Ross Macpherson Smith: Difference between revisions

|battles=
{{tree list}}
* [[First World War]]

** [[Gallipoli Campaign]]

** [[Sinai and Palestine Campaign]]

*** [[Battle of Romani]]

Smith's father migrated to Western Australia from Scotland and became a pastoralist in [[South Australia]]. His mother was born near [[New Norcia, Western Australia]], the daughter of a pioneer from Scotland. The boys boarded at [[Queen's School, North Adelaide]], and for two years at [[Warriston School]] in [[Scotland]].<ref name=ADB>{{cite webAustralian Dictionary of Biography |author= John McCarthy |title= Smith, Sir Ross Macpherson (1892–1922) |workid2= Australian Dictionary of Biography |publisher= National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |url= http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-sir-ross-macpherson-8529 }} This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, (MUP), 1988.</ref><ref name=bio>{{cite web |author= John McCarthy |url= http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-heroes/smith.htm |title= Sir Ross Macpherson SMITH KBE MC & bar DFC & 2 bars AFC |publisher= Digger History }}</ref>

In 1919 the Australian government offered a prize of £A10,000 for the first Australians in a British aircraft to [[1919 England to Australia flight|fly from Great Britain to Australia]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Corbett |first=Greg |date=2023-07-04 |title="A Wonderful Achievement" - Ross and Keith Smith's Historic Flight to Australia in a Vickers Vimy |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/wonderful-achievement-ross-and-keith-smiths-historic-flight-australia-vickers-vimy |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=State Library Of Queensland |language=en}}</ref> Smith and his brother Keith, Sergeant James Mallett (Jim) Bennett and Sergeant Wally Shiers, flew from [[Hounslow Heath Aerodrome]], England on 12 November 1919 in a [[Vickers Vimy]], eventually landing in [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]] Australia on 10 December, taking less than 28 days, with actual flying time of 135 hours.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ntl.nt.gov.au/story/great-air-race |title=The Great Air Race |publisher=[[Library & Archives NT]] |access-date=26 July 2019 |archive-date=24 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924045042/https://ntl.nt.gov.au/story/great-air-race |url-status=dead }}</ref> The four men shared the £10,000 prize money put forward by the Australian government.<ref name=ADB/><ref name=bio/>

Smith was killed (along with the recently commissioned Lieutenant Bennett) while testing a [[Vickers Viking]] amphibian aircraft which crashed in [[Byfleet]] soon after taking off from [[Brooklands]] on 13 April 1922. The same aircraft type had also killed [[John Alcock (RAF officer)|John Alcock]], another WW1World War I veteran and pioneering long-distance aviator. Captain [[Stanley Cockerell]], [[test pilot]] for [[Vickers]], had flown Smith and Bennett as passengers on the aircraft's maiden flight earlier that day and testified to the [[inquest]] that the machine seemed to be in perfect working order. The jury returned a verdict of [[death by misadventure]].<ref>"Sir Ross Smith's Death: No Failure of the Machine", ''The Times'', 17 April 1922</ref> The bodies were transported to Australia and Smith was given a state funeral and later buried on 14 June at the [[North Road Cemetery]], [[Adelaide]].<ref name=ADB/><ref name=bio/>

[[Category:PeopleAustralian educatedKnights atCommander Warristonof Schoolthe Order of the British Empire]]