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4 unusual facts about Keith Virtue


Keith Virtue

They were in Avro 618 Tens, the City of Sydney and City of Brisbane, with Charles Kingsford Smith in the Southern Cross.

Keith Virtue and New England Airways colleague Tommy Young flew in formation with Charles Kingsford Smith for the Sydney Harbour Bridge opening on 19 March 1932.

Sir Lawrence Wackett, in the Foreword of Keith Virtue's biography, writes that he was an experienced airman himself but he marvelled at the ability and skill of Keith Virtue and counts him as one of the greatest of the Australians who devoted their life's work to the task of pioneering airlines in Australia.

As a 42-year-old veteran in 1951, Keith Virtue took off from Sydney in his A.N.A. Skymaster to become the first Australian to have spent 20000 hours in the air.



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