‘Bird in a Biplane’: British solo pilot’s 13,000-mile trip in vintage aircraft

A British adventurer has touched down in Sydney after a 13,000-mile solo flight in a vintage open-cockpit biplane. Tracey Curtis-Taylor, who calls herself a “Bird in a Biplane”, set off from Farnborough in Hampshire in October last year. Since then she has crossed 23 countries and made 50 refuelling stops in her 1942 Boeing Stearman Spirit of Artemis aircraft. She flew over Europe and the Mediterranean to Jordan, over the Arabian desert, across the Gulf of Oman to Pakistan, India and across Asia before reaching Australia.

To fly something like this, low level, halfway around the world seeing all the most iconic landscapes, geology, vegetation … it’s just the best view in the world. It’s the best adventure in the world.

Tracey Curtis-Taylor

Once there, her stops included Darwin, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, the famous Uluru in the Northern Territory and Broken Hill in New South Wales. The 53-year-old told reporters at Sydney airport that the flying had been “sensational and that’s why you do it”. Ms Curtis-Taylor was following the path of Amy Johnson, the British pilot who became the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia in 1930. Before Ms Curtis-Taylor began her mission, she had spoken of how she was “moved by the achievements of pioneers like Amy Johnson”. She added: “My own flight to Australia is the realisation of a burning desire to fly my beloved Boeing Stearman around the world following in their footsteps.”

Tracey’s flight is a wonderful reminder of how far aviation has advanced and the role women have played since those early days of flight.

Maureen Dougherty, president of Boeing Australia and South Pacific, which sponsored the adventure

World solo pilot