| Main Performers | Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker,
Sir Alan J Cobham - speakers |
| Performance Notes | Alan Cobham, 'will tell the story of his Historic Flight to Australia and Back'. The appearance was introduced by Air Vice-Marshall Sir Sefton Brancker. A large map was hung on a rope stretched from balcony to balcony in front of the organ.
On 30 June 1926, Alan Cobham flew from Britain (from the River Medway) to Australia where 60,000 people swarmed across the grassy fields of Essendon Airport, Melbourne when he landed his DH.50 float plane (it had been converted to a wheeled undercarriage earlier, at Darwin).
During the flight to Australia, Sir Alan J. Cobham's engineer of the D.H.50 aircraft, Mr. Arthur B. Elliot, was shot and killed after leaving Bagdad (5 July 1926). The return flight was undertaken over the same route. He was knighted the same year.
A special set of microphones was installed by the Marconi Company for the event and a 40 foot wide-map of the route hung in front of the organ. (Daily Telegraph, 9 October 1926) |
| Related Archival Material | Programme (RAHE/1/1926/67) |