King of the air : the turbulent life of Charles Kingsford Smith

Resource Information

The work King of the air : the turbulent life of Charles Kingsford Smith represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Randwick City Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

King of the air : the turbulent life of Charles Kingsford Smith

Title remainder

the turbulent life of Charles Kingsford Smith

Statement of responsibility

Ann Blainey

Title variation

Turbulent life of Charles Kingsford Smith

Creator

• Blainey, Ann, 1935-

Author

• Blainey, Ann, 1935-

Subject

• Air pilots -- History
• Airplanes -- History
• Biographies
• Kingsford-Smith, Charles, Sir, 1897-1935
• Large print books
• Aeronautics -- History
• Air pilots -- Australia -- Biography

Genre

• Large print books
• Biography
• Biographies

Language

eng

Summary

Charles Kingsford Smith was the most commanding flyer of the golden age of aviation. In three short years, he broke records with his astounding and daring voyages- the first trans-Pacific flight from America to Australia, the first circumnavigation around the equator, the first non-stop crossing of the Australian mainland. He did it all with such courage, modesty and charm that Australia and the world fell in love with him. A tickertape parade was held in his honour on New York's Fifth Avenue. At home, he became a national hero, 'Our Smithy?. Yet his achievements belied a traumatic past. He had witnessed the horror of World War I - first as a soldier at Gallipoli, later as a combat pilot with the Royal Flying Corps - and, like so many of his generation, he bore physical and emotional scars. The public saw the derring-do; only those close to him knew the anxious man who pushed himself to the edge of health and sanity. In November 1935, Kingsford Smith's plane crashed and he was lost at sea near Burma, his body never to be recovered. This brilliant work from one of Australia's foremost biographers reveals the complicated, tumultuous life of a fascinating figure, who pursued his obsession to the greatest heights of fame and catastrophe

Member of

• Read how you want 16

Cataloging source

NJB

Dewey number

629.13

Illustrations

• illustrations
• portraits

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Target audience

adult