Southern Cross return to flight

Southern Cross replica return to flight.
The Southern Cross replica was built in South Australia in 1987 as a Bicentennial project. After touring the country and being exhibited at air shows during the 1980s and 1990s, in 2002 one of the wheels became detached in flight and during the landing the right wing hit the ground and broke.
The wing repair was conducted by the craftsmen at HARS Aviation Museum in Shellharbour, NSW, one of the few organisations with the capability to work with wood and fabric aircraft structures of this scale.
The aircraft is an almost exact replica of the Fokker F.VII/3m Trimotor that was used by Charles Kingsford Smith for his record-breaking flights in the 1920s, including the first aerial crossing of the Pacific in 1928. The main difference from the original Southern Cross is that the replica has more powerful Jacobs R-775 engines producing 300 hp each.
The restoration took about 12 years to complete and involved repairing the broken wing, repairing the steel tube fuselage frame and fabric and overhauling the engines and propellers. A new Certificate of Airworthiness was issued at the end of November and 5 December was chosen as the day to conduct the first flight.