Australian Military Units

Air Commodore Charles Edward Kingsford-Smith, MC, AFC

Date of birth  1897-02-09  Bisbane, QLD. 
Other  1915-02-10  Posted as a sapper to the 4th Light Horse Regiment, 
Date and unit at enlistment (ORs)  1915-02-10  Enlisted in the AIF. 
Other  1916-10  As a sergeant Kingsford Smith transferred into the Australian Flying Corps. 
Other  1917-03-16  Discharged from the AIF and commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps. 
Date promoted  1917-07  Promoted to flying officer and posted to No. 23 Squadron in France. 
Date wounded  1917-08  Shot down during an operation, resulting in the need to amputate three of his toes. He recieved the Military Cross for his actions. 
Date promoted  1918-04  Promoted to lieutenant and served for the rest of the war as an instructor. 
Other  1927  He and his flying partner Charles Ulm became the first airmen to fly around Australia. 
Other  1928  Kingsford Smith, Ulm, and two Americans, Harry Lyon and Jim Warner, became the first airmen to cross the Pacific. 
Date of honour or award  1928-06-19  Air Force Cross. Recieved for first trans-pacific flight. 
Other  1930-01  Started a company with Ulm, Australian National Airways. 
Other  1930-06  Completed an east-west crossing of the Atlantic landing in the United States. 
Other  1930-10  Broke the record for a flight between England and Australia. 
Date promoted  1930-11  Made air commodore. 
Date of honour or award  1932-06-03  Became Knight Bachelor. Kingsford-Smith was knighted for services to aviation. 
Date of death  1935-11-06  Kingsford-Smith and another airman, J T Pethybridge, took off from England in an attempt to break yet another aviation record, but the pair were lost when their aircraft crashed into the sea off Burma.