Restoring the Southern Cross

“I was the chief engineer for the Connie, and now I’m the chief engineer for the Southern Cross, which is very timely as I am getting old,” he says. “To finish off my career with the Southern Cross is rather nice.”

The original Southern Cross that made history

The Southern Cross Fokker F.VIIb-3m is famously – an understatement, in fact – known as the aircraft that carried Australian pilot Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, pilot Charles Ulm, and two Americans, radio operator James Warner and navigator Harry Lyon, on the first trans-Pacific flight from California to Brisbane on 9 June 1928. The crew, who endured extreme cold and no toilet, flew from Oakland, California, to Hawaii, then Fiji and then to Brisbane, tracking 11,585 kilometres across an 83-and-a-half-hour flight.

The day after, The Sunday Times reported on the flight and the thousands of people who came to applaud the milestone:

“A lusty cheer rose from the great assemblage as the machine came overhead, hats were flung in the air, and scarves and newspapers were sent skywards as the monoplane, her escorts scattering to make way, lost ground rapidly. Her single wings, with the great body of blue and the number ‘1985’, stood out boldly as the machine encircled the aerodrome, and made for the lower end of the field…Despite the presence of barriers, there was some crushing at this point, and the public’s desire to get an early glimpse of the world flyers was not to be appeased by a few dozen police, for as with one accord, the spectators gathered around with calls for ‘Smithy’ and the other members”.

Contrary to popular belief, Thurstan doesn’t believe this flight opened the world up to Australia “because people were flying all over the place with how quickly aviation went ahead”. But he emphasizes that “it was a big deal” to the country because flying across the Pacific was considered “crazy”, and yet Smithy, a well-known larrikin of his kind, achieved it.

The replica: Built to honour Smithy

While the actual Southern Cross is locked up in a special glass hangar at Brisbane Airport, aviation enthusiasts aspired to prolong its beauty, thus seeing John Pope, a businessman, pilot and flying school owner, lead the project of building a replica in 1977. The federal government backed the idea, and by 1987, its construction was complete. But after 560 hours across Australia and one trip to New Zealand, the aircraft experienced a mechanical failure in its right main undercarriage shortly after lift-off. The wing was almost wholly damaged as it landed, among many other injuries across its structure and engines.

“To finish off my career with the southern cross is rather nice”

After much consideration and time, HARS expressed its interest in acquiring and restoring the aircraft, and in 2010, the South Australian government agreed to the exchange.

The replica reflects many fundamental aspects of the actual Southern Cross, but inevitably as aircraft safety and material use progressed, some changes were necessary. It has the same wing profile and dimensions, but according to new regulations, oleos are incorporated instead of the original rubber shock-absorbing configurations, and it is fitted with three Jacobs R755-A1 300hp engines compared to the three Wright Whirlwind 200hp engines in the original, according to HARS.

Challenges with rebuilding something stuck in time

“The biggest challenge was repairing the wing,” Thurstan tells Australian Aviation. “It’s a wooden wing, a good old-fashioned spruce and birch plywood, which is a pretty big wing. It’s one of the largest wings ever around. We’ve had some small experience with working with wood like that, but we had a lot of learning to do.”

Wood was the most common material used for building an aircraft’s fuselage and wings in the early 1900s. It was readily available, reasonably easy to work with, and most engineers had dealt with wood long before, so it was familiar material. But it couldn’t be just any wood; it had to be strong mahogany or birch plywood.

But, as the aviation industry soared, it was clear that wood was difficult to maintain. It didn’t last in certain weather conditions, and there was a need for a more robust material, which led to the use of metal, Britannica explains. The first use began in World War I (1914-1918), and then until 1934, there was a significant movement of transitioning to metal for its strength, durability and lightweight finish. But with the pressure of sustainability in the last few decades, aircraft across the world have switched to composite materials that are much lighter, resulting in improved fuel efficiency.

HARS wanted its authenticity to shine through despite the significant changes in aircraft materials, so the crew rebuilt the wing with wood but with utmost structural integrity. The team had to strip back approximately six metres of damaged wing to fix from the 2002 crash, endure certification for available materials, and then set out to rebuild the 21-metre-long wing.

In a document Thurstan created a few years ago providing all the information about the project, the crew had approved using high-grade Finnish birch plywood for the wing spar webs, ribs and skin. The document said: “The most challenging work remaining is that associated with the repair of the large, 21-metre span, one-piece wooden wing. We have the required critical expertise and licensing as well as willing and able volunteer workers.”

Once it was built, the team had to perform a structural test on the wing, so in increments of 500 kilograms, they piled 2,000 kilograms of bricks onto the wing to see how it would hold up. According to Thurstan, an additional ten per cent of bricks were added on, instructed by design engineers who witnessed the test, to push it to its limit. A small crack was formed in the middle but was easily fixed. Everything else stayed put, according to Thurstan.

“The biggest difference would be the structure for a start,” Thurstan says, referring to the significant differences he saw in how aircraft were built then and now. “You go from wood, some metal, a wooden fabric, to high tech metals, like aluminium, titanium, tungsten; all that fancy stuff that’s available to us now. A lot of the engineering was available to them back then, but they didn’t have the materials. That’s a big factor.”

“Although we’ve been pretty well funded, we’ve never got enough money for anything around here”

The one thing you can never have enough of: Money

“Money is a big factor in this whole thing,” says Thurstan. “The aircraft came with some insurance money, and it was quickly spent. Since that time, we’ve had some generous people donating.” When they first acquired the aircraft, $250,000 was available for the team. Then, Dick Smith, a long-time aviator and entrepreneur, has funded thousands into the project since its conception, close to $200,000. The document outlining the project estimated the wing would be the most expensive operation, costing the museum $30,000. 

Thurstan says the team is “ticking along” regarding finances. “Although we’ve been pretty well funded, we’ve never got enough money for anything around here. This whole organisation [HARS] was done from nothing”.

Has the romance of flying gone?

The inside of the Southern Cross is precisely what you would expect of aircraft in the 1920s. A small belly, basic leather seats, a tiny entryway into the cockpit, an even smaller cockpit and a jet that captures all of the heat on the ground and the cold up in the air. Thurstan says the inevitable differences between aircraft then and now is the cost and speed, but it was “all they knew”.

“Back in that time, it was exciting and was much more dangerous than it is now,” Thurstan says. “It was exciting, and it was romantic… a lot of the romance has gone out of flying. You’re up 40,000 feet and flying 500 miles an hour, and now you just take it for granted”.

In an article from 2003 in Smithsonian Magazine, which celebrated a century of aviation after the Wright brothers built the first successful aircraft in 1903, the writer emphasised the importance of not losing sight of the early years, despite much growth:

“Amid all the celebrations of the long-anticipated centennial, it might be easy to lose sight of just how amazing those landmark early flights were. As [Dawn] Dunlop discovered, Wright aircraft were dangerous. Frail assemblies of wire, wood and cloth powered by homemade engines, they were reluctant birds, difficult to steer and easy to crash. In fact, planes based on the Flyer that Orville Wright coaxed off the ground would kill dozens of pilots in coming years.

“Still, the craft embodied what we recognize today as the basics of flight, and though aviation has advanced far beyond anything the brothers might have first imagined — in 2000, airplanes carried more than three billion passengers — the Wrights anticipated a surprising range of crucial developments. Flying that glider [1902 Wright Brothers glider] was a real challenge,” Dunlop says, “but when you take yourself back, you realise what a brilliant design it really was.”

“Smithy, he was larger than life. He was a bit of a villain, and he was always struggling financially, but he was larger than life.”

Now the next phase of history begins!

So, after over a decade of overhauling engines, stripping back six metres of the damaged wing, rebuilding the wing, modifying and repairing the tail wing, the re-instalment of electrical systems and radio and navigation systems, and aircraft painting; the jet is almost at its sweet end in the shop, ready to fly over Australia.

Earlier in January, the Southern Cross taxied for the first time, and Thurstan says it was to remind people that it is reaching the finish line after years of delays. The crew also recently ran the engines and completed an entire power run. After it completes its maiden flight, Thurstan expects it to do what it initially did; fly around Australia and maybe, just maybe, to New Zealand, but he doesn’t have high hopes for it.

While the project has experienced some opposition, such as South Australia’s disappointment in not acquiring the aircraft as it was built there, and complaints it has taken just too long, things are still moving forward. Thurstan is reminded that the “driving force” is to honour Smithy and his fellow crew for the history they made on 9 June 1928.

“Smithy, he was larger than life. He was a bit of a villain, and he was always struggling financially, but he was larger than life. He was a hero; wherever he went, he was a hero,” Thurstan says.