On 30 June 1926, Alan Cobham and mechanic A.B. Elliot departed the River Medway, England, on a survey flight to Australia in De Havilland DH50J G-EBFO. The aircraft was powered by a 385hp Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar and was equipped with floats. Cobham later wrote "The reason for taking a seaplane on this flight was chiefly one of protection... From Calcutta to Australia it is simply impossible to land anywhere but on a specially prepared aerodrome. I did not like to contemplate being caught out in a severe monsoon storm over...tropical jungle, with no prospects of landing - and so decided that although a seaplane has many disadvantages as compared with an aeroplane, it would certainly be a far more practical and safe proposition."

Over Iraq Bedouin tribesmen fired at the aircraft breaking a fuel line and fatally wounding Elliot: he later died in hospital. Cobham took on Sgt. R W Ward of 84 Squadron, RAF, as a replacement and they arrived at Port Darwin on 5 August 1926.

At Darwin the floats were changed for wheels, more practical in Australia's dry interior, and Cobham and Ward set off for Melbourne, arriving on 15 August. The photo above shows the aircraft being lifted on the beach at Darwin prior to the wheels being fitted. The signwriting on the side of the aircraft reads 'SIR CHARLES WAKEFIELD / FLIGHT / TO AUSTRALIA / DH50' (Wakefield was the flight's sponsor).

The photo below shows the DH50J on its wheeled undercarriage.

Accompanied by Ward and Armstrong-Siddeley representative C. Capel, Cobham departed Melbourne/Point Cook on 29 August for Adelaide and Darwin, where the floats were re-fitted, and thence England, arriving on 1 October. Cobham thus became the first pilot to make a return flight from England to Australia in the same aircraft. On arrival, Cobham was knighted, Ward received the AFC and Capel an MBE.

In 1929 the fuselage of G-EBFO was later purchased by Norman Brearley of Western Australian Airways (WAA), fitted with a 300hp ADC Nimbus engine and shipped to Perth. There, wings, tail and undercarriage manufactured by WAA were fitted and the aircraft entered WAA service as VH-UMC. The aircraft's CofA lapsed in 1934.

(Photos: Top - CAHS/Edgar Johnston collection; Bottom - CAHS Collection)

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In 1926, the newly-knighted Sir Alan Cobham published the story of his flight, Australia and Back.

(Phil Vabre collection)

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