This looks more like a biography than a novel. One has to wonder what ground will be covered that was not covered by Mary Lovell.

It looks like this flight may be on hold until a full inspection of the Stearman is carried out........

Pilot Tracey Curtis-Taylor bidding to emulate Amy Johnson hits a parked helicopter | Daily Mail Online

Oh, I'm sure that'll buff out! Which is more than can be said for the Robinson...

Beryl Markham's book, Westward With The Night is available on Kindle. A wonderful read and a remarkable lady, although as I've said before, for sheer sex appeal Sheila Scott was THE lady. She had an incredible effect on me as a hormonal teenager!

SND

Same Blonde Lady has almost decapitated a Stationary R44 at Goodwood, whilst taxiing, good job no one was doing a rotors running preflight, could have been very messy,
But the upside is R44 owner will ( or may) get a better Heli..!;)

Will.

Engine and other components will find new homes though...

This from her facebook page:

Theo Claassen

Saw this lovely lady arriving at Yeovilton at last year's pre-show photo day after she reportedly had lost her way a couple of time on route from Goodwood. Can happen to anyone. Lovely Stearman too.

15 September at 08:41

LOST HER WAY FROM GOOD WOOD..!!!! :sad::eek:

well then, that don't sound healthy for a slightly longer trip to say.................err Africa..:eek: Or is this a build up to look at me sort of thingy, and then "WOW I have arrived in Africa".....smells like publicity or looking for a sponsor who see's a feckless Blonde Lass with a slight bent Boeing..?;)

Do you think her insurers will be aware of her latest Nav Skills or am I being a typical Bloke...:D

How she describes the accident:

The last few weeks have been difficult for many reasons. Not only was the Stearman damaged last month in a taxying incident at Goodwood,...

Well, it's not untrue... :cool:

An update (sort of)...
 

.....said lady was on the Today prog R4. She is setting off round about now but had already decided that she was going to divert from Le Touquet "because of adverse winds". "Where to?" "Somewhere with a runway more into wind"

Sounds like a plan?

The Ancient Mariner

Yes, she doesn't do crosswind landings. This was a recurring (planning) issue on the Africa flight...

Quote from Rossian:
'.....said lady was on the Today prog R4. She is setting off round about now but had already decided that she was going to divert from Le Touquet "because of adverse winds". "Where to?" "Somewhere with a runway more into wind" '

Yes, I heard that interview on Thursday morning. Good at least to know ones limitations, I guess, not to mention the aeroplane's.

Didn't see the TAF she was working with, but now see from the METARS that the mean wind strengths at Le Touquet from midday local time to sunset were as high as 16 knots from 050T, which is straight across Rwy 14/32. AFAIK, there are no grass runways. The old Rwy 07/25 is closed, and seems to have been partially built on.

As one who grew up not far off the route she took across Africa, I was disappointed by the first documentary. It seems there are two types of TV adventurer: those that acknowledge their entourage of producer, camera-person and sound-person; and those who present themselves as if they are alone. The former are in a minority, but include good old Ray Mears. The latter includes Bear Grylls, whom I stopped watching after he failed to mention that the cameraman filming his descent of a waterfall may have had a far more dangerous task than his.

Now we have this latter-day "solo" aviatrix in a robust aeroplane with GPS, and an escort team flying nearby, claiming that in some aspects her task is more challenging than Amy Johnson's was...

She would possibly get more interest,.. and conversely then more sponsorship if she was described as Aviatrix...Dominatrix , or am I being a typical Bloke!!:E

I just hope she doesn't bend her Boeing - again :rolleyes:

Does anyone know.....
 

.....if there is some way of following the flight other than the dreaded farcetome?
Only because I'm curious you understand.

The Ancient Mariner

Possibly by checking for Taxi-ing incidents or aborted crosswind incident in Africa..on Google:ok:

It sounds a bit like this guy SE-AMO
It doesn't say though if he took a hurdy-gurdy with him.

