Do Go On - 397 - Aviator Charles Kingsford Smith

Episode Date: May 31, 2023

You might have visited the airport in Sydney that's named after him, but what do you actually know about Australian aviator, Charles Kingsford Smith? This is the story of a man who fit A LOT into one lifetime. This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 05:29(though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report).Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPodLive show tickets: https://dogoonpod.com/live-shows/ Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/suggest-a-topic/Check out our merch: https://do-go-on-podcast.creator-spring.com/ Check out our AACTA nominated web series: http://bit.ly/DGOWebSeries​ Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/ Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasDo Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present.  REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kingsford_Smithhttps://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kingsford-smith-sir-charles-edward-6964https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/trailblazers/sir-charles-kingsford-smith/https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10676529 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serengy Amarna 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.

If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go One. My name is Dev Warnocky and as always I'm here with Matt Stewart and Jess Perkins. Gidey, good, how's it going? Tootley-Doo.

And what, that's not how does that go? I don't know. Is that a John Williamson? Probably. Or John Williams. Hi, Dave. Hey Dave, how good is it to be alive? The answer is so good.

I wish I was never born. We know that to be the case. Jess, you make my heart sing. Really? You're a wild thing. Anyway, what is, no, hang on, how does this show work? Jess, how does it work? What do I have to do it?

All right, it works like this. So one of the three of us chooses a topic, often with the help of the listeners that might be suggested by them, often even voted on by them like it is today. And we go away and we learn all about this topic. We take a deep dive. We smother ourselves in it. We get sick of it. We go away from it for a bit.

We come back after a little break. Maybe we've watched a season of Gotham. And we come back and then we write a report, almost like we're in high school, doing an oral presentation. We bring it in and we tell it to the other two while they politely listen and occasionally go on dog shit riffs that seem like they never end. We go on tangents. They get a bit tedious.

New listeners are like, I can't stand this. They turn it off. No, but like with any TV show, give it three Eps. You've got to give it three ups. I think you'll warm to us. You've got to give it three seasons. You've got to get three seasons. and then you're like, actually, I get it.

We've written this like it's a slow burn, much like Schitt's Creek, where people say, I hated it for the first three seasons, and then that was the best thing I ever watched. Assume we're going to win all of the Emmys, so whatever. So you want to get on on the ground floor. We like to think of this as shit riffs. That's right. And we always get on a topic with a question,

and Jess is doing the report today. What is your question? Before Mary Reby, who featured on the Australian $20 note? I feel like this might be like a trivia question that comes up. That was the lobster. So on the other side at the moment is John Flynn. Not John Flynn. Oh, the flying doctor himself.

So we're talking before it was like the plastic money. Yes. I'm trying to picture this because I am old enough to remember that money. Douglas Mawson? No. He was on the $100 note. With wearing the like the belliclava in the anti-Antarctic. Oh, yeah.

Am I right saying that? I was so confident. 100 or 10? I reckon I can see him next to a one. This is a tricky one. Green one. I always love the 10 because it's that greeny blue. It's a tough question.

I wouldn't have been able to tell you who's on a 20. Would I have heard of it? Oh, definitely. But I have another question that I could ask instead. Dame Nelly Melba. No. She's on the current. Is it anyone who's still on the money?

No, he's not on the money anymore. He's not on the money. Oh, been cancelled off the money. Been cancelled. Really? What does he do? Sydney's International Airport is named after who? Charles Kingford Smith.

Oh, my God. That's awesome. That's so good. I was going to do this one day as a sort of sequel to the dull air race. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's sort of linked into that, right? A little, yeah. And a similar kind of wild story and like a name that I knew because of the airport.

But there's a lot of names that pop up a lot everywhere. I mean, this isn't a uniquely Australian thing. Like, we name stuff after people. It's pretty crazy. But, you know, there's names that you know and I never really look into them. So it was actually, it's quite nice to sort of... Interesting. And is the rule that once you get an airport after you're off the money?

You're not allowed to have both. You can't have both. Yeah, it looks like favoritism. Totally. Give someone else a go. Other people have done stuff. Is JFK on money? You know, maybe on a coin?

Oh, there you go. But maybe not a note. You can have it all. Oh, not on a note. Maybe that's the rule. That might be the rule. I forgot that there was the airport. I'd forgotten what we were talking about.

And I was like, oh, he's on a coin? Like, what are you? Oh, okay. I see, I see. The thing we were just talking about. The Kennedy, half dollar. Half dollar. 50 cents.

Come on, guys. So confusing. We took the names off them. Why are they saying them wrong? Half dollar. Half dollar. Geez, we really are in the future. 50 cents?

They'll get there eventually. Also referred to as the half for short. Okay. I've never heard that. That's no good. I've never once heard that. They don't have 20s though, do they? They have quarters.

25. others. That's true. Which makes sense, I think. But they also have like one cent, which doesn't make sense. No, we got rid of them years ago. Yeah. Because we're in the future.

Was that around the same time we made plastic money? Yeah, I think it was. There used to be the one and two dollars used to be notes when I was a boy. Oh, wow. Actually, that wasn't when I was a boy. When I was a boy, it was Shrepancy and Snufflese's. How many Shrefansleys is one Nuffersley? What, seven strippersly to a Nufflesley.

And how much? would a loaf of bread cost. Oh, that would cost about five snippets work. Okay, wow. Inflation, am I right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This has been suggested by a couple of people. Nathan Damon from Perth and Peter Collins from Yars.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yars King. And yeah, it's a story I didn't really know. And it begins lastly. I'm enjoying this so far. Charles Edward Smith was born on the 9th of February 1897. You said it, sorry, Charles Kingsford Smith.

No. What? Charles Edward Smith It's almost like I fucking wrote the report, son I have got in five words And you've interrupted Can I take that back? No

I thought it'd be funny to say like I thought you misspoke You accidentally pronounced Kingsford as Edward No the damage is done and I'm hurt Can you start again We'll edit out everything that's happened so far I can't edit it out of my heart though I'm going to cut it out

Charles Edward Smith, born on the 9th of February 1897 at Riverview Terrace in Brisbane in Queensland, the son of William Charles Smith and his wife, Catherine, Mary. His mum Catherine was actually the daughter of Richard Ash Kingsford, a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and Mayor in both Brisbane and Cairns. Wow. At the same time? Surely not at the same time. Very far apart from each other.

So I'm guessing at different times. Wow, yeah. For American listeners, that's Maya. Maya. Maya. And water. Mr. Meyer. And squirrel.

Hey, look at that squirrel. Get the water. Craig. Craig, look at the squirrel. The squirrel and the water. Mayor Craig. Hey, Mayor Craig. Hey, do you need some water?

Watch down that cilantro. That's what you sound like. We love it. We love it. And we love it. Can't wait to be there and say it to your faces. Can I have a water? Can I have a water?

It's going to be a lot of them going, what are you saying? Why are you saying it like that? Why are you saying it like that? Yeah. This is how you talk. And then they'll be saying, we say no. Yeah, and we'll be saying, fuck you. We don't do that.

That's actually rude when people misrepresent how you talk. That's not how we don't. We don't do that. Very good at giving it. Very good at giving it. And equally good at taking it. Equally good at taking it. No doubt about that.

Absolutely. How dare you? God, we can laugh at ourselves. Yeah, yeah. We're very laid back. They're very cool and we're all surfers. We'll just listen to us. We'll tell you.

We'll tell you. Go on a TikTok and look at the comments under those sort of videos. Australians will tell you how laid back there. Yeah, we're very chill. And there's nothing more laid back than letting everyone know that you're laid back. It's been getting in the comment section. Yeah, death threats. In 1903, the family moved to Canada.

And while Charles's birth surname had been registered as Smith, it was around this time that the family started using Kingsford Smith as a surname. Is there... So, Fendix took that from his wife's family? Is that right? Or no, his mum. That's his mum.

Yeah. He married his mum. Wow. No, so his mum and dad hyphenated this. Yeah, pretty much, yeah. Put them together. Is that like a Canadian thing? They're like fresh start here.

Alice Citrombie Birtchel, for instance. Yeah. Yeah, Canadian. Canadian. Yeah, I don't know why. Maybe it sounded fancier. It definitely does sound. But doesn't it? Kingsford Smith.

Yeah. And it's not hyphenated, but it is still like a double-barreled name. He attended school in Vancouver before the family moved back to Australia in 1907, this time settling in Sydney. From 1909 to 1911, he was enrolled at San Andrews Cathedral School in Sydney, where he sang in the school choir. And then at Sydney Technical High School before becoming an engineering apprentice with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company at 16. CSR! CSR sugar! This whole time, didn't know what it was.

I didn't know what that was either. Colonial sugar refining. When he sang in the choir, this is probably how good to start an aeroplanes. He would have sung for that Qantas ad. Yeah. I've been to cities that never closed down. Why have I gone the high bit? From New York to Rome and old London town.

But no matter how far or how wide I roam. I still call Australia home. God, it really gets you. Yeah. Gosh, I'm wiping away the tears. When you're a bit jet lagged or when you have been overseas for a while, that one and Walsing Matilda, it really gets you. Let me tell you.

And rip, rip, whip, wood chip, turn it into paper. Those three really get you. Funnily enough, not the national answer. No, God, no. But maybe the seekers. Or neighbors Oh, God! Oh no, I've got neighbors.

And they're in Australia. Especially with Barry Crocker's version, the original and the best. Wow. A couple of years later, it's 1915. The First World War is beginning. Smithy, he's freshly 18, and having spent three years in the cadets, he enlisted for duty in the first AIF, Australian Imperial Force, and served at Gallipoli as a Sapper and a motorcycle dispatch rider in Egypt and France.

