In 1928, Lady Mary Heath became the first pilot, male or female, to fly a small, open-cockpit biplane from Cape Town to London.
In November 2013, to commemorate Lady Heath’s flight, pilot Tracey Curtis-Taylor will embark on a journey to fly the same route in her own open-cockpit Boeing Stearman – the Spirit of Artemis. The biplane may look like one of the aircraft of yesteryear but the 1940s-built Boeing Stearman is fresh from a factory in Hungary, ready and prepared for the epic flight across Africa.
Curtis-Taylor will be landing in Port Elizabeth on Friday, 1 November 2013 as her first stopover on the flight to London. To keep this commemorative flight authentic and in line with the conditions endured in 1928 Curtis-Taylor will navigate by sight and weather conditions will have a major impact on not only the planned stopovers but also keeping to the scheduled itinerary. The flight will cover approximately 11 265.41km (7 000 miles), broken down into 35 legs and will take six weeks to complete.
Although not a South African, Lady Heath is an important part of not only the South African aviation history but also that of Port Elizabeth. She participated and won the first aerial race in SA on 8 Jan 1928 at PE Fairview flying field and became the first woman to land a plane in Port Elizabeth.
The Boeing Stearman is scheduled to land at the Port Elizabeth International Airport after 14:00, if the weather plays along, and flying enthusiasts and members of the public are invited to view this historic landing and welcome this intrepid adventurer to the city.
See: Lady Heath – PE Winner of first aerial race
Female pilot, Tracy Curtis-Taylor, lands in Port Elizabeth this week, on Friday, as her first stopover in a brave journey in an open-cockpit aircraft from Cape Town to London. Curtis-Taylor is commemorating a journey taken by woman pilot Mary Heath in 1928 – the first pilot ever to complete the same journey, also in an open-cockpit biplane.
Read more here: Cape Town to Goodwood
- Bio
- Latest Posts
These businesses support MyPE:
MyPE supports PE business:
