Alliance Airlines is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the first trans-Pacific flight. The airline has unveiled a Fokker 100 (VH-FGB) with a special livery. The airline will also offer a commemorative beer on the flights.

The Fokker displays an image of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith on the tail

The fuselage displays the Fokker F.VIIb/3m Trimotor “Southern Cross’.

VH-FGB was painted at Norwich and has been ferried to Australia.

The story according to Smithy’s FGB Golden Ale:

On June 9, 1928 the Southern Cross, a Fokker F.VIIb/3m Trimotor, settled on to the grass of Brisbane’s Eagle Farm Aerodrome, having left Oakland, USA, 10 days earlier.  The aircraft flew 11,585km and had been airborne for 84 hours, with refuelling stops in Hawaii and Fiji.

Chuffed with the first ever trans-Pacific flight, the Prime Minister, Stanley Bruce, presented a cheque for £5,000 to the flight crew.  Equally pleased the flight’s financial backer Californian, George Hancock, waived any right to recover his substantial investment.

It was Saturday night and hero Australian pilots, Brisbane born Charles Kingsford Smith “Smithy” and Melbourne born Charles Ulm, together with Americans, radio operator James Warner and American navigator and engineer Harry Lyon were thirsty, cashed up and debt free.

It’s not recorded what beer they celebrated their world record breaking flight with, but “Smithy that’s Fokkin’ Good Beer” was heard well in to the night.

Alliance Airlines is the world’s largest operator of Fokker aircraft and proudly commemorates the 90th Anniversary of the Southern Cross’s historic flight with Smithy’s FGB. Cheers!

The Southern Cross is on public display near Brisbane Airport’s International Terminal.

Photos of Alliance Airlines VH-FGB on social media:

Alliance Airlines aircraft slide show:

Route Map: