31 August 2010
Congratulations to Steve Noujaim who set a new world record for flying from London to Cape Town and back in a single-engined 200hp propeller-driven aeroplane. Noujaim set the record is his modified RV-7, setting off at at 0438Z on 31 August and arriving back on 3 September at 1553Z. In the process, he also broke the world record for the fastest flight from London to Cape Town and for Cape Town to London.
The record was originally set in 1938 by Alex Henshaw in a Mew Gull. It was then broken in May 2009 by South African Charles ‘Chalkie’ Stobbart, flying ‘the other way round’ from Cape Town to London and back.
Noujaim’s route for the record-breaking flight saw crossing France, then picking up fuel in Tamanrasset, Algeria, before overflying Niger and Nigeria, picking up more fuel in Brazzaville Airport, Congo, before heading on across Angola and Nambia before reaching South Africa.
Despite the obvious exertions of the flight, the day after arriving back at Southend, Noujaim paid a surprise visit to the LAA Rally at Sywell, receiving a rapturous round of applause from the crowd as he stepped from his aircraft.
www.capechallenge.com
1 comment
What about Tommy Rose record breaking flight in 1936 in a Miles Falcon Six, who broke the original record of Amy Mollison (Johnson) Amy did it in 4 days, 6hours and 53mins. Tommy took 3 days, 17 hours and 37 mins,