On this Day 10 December

This entry to my "Australia @ War" Blog has been provided by Gordon Clarke of ADF Serials:-

On this day 10th December 2009, it is the 90th anniversary of the arrival in Darwin of one Vickers Vimy G-EAOU, crewed by Ross and Keith Smith, Jim Bennett and Wally Shiers, after their epic flight from England. The Vimy of course was a twin engined bomber from World War 1 and was purchased as surplus in 1919 and then fitted out for the flight. They were met by hundreds of people at Darwin eager to get a glimpse of these intrepid or foolish airmen.

Another significant event on this date, but this time the location was Brisbane, was the departure in 1934 of the first Qantas air mail service from Brisbane to London. There was not the fanfare or turn out for this event as there was for the arrival of the Vickers Vimy, but a very significant event all the same.