Amy Johnson she ain't: 'Solo' flying poster girl is brought down to earth by claims that she had co-pilot and flew just four of her 36 round-the-world legs on her own
Tracey Curtis-Taylor, 54, re-creating the solo exploits of Amy Johnson
But it has emerged the self-styled ‘Bird in a bi-plane’ may have had co-pilot
Man who planned one journey said she ‘embellished the truth’ about flights
By DAVID JARVIS and TOM WITHEROW FOR THE DAILY MAIL
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'Solo' flying poster girl is brought down by claims that she had co-pilot | Daily Mail Online
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They used the Sydney arrival,picture with Ewald clearly in the front seat. I am still puzzled why she needed him on board for the last leg of the journey when there was clearly the risk he would be seen.
I suspect from what I have heard it was for navigational reasons.
I must say it actually took quite a lot of effort to get this story published and credit must go to Dave Jarvis for his tenacity.
Ewald was quite open and honest in his conversation with Dave Jarvis and admitted he was onboard throughout both the Africa trip and London to Sydney.
Gritsch admits he was in the forward cockpit for ‘the majority’ of the flights from Cape Town to Goodwood and Farnborough to Sydney. He said: ‘The situation was that it was not a solo flight.’
He is a fully fledged ATPL.
But in a statement Miss Curtis-Taylor said: ‘For the avoidance of doubt, I have always been the sole pilot’, despite Mr Gritsch saying ‘it was not a solo flight’.
I see she unveiled the marker of Samuel Cody’s maiden British flight near the Aviator Hotel, in Farnborough last Wednesday.
The take-off point for the first manned and powered flight in Great Britain will be commemorated with a new monument unveiled by pilot Tracey Curtis–Taylor. The monument, a joint project between the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) and the Farnborough Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), will mark Cody’s achievement as well as commemorate 150 years since the foundation of the RAeS.
http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/l...first-11549634
Tracey even had a go at piloting Cody’s plane on a simulator at the FAST Museum. She told Get Hampshire : “It was very hard - I crashed it.