Are you impressed by Chalkie world record breaking attempt?
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Jeffreys Bay, EC, South Africa.
Age: 75
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Hi Guys,
Thanks for the support, ignore the trolls, they enjoy causing knee-jerk reactions...
Herewith a letter from Alex Henshaw Jnr.
Regards, Chalkie.
CAPE TOWN - LONDON - CAPE TOWN
3 DAYS 15 HOURS 17 MINUTES
On Monday 11th May at 14:22 GMT Charles “Chalkie” Stobbart landed at Cape Town after an epic flight from Cape Town to London and back shattering my Father’s record set in February 1939 by 18 hours 59 minutes. I was at Southend to meet him on his arrival and was staggered to see less than thirty enthusiasts there to greet him. No national or local news reporters, no television coverage, and no support from any aviation groups other than two representatives from the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. Had this been any other sporting event with a world record likely to be achieved the venue would have been heaving with the press.
For a person to fly night and day and night for thirty six hours in a most uncomfortable aircraft, have a rest for 14 hours and then do the same again on the return is quite an extraordinary feat of airmanship, and displays great courage, determination, and self discipline, to the point of complete exhaustion. I am sure my Father would have been the first to congratulate him on this magnificent achievement.
Many people have said that my Father’s record should have been left sacrosanct. He did not believe that, otherwise he would not have issued the challenge in his book “The Flight Of The Mew Gull,” and nor do I. Yes conditions were totally different 70 years ago, Once my Father left Gravesend he had no communication with anyone until he landed. He had no radio, no navigational aids, no weather forecasts of any note, and the airfields and facilities were dire to say the very least, and he had the constant worry that if he could not find the airfields or land before sunset he would be finished. The tolerance he allowed himself to find and land at Gao was 15 minutes. The next problem my Father had was that whilst he could fly at night, but could not land at night, so landings had to be made at sunrise or sunset where appropriate. Therefore my Father was stuck at Gao for 6 hours both going out and on the return, equally he had to stay in Cape Town for 27 hours so that he made Gao at sunset.
Things have certainly changed some for the good and some not so good, Chalkie did not have the navigational problems, and had his auto pilot worked properly it would have made life a little easier for him. However his avionics packed up on him over France so he had quite a torrid final hour coming into Southend. The bureaucracy in Africa drove him mad, firstly the President closed Brazzaville airport for two hours so Chalkie could not get out, and then in Kano there was fuel waiting for him but the locals were just impossibly inept and the bureaucrats were unbelievably slow and uncooperative, and similarly in Algiers. So the end result was that Chalkie was on the ground for 8 hours, with one less landing; to my Father’s 9 hours, 6 of which were spent at Gao.
All that said my Father did the outward journey in 39 hours 23 minutes to Chalkie’s 36 hours 35 minutes, and the flying times were 30 hours 28 minutes and 28 hours 38 minutes respectively, so the record was beaten both in the air and on the ground. The return journey is more or less the same other than the turn round where my Father was on the ground for 27 hours and Chalkie only for 14 hours.
There were a couple of interesting situations, firstly Cape Town was closed due to fog for 3 hours prior to Chalkie’s take off. Had this happened to my Father in his day he would have taken off anyway, as would Chalkie have done had he been allowed. If my Father had not taken off his record attempt would have had to be postponed as he would not have reached Gao before sunset. Then secondly Chalkie jokingly said that if the storm scope is not fixed at Southend he was not returning to Cape Town, my Father did not have that luxury. The storm scope was not fixed but Chalkie had the courage to go anyway.
On the other side of the coin my Father could not have coped with the air traffic control directing him here, there, and everywhere, so at least he had peace and quiet and was able to fly a direct course to each airfield other than Gravesend to Oran, where he had to go down the Rhone Valley to Marseilles before turning to Oran because of the Spanish Civil War. It was bureaucracy that finally stopped him flying in 1948. He was supposed to pick up his permit to cross the Sahara Desert at Colomb Bechar but could not get in due to the bad weather and returned to Oran, his nominated alternate airfield. After leaving Oran he was supposed to stop at Colomb Bechar and pick up this permit, but he could not waste the time so he threw a note out of the window of the plane saying “I am on my way”. He expected fire works in Oran on his return but the Commandant saluted my Father and wished him “Bon Voyage”.
