Harry Houdini is world-renowned for his amazing escapes, magic, and general feats of amazement. He also holds the title of the first person to make a controlled, powered flight over Australia. He was a hard-working, talented man who achieved a great many things in his lifetime, yet being the first person to fly over this continent tends to get lost in the fray of his many achievements.
Houdini initially became enrapt with aviation and flight in 1909. He purchased a French Voisin biplane, made specifically for him, for $5,000 in Germany that same year. A full-time mechanic for the plane, Antonio Brassac, was hired as well. The very next year, in 1910, Houdini began his attempts to cross Australia by plane. For weeks he was continually grounded due to poor wind conditions; yet, once the wind improved he had some mechanical difficulty with his controls that delayed his attempts even further.
Finally, on the morning of March 18, he made three successful flights in Digger’s Rest north of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The third flight was the longest: he covered two miles and reached a height of 100 feet over three and a half minutes. On March 21 he flew even further, traveling three and a half miles in front of approximately 100 on-lookers. This flight credited him as the first person to fly over Australian soil. This same day he made a flight lasting 7 minutes, 37 seconds, setting a personal and Australian record. In total Houdini made 18 flights in Australia, with the longest lasting 19 minutes. He is also credited as the first aviator to have documented his flights on film.
There is speculation that Houdini was encouraged by his friend Lord Northcliffe to try for this record. Lord Northcliffe wanted to showcase flight to the British, in an effort to encourage them to consider using flight in the military. The idea was to have a celebrity pilot the plane in order to gain the necessary exposure.
When Houdini returned home from Australia he put his Voisin into storage, announcing plans to fly it during his next tour. However, he never flew again, and sadly his plane was lost. There are researchers and collectors who have been searching for it for decades, but so far they’ve had no luck.
– Leah Harrower, JETPUBS Inc.