Meticulous restoration over the 21 years since a landing mishap was rewarded when a full-size replica of the iconic Fokker FVIIB Southern Cross took its first demonstration flight.
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It is a flying tribute to pilots Sir Charles Kingsford and Charles Ulm, who with Americans Harry Lyons (navigator) and Jim Warner (radio operator), made the first flight across the Pacific from the US to Australia in June 1928.
The flight took 83 hours over nine days - a feat up to then considered impossible with technology of the day. The crew became national heroes.
After suffering an undercarriage failure as the aircraft became airborne in 2002 it sustained wing and engine damage when it landed at Parafield airfield in SA.
Carrying Smithy's original registration of VH-USU, the replica of his "Old Bus" was acquired by the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society in 2010.
It was completely rebuilt by a team led by project engineering manager Jim Thurstan.
"The damaged wooden plywood wing has been completely rebuilt to modern standards using traditional aircraft construction," said HARS president and chief pilot Bob De La Hunty.
The team rebuilt the fuselage and landing gear, overhauled the three Jacobs radial motors, the electrical system and propellers, and installed new radios
Mr De La Hunty said the result "looks almost exactly like Smithy's Old Bus - it's a flying work of art."
The replica was built in Adelaide during the 1980s then toured widely within Australia and once visited NZ during the 1988 Bicentennial. It logged 560 flight hours from 1987 to 2002.
With the original Wright Whirlwind engines no longer available, the replica is fitted with three upgraded 300hp Jacobs motors, and other small modifications.
The museum is just off the old Princes Highway at Albion Park Rail and a short walk from the railway station.
It is open from 9.30am-3.30pm daily for hands-on, interactive and largely undercover tours (last tour 2pm).