Sapper's are combat engineers who support frontline soldiers. But a motorcycle dispatch rider. That's cool. That sounds cool. It does not sound cool. That does not very cool. But Sapper is one of the words, the first words in KSan. Another classic two-jerk in Australian tune.

I left my heart to the Sapper's man, KSan or Sappers land. Is that right? Doesn't matter. An early Google of something relevant. No, certainly not Googling. Just going into my mind here. Previous topic, Jimmy Barnes, singer of. Yeah, I didn't know what a Sapper was.

In March of 1917, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and earned his pilot's wings shortly thereafter. Did you figure it out? No, it's just funny. It's just funny to think that pilots get literal wings. Yeah, just in case. You can fly now. There you go.

Okay, isn't it so funny? I heard this like a million times. Never knew what the lyric actuals. I left my heart to the Sapper's round, K-San. I always thought I left my heart to the Sapper's round. the Sapper's man, KSang. She makes no sense. That's just really on Jimmy's diction.

Is it like man, comma, KSAN? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and everything happens very quickly back in the day, particularly in war, because only a few months after transferring, he's a full-blown pilot. Wow, we lost all the others. You can have a go now. You have a go.

Having been promoted to flying officer, he was posted to the number 23 squadron in France in July of 1917. In his first month of flying, he shot down four German aircraft. and he himself was shot down and wounded. His injuries resulted in him having two of his toes amputated, but he was otherwise okay. Wow, that's a, you get shot down an airplane. You'd probably take a couple of toes.

Yeah, imagine falling from the sky and you land on your toes. Yeah. Ow! Ow! Like stubbing your toe, how bad that is? Imagine doing that with the force of a plane crashing. God, you'd be, you know how sometimes people stub their toes and they make a real song and dance about it?

And you're like, okay, I know it hurts, but let's move on with our day. Yeah. I think if that's the case, you could be like, nah, fair. Yeah. Fair. You can really, yeah, you can milk that one if you want. Ow, this really hurts. Yeah.

Cut it out. Your three metres in a ditch made by your toe. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Oh, that hurts. You can do a bit of that, I think. And literally stubbed his toe too. He just had stubs remaining. Yep.

He was awarded the Military Cross for his, for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in battle. And he was promoted to lieutenant. and served as an RFC flight instructor for the rest of the war. So he's only just become a pilot and he's teaching other pilots. They did it different back then. Don't do what I did. Get shot down and land on your toe. It reminds me when I did an improv class many years ago.

And the teacher is a lovely guy. I still know. I'm a very funny guy. But he sort of sat down and he was taking us through the first lesson. And he's talking about all his experience and stuff. And someone's like, oh, how long have you been? been doing improv. He said, I started last year. Incredible stuff. He started learning a year before.

Yeah, and now he's teaching. And just talking about it like, you know, you'll go through the ups and downs. I've been through it all. I am, of course, one week ahead of you, so I know what you're about to go to. Let me be your Sherpa. I will guide you through the, oh, the troughs and the exhilarating highs that will come for you in the next six days. So funny. That's really great. He was transferred to the newly established Royal Air Force, and in early 1919, with the war over, he and his fellow servicemen were demobilized.

So he could have returned home to Australia, as so many soldiers did. But instead, he joined forces with fellow Australian Cyril Maddox, and together they formed Kingsford Smith Maddox Aeros LTD. Okay. They got their hands on a couple of surplus biplanes and offered Joyrides. mainly in the north of England. It's just like, I could go home or start a small business. I'm an entrepreneur. Yes.

With a catchy name like that, you know, the business is making itself. Exactly. It's just, it's recognisable, it's easy to Google. It's eye-catching. So is Kingsford Smith, honey, Maddox. Kingsford Smith, comma, Maddox, Eros. Okay. Yep.

L-TD. Can't believe you didn't just like have that locked and loaded. After doing that for a while, he traveled to the US and got work as a barn store. And if you're not familiar with that term, it was a very popular form of entertainment, particularly in the 20s in the US, where stunt pilots would perform tricks, either solo or in groups. And it was kind of initially devised to show the general public how skilled pilots are and also how sturdy planes are.

But if you, like, read anything about barnstorming, it's usually like terrible accidents and, you know, stunts gone wrong and stuff. But initially they're sort of like, you know, we'll just fly the plane around, do a little loop-de-loop, and people go, wow. Yeah, this is a safety demonstration as we turn the engines off and dive 20,000 feet and then hope to pull up. Turn them back on and pull for life. It's funny, the Barnes saw. I was just talking about Jimmy Barnes and Colt Tizzle before.

He's got a band now called The Barnstormers. Love it. He's on vocals and then Living End's Chris Cheney on guitar, stray cat, slim Jim Phantom on drums and Kevin Caveman Shirley on bass as well as Jules Holland. What a wild band. Really? That's an amazing band. Chris Cheney though. Holy shit.

It's such a crush on Chris Cheney for such a long time. It's more of a Scott guy, you know, standing on the bass. Oh, yeah. Was that his name? Oh, you love him so much. I like one of their many drummers. Yeah, I like that first drummer with the quiff and obviously the drummer now as well. Good on them all.

Good on all drummers. Keep on drumming. So yeah, he's like, he's running Joy Flats in the UK and he's a barns. or in the US and I always, I find myself so impressed when people in the old days went and travelled and worked overseas. Like, it's so common now. And I still see it as like, oh, that's a fun adventure when people move overseas. But because it's just so much, so much more accessible, it's kind of like, well, you can pop home whenever. But I don't know, if I hear it like, back in the day, I hear it Australian was in the US in the 20s. I'm like, holy freaking shit.

Yeah, because there's no like emailing or applying for a job in advance. You just got to go there and then work it out. Yeah. I mean, Like, what was the visa situation back then? Could you just turn up? It's wild. It feels like that just even with like old-timey shows or, you know, like period shows where Americans are going to L.A. And they rock up with a briefcase and a bag and they go,

A big city. Hey, can I get a job? Like, yeah, start tomorrow, kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess it works like that. But you've come all the way from Australia, which is so far away. Cross your fingers. Go on door to door.

Yeah. Got a job or a place I can live? Sure, son. It's pretty cool. Anyway, he eventually returned to Australia in 1921 and applied for a commercial pilots license. Sir Norman Brearley, who had also flown planes in the war with the RFC, had returned to Australia and had founded Western Australian Airways, which was based in Geraldton in Western Australia.

Otherwise, Western Australian Airways would be a bad name. Just a little tidbit I read about Norman Brearley. Apparently, in November of 1916, he was shot down and badly wounded with bullets, perforating both lungs. Okay. He had landed in no man's land but managed to crawl back to Allied lines. He crawled.

Shot in the lungs. He's got no lungs. Both lungs perforated. That is... Isn't that incredible? Wow. It would have been quicker to walk though, wouldn't it? So that's the thing.

Yeah. I guess he was trying to stay under the bullets. You got to crawl before he can walk. And he was also... He didn't have lungs. No, well, no, you didn't say lost his lungs. They were perforated, though. Isn't that even better?

Like, you don't even have to use your nose or mouth. You're just breathing straight out your chest. He's sucking in from all sides. Yeah. Like speed holes. Yeah, actually, yeah. Makes breathing faster, quicker, easier. More efficient.

I thought that was impressive, but he sounds like a bit of an idiot. No, sorry, you're right. That is impressive. That is, that is impressive. And that's the kind of badass. Yeah, it is kind of badass. There's another fun tidbit is that he was issued. with Australia's first civil pilots license.

His license was numbered as license number two, but there was no license number one. His was the first. A license of that number, number one, was issued in 1930 when it was presented to Amy Johnson in honor of her record flight from London to Australia because she was the first woman to do it. So she got license number one.

They're like, I guess you can do it. We'll save it for you if you can make it. Yeah, okay, tuts. See how you go. They're like, honestly, we probably don't need the written exam at this point. Just take the license. You got a kitchen on your plane, do you? Good on, you laugh.

All right. And then she did it. She did it. She had a kitchen on her plane. She had a kitchen. She made everybody a sandwich. Anyway, so Norman Brearley, he has started Western Australian Airways, and he's looking for pilots.

This is the punctured lunger. Punching lunger. He's sort of like a dipper in the 1989 grand final, who had punctured his lung, the game. Did he crawl across the one? Well, that's the thing. He didn't.

He was running around. But he's the only puncture one lung. Yeah, that's true. So, yes, good point. This guy's like double dipper. Yeah. Double dipper. That's very good.

I think I've ever made Matt so proud. He just looked so delighted. It's like, finally you're having a bit of stupid fun. You're always so serious. Such a stuff shirt. Yeah. Double dipper, just a bit of fun. That is something I've been accused of.

Stiff shirt. What a stuff shirt? You're a stiff shirt. Stiff shirt. Anyway, Norman Brearley, he's looking for pilots. Our man Smithy was one of the first selected, and he piloted a plane that did a biweekly mail drop to astronomers who were on an expedition to record an eclipse that was going to happen.

