Charles Kingsford Smith's Southern Cross II first flight in 20 years!

Southern Cross II replica of Charles Kingsford Smith’s record breaking Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor flew today for the first time after being restored to airworthiness after a crash in 2002. It is a fully rebuilt replica of Smithy’s famous “Old Bus“ Fokker Tri-Motor Southern Cross that completed the first-ever trans-Pacific flight to Australia from the mainland United States, a distance of about 11,670 kilometres (7,250 mi), in 1928. It is based permanently and on display at the HARS Aviation Museum in Shellharbour, just south of Sydney.

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0:00 Southern Cross II
0:08 start engine 3
0:32 start engine 2
1:02 start engine 1
1:20 taxiing
2:42 takeoff
3:14 moon flypass
3:24 planned missed approach
4:10 landing and parking

[PaulStewartAviation]

Thanks for watching everyone! FYI this is a re-upload from a few days ago as I had to hide the video again after the embargo was lifted and then reimposed. :)

[ericjwhitney]

An aeroplane that's been in my life since I was a small boy. Good to see it flying again. ❤

[Marschy]

I used to race outside to catch a glimpse of this beautiful aircraft as it flew into Parafield airport on many occasions. The sound of those motors was enough to get me outside for a looksee.

[robmccarthy]

Great to see her flying again! We live only about 3 Km from the Parafield airport where she was built but sadly crashed in 2002. I remember her flying just over our roof top with the amazing noise of those 3 radial engines.. It seemed to be going so slowly but gracefully. It was a surprisingly large aircraft for it's time.. Often wondered why the rear stabiliser fin was so small. Hard to fly?

[JettTyler]

Thanks for sharing this Paul, I saw it at the HARS on my last day in Australia- good to see it flying again! Also saw the original preserved at Brisbane. ✈

[Pguy]

Simply AWESOME! Thank you for posting

[WiseGuy]

I love choppers but wish it buggered off so we could hear more of the Southern Cross engines. Anyway, great to see it flying, thanks for the vid.

[dooglemcfrugal]

Well done and thank you for your time and dedication to the project

[newflyer]

Smooth footage Paul, great job! Damn that helicopter, though. Blocking out the beautiful noise from those three radials!

[jirihamersky]

Beautiful plane, beautiful video - as always. Thanks.

[TheCpage]

So glad to see her finally get in the air!

[TFuzz]

My hat goes off to the Team that did the restoration work on this aircraft. I’m exceptionally impressed with how well they built the wing and got the leading edges right on. Well done!
Tim

[stenic]

It is incredible how thick that wing is! The amount of drag must be enormous!

[chrisdrake]

That big wing, the pull pull cables on the movable surfaces, WOW!

[johnt.]

Gotta love the sound of those radial engines!

[edutaimentcartoys]

amazing aircraft video ... wow, ultra 4k video

[zorbakaput]

I agree bloody chopper spoiled what should have been great! 4k is great even on YT.

[Rob-vvyn]

I remember seeing it parked at Napier airport New Zealand on the grass it was doing a tour of the country it was big that thick wing was interesting. Wanted to see it flying and now I have thanks for posting.

[burchtylerm]

Would love to see a walk around and interior tour if this plane if you get the opportunity, Paul! Great video as always!

[MartintheTinman]

I was in the Air Training Corp and saw this being constructed back in the eighties at Parafield Airfield in South Australia