£1,400
AUSTRALIA 1919 ROSS SMITH AIR COVER England to Australia Air Race, cover addressed to Sydney, carried on the record breaking flight from Hounslow to Darwin flown by Capt Ross Smith, Lt Keith Smith, Sgts J. Bennett and W. Shiers, this cover privately carried by the mechanic Wally Shiers, endorsed By Kindness of our friend Shiers by plane, handstamped violet PER / VICKERS VIMY AEROPLANE / TO AUSTRALIA (applied twice), the reverse bearing the blue FIRST AERIAL POST ENGLAND - AUSTRALIA flight vignette tied by oval FIRST AERIAL MAIL / RECEIVED / 26 FEB 1920 / GREAT BRITAIN TO AUSTRALIA with a further strike alongside. The Smith brothers arrived in Darwin on December 10th after a flight of just 27 days and 21 hours winning the Australian Governments £10,000 prize for the first flight from England to Australia; they continued on to Melbourne on February 25th 1920, the letters having the vignettes and cancels applied the following day. Central vertical fold and a little soiling at right edge, otherwise fine and scarce, especially with the unusual endorsement showing private carriage by a crew member.
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