And this is from atlas obscure.com. The purpose of this expedition was to test Einstein's theory of general relativity, which had been published in 1915. In order to do this, to see whether Einstein's prediction that light from distant stars would bend around the sun was correct, they needed perfect conditions to photograph the sun during totality. Anyway, the best spot to do this was in Wallall, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia,

a very remote isolated area. So Kingswood Smith is flying in Western Australia, and all the while he's dreaming up something a little bigger. This is from the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Realising the great potential for air transport in Australia, Kingsford Smith formed a partnership in 1924 with fellow pilot Keith Anderson. They raised the capital to buy two Bristol Tours, little planes, by operating a trucking business from Canavan,

and in 1927 they returned to Sydney to operate with Charles Alm. He'll come up a lot, another pilot, as interstate flying services. After tendering unsuccessfully for an Adelaide to Perth, mail service, the partners launched a series of important demonstration flights. So essentially they're like, they start doing like impressive flights to show people how reliable planes are to get themselves jobs. Oh, clever. So that like they want to get, they want the government to choose them to be the mail carrier,

which is going to set, set themselves up. So to do that, they're like, we'll just do these crazy flights to show them that we're good at flying planes. Yeah. If we can do this, we can deliver a package. We can drop off the mail. All right. One of these, on the first of these flights in June 1927,

Kingswood Smith and Charles Arm completed a round Australia circuit in 10 days and 5 hours, a notable achievement with minimal navigational aids. They just zipped around Australia. I don't know exactly where they went, but they were the first to do it. And off the back of this success, Smith sought financial backing to attempt a trans-Pacific flight, something no one had done before. The New South Wales government gave him a 9,000 pound grant, as well as backing from Sydney Meyer,

businessmen and philanthropist, most notably, the founder of the department store Maya, and the namesake of Melbourne's Sydneymire Music Bowl. Again, I was like, oh yeah, the Maya guy. And I is my still? Sydney Meyer, Maya is like a, they're an important Melbourne family. Yeah. I didn't know that much about him.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know any more than what, you just said. Yeah. What about the windows people? Well, that's at my store, Dave. I know that. Jesus. Yeah.

But yeah, the... He did a lot. I think what a... I think it's such a great... People start wanting to have a legacy. Having like a cool central music amphitheater in the city is not a bad one. Yeah. And I guess they've set up a trust to make sure that they haven't had to sell the rights to the name.

Yeah, I don't know. I wonder if Maya would buy them. Or David Jones just a sticker. As if David Jones has the money. Stop that, Jonesy. Harris scarf? Yeah, Harris Scarf. The big W.

The Harvey Bowl. The J.B. High-Fi bowl. Oh, now I'm talking Turkey. I'd love that. Yeah, so anyway, they've got a grant from the New South Wales government and also from Sydney Meyer and also a Californian oil magnate, G. Ellen Hancock. Incredible stuff. So with all this financial backing, they're able to get a three-engined Fokker plane,

which they called the Southern Cross. Because we're fucking obsessed with the Southern Cross, aren't we? We're the only ones. It's a diamond. I don't know why people call it a cross. To me, I look at it, I see a diamond. Is that me? Is that just me?

The Southern Diamond. Yeah. That's still nice. Yeah. Hmm. Makes you think. So they're going to attempt a Pan Pacific, a Trans-Pacific flight. So he's going to need a team.

I love a rag tech. This is my favorite part of an action movie. Yeah. Where they're getting a team together. One of them real small? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Can they do a lot of flips?

A little contortionists. I loved Oceans 11. Yeah, same. I was probably about 11 years old, and I was like, this is the greatest thing I've ever seen. And fuck you, Andy Garcia. Yeah, what a dog. Absolutely. Barty joins the team in later.

I don't want to. No spoilers. So obviously he takes his buddy Charles Ulm, whose role was relief pilot, and then there were two Americans, a radio operator named Jim Warner, a navigator and engineer, Harry Lyon. The four men took off on the 31st of May, 1928, leaving from Oakland, California. The flight was split into three stages. The first stage was from Oakland to Wheeler Army Airfield in Oahu in Hawaii.

This stage covered a distance of 3,870 kilometers, or 2400 miles, and went off without a hitch, luckily, taking them 27 hours and 25 minutes. Oh, that's a long time. It's so wild that people would do what no one had done before for that long. Yeah. Just like 27 hours. Anything goes wrong, we die.

But we'll just do it. I'll be right. Yeah. This is, so I'm just trying to think of the timing of this because the dull air race was, this was when it was really taking off this sort of stuff. It was the 20s as well. And, yeah, it's funny, I already can't quite remember if this came before or just after, but it was around the exact same time, I think.

And where was, can you remind me? Dole Air Race also went from California to Hawaii. That was it, though. Yes, that's right. And this one continues on. Yes, it does, yeah. 1927 was the, was the Dol Air Race. Yep.

So, yeah, this one's just, yeah, this is sort of them taking it. So already they're like, okay, we've got to take it even further now. Yeah, yeah. Isn't it crazy? Because they kind of called the Dole Air Race the first Trans-Pacific thing, but why is really, it's only sort of halfway through it, right? The Pacific's huge. But what they did, technically, the ocean they would fly across was Pacific.

Yeah. So what are you going to? What's the difference between Pan Pacific and Trans-Pacific? I have no idea. I think I just misspoke before. Yeah. I don't know. Let's find out.

Pan Pacific. Because that's like a swimming tournament, isn't it? Oh, the Pan Amps. Or Pan-Pax. Yeah. Was that ever called us a pan amp as well? Pan Amp as well. Pan Am, I feel like that's an airplane thing.

I think Pan Pacific's just a chain of hotels. Pan Pacific means the region including Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and Australia. Got you. This is Trans-Pacific. Pan Am would be Pan. America's probably, maybe. Who knows? Probably people, but we're idiots.

So they've flown from California to Hawaii in 27 hours. hours. From there, they headed for Suva in Fiji, traveling another 5,000 kilometers or 3,000 miles. This league of the journey was rough and demanding. As they neared the equator, they flew through a massive lightning storm, but they made it through taking 34 hours and 30 minutes. 34 hours. How many in-flight meals are you getting in that time? That's right. I suppose, like, as a relief pilot, your job is snacks, because everybody else is busy. You got the engineer, you got the radio guy and like, you know. Right, that's the relief you give them.

Relief from hunger. Snacks. Hey, you want some peanuts up there? Yeah, they're also making sure all the blinds are down. Yes. So that they can sort of start getting used to the time zone that you're going to arrive at. Yeah. Have a meal and instant they put you into darkness.

You're like, I don't want to go straight to sleep. This is confusing. Yeah, yeah. I did see a TikTok recently from a flight attendant who said the shades up for like takeoff and stuff is in case of a crash landing. and you can see where you are and stuff. I was like, oh. Right. But then you could open them, but no, okay.

Yeah, I don't. I don't fully get it. In my head, it was just them trying to, you know, like in the army, make sure you, you know, like that. But basically, making sure that you just follow instructions from the start. You know your position. Yeah. Put them up.

I'm the boss. Shine your shoes. That's what it feels like. Drop and give me 20. Yeah. Just in case. Yeah. Because you're up and it's,

Bloody, you're basically an international, not waters, but air. I was thinking that they wanted it up just so you can make, you know, use of the fantastic views. You don't want to miss out. Has you come into land? Yeah, they, but, and they're like, I don't care if you don't want to see it. You'll look. You'll look and you'll like it. Look at that city.

I don't care how many times you've seen it. That's a beautiful skyline. I don't care that you live here. You won't just look. You'll like it. And I can tell. Yeah. So you better fucking like it.

You better fucking like it, mate. So the second leg, they've made it 34 hours crazy. The third and final leg of the journey was the shortest. It was a mere 2,700 kilometres, or about 1,600 miles. And they did that in 20 hours. Oh, a piece of head. It's so long. They landed in Brisbane at 10.50 a.m.

on the 9th of June, 10 days after they'd left California. A crowd of over 25,000 people welcomed them at Brisbane Airport, and the men were celebrated for their massive achievement. They were the first to fly across the Pacific. But do you think he's done? Absolutely not. In August the same year, just a couple of months after being the first to fly across the Pacific, he decided to have a crack at being the first to fly across Australia.

They hadn't done that yet. It feels like that would be the thing you do first. You'd think so. There's another thing coming up that again you'd think they'd do first. Yeah, because it's like not as far. And also, oh, there's places to crash land if you need to. Yep. So, probably good trial run.

Yeah. Although crashing in a lot of the centre of Australia, you may as well crash in the ocean. Yeah. Just delaying the inevitable. Yeah. That's true. So they took off from Point Cook just outside Melbourne, and it was Kingsett Smith and Charles Um.

And they successfully landed in Perth and ticked another first off the list. It's just like it's one dot point. It's one sentence in most resources. It's just like, yeah, then they flew from Melbourne to Perth. Anyway, first to do it. Which is still a longish flight. Yeah. It's like five hours or something like that.

Yeah, and that's on a modern jet. Yeah, that's right. And so the two men then decided to start their own airline, Australian National Airways and once again decided to do something that had never been done before in the hopes of landing a contract with the government for their airline to be a mail carrier.

So now if you've already crossed the Pacific, what's next? Ooh, Antarctica. Cross the other way. Oh shit. Recross it. Nah, just the Tasman. Oh, the Tasman.

They'd flown from California to Australia before they'd even pop next door to New Zealand. Amazing. Do they forget they were there? Come on. They're right there. They're right there. One of the most beautiful countries in the world.

They talk so similarly to us. Yeah. They don't say, we say across the ditch. They say across the Dutch. And it's fun. It's fun. There's better. Oh my God,

there's so much better. I don't think there's anything they do that's not better than what we do. God, I love that place. I love that people. You know the whole population of New Zealand is smaller than the population of Melbourne? What? Isn't that crazy?

That makes sense. That's what I was looking up instead of writing this report. The bigger things get, the worst they get for the moment. 100%. So that's why they're able to maintain their greatness. I love them. And that's why the Vatican is the greatest country. You won't hear any arguments from us.

