First flown on 28 Sep 1935, this aircraft was shipped to Australia in Feb 1936, to support an expedition in Papua New Guinea led by American zoologist Richard Archbold. On 8 July 1936 it was caught in high winds while at anchor in Fairfax Harbour, Port Moresby, and damaged beyond repair. Stripped of useful parts, NR777 was taken to deep water and sunk. Photo from: State Library of Queensland

Flown to Australia and on to Japan by Francesco de Pinedo, with his mechanic, Ernesto Campanelli, then back to Italy between April 21 and November 7, 1925. De Pinedo made several other major long-distance flights over the next eight years. He was killed on September 2, 1933 when his Bellanca crashed on take-off at New York while attempting a non-stop flight to Baghdad. The building behind the S.16ter is one the Naval Stores erected beneath the Kangaroo Point cliffs in 1886. Today a heritage site. Photo from: State Library of Queensland