Stockholm to Cape Town in an (ahhh...) de Havilland D.H. 60 GIII Moth Major
 

Well, this guy left Stockholm on September 1st, had departed Arusha, Tanzania, by yesterday (October 6th), and is using the same type of aeroplane as his 1935 predecessor. From his excellent website:
"Andrée’s journey [in 1935] was an unprecedented feat – a lone aviator flying an open-cockpit plane over the vast deserts and jungles of the African continent, equipped with the most rudimentary of navigational instruments: a map and a compass. Johan Wiklund will repeat Andrée’s adventure... [...] He’ll also use the same navigational tools, [...] Johan Wiklund wants to prove that it is still possible. Using the same technology used by his compatriot Gösta André in 1935."

So, at risk of nit-picking, does he have routine access to the radar (position) feed advertised on his website as being available for fans to follow his progress? Presumably only when he has internet access?

The Boeing Stearman is a fine aircraft, but it's a pity it takes a Swede to fly an authentic, British type.

I think the Swedish guy's GPS is a little SPOT gizmo which transmits his co-ords to a satellite relay without being a displayable navaid onboard.

I greatly admire what he's doing. In a couple of ways it's actually much more difficult than the original as the bureaucracy and international tensions in Africa just weren't there in the 1930s. It's also more difficult to get petrol at many airports than it was in the '30s.

Then there's the fact he hasn't got a support or "chase" plane unlike the heavily sponsored publicity seekers.

For these wimmin who claim to emulate Amy Johnson or Amelia Earhart, it's all a bit bogus with GPS and support planes.

Australia
 

I saw that program, good stuff. The pilot reminded me of an avgas tanker driver I once met in the 90s who was also a Bell 47 pilot. Is she the woman doing the Australia solo ?

I believe that another lady flyer is going for the Australia attempt, and I believe it's solo.

AMANDA HARRISON
 

Hi Guys,

Yes, Amanda Harrison, leaving soon if she can get the money! Google ‘Race2Darwin’.

Boeing-Stearman
 

Soloed 19.9.41. in a Stearman PT-17 at Carlstrom Field, Arcadia FLA.

Flew my first 60 hrs in them. To make it more interesting, they took the ASI out of the (stood's) back cockpit.

Didn't worry us - what you've never had, you never miss !

Great old aircraft. Glad to see this one's flying with the original 220hp Continental. Many have been beefed up with what looks like a Wasp Junior.

Danny42C.

(Arnold Scheme alumnus)

Hello Danny42C, bit off context but I have a 1941 Stearman that was used for Army Air Corps training in Florida. Later in life it was a cropduster with a P&W 985 Wasp Junior but now has an original Continental W670, 220hp again. if you would like to send me some gen on your Stearman training experiences and aircraft numbers that would be great.
Thanks, Rhys Perraton [email protected]

More about Race2Darwin here: https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/Mike-Wigg

Apart from making TV programmes could someone please enlighten me as to exactly what the point of these trips are? These "adventurer" types ran out of things to do years ago & now seem to be constantly "re-inventing the wheel". There may possibly be a charitable element, but does the amount raised actually significantly exceed the costs of the operation? Like walking to the poles etc. it all seems rather pointless in this day & age, and just looks like a "look at me" exercise for those involved.

Meeting a personal challenge...........???

Race2darwin Amanda Harrison
 

The whole point of this challenge is not only as a personal dream but also to honour Amy Johnson, who, when she started flying, built her confidence and expanded her horizons.

Private jet makes a good point. But it's the lack of candour in the TV presentation that discredits many of these expeditions for me, rather than the backup itself. As I said in my post before last above, viewers shouldn't be treated as both ignorant and gullible.

If the spectacle in the documentary is to be enhanced with air-to-air and ground-to-air shots, as opposed to the simple expedient of head-mounted and airframe-mounted mini-cameras, that's fair enough. If the team on the camera aircraft, in addition to flying ahead to prepare for photography at the next destination, takes the opportunity to make other arrangements such as HOTAC, diplomatic clearances, fuel, etc., before the star arrives there - fine. As the a/c will inevitably need repairs, sooner or later, after an arrival, why not include a flying spanner in the team? In the absence of an essential part, why wait for days or weeks in the middle of nowhere if the camera a/c can fly the hundreds of miles to obtain it? If the pilot-star needs the assistance of a co-pilot/instructor on some of the legs, I can even live with that.

