On a wet and miserable day, Tracey Curtis-Taylor finally landed at Goodwood at 11.45 this morning. Just like Mary Heath 85 years ago, she made a triumphant loop of the airfield before putting down and opening a bottle of bubbly.
As you all know by now, she ended up spending Christmas in Croatia, only leaving last Saturday December 28 and making it over the Dinari Alps and into Hungary with the held of a tailwind. The route allowed her to bypass the forbidding heights of the Swiss and French Alps.
On Sunday December 29, she made it to Schwabisch Hall in Germany and then on Monday December 30 headed for France with just 400 miles left of her epic journey. In extremely nasty weather, she made it to within 40 miles of the coast and then set off for Goodwood earlier today.
Like Mary Heath, Tracey found the last lap of her journey the toughest mainly due to the weather.
In Mary Heath's case, she wrote that she had it relatively easy on her last stage from Le Bourget in Paris to Croydon in May 1928
"The last lap was, as the papers say, without incident, except for a storm in the Channel that blew me up to Deal. I was so annoyed by this, and so cold, that I landed at Lympne to have a cup of tea before going on to Croydon.
"I had not expected anyone to come out to Croydon to meet me, and I was so surprised and pleased to find two aeroplanes circling round me as I approached the aerodrome, that I could not help risking things a little and doing a loop over the aerodrome, although I had been warned that my tail might fall off if I did."
Well done Tracey - huge achievement!
As you all know by now, she ended up spending Christmas in Croatia, only leaving last Saturday December 28 and making it over the Dinari Alps and into Hungary with the held of a tailwind. The route allowed her to bypass the forbidding heights of the Swiss and French Alps. On Sunday December 29, she made it to Schwabisch Hall in Germany and then on Monday December 30 headed for France with just 400 miles left of her epic journey. In extremely nasty weather, she made it to within 40 miles of the coast and then set off for Goodwood earlier today.
Like Mary Heath, Tracey found the last lap of her journey the toughest mainly due to the weather.
In Mary Heath's case, she wrote that she had it relatively easy on her last stage from Le Bourget in Paris to Croydon in May 1928
"The last lap was, as the papers say, without incident, except for a storm in the Channel that blew me up to Deal. I was so annoyed by this, and so cold, that I landed at Lympne to have a cup of tea before going on to Croydon."I had not expected anyone to come out to Croydon to meet me, and I was so surprised and pleased to find two aeroplanes circling round me as I approached the aerodrome, that I could not help risking things a little and doing a loop over the aerodrome, although I had been warned that my tail might fall off if I did."
Well done Tracey - huge achievement!
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