solo

Francis Chichester after his solo flight, Sydney, 1930

from State Library of New South Wales

• 12 older comments, and then…
• covid convict said:

  trove.nla.gov.au/work/188067323 - similar NLA Fairfax pic...
  
  During his 1929-30 England Australia flight, Chichester arrived at Darwin on 25th January, 1930...he then flew south and landed in Sydney on 30th January, 1930...
  
  trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16621143 - SMH, 27th January, 1930...'Mr Chichester ; Arrival at Darwin'
  
  trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16622272 - SMH, 31st January, 1930...'Long Flight Ends ; Mr Chichester ; Lands at Mascot'
  
  One interesting and probably long-forgotten piece of trivia re Chichester's 1929-30 England-Australia flight is that at the time he was often regarded as a New Zealander…during the 1920s, Chichester had lived in New Zealand for the best part of a decade, and on his arrival in Sydney he was greeted by a sizable contingent of the Sydney New Zealand Association, who’d adopted him as one of their own…
  
  trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/90104968 - the Adelaide Chronicle, 6th February, 1930...some background on Chichester's arrival in Sydney...per this item, members of the Sydney New Zealand Association carried Chichester in triumphal fashion to the NSW Aero Club clubhouse...
  
  trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/160633355 - the Sydney Mail, 5th February, 1930...here even the Sydney Mail refers to Chichester as 'the New Zealand airman'...
  
  trove.nla.gov.au/work/188067345 - NLA Fairfax pic of Chichester at Mascot...here he's chatting with NSW Attorney-General Frank Boyce, who represented the State Government at the official welcome...
  
  trove.nla.gov.au/work/188067346 - I suspect these chaps might be members of the Sydney New Zealand Association, who were at Mascot to welcome Chichester...
  
  trove.nla.gov.au/work/188532887 - ditto...the Maori chap we see here in the middle might be Bill Rangi (Wiremu Haeata Rangi), a New Zealand WW1 veteran who lived in Sydney after WW1...but I haven't yet managed to find a pic of Rangi which might confirm this...
  
  Following his 1929-30 flight from England to Australia, Chichester shipped his aircraft to New Zealand...where it was fitted with floats and converted to a seaplane...and re-registered as ZK-AKK. The following year Chichester then made the first solo trans-Tasman flight from west-east...albeit via Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. He left Auckland on 28th March, 1931...and landed at Cascade Bay, Norfolk Island that same day...he flew to Lord Howe Island on 1st April. Unfortunately, at Lord Howe his aircraft was damaged when it capsized during a squall…following repairs, which took some 9 weeks, he flew to Australia on 6th June, intending to make for Port Macquarie…however, he encountered bad weather and ended up off course, at Jervis Bay, South of Sydney…at Jervis Bay his aircraft was then lifted aboard HMAS Albatross and later transported to Sydney....he arrived in Sydney on 12th June on HMS Albatross...and departed Sydney 3rd July on a proposed world tour...as things transpired Chichester's world tour flight ended in disaster when he reached Japan...on 14th August his aircraft crashed after hitting overhead wires... Chichester was quite badly injured and the aircraft was written off...

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