Updated events schedule for centenary of Sir Ross Smith’s Adelaide landing:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic response, some events planned to celebrate the centenary of Sir Ross Smith’s victorious Adelaide landing have been cancelled or postponed. These include the Lightsview Family Day on Sunday 22 March and adventurer/aviator Michael Smith’s talk at the State Library of South Australia on Monday 23 March.
However, there are still ways to join in the celebrations:
Daily: Visit the State Library of South Australia to see the fantastic (free) Heroes of the Skies exhibition before it closes on 5 April. The library remains open to the public despite postponing events and guided tours until further notice. For opening hours and further information, please visit: https://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/events/heroes-of-skies
Saturday 21 March: Look out for participants in the Darwin-Adelaide re-enactment flight arriving at the Adelaide Soaring Club, Gawler Aerodrome. Aircraft to include a Pipistrel and adventurer Michael Smith’s Sea Bear, the Southern Sun, flown from England to Australia last year.
Sunday 22 March: Participants in the Darwin-Adelaide re-enactment flight make their way from Gawler to Aldinga Aerodrome. Members of the public are welcome at Aldinga to see the aircraft fly in and meet the pilots from 11am (aircraft arrival is expected between 11.30am and noon). The Aldinga Aerodrome team will also put on a sausage sizzle.
Monday 23 March: Watch from key Vimy locations around Adelaide – including the historic pine tree at Lightsview (about 2.30pm) or from the Vickers Vimy hangar at Adelaide Airport (about 2.35pm) – as Australian adventurer Michael Smith and RAAF Base Edinburgh commemorate the centenary with a moving flypast. The RAAF P8-A flypast, following the Vimy’s 1920 flight from Point Cook in Victoria to Adelaide, is subject to weather conditions and operational requirements. For flight tracking enthusiasts, the callsign will be VIMY100. Michael is expected to fly over to salute the Vimy crew slightly before the P8-A in his Sea Bear aircraft.
The P8-A flypast route will include Point Cook, Horsham, Bordertown, Tintinara, Coonalpyn and Murray Bridge before tracking to Mt Lofty and (as per the map below) on to just north of Hope Valley Reservoir. It will then fly over the Vickers Vimy landing spot at Lightsview and North Rd Cemetery (resting place of Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith), before flying a clockwise lap around Adelaide CBD and tracking for the Vickers Vimy hangar at Adelaide Airport before making a low coastal return to Edinburgh.