Last Thursday was the 76th anniversary since Sir Charles Kingsford Smith made a brief visit to Inverell aboard his plane the Southern Cross on June 18, 1933.

The crew at the time of this visit included Sir Charles, his two brothers, Mr W Kingsford Smith and Mr L Kingsford Smith, the engineer T Pethybridge and aircraftsman H Affleck.

Sir Charles was originally scheduled to land at the Glen Innes Road airstrip, but the pilot was quite happy to land on the area now known as Cameron Park, opposite the racecourse.

His plane was preceded by the Southern Cross midget.

A quote from the Inverell Times from that day gave an idea of the feelings the event created in the town.

“It’s interesting to remember that only a few years before, the Government, in its constant hunger for money, proposed to sell as town allotments, all this land adjacent to the sale yards.

“If it had not been for Ald McIlveen raising a furore in the council, passing a motion of protest and urging that the site be reserved as an aerodrome, people might still have to go to Long Plain to see this great aeroplane…”

The aerodrome for light aircraft took its place later on the Glen Innes Road, rather than Cameron Park.

The public were forewarned to stay away from the propellers as “they were hard to see in motion”.

Sir Charles also invited the public to attend early if they wished to take a flight.

Both planes were busy throughout the afternoon taking lucky passengers on joy flights over the town.

The planes were to leave the following day for Bingara with any passengers who paid one pound.

A quote from the newspaper of the day said “of the older generation, those who could look back to the day when there were no aeroplanes, no telephones and no typewriters – this triumph of man over secrets of the air is a real achievement.

“There are those who believe that the navigation of the air is as easy as the navigation of the sea, the air is just as buoyant as water…”