We're real Vatican files, aren't we, Maddie? Yeah, we're Vettos. We're big Vadoes over here. We're VAT heads. We love them. You're pro-Vat? We're big pro-Vat. We're tin cans.

Vatican. Yeah. That's fun. That's fun. That's fun. That's fun, Dave. Grow up. I agree.

Cry up and lighten. I'm a popophile. I'm a big fan. So they're like, well, we're going to fly from Australia to New Zealand. However, only a few months earlier in January of 1928, two New Zealanders had attempted this very flight. Lieutenant John Moncrief and Captain George Hood had planned their attempt for a long time, and the two took off from Richmond outside of Sydney on the 10th of January.

The flight was expected to take about 14 hours, but just over 12 hours. But just over 12 hours into the flight, signals from their plane, the Altieroa, ceased abruptly. From his great aviation website I found, Wikipedia.org. Oh, that'll be for wings. That's right. From Wiki, it says, with the cessation of radio signals, hopefulness gave way to anxiety, although the relatively poor reliability of airborne radio at the time did not necessarily mean that loss of signal equaled the loss of the aircraft. Searchlights were used to aluminum.

the clouds that were building up, and rockets were still being sent up at 104 a.m. on the 11th of January. It sounds risky. I don't really know what they mean by rockets. I'm not sure the plane is. Fire rockets in the sky. Get the bazooker. We'll find it one way or another. So the crowd is just sort of standing around waiting. Also, lighting up clouds. Like, you mean the cloud that's right there? Unless they're right there. They're not going to sit there. I know. I'm not, I don't know what they mean by rockets. I'm sure it's something else, but okay. People are just waiting around. Moncrief, Hood and the Altauroa were never seen again.

So they didn't make it. And that's only in January. These guys are trying it in like August, September. So it's only a few months later they're going to have a go. But you can sort of understand why they'd have some confidence based on what they've done in recent times. But yeah, that's all it takes is one little thing to go wrong, isn't it? That's right. One little rocket.

That's right. One little rocket launched directly at your plan. They're like, we never saw them in. We don't know what happened to them. There was this weird thing where after we shot one of the rockets, there was a sort of flaming wreck that fell into the ocean. Yeah. But anyway, don't know what that was.

No sign of the plane. We saw a wreckage. Yeah. We pulled that in. Yeah. But, um, yeah. Didn't have any wings, so I guess it's not a plane. There's no way it could have flown.

It was on fire. And when they left Sydney, they weren't on fire. Yeah. We're sure of it. It's not them. Nobody, everybody in Sydney says they were not on fire. So, I don't know. So the two men just attempted this seven months earlier and lost their lives trying.

And Smith and Ulm planned to depart also from Richmond, and they took off on Sunday, September 10th, 1928. They were accompanied by fellow Australian navigator Harold Arthur Litchfield and radio operator Thomas H. McWilliams, who is a New Zealander. Unlike Moncrief and Hood, who had left early in the morning to try to make the most of the daylight, Kingswood Smith left Richmond in the evening, planning to fly overnight to a daylight landing after a flight of about 14 hours. It was a 2,600 kilometre or 1,600 mile planned route. And it was just over half the distance between Hawaii and Fiji, which they'd just done earlier that year. Like two months ago, they've just done.

So they're a piece of piss. Absolutely. And that was the short, no, the last league was the shortest. Like, this is quite a long one. But yeah, they're like, well, whatever, it's half. We can do it. So are you saying there's two flights going? Kingston Smith was going later than the other?

No, no, no, I'm saying the ones who had tried early in the year, they'd left really early in the morning to try and, like, get as much daylight as possible. Whereas he was more about, let's go the night. I want to make it easy for the crowd to be there. Yeah. Also, like, if you're landing at night, that's probably why they're sending up the rockets. He's worried they'll do that again. Yeah, during the day, it would be harder for them to put the rockets up.

They can't shoot you. No, but they can see you in the day. They can, yes. So they can aim the rockets better. But they won't light up the cloud with one torch. That's right. So, you know, you've got to take what you. get. After a stormy flight, at times through icy conditions, the Southern Cross made landfall

in much improved weather near the Cook Strait, the passage between New Zealand's two islands, the two main islands. At an estimated 240Ks out of New Zealand, the crew dropped a wreath in memory of the two New Zealanders who had disappeared during their attempt earlier that year. That's nice, I guess. Dropped a little wreath. They landed at Wigram Aerodrome near Christchurch at 922 a.m. after a flight time of 14 hours and 25 minutes. I looked it up, that flight takes three hours now. Yeah. Obviously, it's like almost 100 years later, but it's just like 14 hours and 25 minutes. Were the Kiwis confused when they arrive? They're like, why is your plane called Southern Cross? What does that mean? What's that mean? We've never heard of that. Never heard of it.

That must be an Australian thing. You must be an Australian thing. Oh, you've got one on your flag. Oh, that's cool. That's interesting, I guess. We can't see it. No. And we have. And we have no interest in it. No, no. Thanks so much. We can only see four stars. Yes. So we've put them on our flow.

We've got four red stars. It looks similar, but ours's different. It's a southern diamond. About 30,000 people gathered to welcome them upon their arrival. Apparently state schools were given the day off so students could go. Love that. And apparently, most, if not all, public servants were also given the morning off. They didn't have to start work till 11 that day, so they could go.

This is why you go to a public school, why you're working the public service. The private sector, they're all about the money. Yeah. They're not about giving your days off to look at a plane. Kingsett Smith and Ulm were taken on a triumphant tour of New Zealand while their plane was overhauled by the New Zealand Air Force. I mean, I hope the other two guys that were with them were also taken on this tour, but it's mostly, it's all about Kingsett Smith.

And remember, they also had to do that flight again to get back home. Oh, yeah. Which they did. So the Air Force takes their plane, you know, fixes it up for him, refueles it, gives it a little polish, and they're like, off you go again. So they fly back home, and the flight home was much more difficult. They were hampered by fog and severe weather and a minor navigational error, and the flight back to Richmond took over 23 hours.

Oh, that seems like more than a minor navigational error. Yeah. They went to Cairns first and had to fly for it down the coast. It was beautiful. Because it took him 14 hours one way, 23 coming back. Apparently, upon touchdown, the aircraft only had a number. enough fuel left for 10 more minutes of flying. Really just made it.

Man, you're hard to be pumping, isn't it? Oh my God. So stressful, but they made it. Remember how I mentioned they started their own airline? Well, they did that only a few months later. Australian National Airways was officially founded in the 3rd of January, 1929. The company operated a regular passenger and airmail service between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. And then in January of 1931, that extended to Launceston and Hobart in Tazzi.

And from Wikipedia again, unable to obtain a formal mail subsidy, the deepening of the Great Depression saw revenues fall, a situation that worsened after the crash of VHUMF, Southern Cloud, as the name of the plane, in the Australian Alps between Sydney and Melbourne on the 21st of March 1931. One of their planes crashed, which is never good for business. No. ANA ceased scheduled services at the end of June 1931, although it continued to operate joy flights mostly around New South Wales and offered pilot training services with a fleet of small aircrafts.

Late in 1931, ANA attempted to open an Australia to England airmail service with a special Christmas airmail flight that was interrupted by the crash, another crash of VHUNA Southern Sun in Malaya, after lengthy efforts to interest the Australian government in subsidising a regular Australia to UK airmail service failed, they went into voluntary liquidation in April of 1933, and its remaining assets were sold off. So that kind of, that dream and that business only lasted a couple of years.

They did that by shooting a rocket at the business. Liquidated. So that's the only way they knew how back then. Yeah, it's a liquid rocket. It's a bit gross. So a bit of a short-lived dream there, but Charles Kingsford Smith is really packing a lot. lot into a life, you know. How old's he at this point? That was in 1933. So he's like late 20s,

early 30s, maybe. Yeah, I think you said 1897 he was born. Yeah, that's right. So 30s, mid 30s. Mid 30s. It's amazing. Yeah. By that time, I'd done an equal amount. Probably. Set a few records. Yeah. I've sort of cruised in a few hundred years since, but. I think that's fine. I think you weren't it. Yeah. You know, a lot of people do it the other way around where they kind of cruise early in their life and then they sort of wait for retirement to really do any achievements by that time you're tired and you're old you know I think you did it the right way yeah yeah yeah you're a real child prodigy yes back in the well yeah I've been middle ages middle ages yeah your 40s the middle ages were my middle ages yeah that's right

and it's just sort of been you're kind of plateau at some point don't you yeah at what sort of age do you feel like you've plateaued so like how do you what age do you still feel like you are I still feel like I'm No older than, what, 450. Yeah, right, okay. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, still feeling fresh. You're dreaming if you think you look 450. Well, no, I don't look 450, but I feel 450.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In my mind. But honestly, a bit of sunscreen wouldn't kill you. It'd probably help, actually. It might be too late. Don't worry about it. In June, this is, we're going back a little bit. In June of 1930, he achieved an east to west crossing of the Atlantic from

island to Newfoundland in 31 and a half hour. again flying the Southern Cross, that little plane that could. Wow, it's a tough little plane. Yeah, 31 and a half hours. I can't believe it. It's crazy to me that this is a one-sentence tidbit on Wikipedia. Here it is. In 1930, he competed in an England to Australia air race,

and flying solo won the event taking 13 days. That's it. I can't find any information on that. That feels like that could have been the report in itself. Yeah. A 13-day solo trip. Incredible. Flew from England to Australia.

