Many thanks for highlighting that DHP.
Very enjoyable reading over a beer here in the tropics. By coincidence Barry Tempest, who is mentioned in the TCT statement on her website, once owned a share in the Tiger.
https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/Hi...l/G-ANRF-2.pdf
(This article was published in the Flight International magazine, 30 May 1978 )
On February 7 David Cyster took off from Dunsfold, Surrey, in his Tiger Moth on a 10,000 n.m. flight to Sydney, 50 years to the day after Bert Hinkler's departure on the first solo flight to Australia. The story of how Flt Lt Cyster relived this pioneering flight in an old open* cockpit biplane is told by IVAN RENDALL, who looked after the many arrangements needed.
DAVID CYSTER set out to operate as far as possible under the same conditions as Hinkler - a brave exercise, inviting inevitable and critical comparisons between today's pilots and the pioneers of the 1920s. It may seem significant, therefore, that he suffered from the same three main problems that plagued Hinkler: unpredictable weather (despite modern forecasting methods), fatigue and fuel leaks. But there was an obstacle in 1978 which Hinkler was blessedly spared: the bureaucracy which surrounds international flying, especially in light aircraft.
Planning, both in the 12 months prior to take-off, and careful flight-planning during the 32 days en route to Darwin, was the foundation of his successfully completed flight.
It was not a record-breaking attempt. The days when Tigers would suffer "throttle bending" through the tropics are over. Many asked why the flight to Darwin took twice as long as Hinkler's record 16 days. Though Cyster modestly attributes this to the pioneer's skill, it has to be noted that in 1928 planning was very much the pilot's prerogative, and he was assured of a warm welcome wherever his atlas was painted red.
Cyster's route was longer, to avoid touchy political areas, especially in the Middle East. It was planned in legs of as near 700 n.m. as possible, and the longest and coldest turned out to be the 620 n.m. to Marseilles. Before February 7, Cyster's longest flight in a Tiger Moth was a 2.5 hour leg to Dunsfold from his base at RAF Valley the previous day.
More at
https://www.ivanrendall.me/index.php...156-article-15
