"The Fokker F.VIIb/3m"
by Serge Stone

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The"Southern Cross" piloted by Australian aviator Charles Kingsford-Smith is flying through a thunderstorm on it's way from Hawaii to Suva in the Fiji Islands during the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean from Oakland to Brisbane on 4 June, 1928.

The Fokker F.VIIb-3m was a direct development of the single-engine Fokker F.VIIa high-wing monoplane.  The prototype was built in seven weeks, on the instructions of Anthony Fokker to construct an aircraft for him to fly in the Ford Reliability Tour in 1926.  It was fitted with three Wright Whirlwind radials of 220 hp each, and attracted considerable attention.

Fokker F.VIIb-3m, (U.S. registration 1985), Southern Cross, was a non-standard trimotor, c/n 4954, the fin and rudder being significantly modified from the rounded Fokker shape to a squared outline.  It had been built for the 1926 Detroit News Arctic Expedition led by Sir Hubert Wilkins, and was then named Detroiter.   After the failure of the expedition it was sold to Kingsford-Smith, who then modified the airplane with a new rudder by Boeing.

After several attempts at breaking the endurance record in his new airplane, Kingsford-Smith gained the confidence to believe that "the Old Bus" could carry him across the Pacific.  Accompanied by co-pilot Charles Ulm, and the Americans, Harry Lyon and James Warner, as navigator and wireless operator, Kingsford-Smith set off from San Francisco and reached Honolulu after 27 hours.  The next leg to Suva, Fiji, turned out to be a 34-hour-battle with a failing radio, an engine running bad and storms that forced them off course a number of times.  On the final flight they encountered even heavier storms, but the aircraft and its crew survived and they touched down at Brisbane after 21 hours.

After a series of other record flights, Kingsford-Smith donated the Southern Cross to the Australian people.  Today, the airplane is preserved with its original U.S. registration numbers at Brisbane airport, Queensland, Australia.  The Southern Cross Replica Association operates a replica of this famous Fokker [VH-USU], which first flew in August, 1987.  It may be seen at its home field at Parafield, South Australia.

2002 Wings Publishing