b'1531311THE LOSS OF THE STELLA AUSTRALIS - CHARLES ULM & CREW - DECEMBER 1934.A folio of 21 original press photographs (various sizes), and 3 original hand-drawn maps (as published), all from the San Francisco Examiner archives. The photos show Ulm and his crew preparing for the flight, signing registers, fuelling the plane and the plane at take off. The maps show the planned route from San Francisco via Honolulu, Fanning Island, Suva, Auckland and on to Sydney, plus the area from which the last definitive report was received and finally, the search area after contact was lost. A unique assembly. (24 items). Ex 1311One of the photos carries the following text from Associated Press: PACIFIC FLIERS MISSING: Co-Pilot George Littlejohn of the missing plane Star of Australia, shown atop the plane, just before the hopoff from the Oakland, Calif., Airport Dec.3 for a flight to Honolulu, Suva and Australia. The plane carrying Flight Lieutenant Charles T.P. Ulm, Navigator-Radio Operator Jay Skillings and Littlejohn was reported forced down on an undetermined spot in the Pacific Ocean.At about 10 am on 3 December, after sending a series of Morse coded radio messages to Hawaii over five hours advising that they were lost and running out of fuel, the Envoy ditched into the sea. Despite an extensive and immediate search by aircraft and 23 naval ships, no trace of Stella Australis or her crew was ever found. Ulm had chosen not to carry a life raft on board, preferring to save weight and predicting that the aircraft would float for two days if it were forced to land on the water.$1,0001,5001312TRANS-TASMAN AIR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED:The company MINUTE BOOK, from 14th June 1935, the first meeting of the Board of Directors: Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Captain P.G. Taylor, B.T. Sheil and J.W. Stannage, up to the final entry on 29th May1936 following the loss of Kingsford Smith en route from England.The minutes of the first meeting indicate the allocation of shares was as follows:Kingsford Smith (48), Taylor (8), Sheil (9) and Stannage (3). That document and most subsequent documents and letters bear the original signatures of the directors: Charles Kingsford Smith (5 times), P.G. Taylor (14 times), John Stannage (1), Beau Shiel (2), and J. Percival, as Acting Company Secretary. (1). The volume also includes several loosely inserted original letters and some unused TTAS letterheads.Fascinating reading and an important and remarkable survivor of this ill-fated attempt by Kingsford Smith and his colleagues to secure the contract for the carriage of airmail and freight between Australia and New Zealand. UNIQUE.PROVENANCEThe Estate of Jack Percival, MBE. Stanley Gibbons (Australia) Auction, 16th June 2004, Sydney. Lot 1103.$8,00010,0001312'