He won. And that was non-stop. Crazy. Where did he piss? He had to, birds had to fly fuel to him. How did he sleep? It was very complicated. Yeah, I couldn't find much about it.

I'm sure there is stuff, but, you know, like, sometimes you're writing on a bit of time pressure. You mean you didn't visit the National Archive? I didn't. You didn't go to the State Library? But a lot of the resources I were using were from like the War Memorial, like the War Museum and stuff. And they didn't really talk about this very much. They were like, this is between wars. No one gives you some stuff.

Who cares? He flew? Did he have any guns? Most Google searches came up with the results about McRobinson's air race, which was held in 1934, which I'll talk about in a sec, but it's not this particular one. So all I know is he flew solo from England to Australia and took 13 days and he won a race. That's so awesome. By the way, Dave, yeah, he's our age at this point.

1930. I've won a few races. Have you? Yeah. What races have you won, Dave? Race to the bottom. Come on, mate. We've been at the bottom for a long time.

You met us there. Also, in 1930, Kingswood Smith was the inaugural recipient of the Segrave Trophy awarded for outstanding skill, courage and initiative on land, water, or in the air. Okay. So that rules out in gas form. Or underground, I guess. Or on the moon. Moles are going, yeah, never get our award.

fucking typical. Yeah. That is so funny. That's very vague. In the air on the ground or in the water. They're like, whatever, just take it. But not on the astral plane. In April of 1931, he flew the Southern Cross on an emergency mission to pick up mail for Australia

from a damaged Imperial Airways plane that was in Timor. In September, he also made a flight to England in a new Avro-Avian biplane. plane, which was called Southern Cross Minor, intending to gain publicity with an immediate return flight. But his health was showing the strains of an arduous career and the return trip was abandoned on medical advice. In November, however, when one of his company planes under contract to fly Christmas mail to England was damaged, he took off in another plane to collect the stranded mail, flew it to England in time for Christmas delivery and returned with mail for Australia. And he's kind of doing all of this to sort of be like, give me the

fucking I'll be the official male guy. How have they not done that? He just wants to be a posty. He wants to be a postie. He's doing all of this and they're like, hmm. And in the process, he basically became Santa then. I will deliver it by Christmas. Don't worry.

In one night, I'll do all of England. That is amazing. And to think like any one of these flights, you know, there's a high chance of fatality. Yeah, he's doing them all. And he, like, that probability goes up, you know. Yeah. Like an infinite amount when you're. add all the flights together.

Right. And he's never hitting any real trouble. It feels like he's spending more time in the air than on land. What's he running from? That's the real question. He was knighted in 1932. He received that accolade on the 3rd of June from his excellency Sir Isaac Isaacs, the Governor General of Australia,

for services to aviation and later was appointed honorary Air Commodore of the Royal Australian Air Force. Wow. So he's definitely like highly respected in regard. He's getting all these things. He just wants to be a posty! I just want to, I just want to send the mail. I don't want to be an air commodore. I just love mail.

I want to be a posty. This is back to the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Inevitably, he was attracted by the announcement that a London to Melbourne air race sponsored by Sir MacPherson Robertson. McPherson is your first name? With a prize of 10,000 pounds would be a feature of Victoria's centenary celebrations. With financial help from friends and sponsors, he bought a fast two-seater, Lockheed Altair, which he named Lady Southern Cross.

Is it getting confusing now? So which one you want? Which one is it? And he invited Sir P.G. Taylor to accompany him in the race. The plan had to be dropped when modifications to the aircraft could not be completed in time. That was the McPherson Air Race that happened in 1934 that I was talking about before. Because I was Googling this 1930 race and nothing. was coming up, but they did it in 1934, a wild time.

So they were planning on, of course, he's going to be like, yeah, I'll do that. I'll fly that. But they couldn't get the Noss in the plane in time. I mean the Noss. The Noss delivery was laid. It just threw everything off. So Kingfitt Smith and Taylor then flew Lady Southern Cross from Brisbane to San Francisco in October of 1934 in order to sell it and reimburse sponsors.

because they'd had all these people like sponsor them and give them money for this and then they didn't do the race and now they're like fuck now we've got to pay everybody back so they're going to sell the plane sell the plane but just doing that just flying to san francisco to try and sell the plane that west to east trans pacific flight was another first in aviation history and they're just doing it to sell the plane and they're just setting more records it's ridiculous basically accidentally setting records just by breathing yeah he's like i've just got to take it to san francis Francisco, I don't know. Like, nobody's ever done.

Haven't they? All right. Well, I guess I'll do it. They left the Lady Southern Cross in the US, hoping to find an American buyer and returned to Australia to the long-awaited authorization for a trans-Tasman airmail service. They can finally deliver some mail. So they began the inaugural flight 15th of May, 1935. Before dawn and some 500 miles or 800Ks out over the Tasman, a damaged propeller blade

had put one of the three motors out of action. and a second motor threatened to seize as it was rapidly burning oil. So they're in trouble. Taylor bravely climbed out of the cockpit. And jumped off. He did the right thing. Good luck in there. And he managed to collect enough oil from the sump of the dead motor to replenish the other.

That is wild. Yeah. Midair. Yeah. Just over the Tasman. Just grab a bit oil here, put it in this one. Ridiculous. by jettisoning cargo and finally most of the mail bags.

This is why they never trusted him with it. No, he's not the male. He's jettisoning the mail. That's the last thing you do. That's the posty oath. Exactly. People first, male last. Yeah, people first.

As in people overboard first. Yeah, the male will fly the plane. Yeah, yeah. Come last. Overboard first. Exactly. I don't see how people get so. confused by this, the posting oath.

I think, I don't think he was the, yeah, the only one who struggled to get a job in the post, I was I'm pretty sure Valentino Rossi only ever rode Grand Prix bikes to get a, a little posty bike round. But he had to, for a long time, it was on the top of the world. He's like, come on. He's like, oh, yeah, look, I'm winning Grand Prix every freaking week. And I can deliver you mail. I can deliver mail.

Do it fast. And like, mm, we're not sure. It must be so frustrating. You seem like a people first kind of guy. The male first. Come on, Valentino. So, yeah, they've had to ditch. Mick Duhin, of course, though, he very successfully transitioned from Grand Prix to the post-year-round.

The great Mick. Well, I know, I get it, so there's no need to explain. So they're getting rid of cargo and mail, and eventually they managed to nurse the Southern Cross back to Sydney. Oh, yeah, I think they were back in their classic. Southern Cross. They ditched most of the mail on their inaugural mail delivery flight. So that's not great, is it? By this time, he's 38 years old and has dedicated his entire life and career to demonstrating the potential of aviation. He arranged for the still unsold Lady Southern Cross to be shipped to England. And from there, he and co-pilot John Thompson Pethybridge decided to attempt to break the record for an

England to Australia flight. They were actually the first to ship a plane on that route. And they got a medal for it. The record was then held by English aviators CWA Scott and Tom Campbell Black, who had won the McRobinson Air Race the year before. I've heard of Country Women's Association Scott. They did it in a time of 71 hours. And that was the race that Kingswood Smith wanted to partake in. But again, the Noss didn't get delivered.

So they're like, we're going to break that record. You know, we might not be the first to do it whatever. To them, it'd be a doddle. Yeah, easy-peasy, 71 hours. Okay. Yeah. So, Kingswood Smith and J.T. Pethybridge. He's got to be an Englishman, right?

That name is superb. I think I did look him up. I think, oh, I don't remember, actually. I think he might have been English. I reckon he would have sounded a little something like this. Yes, we're going to fly the place. And that, sorry, that was English. I thought it was meant to be.

Yes, we're going to fly in a plane. Oh, Patty Bruce. I love the English. A beautiful people. Another spot on accent. How do you do? Oh, so I didn't realize I was speaking to English royalty. I lost control.

That's so quick. Instantly. I don't think you ever had control. Go to fire as you please. Oh, no. You-hoo. a full English breakfast What's in a full English breakfast again?

Are you getting this sausage A little bit of bacon Some bacon Some bacon And possibly some eggs How would you like your eggs? Are over easy I'm truly not sure

It cannot be offensive If we have no idea It's truly global accent. It started a bit Italian. Dave took it real Swedish. All for easy. That was fun. Pethy Bridge.

Pethy Bridge. That's why he would have sounded like. Bring character to life sometimes. So they've taken off on November 6, 1935. They're flying the Lady Southern Cross. They're flying overnight from Alahabad in India to Singapore. When they disappeared over the Andaman Sea in the early. hours the 8th of November 1935.

Aviator Jimmy Melrose claimed to have seen the Lady Southern Cross, fighting a storm 150 miles or 240Ks from the shore over the sea with fire coming from its exhaust. Oh dear. Despite a search for 74 hours over the Bay of Bengal by British pilot Eric Stanley Greenwood, the plane and the pilots were never discovered. No. Whoa. I thought they couldn't be killed these guys.

I didn't know how his story ended. I'm sorry to say it's a mystery episode. Oh shit. So he lived till he's 38. Oh my God. Just a boy. Isn't that wild? And there's not like heaps and heaps of details about that sort of flight.

It seems like they took off on the sixth. They kind of disappeared on the eighth. So it only been a couple of days into their journey. Wow. So that was really their cursed leg. Yeah. That was the second time they attempted it and they never got far into it. Yeah.

Oh, man. No, yeah. The summary, I would not have been surprised if he lived till old age. Yeah, totally. He was still alive somehow. Yeah, it feels like, I guess the luck just ran out. Yeah. But I mean, yeah.

