Anderson had completed his studies at
South African College and at age 18 was selected by Major Alastair Miller as a recruit for the
Royal Flying Corps, and learned to fly there and in England, joining the 73rd Squadron in September 1917, Kingsford Smith, also in a Bristol Tourer, attempted the record at the same time; both completing the in 30 flying hours, attributing their lack of success to a strong headwind. They announced their
engagement in April 1927. In 1927, Anderson undertook a round-Australia trip for
George A. Bond & Co., manufacturers of underwear and hosiery, at a cost of £12,500, to assess the commercial usefulness of aviation to the company. Travelling with him were
Henry Smith "Bobby" Hitchcock, previously mechanic for "Airways", and C. C. Vivian, Bond's advertising manager. The plane left Sydney on 25 June and returned 8 July, a total of 14 days. Kingsford Smith also resigned from Western Australian Airways and, sponsored by
The Herald and Weekly Times (Melbourne),
The Sun (Sydney), and the
Daily Mail (Brisbane), made a record-breaking round-Australia flight with a co-pilot,
Charles P. Ulm, in a similar aircraft, which left Sydney on 18 June and returned on 29 June, a few hours over 9 days for a little over . Kingsford Smith's next challenge was the Trans-Pacific flight, and Anderson was brought in as one of the three-man team. He visited Hawaii in September 1927 to assess the airfields available on the islands then went to America with Kingsford Smith and Ulm to help in its organisation, but returned to Australia in March before the plane
Southern Cross had been procured. NSW Premier
Jack Lang promised £4000 support, but the succeeding
Bavin ministry repudiated the undertaking. To raise funds for the trans-Pacific flight, Kingsford Smith and Poole, an American pilot, in
Southern Cross made an attempt on the world record for sustained flight. They were unsuccessful, but secured a wealthy backer in
George Allan Hancock, an American millionaire, who cleared their debts and so enabled the flight to go ahead. :In August 1927 they purchased the three-engine Fokker (once owned by
Hubert Wilkins) for £7,500, originally priced at £15,000. :Because of Anderson's failure to return, the personnel for the flight was finalised at: Kingsford Smith (pilot), C. T. P. Ulm (organising manager and relief pilot), and Americans Harry W. Lyon (navigator) and James Warner (radio operator). Lyon and Warner were to travel only to Suva, after which Kingsford Smith would be solo pilot and Ulm navigator. :Kingsford Smith and his four-man crew left
Oakland, California on 31 May 1928 and landed in
Brisbane on the morning of 9 June 1928, having flown around via Hawaii and Fiji.
Lawsuits Following Anderson's return to Australia, which he claimed was in furtherance of the team's objectives, but whose nature was never revealed, he was dropped from Kingsford Smith's team, and the flight from San Francisco to Australia was made without him. Anderson felt aggrieved, as he had put considerable time, effort and expense into the project, and wanted some share of the financial rewards. Brisbane
Truth agreed: "It is regrettable that Anderson wasn't with them, but no doubt Kingsford Smith, in his tour of triumph, will not forget his mate." His fiancée's father, Sydney solicitor
A. V. Hilliard (1865–1933), arranged a restraining order preventing Kingsford Smith and Ulm from moving
Southern Cross from the jurisdiction of the New South Wales courts until a settlement had been reached. Attached to Anderson's affidavit was a letter written to him in May 1928 by Kingsford Smith and Ulm, accepting that Anderson wanted to be part of the flight, but were unable to help with cost of the fare, and further "We hear that you have made little or no effort to do anything for us since your return to Australia, while on the other hand you left us here to carry the baby. At the time of your leaving, it looked a most hopeless baby to carry." On 22 February 1929, Anderson dropped his claims against Kingsford Smith, accepting the argument that by leaving America of his own free will he had forfeited membership in the partnership, and Kingsford Smith withdrew any intimations that Anderson's departure was from cowardice or lack of confidence in the project. This meant that the
Southern Cross was free of legal restraints and the London flight could go ahead. Then on 19 March 1929 at the Returned Servicemen's Ball, a writ was served on behalf of Hitchcock, on Kingsford Smith, Ulm and Anderson for £1000, claiming they had promised him a part in the
Southern Cross Pacific crossing. Kingsford Smith admitted having made certain promises to Hitchcock, but never admitted him into the flying team. The Supreme Court judge accepted Kingsford Smith's argument that the original project had been abandoned, and no promise had been made in respect of the revised flight, and directed the jury to find for the defendants. Anderson and Hitchcock next announced an attempt on
Bert Hinkler's record flight to London in the Bristol Tourer, which by this time had done well over 1300 flying hours. They left Sydney on 6 September 1928, but got no further than
Pine Creek, Northern Territory, when they had
radiator trouble and made a forced landing, from which Anderson emerged unscathed, and Hitchcock suffering nothing worse than a badly cut lip and a strained shoulder, but the plane was a write-off, with nothing salvageable except the engine. They had 800 gallons of fuel on board, but lost their way in a rain storm, ran low on fuel and around midday 31 March radioed that they were putting down some short of their objective, on an area dubbed "Coffee Royal" by the aviators. By 3 April four or five planes had been deployed in the search for the missing airmen, two chartered from West Australian Airways by
The Sun newspaper, one flown by Jim Woods and the other by Eric Chater (who had to make a forced landing near
Walcott Inlet). These planes only had a cruising range of four hours, and found no trace. Anderson resolved to join the search in the
Westland Widgeon III monoplane
Kookaburra, which he had purchased a month earlier. Financial assistance for his search attempt was promised by John Cantor, of the Customs House Hotel. On 7 April, Anderson and Hitchcock took off from Richmond airstrip. The plane took off easily with its load of , Anderson having told fellow-pilot
Milton Kent that he had the right machine for the job, and would leave no stone unturned in his search for the missing men. They had intended to reach the search area in four "hops": Broken Hill, Oodnadatta, Alice Springs and Wyndham, but their last contact was at "The Alice" on Wednesday morning 10 April 1929, when they left with their only provisions some sandwiches and two bottles of water." Eaton and his men Moran and Douglas buried the bodies, which were recovered by a six-wheeled
Thornycroft motor truck in June. Hitchcock's funeral was held in
Perth and his remains buried at
Karrakatta on 3 July 1929. Anderson was accorded a full military funeral at
Mosman, New South Wales on 6 July 1929. and was buried at St George's Heights, a site uniquely granted by the Council of the Municipality of Mosman.
Conspiracy? A British magazine
Aeroplane published an allegation that Anderson and Kingsford Smith had contrived the
Southern Cross disappearance as a "stunt" or to give Anderson heroic status. "Support" for these contentions was the disappearance of the
Southern Cross 's stash of food rations, and the financial assistance Kingsford Smith gave Anderson to buy the plane
Kookaburra. He had also dropped at the Drysdale Mission misleading information as to his intended course. Willian Angus Todd, for a time their navigator, attested that back in the days of financial stringency, he had heard Ulm suggest that if they should get lost in the Australian outback, they would have no lack of public support. Dudley Walsh, of the
Neptune Oil Company had heard a similar proposal from Ulm. Jim Woods, one of the searching pilots, swore his searches had taken him close to "Coffee Royal", and would have investigated smoke if anyone had wanted to draw his attention. At a Commonwealth enquiry, Kingsford Smith vehemently denied any collusion or staging the event to gain attention, and the board of enquiry agreed. == Recognition ==