You are correct, Carl. Francis Chichester's aircraft was a Gipsy I Moth,
named 'Madame Elijah'. He bought it in Sept. 1929 and converted it to a
seaplane for the 1934 Tasman Sea crossing. The 'plane was blown upside down
by a hurricane, in the lagoon at Lord Howe Island and was rebuilt and
re-rigged by Chchester and the islanders. Mme. Elijah was later wrecked when
Chichester flew into telephone wires suspended across the bay at Katsuura,
Japan.
Info from the book, 'The Lonely Sea and the Sky', Francis Chichester, 1964.
David Hill
York UK
----- Original Message -----
From: <CFritz7001@aol.com>
To: <Lawrie@britcars.com>; <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 5:43 PM
Subject: Re: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
> FWIW, I heartily agree with Laurie re the Tiger Moth. It was
definitly a
> British plane of pre-WW2 vintage, used by the RAF as a primary trainer and
> observation plane. I think that one of them was also the very first
airplane
> to be flown solo from England to Australia. As I recall, the pilot was
none
> other than Sir Francis Chichester, the famous sailor. (Come to think of
it,
> his E to A plane May have been a Gypsey Moth (made by the same company as
the
> TM), since he named his round-the-world-solo yacht "Gypsey Moth".) In any
> event, these planes had only the most rudimentary instrumentation !!
> Regards,
> Carl Fritz
> TC # 6756 (Betsy)
> VA # 2009 S (Abigail)
> Gainesville, Florida
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