He pushed it so many times, so close. But the probability, like, it just eventually is going to catch up with you back then, especially. You'll have some sort of mechanical problem in the middle of nowhere. And the wrong, you'll hit the wrong weather or whatever it is. And I mean, you know, the people that, the two Kiwis who had attempted the Australia to New Zealand flight seven months before him didn't make it. Yeah. Like it was common at these times.

These planes weren't as safe as they are now. Yeah, like the dull air race. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Multiple, you know, didn't make it. It doesn't take much. No. One guy didn't even make it off the runway. That's right.

Twice. 18 months after their disappearance, Burmese fishermen found an undercarriage leg and wheel with its tire still inflated, which had washed ashore in the Gulf of Martaban, 3Ks off the southeast coastline of Burma. Botanists who examined the weeds clinging to the undercarriage leg estimated that the aircraft itself lies not far from the island at a depth of approximately 15 fathoms. Whoa.

I've never heard of that unit of measurement. It's about 90 feet deep or 27 metres. Unfathomable. Crazy. The undercarriage leg is now on public display at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. There you go. So they found a leg of it. And they estimate where it is, but they haven't been able to track it down.

Yeah. Yeah. I imagine divers are looking for it probably all the time. There was a documentary in 2009 that reckoned it was in a completely different area, but that's been pretty heavily criticized and people like, no, that's not right. Including Dick Smith. Dick Smith says it's not right. So I followed.

I didn't know Dick Smith is an aviator. Yeah, he flies helicopters too, doesn't he? Didn't know that. Dick does a bit of everything. Don't worry about that. What do you want? Dick will do it. That's what he, that's one of his things.

One of his catchphrases. Don't worry. Dick will do it. not Australian. Dick'll do it. Dick'll do it. A little Dick'll do it. A little dick'll do it. A little dick'll do it. I have taken that from a SpongeBob SquarePants game. Oh yeah. He says a little dab will do it. Yeah, yeah. That's based on Dick Smith.

The life of Dick Smith. Yeah. So at the time of his disappearance and presumed death, Charles Kingsford Smith was 38 years old. And I think we can agree he had achieved a lot in a short lifetime. Amazing. I have a few like tidbits. And, you know, we used to do fun facts at the end of the episode. I wouldn't say these are all necessarily fun, but they're tidbits. Well, you always decide if they're fun or not.

So it'll be nice to see. We also decided if they're tidbits. I feel like you could probably expand your portfolio. No, I can't take more on, Dave. I'm already spinning too many plates. Do you think we'll do another Sydney live show? We'll do one eventually. Yeah.

We've got to remember to go to the powerhouse, see this wheel. How cool. We've got to remember to go to the airport. Oh, it's at the airport. Well, no, it's just named after him. Oh, yeah. It's probably the only one way that we'll get in, so. Dave, you can drive.

No, that's the only way to get in for Sydney is via the air. Oh, you think we're going to drive? Well, I'm just saying it's not the only way to get in. Yeah, Dave. Don't be a fucking idiot. Yeah, the only way to get in and make it make sense. Okay. Right.

For our very busy schedules. We're very busy. We don't have time to spend a day driving. No. I'm up for a drive. We do fun playlists in the car. Yeah, surely. If I make a real fun playlist, Dave.

Okay. If I get some snacks? Fun 10-hour playlist. Yeah. Easy. Well, mate, I'll drive. We'll get it there a bit quicker. Jessel Park.

Dave, you could do snacks. You can do snacks. I'm good at those. Here are my tidbits. Kingsett Smith was survived by his wife, Mary, Lady Kingsett Smith, and their three-year-old son, Charles Jr. And his autobiography, My Flying Life, was published posthumously in 1937 and became a bestseller. So he'd written a book, too, which is, you know.

Did it while he was flying. What else are you going to do? Yeah. In 1986, Kingsford Smith was inducted into the International Air and Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. As we've discussed many times, the major airport of Sydney was named Kingsford Smith International Airport in his honor. His most famous aircraft, the Southern Cross, is now preserved and displayed in a purpose-built memorial to Kingsford Smith near the International Terminal at Brisbane Airport. He sold the plane to the Australian government in 1935 for 3,000 pound. so it could be put on permanent display for the public.

So it's on display at Brisbane. Cool. It's kind of cool. Time of recording, I'll be there in a couple of days. Brisbane Airport. I'll have to try and remember to get a photo. You'll just have to, you might have to buy an international ticket.

Oh, it's international airport. Yeah. I think that's why I've never seen it because I've never flown internationally from Brisbane. Right. Because I live in Melbourne. Yeah, right. And they're different airports, or just different sections.

Obviously, it doesn't matter. Different sections. I'll get a taxi over. Yeah, great. He was pictured on the Australian. $20. Yes. I'll fly via Auckland.

Thank you. If you wouldn't mind so you can see it. Yeah. Thank you. Would you do that? Yes. To get a photo for the pod? Save me getting a taxi.

Yeah. You could probably Google it, but it's all right. No, we'll just, you go, you go check it out. He was on the Australian $20 paper note, which was in circulation from 1966 until 1994, which is when the plastic notes came in. And obviously, he was on the note to honour his contributions to aviation and his accomplishments during his life. He was also depicted on the Australian one dollar coin in 1997, the centenary of his birth. That's nice. I wonder why I was taken off the note. Because, yeah, it's always interesting

the choices that are made. The queen was still on the five. I reckon maybe it would have made more sense to have him on it. She's on every freaking coin. Why does she need to be on the five? You know what I mean? Oh, that's a good point. I hadn't thought about that. Should we write a letter? Maybe we should put him on every coin. If she wants the note, she can have the note. Let's ask it. Charles gets the coins. choice. Okay. Which Charles? King Charles? Oh yeah. I will do that, weren't they?

It's confusing. No, I don't think they will. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I talked a fair bit about Charles Ulm as well, and it's interesting and quite sad to note that he suffered a similar fate to his friend Charles Kingsford Smith. He disappeared in December 1934, the year before Kingsford Smith, together with co-pilot George Littlejohn and navigator Leon Skilling on a test flight from Oakland, California to Hawaii in their plane stellar Australis. It's believed an unexpected tailwind and bad weather caused them to fly past the Hawaiian islands in the dark. Oh, bugger. Yeah. They got there too quick. And you keep going and you're like, oh, there's no other land. Yeah, exactly. It's going to be coming up soon.

Oh, that's grim. So just really sad that those two that had flown so much together and we're good friends had, you know, disappeared and we presume died in very similar ways. Yeah. Geez, That must have been common for that business. You got a lot of mates who are flies, you'd just be hearing about back then. Just like, oh. Every second day. Wow. And there's another little anecdote that I read on Wikipedia that I quite liked.

A young New Zealander named Gene Batten attended a dinner in Australia featuring Kingsford Smith after the Trans-Pacific flight and told him, I'm going to learn to fly. She later convinced him to take her for a flight in the Southern Cross and went on to become a record-setting aviator herself, most notably for making the first solo flight from England to New Zealand. Whoa. So we kind of inspired others as well. Although apparently there's a quote there that he says, like, she followed his example

and not his advice. And his advice was don't try to beat men's records and don't fly at night. It was like the 20s, guys. You know, it's a different time. Don't try and beat men's records. Don't try and beat men's records. Okay. Leave that to the boys.

But she just set her own record. Yeah, she did it herself. She's like, okay, how about a new record then? That's probably more impressive. Pretty cool. I mentioned a couple of female aviators in there as well, which again is sort of like so cool for that time in the world where, I don't know, women couldn't do anything.

You did a report about Amelia Earhart years ago, didn't you? I think so. And I think that must have been around a similar time. I think she also mysteriously. Yes, yep. life ended mysteriously. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it just sounds like that's,

you're basically making that choice. Yeah. It's a huge risk, especially then. Yeah, pretty amazing. But if they didn't do that, we wouldn't have. Mail. We wouldn't have a lot of things.

Yeah. Including probably a lot of carbon emissions, but still. But yeah, I like, I like, you know, actually learning the story of people whose names are on stuff and the name you know and you're like, oh yeah, but I wouldn't have a clue. I probably would have guessed something to do with planes, but also I probably wouldn't have guessed that because it's never usually, you know, it's always quite random.

Yeah, I was waiting for the point where he grew up and founded an airport. Yeah. Never did. He never did. Yeah. But I'm sure he would have had he lived a little longer. He just wanted. He would have found a post office.

He would have found a post office. Yeah. He loved it. He just wanted to be a posty. But there you go, that's the story of Charles Kingsford Smith. Oh, thank you for enlightening us. But yeah, it's a name I know so well. Newey was a pilot and I did, I was, in the back of my head,

I was going to do it as an extension of the dull era. So I'm so glad you got around to tell us about that. But there's a lot of like early aviation stories that are all really interesting too. Yeah, I just, I'm like, isn't it amazing? It kept coming up in my research on the doll era. And I'm like, this Australian guy did all these world firsts. And I don't really know about them. It's funny.

Yeah. You know, generally we can be very proud of things. Yeah. So it's funny when you're sort of, I imagine a generation back or something would know everything about it. Yeah, probably. But for some reason, I don't know why it wasn't, I don't remember being taught about it at school. Which is funny. Well, that brings us to everyone's favorite section in the show, actually.

Thanks so much for bringing us there, Jess, with that fantastic report. Oh, a pleasure. About CKS. Does anyone call them that? No, they do. Yeah. So in this part of the episode, which I think a lot of people call their favorite section of the show, we thank some of our fantastic supporters.

