b'53289289C 10 Sept.1928 (AAMC.124) Charles Kingsford Smith & Charles Ulm flew across the Tasman Sea for the first time in the Southern Cross on this date. This cover is one of 15 carried and is signed by both pilots as well as their crew, H.A. Litchfield and T.H. Williams. Although the Australian P.M.G. Department did not agree to send an official air mail, this cover was sent by the Department and was addressed to the Minister of Posts & Telegraphs in New Zealand. [Eustis comments: Covers from this flight are the rarest of all flown between Australia and New Zealand].Provenance: House, Nelson Eustis Gold Medal Collection, March 2003, Lot 125 : $5,825 incl. BP$4,0005,000290290C 30 Mar. 1929 (AAMC.131) Australia - England cover carried by Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, HA Litchfield & T McWilliams on the Coffee Royal incident flight endorsed Per Squadron-Leader CE Kingsford Smith & Flight-Lieut CTP Ulm SOUTHERN CROSS AUSTRALIA/ENGLAND FLIGHT MARCH 1929 signed C Kingsford-Smith and CTP Ulm on face franked with KGV 1d red tied RICHMOND/30MR29/NSW datestamp.Ex Frommer, sold for $4300+ in the September 2016 sale of his Grand Prix Pioneer Australian Air Mails Collection.On 1 April en route to England the Southern Cross met bad weather and made an emergency landing in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia; before the crew and plane were recovered on 13 April, Keith Anderson and Robert Hitchcock had perished in the search; dubbed the Coffee Royal incident after the brand of coffee and brandy the crew drank while awaiting rescue; 8 of the 12 covers carried were subsequently flown to England on the record-breaking flight in June. . $3,0004,000'