Just come across this paragraph in Lady Heath's book "Woman and Flying":
'One does not notice the loss of power as much as one expects even at midday in Africa. The take-off and climb appear to be reduced by about one-third, and my machine, which sat down comfortably on the ground with full load of petrol and passengar at 43mph, at the coast, does so at just over 50mph. The most comfortable glide speed at the middle of the day seems to be about 65mph. Below that speed one finds the rare patches of air rather disturbing.'
Imagine for a minute flying an open cockpit plane over unknown territory at only 65mph. It makes Lady Heath's achievement in flying over Africa solo all the more remarkable.
'One does not notice the loss of power as much as one expects even at midday in Africa. The take-off and climb appear to be reduced by about one-third, and my machine, which sat down comfortably on the ground with full load of petrol and passengar at 43mph, at the coast, does so at just over 50mph. The most comfortable glide speed at the middle of the day seems to be about 65mph. Below that speed one finds the rare patches of air rather disturbing.'
Imagine for a minute flying an open cockpit plane over unknown territory at only 65mph. It makes Lady Heath's achievement in flying over Africa solo all the more remarkable.
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