. Developed during the latter stages of the First World War to equip the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the Vimy was designed by Rex Pierson, Vickers ...

aeroplane, eventually landing in Darwin, Australia on 10 December, having taken less than 28 days with an actual flying time of 135 hours. The four men shared the £10,000 prize money. Keith and Ross Smith were immediately knighted, while Shiers and Bennett were commissioned and each awarded a Bar to their

Air Force Medal The Air Force Medal (AFM) was a military decoration, awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force and other British Armed Forces, and formerly to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned officer, comm ...

The aircraft is preserved in a museum at the

Adelaide Airport Adelaide Airport, also known as Adelaide International Airport, is an International airport, international, Domestic airport, domestic and general aviation airport serving Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. Located approximately 6 km ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Later life

Smith planned an around-the-world flight in 1922, but abandoned it after his brother Ross was killed during a test flight. He then lived and worked in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

as an agent for

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

, vice-president of British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (taken over by

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

in 1954), and as a director of Qantas Empire Airways and Tasman Empire Airways Limited (a subsidiary of

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was an early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

which was the forerunner of

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

). Smith unsuccessfully stood for

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

as the Nationalist Party candidate at the

1931 East Sydney by-election A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Division of East Sydney, East Sydney on 7 March 1931. This was triggered by the death of Australian Labor Party, Labor MP John West (Australian politician), John West. The ...

. He died on 19 December 1955.

References

External links

Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith, pioneer aviators
State Library of South Australia website including personal papers of Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith

Encyclopaedia of Australian Science at Melbourne University

''Technology in Australia 1788-1988'', Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering

''Technology in Australia 1788-1988'', Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Keith Macpherson 1890 births 1955 deaths Military personnel from South Australia Royal Flying Corps soldiers Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Royal Air Force airmen People educated at Warriston School Australian test pilots Australian military personnel of World War I Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Adelaide