On February 7, 1928, Australian Bert Hinkler took off from London in a two-seat Avro 581E Avian biplane on the first leg of his solo flight from England to Australia. The unassuming Hinkler's grueling flight was little noted by the press until he reached India, then the world press got caught up in the drama of another "Lone Eagle" performance so soon after Charles A. Lindbergh's transatlantic flight.