Oddly enough, only yesterday I was reading about Kingsford Smith in Wonders of World Aviation (1938). The three (K S, Ulm and Anderson) had failed to break the endurance record, which would have given them a prize big enough to make an attempt on the trans-Pacific route.
Quote "There was no alternative but to return to Australia. Keith Anderson was the first to go. K S and Ulm, so penniless they could not even buy cigarettes, flew the Southern Cross to Los Angeles, where they hoped to sell it." Luckily, a Captain Allan Hancock bought it from them and backed the flight. Quote again " For personal reasons, it was a disappointment to K S and Ulm that Keith Anderson was unable to be with them" There is no mention of anyone being "ejected" from the crew. Later, when K S was down in the bush; "Keith Anderson, with his mechanic, H.S. Hitchcock, had joined in the intensive search. Anderson and Hitchcock set out - and disappeared"