Quote from
brakedwell:
"Air to air overage on Southern BBC news last night showed Tracey's Stearman passing over several en-route landmarks with two people on board."
Likewise on the early-evening and late-evening ITV national news (UK, Thursday). The TV report (now available in what seems to be a shorterned version (?) on the
ITV website) by its top reporter-newscaster, Mark Austin, shows him having a ride in the Stearman with Ms Curtis-Taylor before her departure from the UK. (So that at least was an unassisted flight.) There is mention of delays due to re-routings, and implication of further incidents en-route to Darwin. The a/c had arrived in Australia, the report said,
"just-about intact."
All the en-route footage of the Stearman in flight clearly shows two heads on board. Interviewed at Ayers Rock (?), the photogenic aviatrix plays down her achievement in comparison with that of Amy Johnson:
"I haven't got close to reproducing that."
The report does not claim specifically that her flight has been solo, but there is no mention of any assistance from a second pilot. Most viewers, I think, would infer that she has flown the Stearman solo, as one might from a visit to the report on the ITV website, which includes the following:
"She herself had a small support crew following her flight - which Johnson did not - which recorded her adventure for a documentary series retelling the story of early aviation."
As I write, the website report is entitled:
"British pilot Tracey Curtis Taylor days away from completing 13,000 mile solo flight"