Both flights were quite extraordinary, both had difficult aircraft to fly, both had problems of one sort or another. I think my Father was a man of his time and I think Chalkie is certainly a man of his time. And do not forget that my Father was only 26 years old, Chalkie is 60 years old. In this context to return to Cape Town after only 10 hours sleep out of the 14 hours stop over, where my Father had two good breaks at Gao and a 27 hour turn round at Cape Town I think Chalkie’s flight, for endurance, far exceeds my Father’s.
I am a little sad that at last someone has broken my Father’s record which has stood for over 70 years, but it has gone to a charming, unassuming, very professional pilot, whose courage, determination, and skill surpasses all others. I have been informed that technically the FAI will not recognize the record as an “old one” broken as Chalkie flew it in the “wrong” direction. So a new one will be registered. As my Father has thrown down the challenge, I understand that Steve Noujaim is going to attempt to break the “old record” in October, I only hope he has more support from the Nation than Chalkie got on his arrival at Southend. Best of luck Steve.
Alex Henshaw.
Thanks for the support, ignore the trolls, they enjoy causing knee-jerk reactions...
Herewith a letter from Alex Henshaw Jnr.
Regards, Chalkie.
CAPE TOWN - LONDON - CAPE TOWN
3 DAYS 15 HOURS 17 MINUTES
On Monday 11th May at 14:22 GMT Charles “Chalkie” Stobbart landed at Cape Town after an epic flight from Cape Town to London and back shattering my Father’s record set in February 1939 by 18 hours 59 minutes. I was at Southend to meet him on his arrival and was staggered to see less than thirty enthusiasts there to greet him. No national or local news reporters, no television coverage, and no support from any aviation groups other than two representatives from the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. Had this been any other sporting event with a world record likely to be achieved the venue would have been heaving with the press.
For a person to fly night and day and night for thirty six hours in a most uncomfortable aircraft, have a rest for 14 hours and then do the same again on the return is quite an extraordinary feat of airmanship, and displays great courage, determination, and self discipline, to the point of complete exhaustion. I am sure my Father would have been the first to congratulate him on this magnificent achievement.
Many people have said that my Father’s record should have been left sacrosanct. He did not believe that, otherwise he would not have issued the challenge in his book “The Flight Of The Mew Gull,” and nor do I. Yes conditions were totally different 70 years ago, Once my Father left Gravesend he had no communication with anyone until he landed. He had no radio, no navigational aids, no weather forecasts of any note, and the airfields and facilities were dire to say the very least, and he had the constant worry that if he could not find the airfields or land before sunset he would be finished. The tolerance he allowed himself to find and land at Gao was 15 minutes. The next problem my Father had was that whilst he could fly at night, but could not land at night, so landings had to be made at sunrise or sunset where appropriate. Therefore my Father was stuck at Gao for 6 hours both going out and on the return, equally he had to stay in Cape Town for 27 hours so that he made Gao at sunset.
Things have certainly changed some for the good and some not so good, Chalkie did not have the navigational problems, and had his auto pilot worked properly it would have made life a little easier for him. However his avionics packed up on him over France so he had quite a torrid final hour coming into Southend. The bureaucracy in Africa drove him mad, firstly the President closed Brazzaville airport for two hours so Chalkie could not get out, and then in Kano there was fuel waiting for him but the locals were just impossibly inept and the bureaucrats were unbelievably slow and uncooperative, and similarly in Algiers. So the end result was that Chalkie was on the ground for 8 hours, with one less landing; to my Father’s 9 hours, 6 of which were spent at Gao.
All that said my Father did the outward journey in 39 hours 23 minutes to Chalkie’s 36 hours 35 minutes, and the flying times were 30 hours 28 minutes and 28 hours 38 minutes respectively, so the record was beaten both in the air and on the ground. The return journey is more or less the same other than the turn round where my Father was on the ground for 27 hours and Chalkie only for 14 hours.
There were a couple of interesting situations, firstly Cape Town was closed due to fog for 3 hours prior to Chalkie’s take off. Had this happened to my Father in his day he would have taken off anyway, as would Chalkie have done had he been allowed. If my Father had not taken off his record attempt would have had to be postponed as he would not have reached Gao before sunset. Then secondly Chalkie jokingly said that if the storm scope is not fixed at Southend he was not returning to Cape Town, my Father did not have that luxury. The storm scope was not fixed but Chalkie had the courage to go anyway.
