VH-UXY  Airspeed  AS6A Envoy         (c/n  31)

                                     

                                            This shot of the former G-ACYJ was taken at Croydon before its departure on its ill fated
                                            trans Pacific route surveying flight.   This aircraft had been purchased by Australian aviation
                                            personality (and hero) Charles Ulm.   He intended to form a new company named Great
                                            Pacific Airways and named the Envoy "Stella Australis".  Along with his co-pilot George
                                            Littlejohn and navigator/radio operator Leon Skilling departed Oakland on 3 December 1934.
                                            The flight seemed to go well until they were approaching the Hawaiian Islands, when they
                                            became lost and could not sight land.    Radio signals indicated they were ditching the aircraft
                                            when their fuel became exhausted, but no trace of them was ever found.    The above historic
                                            image is from the A J Jackson Collection at Brooklands Museum.   Below is a photo from the
                                            Charles Ulm collection, via the National Library of Australia showing -UXY departing Oakland
                                            on the fateful flight.  Below that is a close-up with Ulm and J.L. Skilling being farewelled by
                                            American officials at Oakland on 3 December 1934.  The aircraft's name is clearly visible.

                                       

                                                  

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