THE Penola Community Library hosted South Australian journalist and author Lainie Anderson last week as she continued her book tour across the nation.
Ms Anderson’s visit to Penola – which coincided with stops in Mount Gambier and Naracoorte – was to promote her new novel Long Flight Home.
The novel is based on the 1919 Great Air Race from London to Darwin, which was won by South Australian pilots Ross and Keith Smith.
The Smiths were joined by mechanics Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett on the flight, which left London on November 12, 1919 and touched down in Darwin on December 10.
Their efforts resulted in knighthoods for the Smiths, along with a £10,000 prize originally offered by the Australian Government to entice a flight crew to complete the journey in less than 30 days.
With this year marking the centenary of the flight, Ms Anderson recalled the flight as “a boys’ own adventure for girls.”
Narrated by crew member Mr Shiers, the story follows the four-man crew who flew an open cockpit Vickers Vimy aircraft, constructed of wood, fabric and wires almost 18,000km across the globe.
They also beat the previous long-distance flight record of just over 5000km and their feat was the forerunner to the growth of international flight and led to the founding of Qantas in 1920.
Ms Anderson used war diaries, letters and the Churchill Fellowship research from along the race’s flight route to recreate one of the most important stories in aviation history.
The author and Sunday Mail journalist spent 10 years developing the novel as she has campaigned to raise the profile of the 1919 flight.
