Ross Smith’s mechanics Jim Bennett and Wally Shiers were inducted into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame at a ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Ahead of Australia’s 2019 federal election it was announced that a new state-of-the-art facility would be built for Sir Ross Smith’s Vickers Vimy aircraft at Adelaide Airport.

Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith were among giants of the Australian aviation industry to be named as inaugural inductees into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame.

Wally Shiers died of heart failure in his brother’s home in the Adelaide suburb of Hilton on 2 June 1968. He was 79.

After a brief battle with cancer, Sir Keith Smith died at the St Vincent Private Hospital in Sydney on 19 December 1955.

A Shilling Fund was established in the wake of Sir Ross Smith’s tragic death in 1922 for the creation of a monument to commemorate South Australia’s “most famous son” and his pioneering flight from England to Australia.

Sir Keith Smith married Lady Anita on 3 June 1924 at the District of Kensington Register Office in London.

More than 100,000 people (one fifth of the state’s population) reportedly lined the streets of Adelaide to honour Sir Ross Smith’s funeral cortege on 15 June 1922.

Sir Ross Smith and his loyal friend and mechanic Jim Bennett were killed while test flying a Vickers Viking amphibious aircraft at Weybridge in England, ahead of a planned attempt to circumnavigate the globe.

The Australian Air Corps – a temporary Army unit raised 15 months earlier – was disbanded in 1921 and replaced by the Australian Air Force (AAF) as a separate service.

On Easter Monday 1920 the Vickers Vimy made its final flight, from Adelaide back to Point Cook in Melbourne.

After nearly a month in Melbourne, the Vimy left on the last leg to Adelaide. All four crew were aboard, plus Frank Hurley in the nose gunner’s cockpit. 

The Vimy crew, with cameraman Frank Hurley in the front cockpit, left Henty at 6am bound for Point Cook. Aircraft spare parts and their personal kit had been offloaded to lighten the Vimy for a one-engine cruise due to an oil pressure problem with the starboard engine. 

Vimy mechanic Wally Shiers and his sweetheart Helena Alford were married at a swish garden party in Sydney on the morning of 17 February, before heading to the Blue Mountains for a short honeymoon. 

The Vimy crew landed to a heroes’ welcome at Sydney’s Mascot airfield at 11.12am.

After a 52-day delay caused by major engine woes, the Vimy crew finally took off for Bourke on 12 February 1920.

On Christmas Day 1919, the Vimy suffered almost catastrophic engine failure as Ross Smith attempted to depart Charleville in Queensland.

Mechanical troubles began not long after the Vickers Vimy set out on its long journey south from Port Darwin.

Ross Smith and his Vickers Vimy crew were now just a day’s flight from Darwin, after making a 440-mile journey over thick haze from Bima to Atamboea (Timor).

Ross Smith and the Vimy crew had some “breathless moments” as they just cleared the rails on takeoff from the very short racecourse in Singapore.

The Vimy crew was escorted out of Bangkok by four Siamese aircraft, before encountering shocking monsoonal rains on the six-hour flight south to Singora. 

The Vimy crew landed at Bangkok’s Don Muang airport at 12.55pm after a hair-raising, six-hour flight at 11,000ft over an uncharted mountain range.

Ross Smith made a 7.40am start from Karachi, circling above the desert aerodrome before turning the Vickers Vimy east towards Delhi, “heading straight into the golden sun that was just rising above the horizon”

Ross Smith and the Vickers Vimy crew flew 630 miles from Basra to Bandar Abbas to complete the 10th leg of their epic journey in an incident-free seven hours and 20 minutes.

Grease was lathered over the Vimy’s wheels to enable Ross Smith to take off from the muddy aerodrome in Damascus despite heavy overnight rains.

Ross Smith flew from Cairo to Damascus on the seventh, 450-mile leg of the epic flight. 

Ross Smith and his Vickers Vimy crew had a highly-eventful, 650-mile flight across the Mediterranean from Crete to Cairo, on the sixth leg of their epic journey from England to Australia.

The Vimy crew almost crashed into cliffs off the coast of Greece as Ross Smith battled driving rain and dense mist on the fifth leg of the Epic Flight, from Taranto over the Mediterranean to Crete.

At first light, Ross Smith arrived at the water-logged Pisa aerodrome to find the Vimy still hopelessly bogged. 

After six hours and 20 minutes of flying in freezing temperatures, the Vimy finally touched down in Lyon.

South Australian brothers Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith, with mechanics Wally Shiers (SA) and Jim Bennett (Vic), departed Hounslow aerodrome in the Vickers Vimy at 9.05am. 

Australia’s acting Prime Minister William Watt tells parliament it’s understood that eight entries have been received in the Great Air Race from Britain to Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a group of young Australian aviators are set to leave England for a pioneering flight home – and they include Charles Kingsford Smith.

The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom announces the official rules for the Great Air Race from Britain to Australia.