On the other side of the coin my Father could not have coped with the air traffic control directing him here, there, and everywhere, so at least he had peace and quiet and was able to fly a direct course to each airfield other than Gravesend to Oran, where he had to go down the Rhone Valley to Marseilles before turning to Oran because of the Spanish Civil War. It was bureaucracy that finally stopped him flying in 1948. He was supposed to pick up his permit to cross the Sahara Desert at Colomb Bechar but could not get in due to the bad weather and returned to Oran, his nominated alternate airfield. After leaving Oran he was supposed to stop at Colomb Bechar and pick up this permit, but he could not waste the time so he threw a note out of the window of the plane saying “I am on my way”. He expected fire works in Oran on his return but the Commandant saluted my Father and wished him “Bon Voyage”.
Both flights were quite extraordinary, both had difficult aircraft to fly, both had problems of one sort or another. I think my Father was a man of his time and I think Chalkie is certainly a man of his time. And do not forget that my Father was only 26 years old, Chalkie is 60 years old. In this context to return to Cape Town after only 10 hours sleep out of the 14 hours stop over, where my Father had two good breaks at Gao and a 27 hour turn round at Cape Town I think Chalkie’s flight, for endurance, far exceeds my Father’s.
I am a little sad that at last someone has broken my Father’s record which has stood for over 70 years, but it has gone to a charming, unassuming, very professional pilot, whose courage, determination, and skill surpasses all others. I have been informed that technically the FAI will not recognize the record as an “old one” broken as Chalkie flew it in the “wrong” direction. So a new one will be registered. As my Father has thrown down the challenge, I understand that Steve Noujaim is going to attempt to break the “old record” in October, I only hope he has more support from the Nation than Chalkie got on his arrival at Southend. Best of luck Steve.
Alex Henshaw.
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Down the airway.
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Thank you for posting that letter.
There is a connection here to Steve Noujaim....who I think is British and not South African?
The Cape Challenge, Steve Noujaim
from which I copy out the following line....
Steve Noujaim intends to prove to the world that he can do it.
and there is more of him here...
RV-7 G-IIXF Steve Noujaim - VAF Forums
and here....
Steve Noujaim record flight to South Africa |Cirencester News | Western Daily Press
So we must wish him good luck I think and hope that he does not get food poisoning or malaria.
There is a connection here to Steve Noujaim....who I think is British and not South African?
The Cape Challenge, Steve Noujaim
from which I copy out the following line....
Steve Noujaim intends to prove to the world that he can do it.
and there is more of him here...
RV-7 G-IIXF Steve Noujaim - VAF Forums
and here....
Steve Noujaim record flight to South Africa |Cirencester News | Western Daily Press
So we must wish him good luck I think and hope that he does not get food poisoning or malaria.
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Jeffreys Bay, EC, South Africa.
Age: 75
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Der Hammer,
You and the Brits are cousins. Steve is my opposition, yet he was part of my ground crew in Southend; as I will be his ground crew in Cape Town.
Chivalry is alive and well in aviation.
I wish him well at improving on the record.
Strange that for 70 years there were no contestants, then this year two!
Regards. Chalkie.
You and the Brits are cousins.
Steve is my opposition, yet he was part of my ground crew in Southend; as I will be his ground crew in Cape Town.Chivalry is alive and well in aviation.
I wish him well at improving on the record.
Strange that for 70 years there were no contestants, then this year two!
Regards. Chalkie.
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Africa
Age: 44
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Congrats! I think its an amazing thing you have done Chalkie! 
it is great to see passion for aviation is still alive and well. Some times flying taxis can drain the passion a bit!
Just for interest sake, how did you cope with the fatigue? I once flew 13.6 hrs in a day and was a zombi when I landed, I cant begin to imagine how tiring it must have been? whats the secret?
Well done and congrats again
Dog
it is great to see passion for aviation is still alive and well. Some times flying taxis can drain the passion a bit!Just for interest sake, how did you cope with the fatigue? I once flew 13.6 hrs in a day and was a zombi when I landed, I cant begin to imagine how tiring it must have been? whats the secret?
Well done and congrats again
Dog
