A Trip to Australia and New Zealand
Sydney Airport
The Sydney Airport is located about seven kilometers south of the central business district next to Botany Bay. It was first utilized as an airport in the very early 1920s. The first regularly scheduled flights from it started in 1924. As such it is one of the oldest airports on the planet and is currently one of the busiest aerodromes in the entire world.
The Sydney Airport is named after a famous Australian aviation pioneer - Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (AKA Smitty). Kingsford Smith learned to fly during World War One, served in the Gallipolli campaign, was shot down, badly wounded, and awarded the Military Cross. One of Smitty's early accomplishments was to make the first trans-Pacific flight from Oakland, California to Brisbane, Australia. He was also the first to fly non-stop across Australia and the first to fly from Australia to New Zealand. In pioneering the air route from Australia to England he set a record of ten and a half days. He was knighted in 1932 and disappeared while attempting to set a record in flying from India to Singapore in 1935. In 1953 the Sydney Airport was officially named the Kingsford Smith Airport.
