Aircraft History in Australia New Zealand and the Islands, Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island in the Tasman sea.

Francis Chichester started to learn to fly in his late 20s. Once qualified he followed his adventurous spirit to fly back to the southern latitudes, Again this was to be a solo attempt which signaled one of his first major flying achievements. Flying from England took him around 40 days, 180 hrs of flight time and 20 or so stops for fuel eventually landing in Sydney January 1930.

Amy Johnson Circa 1930

As an aviator he wrote a number of books on the subject and also was responsible for introducing some unique navigational methods for flying across oceans solo. When flying by compass and sights only for upwards of five hundred miles, navigation has to be spot on so that you reach the destination island.

In flying from New Zealand to Australia

After three month of repairs at Lord Howe Island

Amy Johnson received telegrams of congratulations from many dignitaries including King George V and Queen Mary, Ramsay MacDonald, the prime minister, the King and Queen of Belgium, the Lindberghs, Louis Blériot and Francis Chichester. She also attended many parties and received much publicity. However, the excitement and pace led to exhaustion, which precluded her from flying herself back to England.

Sir Francis undertook many flights in the 30s and crashes were the norm in the early days of the pioneers

Group of people gather around Francis Chichester’s plane in Darwin

News

1929:Flight to Australia : IN OUR PAGES:100, 75 AND 50 YEARS AGO

Published: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2004

LONDON: Taking field attendants by surprise and omitting farewells to relatives, Francis Chichester, a wealthy young colonial but recently out of the ranks of student fliers, left Croydon airdome today [Dec. 20] for a solo flight to Australia. Presumably it is his intention to beat the 15 1/2 day record established by Burt Hinckler, another Australian who covered about 12,000 miles from London to Port Darwin in February last year in a light plane. Chichester flew a moth machine that he bought while on leave in England. None of his relatives here knew of his plans. He arrived at Croydon at 3 o'clock this morning. Casually saying "Cheerio, I'm off for Australia!" he soon rose from the ground, and a few hours later he flashed back word that he had safely reached Lyons, his first scheduled stop. Chichester, a native of New Zealand, learned to fly only about three months ago.

On 27 August 1966: WR977 was involved in photographing Francis Chichester at the start of his round the world voyage in Gypsy Moth IV. The following May WR977 was also involved in searches for Sir Francis Chichester at the end of the voyage, eventually locating him in conjunction with a T4 Shackleton on 25 May 1967. Sandwiched in between was a three-month spell of active duty between 30 January and 26 April flying Beira Patrols as part of 'MIZAR Operations' out of Majunga Airport, Madagascar.

25th May 1967: It is worth noting that on this date Shacklelton WR977 completed one of her most famous Flights to locate Sir Francis Chichester at the end of his epic round the world voyage.

Message from the editor:

It is a true pleasure to be able to bring these unique items for the public to enjoy and perhaps experience the achievements of a truly remarkable person. Sir Francis Chichester.

His achievements throughout his life have been recognised worldwide, His flights in the early Gipsy Moths, flew where no man dared, crash after crash were just signals to start again, pick up the pieces and move on to continue the challenge.

When the plane crashed on one of the islands It was an age where people would rally around to help the adventurer on. That help was probably rewarded with a sincere "Thanks" before Francis Chichester took off to continue his journey across the Tasman.

Our research in putting together this collection is just the drop in the ocean of Sir Francis's life in the Southern Latitudes so if anyone would like to contribute material of Sir Francis Chichester of any kind, by all means send it through and we will help in anyway to make sure that it finds the right, home in the right place for people to enjoy.

Like Sir Francis you will receive a sincere thanks.....