I'm in the middle of "
The Lonely Sea and the Sky" by Sir Francis Chichester. I'd always assumed he was "just" a yachtsman.. but his story is much, much more than that.
In 1929, he flew from England to Australia in a
D H Gypsy Moth - then had it shipped to NZ from where he wanted to be the first to fly the Tasman Sea back to Oz (via Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island..) For the navs out there, the section where he describes how he managed to fly the aeroplane and navigate using dead reckoning backed up with sun shots is absolutely incredible.. I won't give away any more of the flying side of the story. I've yet to start reading about his solo circumnavigation of the world in Gypsy Moth IV.