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Flown by Australian pilots Charles Kingsford Smith (1897–1935) and Charles Ulm (1898–1934), with navigation and radio operations performed by American crew members Harry Lyon (c. 1885–c. 1963) and James Warner (1891–1970), the Southern Cross was the first aircraft to complete a transpacific crossing from North America to Australia. Introduced in 1925, and initially conceived as a single engine transport, the Fokker F.VII was later redesigned as a trimotor powered by three Wright J-5 Whirlwinds. The Southern Cross was initially acquired as a salvaged aircraft from explorer George Hubert Wilkins (1888–1958) after it was flown in the 1926 Detroit News Arctic expedition. Reequipped with new Wright J-5 engines and the latest ground-adjustable Micarta propellers supplied by Westinghouse, the plane was based and tested at Mills Field Municipal Airport of San Francisco (later SFO). The airplane departed from Oakland, California, on May 31, 1928, and flew first to Wheeler Army Airfield, O'ahu, then to Suva, Fiji, and continued on to Brisbane, Australia, landing on June 9th. The three-stage trip covered a total distance of 7,200 miles in ten days at an average speed of ninety miles per hour. Over this long, transpacific route, the Wright engines performed exceptionally well with no significant problems or incidents. “Going the Distance: Endurance Aircraft Engines and Propellers of the 1910s and 20s” is on display pre-security in the Aviation Museum and Library and online at: https://bit.ly/EnduranceEngines
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