I am a bit disapointed in the negative response to Chalkie's flight, but I wish to put forward a few facts:
1.Henshaw flew a factory built Percival Mew Gull, while Stobbart flew a home built Osprey GP 4, which is made of similar materials, and has almost the same maximum speed and similar weight limitations.
2.The GP 4 took about 10 years to build from scratch, The aircraft was built for the average pilot and not for long distances, which was one disadvantage. Another is that there are now international regulations which control how and where pilots could fly, such as flight plans, overflight clearances, flight time linitations and least of all African bureaucracy. Chalkie is nearly 61 years old !!!!! How old was Henshaw when he did this flight????
3.About 10 years ago, Chalkie flew a 1939 Stinson with its original Scarb-Warner engine from South Africa to Oshkosh, which was also some achievement.
So please don't be too hard on him digisoul.
TT