Open Cockpit from Cape to Cambridge

African Odyssey

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“In 2012, I am going to fly from the southern tip of Africa to the United Kingdom in a 1930’s opencockpit biplane. Flying into history, in the ‘slipstream’ ofthose great aviators who pioneered the air routes overAfrica, will be the fulfilment of a dream. I hope to inspireas many people as possible, and raise money foreducation relating to my two great loves: vintageaviation and the magnificent African Continent.”Tracey Curtis -Taylor

Aviator Tracey Curtis-Taylor is going totake off in a restored 1930’s BoeingStearman biplane from Cape Town, SouthAfrica, and fly eight and a half thousandmiles back to Cambridge, England overthe route flown by Lady Mary Heath in 1928.

Lady Mary Heath was the first female aviator to fly across Africa and this flight is a tribute to the many courageous pioneering aviators of the 1920’s and 30’swho prepared the way for air travel as we know it today: Charles Lindbergh, Sir Alan Cobham, Amy Johnson, Sir Francis Chichester, and many others.

Flying solo, Tracey’s route will take her from the Horn of Africa to Johannesburg through Botswana up into Zambia and overVictoria Falls; from there, north-east across the Serengeti, over Kilimanjaro, east to Nairobi and then due north through the RiftValley and the mountains of Ethiopia, over the upper reaches of the White Nile and through the Sahara to Khartoum and Cairo;and on across North Africa via Tripoli and Tunis, over the Mediterranean to Europe and home to Cambridge.

The voyage will endeavour to recreate the context of the great adventurers and entrepreneurs who first opened the skies of Africaby retracing one famous route in an aircraft representative of the challenges of the period; open cockpit, stick and rudder flyingwith basic period instruments and a short range between landing points which will involve frequent stops in some of the remotestparts of Africa.

A small support crew travelling in tandem in a 1930’s Beech 18 aircraft will record thejourney on film capturing the challenges involved with this type of flying and the wondersof the African scenery and its people.

Day to day news will be posted on an interactive web site capetocambridge.com and thewhole adventure will be made into a documentary film by a well known film maker.

There are scant period pictures of the early flights and no comprehensive movie records,so the resulting documentary from this extraordinary expedition will not only help tokeep the history alive, but will be used to educate a new generation of aviation enthusiast.In this way, Tracey hopes to provide young people with an enthralling example ofadventure that reflects the great achievements of our pioneering forebears.

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Sir Alan Cobham’s expedition acrossAfrica in 1925

The Flight

CAPE TOWN

CAIRO

CAMBRIDGE

PARIS

DIJON

MARSEILLESROME NAPLES

CATANIA

TUNISSFAX

TRIPOLI

BENGHAZI

ASSUIT

ATBARA

KHARTUM

KOSTI

MALAKAI

MWANZA

LIVINGSTONE

BULAWAYO

PRETORIA

DURBAN

JOHANNESBURGPIETERMARITZBURG

EAST LONDON

PORT ELIZABETH

ABERCORN (MBALA)

BROKEN HILL

Lady Mary HeathIn an era when the world had goneaviation mad, due to the exploits ofCharles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart,Lady Mary Heath was more than ableto hold her own. ‘Britain’s Lady Lindy’,as she was known in the UnitedStates, made front page news as thefirst pilot, male or female, to fly a smallopen cockpit airplane from CapeTown to London. She had thought itwould take her three weeks; as itturned out, it took her three months,from January to May 1928.

KISUMUNAIROBI

Sponsorship and SupportThe expedition will be funded by a combination of corporate and private sponsorship.

We have secured commitments for the procurement and modification of the BoeingStearman and the Beech 18. We now seek sponsorship to support the running costs of theexpedition and the production of a documentary film.

This expedition will take Tracey across some of the most spectacular terrain in one of theleast understood parts of the world. The opportunity exists to join this adventure forpromotional purposes and to celebrate the remarkable achievements of male and femaleaviation pioneers in opening up the vast African continent.

As we expect this enterprise to catch the imagination of the worldwide media, sponsors will benefit from a global audience.

Documentary filming rightsSponsorship is also sought through the granting of exclusive rights to film thisepic eight thousand mile journey flying at relatively low level over some of the most visually stunning landscapesthat Africa has to offer. It offers an opportunity to explore Africa’s colonial history and the air routes that wereopened up during the 1930’s.

Educating a new generationAn educational programme will be developed to share the lessons and achievements of the flight, not only withyounger generations across the UK but also to a wider global audience as well.

As a pre-cursor to the 2012 flight up through Africa and across Europe, Tracey Curtis -Taylor will embark on aregional tour of the UK, landing the Boeing Stearman at small airfields where local schoolchildren will be invited tomeet Tracey to learn about the historic and geographic aspects of her flying adventure.

There are a number of highly successful flying scholarship and sponsorship schemes run by charities of internationalrepute. We are currently assessing the charity/scholarship that best fits the expedition and, following selection, aformal link will be made and money from sponsorship will be distributed to that cause.

A fitting destinationThe destination is Cambridge, one of the most renownededucation capitals of the world. More specifically, wewill touch down at Cambridge City Airport, which isowned and run by Marshall of Cambridge Ltd, a100 year old family company that started itsaerospace activities with the help and inspirationof Sir Alan Cobham (pictured far left).

Marshall has agreed to provide the HQ for theexpedition and engineering support. Marshall andCambridge are a fitting destination for thisaudacious adventure.

Above: The first Civil flight in the UK post WWII was from Cambridge Airport onthe 1st January 1946 and the Marshall Business Aviation Centre 2010.Right: The Marshall Flying School was formed in 1930 and is still operating today.

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Tracey Curtis-Taylor

BackgroundTracey had her first flying lesson at age sixteen in Canada and went on to gain her private licence after emigrating to NewZealand in 1983. During the next fourteen years, Tracey became actively involved with the New Zealand Warbirds and wenton to fly many different aircraft types including a WW1 SE5a replica and a WW2 T-6 Harvard. She gained her CommercialPilots Licence and qualified as an instructor and after several years of flying in this capacity spent another six years workingin aerial photography and photogrammetric mapping.

As well as a keen aviator, Tracey has a life-long interest in travel and exploration, particularly in Africa and the south-westPacific. She first went to South Africa in 1982 and after working there for a year, travelled over-land from Johannesburg toLondon in a Bedford truck, camping in bush, jungle and desert for five months.

She is also passionate about old cars and morerecently took part in the centenary Peking toParis classic car rally that re-traced the route first driven by PrinceBorghese in 1907. This involved driving for sixweeks non-stop through northern China, theGobi Desert and across Russia to the Balticand onto western Europe; another epicexperience that combined great adventurewith rugged endurance.

Tracey is now permanently based nearCambridge, England and keeps her aircraft, aPT-22 Ryan Recruit, with the ShuttleworthCollection at Biggleswade in Bedfordshire.Shuttleworth is a charitable trust committedto preserving aviation and automotive historyand operates one of the finest collections of

historic vintage aircraft inthe world. Tracey spendsmuch of her time there,displaying at weekend airshows and helping withthe publicity and marketingof the Collection on avoluntary basis.

The AircraftAbove, a Boeing Stearman, the type of aircraft Tracey Curtis-Taylor will use on the expedition.

Right, the support aircraft, a Beech 18.

Contact detailsFor further information about the expedition,please contact Tracey Curtis-Taylor in the first instance on 07919 975 690, or email tct@capetocambridge.com

www.capetocambridge.com

Odyssey

African2012