Take a little bit of time to thank them, because they've taken the time to support us via patreon. There's a bunch of different levels. You can get different things like bonus episodes and all sorts of things. you can vote on topics like they voted on Jess's topic today and it was super taught wasn't it? Oh, it was neck and neck for a really long time. This ended up pulling away by one vote.

One vote. And that was at the last possible second. It's been crazy. I'm thinking about just doing the other topic that was neck and neck for my next one because they have voted on it and a lot of people wanted it. I'll see. It's pretty wild. Yeah, great.

Oh, that sounds awesome. And yeah, one of the things we like to do in this is, this section is the fact quote of question section and that's for people who signed up on the Cindy Scheinberg level this bit actually has a jingle go something like this fact quote or question he always remembers the ding she always remembers the sing and in this section people give us a fact quote or question they also get to give themselves a title I don't read it out until I read it out and that's really just me giving myself an excuse for mispronouncing words the first one this week comes from Nick Fidion which is such a great name uh oh my god it made me just

just think of this anyway, but Nick's given himself the title of Mayor of Whiskers on his chin again, again, again, again, Nick fit again, he's got whiskers on his chin again. And he's offered a quote writing, Karma, Karma, Carma, Carma, Carmelian. You come and go, you come and go. Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams. Red golden green. Red golden green. And that was from Culture Club. Just really makes you think, huh? God, it does. Sure does, Nick.

They're about to tour Australia. Really? They're playing, they might be playing Rod Laver or something. That's cool. Yeah. Good to know is somebody who lives near-ish Rod Laver and like on a tram line of Rod Laver to just sort of avoid it. Yeah, avoid it that line.

It'll be hectic. Fuck, it's all. I'm surprised. I didn't know that was that big because didn't boy George go solo pretty quick. That's the only song of theirs I think I would know. Me too. Anyway. Thank you so much for that.

Nick. The next one comes from Lauren Joyner, okay, Keith, the mayor of Gary Indiana. Sorry, Keith, the Maya of Gary Indiana. I didn't know what you were talking about. Yep. And Lauren is asking a question writing, what is your favorite topic you've covered on the show?

I'm partial to the death and burial, the fire festival, and the Woodstock 99 episodes. It's difficult to narrow down. Is that one of each of us? Even though I clearly did. It is. And they're all. They're all slightly grim ones, aren't they?

Two sort of disaster festivals and then the death and burial. That one's probably the least grim of the three. Favorite topic you've covered, I guess, personally. I don't remember them. That's the problem, right? So every single report is my favorite for that day. Yes, isn't that true? I'm so fascinated for that period of time.

And I'll be like, wow, I'm going to watch the movie about this one. I'm going to read a book about it. I absolutely don't. I never do. I mean, it is like asking for my favourite child. Okay, mate. And we've all got about, what, 120 children now? Absolutely.

I am up to my bloody eyeballs and children. We do not know what's causing it. They're everywhere. Yeah, no, it's a tough one. First, it comes to mind is maybe the Stranger of North Pond. I remember just, like, being gripped by that story as I was reading it. Yeah, that was a great one. I think I don't think I have, like, favorite.

of mine. There's definitely episodes that I've really enjoyed of yours. Dave, not Matt, no, I'm kidding, both of you. But like when you're doing the report, you're not really like, I'm nailing this. I'm thinking more in the researching it, probably rather than the telling of it. Yeah, yeah. There's also ones like the, I love talking about bands that I love, Natism and Dauly. Pantara, Frenzel. Yeah, it's so tricky, isn't it? Dave, seriously, you're just not going to, you can't even name one of your children. There's always ones that I'm like That really stuck with me

I wonder if it sticks with anyone else And that is One of the thing about a lot is The odd father That mafia guy I don't know I think about that guy That was

That's such a wild thing But I didn't think Do you remember that guy? No He pretended Giganti or something He pretended to be what? He pretended to be basically insane

And senile So he could keep running the mob And would wander around In a dressing gown Talking to himself And then at night Or the hits and stuff That's pretty amazing

Yeah Um, yeah. Obviously, I loved the, um, the, the Qantas bomb heist recently because it's given me my catchphrase of, I wish I was never born. Yeah, no, we've had some good ones. Oh, I enjoyed researching the curse of the billy goat. Oh, yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, me too.

I'm just sort of going through. Um, the Chippendale's one was fun to, and Cabboy Bob, actually, that was a fun one to put together. And also because I knew that, um, it had a big reveal. Yeah. And I was excited to see. your reactions to that. Love a big reveal.

Little twist. A great question though. It's so, yeah. The shags I loved. I've big, you know, I just love the band, love the vibe. That was fun. Anyway, yeah, lots, I guess. We have not helped you there, Lauren.

Not really, sorry, Lauren. If you're looking for help. We don't listen to the podcast, if that makes you feel any better. You used to, though, didn't you? Nah. I reckon you did back in the day just to try. I reckon I did for a while. I did just try and keep it in my mind.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yep. trying to remember what we were talking about. Yeah, not for pleasure. That was pain. But now I find sometimes I can listen to old ones because I've forgotten the story. I definitely like to listen the episodes I'm not on. Yeah, oh yeah, I never listened to my own. And Michael Hing did the one about the World Cup.

That was. Oh, yeah, the one you're not on at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. I like it if I'm not reporting. Yeah. But I do find it funny because sometimes I, like, I'm on car trips, we might listen to an old one or something.

But I often find I think the same. thing as Jess on the recording says. I think that too. I think, I'd say this and then I say it. Yeah. Wow. I really know myself. Wow.

I haven't changed in five years. There's only been like once or twice where I've taken myself by surprise. You're like, ooh, that's a good one. That's pretty good, actually. Thank you for that question. Lauren. The next one comes from Michael Derrissy, aka fantasy football junior vice president in my league. Whoa.

And Michael's offering us a suggestion writing, by the time this comes out, American football season will be just around the corner. Actually, at the time of recording, they're about to announce the schedule, I think, any minute now. And that means it's draft season for fantasy football. Maybe you've wanted to have a go at playing and see if it's fun. I've done the last couple of seasons. It is.

It really, I wasn't expecting it to, but I was on my app way too much. Yeah, wow. Looking at, you know, other options and whatever. Suck me right in. But you just, maybe you want to have a go, but you don't. don't know where to start well, then I have a great resource for you. It's a podcast called The Fantasy Football. It's hosted by three obvious friends who like to go on funny riffs and tangents.

And who don't take themselves too seriously? Sounds familiar, right? So, who's written there in brackets. So if you've ever wanted to play, then give them a listen and sign up for a league today. This is an ad for Fantasy Football. Yeah. P.S., the day this gets read out, I'll post in the Facebook group some comments. platforms you can play on most of free.

Thank you so much for that, Michael. It's spreading the good word of fantasy football. Preach. And, yeah, I think he's talking about the Patreon and Facebook group there. The nicest corner of the internet. A beautiful place. Appreciate that work there, Michael. And finally, this week, Lizzie Harris, okay, wife of Elliot.

And Lizzie's got a brag writing, my brag is that we have been invited to Nick's wedding. We would love to come, Nick. It'll be good to see you again. RSVP via Patreon shoutout was not one of the options listed on the invite. So I'll also email you. Lizzie. Yeah.

What an unconventional. I wonder if he listens. Are you just like just in the off chance? Put it out in the universe. Yeah. Someone he knows will be listening. They'll be able to pass it on. Good for Nick.

Oh, but she's emailing. Anyway, thank you so much for that. Lizzie and congratulations Nick. Thanks, Lizzie, Michael, Lauren and Nick. Could that Nick Fidion be the one? The next thing we like to do is thank a few other of our great supporters. Just you know, we come up with a bit of a game. Can we name their plane?

Name the plane. Name their plane. Awesome. Well, if I can kick a yes, Dave. Do you want to play it? One million percent. Great. If I can kick us off, I'd love to thank from Colompton in Devon where they do Scons right.

Cream first. then yeah. I'd love to thank Rebecca Lee. What about the, just call the plane the cream first. The cream first. Ask questions later. That's in brackets.

Yes, I think that's fantastic. Rebecca Lee. The lady cream first. That's when they get a second smaller plane. Cheers, Rebecca, for your support. It means a lot, you bloody legend. I'd also love to thank from Seattle in. Washington in the United States, Mason Waller.

Neon Cloud. Oh my God, the neon cloud. Tell me, are you on horsenamegenerator.com? I certainly am. It works for planes too. Neon, but that really makes sense. Neon cloud. Yeah, it does make sense.

Horse name generator. It's really... It should just be name generator. I reckon that these names would be great for a boy or girl. And finally for me, I'd love to thank from Thornbury, Victoria, in Australia here in Melbourne, Millie. What about the... Big McDougal.

The Big MacDougal. Big Mac. Okay. Yeah, Big Mac for short. Love that. Yeah, the Big Mac. Millie and the Big Mac. That's good. Millian the Big McDougal for formal settings.

I wonder if that's the Millie that we met after your show one time, Dave, at the Comedy Festival. And she was practicing her wedding speech. Oh, yes. If not, doesn't matter. And if it is, how'd it go? Imagine. What are the odds? I'm just seeing Millie from.

Melbourne, there's a chance. What, Millie sat you down and practiced? I didn't sit us down. We did it standing. So I asked for a couple of tips. Standing at the bar. For public speaking. That's nice.

Yeah, and read out a couple of jokes. I thought they were great jokes. My only tip was just pause and enjoy the moment because there were some really funny punchlines in there. Nice. So how to go? Did you pause for too long? But you didn't take any of those tips for your speech at your wedding, Dave.

Very dull. Oh my God. I didn't pause at all. I went for hours. spoke too fast and too long and too furious yeah god

thank you Millie do we name Millie's plane yes the big big doggle of case or big back Dave do you want to thank a few I'd love to from Como in Western Australia

a big shout out and thank you to Carly Fraser Quiet Jack Not just whispering Jack Quiet Jack That's fun A little nod to Farnsey

Carly Fraser Thanks so much I would like to thank now from Melbourne here in Victoria. What? Ever heard of it? It's Matthew Arnett. Oh, probably got to be the family assortment. Oh, that is great.

What's your favourite in the family assortment? The creams? Yeah. Got to be a Mont. Yeah, it's Montecault. Oh, no, I like the... Oh, the... The Kingston Smith?

No, I love the Kingston. Charles Kingston. That's what I love. You like the Kingston? No, I love the... Delta Cream. No, just the... Shortbread.

Short bread cream. Orange slice. Shortbread cream. Okay. Yeah, I think it's a bit of a drop-off for me from Monte Carlo. It's on its own little level, isn't it? Yeah, around a pistol. Thank you so much, Matthew.

Matthew and it's just called the assortment. Family assortment. That's the name of the plane. And what was Carly Fraser in the quiet jack is fantastic. Quite, I love it. Thank you to horse generator. That's not the website. I'm not, I'm gay keeping it.

I'm gay keeping it. It's mine. That website actually generates horses. 3D prints them. It's pretty crazy. From the hoop up. I would like to thank from Leopold in Victoria, Julia Serenopolis. Celia Serendopolis.

Serendopolis. Blue Oasis. Oh, again. That's nice. That's great. It's got a blue with a palm tree on the side? Yeah. Yep.

That's beautiful. Isn't it? It's very calming. It's not going to crash into one. Yeah. The sky is my blue oasis. Yes. Good stuff, Julie.

Cream first and the blue oasis. Those two would be beautiful flying partners. Should I keep going, Jess? Because you've got your... I can take some people. Okay. You've very kindly taken over the last few weeks because I've gotten really into my horse name generator.

No, we'll try and get some from the top of the dome then. We'll use our own plane generator names, our brains. Okay, you can do one word each. Okay. Okay. I would love to thank from bars scrub in Queensland, Australia, Stacey Whitlock. The Colonel's...

Salads. The Colonel Salad. Oh, for a plane. That's interesting. That is interesting. The Colonel Salad. The Colonel Salad, yeah. It just came to me.

No, I hate no criticism here, mate. You're nailed. I would also love to thank from Paddington also in Queensland. Maria Wolford. Okay. The Great Sniper. Oh, dangerous. The Great Sniper.

That's fun. That's fun. Maria Wulford in The Great Sniper. What was Stacey Whitford? lock in again? The Colonel's salad. Colonel salad. I think that's...

Probably an all-time. It's like the... That's the exact opposite of a dog's breakfast. Yeah, the Colonel's salad. Oh, what did we go to hear of? The Colonel Salad. Oh my God. Yeah, right.

So it's just... This is a success. It's just a turn of phrase for like food that looks fancy. Yeah. Oh, that's nice then. And finally... Fantastic. You're back on board.

I would love to thank from New York, New York. Stephanie Futch or Futch. Oh, Stephanie Futch is a fancy. That's the name. Can I say, Dave, can I kick it off? Okay. The Incredible. Okay.

Oh, did you say, can I kick it off? No, if you all get it off. No, the Incredible. And you can come back to me if you want. All right, I will. The Incredible Red Dipper. Oh, the Incredible Red Dipper. Yeah, fantastic.

Thank you so much to Stephanie in the Incredible Red Dipper. Stephanie Futch. Maria, Stacey, Julia, Matthew, Carly, Millie, Mason and Rebecca. We love you all. And the final thing we need to do is welcome a few people into the Triptitch Club. Now, Dave, how does this work again? This is our Hall of Fame for people that have been supporting the show for three consecutive years or more. We've already shouted these people out a couple of years back. But to thank them again, we enshrine them into our Hall of Fame, our Clubhouse, our Theatre of the Mind, Hangout Zone. Once you remember, you can never leave and why would you want to?

Because we've got food, we've got drink, we've got live music, we've got fun stuff to do. There's an activity zone. There's a kids club if a kid has somehow gotten in here. There's kids meals too. We don't talk about them very often. There's always, and there's always, what about up at the bar, as well as all the food. We always say there's always a nuggy bar. Yeah, fish fingers. Veggie and chicky and fish nuggies. You can grab them at any time. A small plate of pasta. Yeah. Yeah. These go unspoken. Yeah, yeah. That's just always there. Just know that they're there. But just does include. and you drink or food every week.

Yeah, I'm serving everything on plane trays. So like aeroplane food? And you're going to spoon feed? Here comes the airplane. No. There's far too many people. How could I possibly do that, Matt? What are my magic?

Well, I think so. So I've got a... To me, you are. Thank you. I've got a bunch of pre-made meals. I'm going to microwave them so they're scalding hot on the outside, but pretty cold on the inside. And balance it out.

A fairly stale roll with not quite enough. butter and a bit of a shit dessert. So line up, enjoy. There's one really, really good option, and I've only got three of them. Sorry, we don't have any more of that. Sorry about that. And don't order a Diet Coke. Apparently, they're the worst ones to pour in the sky.

Really? Apparently. Did you learn on a TikTok? They fizz up. It feels like a TikTok fact. I feel like you've told us that before. Yeah. And Dave's responding to like he didn't listen that time.

And Dave, you normally book a band for the after party? Yes, this week, you're going to wish you were here. We've got incubus. Oh. Dropping by. Are they going to drive over? They'll be driving over and you'll say, pardon me. I wish I had been speaking to my friend Anna Molly, but we've had a stellar time.

Are you in? Love hurts. Welcoming into the club. The way this works is I'm on the door. I'm reading out the name. When you hear your name, jog on in. Dave's up on the stage, hyping you up with a bit of. pretty weak word play.

Jess is hyping up, Dave. We're all hyping each other up together. Oh yeah, Matt's great at the hyping up. He's a real team player. Now, here we go. From Dagenham in Essex, great Britain, it's Sarah. Russell, welcome her in. Let me rustle you up as Sarah.

Woo! From Babinda in Queensland, Australia. It's Anne. Bada bing. Bada binda. It's Anne. From address unknown. You can only assume from somewhere deep within the fortress of the moles.

It's Sophie. Sophie, you're my trophy. Oh, that's creepy. Like, I'm praising you. Oh, Sophie, here's a trophy. There we go, that's better. That's less weird. Not like, I'm putting you on a shelf forever.

From Nan in South Australia is Jake Simpson. For goodness sake, it's Jake. For goodness, Jake, that would have been better. Edit as appropriate in your mind, Jake. And from Bulleen, Victoria and Australia, it's Briden Coverdale. Bright and Coverdale, the shark himself? Holy shit. Well, this guy's never going to stop swimming.

Huh? Four runs. Brighton Cover Drive. Cover Dale. Is that something? Dave's losing his mind. Back to the pavilion. Keep it going.

From Port Talbot in Great Britain. It's Craig Merriman Foley. Don't pay the ferryman, but pay the merriman. Yes. Foley. Fame is respects. From Borehamwood in Great Britain, it's Roy Phillips. Roy Phillips.

Roy Phillips. He's my boy. Roy. Shut the fuck up. From address unknown, can only assume from deep within the fortress of the moles is Jakeby Bush. Jake be Bush, Jake be awesome. Yeah, we'd be happy to see.

Yeah, we'd be happy. From Napaean in Ontario, in Canada, it's Tara. Napian, great to see him. Yes. From Stratford-upon-Avon in Great Britain, it's Dominic Hood. Well, let me make a pun like the Bard himself. More like Boys in the Dominic. Dominic Hood.

Oh, I got it, and it was fantastic. From Maidstone in Victoria, Australia, here in Melbourne. Alex Weberie. Alex way, way, way back in the... Yeah, back there. But come on up! I'll just jump to the queue. Come on here, Alex.

From Egan in, maybe Minnesota, I reckon in the United States of Sophie Morris. I'm absolutely losing my mind in. From Egan. I'm eager. What about Sophie? Have a trophy. Yes. And again, would you believe,

from Napaan in Ontario, Canada. A place until moments ago I'd never heard of. It's Samantha Hollingshead. Samantha Hollingshead. It's great to see him from Navajo. Oh my God. How does he do it? Thank you so much, Samantha, Sophie, Alex, Dominic, Tara, Jake, Roy, Craig, Brighton, Jake, Sophie, Anne and Sarah.

Welcome into the clubs. Make yourselves at home. Grab a drink and enjoy the fine. What was the band who was playing in? Incubus. Incubus. In almost every way. Sister Alex loves them, but they're all right.

Yeah, I reckon we had the Morning View album. My sister had that one. All right, we get it. You guys have sisters. Yeah. A cover band that used to play at a local pub used to change it to I wish you were beer. Very funny. Do they change any other lyric?

Oh, probably. It's good stuff. You got to keep it interesting for yourself. You got to. I think they wanted to be weird out deep down. Don't we all? I wish you were beer. What do we need to tell people before we finish?

You can suggest a topic at do go on pod.com. There's also a link in our show notes. And on the website, you can find stuff about live shows and previous episodes and all sorts of good stuff. And you can find us at Do Go On Pod across all social media as well. Hey, we'll be back next week with another episode. But until then, so thank you so much for listening. But until then, it's goodbye. Later.

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