INTERVIEW ACCLAIMED AUTHOR DAMIEN LAY ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK ON AVIATOR KINGSFORD SMITH

# DAMIEN LAY ARRIVES IN SYDNEY FROM THE U.S ON 11 DECEMBER 2025 AND IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW

# AFTER 20 YEARS OF RESEARCH, ONE OF THE GREATEST AVIATION MYSTERIES IS SOLVED & PLANE WRECK LOCATION REVEALED

# TO RECEIVE A DIGITAL OR HARD COPY OF THE BOOK FOR REVIEW, EMAILMARTA@MARKSONSPARKS.COM

Award-winning Australian filmmaker and explorer Damien Lay released his first book "Of Air and Men" about the life of famed aviator Charles Kingsford Smith at the start of last month and the book has been resonating with readers, climbing best seller lists, and attracting five-star reviews.

Kingsford Smith was the first person to circumnavigate the globe and is one of the greatest long-distance flyers in history. The book's release coincided with the 90th anniversary of the disappearance of Kingsford Smith's legendary Lockheed Altair 8D aircraft, Lady Southern Cross. 

In 1935, Kingsford Smith and co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge went missing while attempting to break the flight speed record between England and Australia. The final resting place of the pilot, crew, and plane has baffled historians for generations, until now.

"Of Air and Men" follows and tells this dramatic tale, offering the final unwritten chapter in this amazing story, now 90+ years in the making. Lay, considered one of the world's leading authorities on the disappearance of the Lady Southern Cross, has spent over twenty years researching and documenting the historic event.

The wreckage was first discovered in 2009, approximately two kilometers off the Burmese coast on the floor of the Gulf of Martaban using sonar imaging. It took Lay and his team 18 expeditions to Myanmar (Burma), a country marred by political turmoil, war, pirates, militias, and some of the worst diving conditions on earth, to recover around 45 pieces from the wreck. The dives, over 100 feet in depth in perilous conditions, were possible only after the silt had temporarily shifted.

"Of Air and Men" is now available in paperback and hardcover through Amazon Of Air and Men, Barnes and Noble and most bookstores in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

TO INTERVIEW DAMIEN LAY OR TO RECEIVE A COPY OF THE BOOK, email Marta@marksonsparks.com or call Marta Wiacek on 0409 291 785 or email Max@marksonsparks.com or call Max Markson 0412 501 601