Charles Ulm’s importance to Australian aviation was partly in the cockpit and partly in organization. National Museum of Australia history describes him as a strong fundraiser and planner whose skills complemented Charles Kingsford Smith’s exceptional piloting.
Ulm had served during World War I and became involved with postwar aviation ventures. In 1927 he and Kingsford Smith flew around Australia in record time to generate publicity for a planned Pacific crossing.
In California, Ulm helped secure the Fokker aircraft that became Southern Cross, obtain radio and navigation equipment and raise the money needed to continue after the project nearly collapsed financially.
During the 1928 Pacific flight Ulm served as copilot while Harry Lyon navigated and James Warner operated radio. The four-person crew structure should remain visible whenever the flight is described.
Ulm and Kingsford Smith then made the first successful flight across the Tasman Sea in September 1928. Ulm later obtained his pilot license and continued pursuing record and commercial routes independently.
He founded aviation businesses and flew the aircraft Faith in Australia on long-distance routes, including a record England–Australia journey in 1933.
On December 3, 1934, Ulm departed Oakland in the Airspeed Envoy Stella Australis for Hawaii and disappeared after radioing that fuel was running low near the islands. Searchers found no confirmed wreckage.
TransitSatellite should distinguish Ulm’s disappearance from Kingsford Smith’s separate 1935 loss and avoid merging the two famous partners into one ending.