VH-CKS (1) as G-ACJV Percival P.1 Gull Four
(c/n D.39)
This was the Gull Four which
Charles Kingsford Smith flew from Lympne Aerodrome to Darwin
starting on 4 October 1933. The aircraft
carried the name 'Miss Southern Cross' for the flight,
The above
image is from the archives of the Civil Aviation Historical Society in
Melbourne. Smithy
arrived in
Darwin some 7 days 4 hrs and 44 mins later on 10 December 1933, a
record at the time.
The Gull was to
have become one of the first instances of a "personalized
registration" on the
Australian Civil register....i.e. VH-CKS. I say "was to have
become" since I have never seen a
photo of it
bearing its Australian registration and, since it crashed at
Gerranderie, NSW a year later
on 28 November
1934 it is possible that it was never painted up as VH-CKS.