The Portuguese naval museum is a wonderful place to admire the exploits of Portuguese sea farers. This very rare Fairey IIID was the aircraft that finished the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic in the hands of Artur de Sacadura Freire Cabral and fellow aviator Gago Coutinho. This particular aircraft has a Rolls Royce VIII engine. It completed the crossing between Fernando de Noronha and Rio de Janeiro. Later, it served on the mainland, and in Macau.

S1146 was assigned to 47 Squadron for its second Cairo-Capetown-Cairo training flight. The aircraft had originally been allocated to the Fleet Air Arm, which was then part of the RAF, for training at RAF Gosport. Photo from: Imperial War Museums

The Fairey IIIF bomber was a mainstay of the Fleet Air Arm from the late 1920s and into the 1930s . The squadron and carrier to which this aircraft was attached are not shown. Photo from: Imperial War Museums

F1134 served for a year with the NZ Permanent Air Force as a landplane and from July 18, 1930 as a seaplane. Crashed in Waitemata Harbour during a high-speed run on October 29, 1930. Although relatively undamaged it was not repaired. Nine years later it given the serial NZ632. Photo from: Air Force Museum of New Zealand

The second Fairey IIID used for the first flight across the South Atlantic is delivered off the little port of Fernando de Noronha. Wearing c/n F.401, it was Portuguese navy s/n 16, christened either Patria or Portugal. The given date is just nine days after the crash of s/n 15 at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Rocks. Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral backtracked to the Rocks on 11 May to continue from there, but then lost this aircraft too. The third, 17, set out from Fernando de Noronha towards Recife. Thus apparently the stage between the Rocks and Fernando de Noronha was only covered by this aircraft in the opposite direction. Photo from: Museu de Marinha (Portugal)

Sacadura Cabral and Gago Coutinho arriving in Rio de Janeiro in their third Fairey IIID, completing the first flight across the South Atlantic. They alighted near the Ilha das Enxadas, then home to Brazilian naval aviation. Photo from: Museu de Marinha (Portugal)

Portugal's first Fairey IIID departing for the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic with Artur de Sacadura Cabral and Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho, the navigator. Serial 15 and aircraft name Lusitânia are not painted on, but c/n 400 is. This plane was lost while landing at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Rocks, 500 nautical miles off Brazil. Its replacement was also lost, but s/n 17 Santa Cruz completed the flight to Rio de Janeiro. Photo from: Museu de Marinha (Portugal)

A10-3 was undertaking a 44-day round-Australia survey flight. At Perth it was beached at South Perth before continuing its counterclockwise journey back to Melbourne. Total distance covered 13,600km. Photo from: State Library of Western Australia

Became NZ631 in 1939 but never applied to the aircraft. Scrapped during World War II. Photo from: Air Force Museum of New Zealand

This is a replica and has been with the museum since 1981. The real one is preserved in the Museu de Marinha in Lisbon.

About half way through a circumnavigation of Australia that started and ended at Point Cook and went anticlockwise. Due to its historical significance, A10-3 was offered to various institutions between 1928 and 1930. With no takers, it was stored at Sydney's Victorian Barracks. Its fate after that is not recorded.

Became NZ631 in 1939 but never applied to the aircraft. Scrapped during World War II. Photo from: RNZAF/Air Force Museum of New Zealand

Operated until 1939 using is c/n as its serial. Allocated serial NZ631 but never carried and the aircraft became an instructional airframe soon after. Photo from: RNZAF/Air Force Museum of New Zealand

A10-2 had made the first seaplane crossing of Bass Strait prior to being exhibited at Kings Pier during the annual Hobart Regatta. Photo from: Libraries Tasmania

The caption to this photo says the aircraft was from HMAS Geranium, a survey ship. The location is unclear, with the suggestion it may be on Pittwater on Sydney's northern outskirts. However it is far more likely to be Sydney Harbour and the headland in the background may be Middle Head. Geranium and A10-2 were brought together on Sydney Harbour after it was decided aircraft would be useful for survey work ahead of the mapping of reefs in Northern Australia. Photo from: City of Sydney Library

The Chilean navy received four Fairey IIIFs from 1927. They were based at Quintero and could be embarked on the battleship Almirante Latorre. Picture assumed taken in Hamble. Photo from: Flight

The only Fairey IIIF to serve in the RCAF, borrowed for trials. Returned to the RAF. Photo by: Stuart Thomson / City of Vancouver Archives

Reportedly the only known example of this type left in the world

The Dutch navy bought these four Fairey IIIDs in 1925. They were sent to the East Indies in 1926 to serve aboard the cruisers Java and Sumatra, but did not fare well and were disposed of to the colonial army. The Dutch roundels are applied wrongly in modern eyes. Photo from: Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie

G-AABY was a contestant in the 1934 Mildenhall-Melbourne air race but so many misfortunes befell it it was listed as a "failed to finish". It did arrive a month after the race was ended and found a buyer in Queensland. The photo is believed to show it in Queensland, likely at Archerfield, ahead of being registered VH-UTT to a Toowoomba owner. Soon after it was sold in Papua New Guinea but by August 1937 it was no longer in use. Photo from: State Library of Queensland