Sir Charles Kingsford Smith MC AFC (1897- last seen 1935) and Captain Charles Ulm (1898-last seen 1934) together founded Australian National Airlines. Kingsford Smith was a member of the Australian Flying Corps and the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, during which he was awarded the Military Cross. He worked in England, America and Australia as a stunt flyer and joy-flight pilot, and for West Australian Airways, before forming his own aviation company in 1924. He then embarked on a series of record flights with Ulm. The pair flew in record time around Australia, from America to Australia, from Point Cook near Melbourne to Perth, and from Sydney to Christchurch. Ulm disappeared on a flight from America to Australia, intending to demonstrate the feasibility of a commercial trans-pacific air service. Smith disappeared over the Bay of Bengal on an attempt at the Britain-Australia record.