However, some credit for the team and its less mundane inputs - without boring the pants off the viewers - should not seriously undermine the credibility of the presenter and his/her achievement. And if it does, so be it.

Amy Johnson flew genuinely alone, and with primitive equipment, as did several of her contemporaries of both sexes. Much more recently, Ellen MacArthur accomplished something perhaps even more remarkable - even allowing for the benefits of sophisticated kit and communications - non-stop in a boat. Not sure we'll see quite their like again, but maybe Johan Wiklund and Amanda Harrison will be worthy successors.

Following in the footsteps of the great pioneers can be no less interesting as entertainment when it is done with honesty and humility. Attention should be focused on the original achievement, not the star of a synthetic re-enactment.

Yes that's a very good point.
I disliked the Palin "globetrotting travelogues" because it was always portrayed that he was alone on these trips when he obviously was not.
In fact on one of them I believe he came back to the UK between filming because his wife was poorly and receiving medical treatment. Nothing wrong with that of course but the finished piece made it look like one long epic trip. Somewhat disingenuous.

Rhys (your #54),

Sorry for the delay in this answer, but I rarely stray far from my PPRuNe habitat in "Military Aviation>Gaining a RAF Pilot's Brevet in WWII". The Stearman comes in at p.117 #2331 on that Thread. There is a fair amount about my time on them at Carlstrom Field, Arcadia, FLA.

Sadly, I am no help in airframe numbers, as at Primary we only logged the dates of flights, and even in Basic and Advanced would only log the School-alloted numbers (eg "123") painted large to make the a/c easily identifiable.

Just had a hard look at the pic. We had a fixed-pitch metal prop on our Stearmans. Surely I can see a bob-weight on the hub here ? So it must be two-position (or even constant-speed ?). Is it even a 220 Continental ?

Cheers, Danny.

Race2Darwin - Amanda Harrison
 

I also want to do it ‘the right way’! The only ‘sacrifice’ I’ve decided I have to accept (not without clear advantages as well of course) is bringing a simple aviation handheld GPS for the airspace. There are no VFR charts for 90% of the route, and I have no desire to cause ATC headaches as I fumble around blind.

Apart from that though, I want to do it in the truest way possible (including using local help for mechanicals, ground transport, accommodation etc. etc.). Not to mention carrying my luggage (current allowance on my last W&B is 5kgs, um, yeah!). Fuel or knickers, it’s an issue…

... fuel every time .... Sorry, I couldn't resist that. Good luck Amanda!

...and it's not a simple issue either.

The less fuel, the more likely you are to have need of spare pairs of knickers, so I presume that a competent mathematician might be able to offer you a formula by which the optimum fuel/knickers ratio can be found..?

Race2Darwin
 

I am collecting the plane now, the journey begins........

Race2Darwin...
 

Answers on a postcard please!! (That is the fuel v knickers debate....)

You could go without knickers, you certainly can't go without fuel! What you need is a lingerie sponsor to provide fresh skimpies at each tech stop.

If you manage to persuade Sutton to allow departure from the hallowed meadows of Croydon I'll come and see you off. Or wave if it has to be a fly past. I think you once marshalled a group of us on to a Rapide at Shoreham?

Race2Darwin
 

Now I have the plane, the journey begins in earnest...... Race2Darwin is on and I'm packing......

Race2Darwin
 

When you have been working towards a dream for so long, there is no way I was giving in. Having found some amazing sponsors, and an aeroplane I was half way there already. So never one to give in, it has now turned in a #Race2Darwin. Although I am doing the adventure solo flying and no support aircraft, flying the original route apart from Syria, even I lack the guts for that one, in a DE Havilland Moth, just like Amy Johnson, as I wish to pay true homage to my hero. 19 days is the target to bet.

Hi Amanda,

Well, apparently the opposition has only got as far as Cyprus...

Take care, and - to use a suitably old-fashioned expression - God speed!