On 10 December 1919, a World War One Vickers Vimy heavy bomber, carrying the aircraft registration G-EAOU, became the first plane ever to fly from England to Australia. The plane was piloted by Ross Smith and crew brother Keith, Jim Bennett and Wally Shiers. The crew joked that Vimy’s registration letters G-EAOU stood for “God ’Elp All Of Us”.
Powered by twin 360-horsepower Rolls-Royce Eagle Mark VIII engines, the Vimy structure is largely made of spruce pine covered by Irish linen. The open cockpit Vimy had a top speed of 177 kph, carried 2,300 litres of fuel and had a cruising range of 1,600 kilometres. It completed the 17,910 kilometre journey from UK to Australia in 28 days at an average speed of 137 kph, landing in Darwin.
Of the estimated 250 Vickers Vimy planes built only two original Vimys remain in the world – Alcock and Brown’s Vimy at the British Science Museum, where it was installed after the famous first Atlantic crossing in June 1919, and the Smith’s England to Australia Vimy at Adelaide Airport.
In 2022 the more than one hundred year old Vimy was moved, from display in the 1958 Vimy Hanger near the original terminal building, to a purpose built environment controlled exhibitiion space in the new terminal extension. Archived traditional Cache, GCHQ7B, Rolls Royce Powered Geocache could be found at the old Vimy Hanger from 2004 to 2021. Time to create a new virtual cache.
Vickers Vimy G-EAOU is a treasured national asset and Adelaide Airport is proud to be custodian of the aircraft. Entry to the display hall is from the listed coordinates. Hall access is available from 8am to 8pm, everyday of the year. There is no need to enter the main terminal to complete this virtual cache.
To complete your find on this virtual cache you will need to fold a paper plane and hold it in front of Vimy for a photo to be uploaded with your find log. Logs without the correct photo image will be removed without notice.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.