Transatlantic | England to Australia | London to Cape Town
 

London to Cape Town

Preparations

Educational Project


The Trip

 


 

The Trip

The Vimy team re-enacted the London to Cape Town flight in 1999. Here's a summary of the flight's stops. Numbers beside Arrival locations in Africa are cross-referenced to the Africa map below.

Date Departure Arrival Flight Time / Comments
1-Jun-99 Brooklands Local .5 / Demonstration flight and send-off hosted by South African High Commission
2-Jun-99 Brooklands Farnborough .5 / TAG Aviation event, upload maximum fuel load for non-stop flight to Munich
3-Jun-99 Farnborough Oberscheisheim Airfield, Munich 7.6 / Hosted by Deutsches Museum, BMW display / event
10-Jun-99 Munich Nancy, France 3.6 / Customs / Immigration stopover. Delayed by customs bureaucracy
11-Jun-99 Nancy La Ferte Alais, France 2.8 / Home of the Amicale Jean-Baptiste Sallis aviation collection. Staging base for the Paris Air Show
14-Jun-99 La Ferte Alais Le Borgett, Paris 1.1 / Appearance at the Paris Air Show
16-Jun-99 La Ferte Alais Cannes, France 6.5 / Trying for Rome, not enough daylight remaining.
17-Jun-99 Cannes, France Taranto, Italy 7.8 / Taranto was the staging point for the first non-stop flight across the Mediterranean by Van Ryneveld and Brand.
17-Jun-99 Taranto, Italy Brindisi, Italy .7 / No AVGAS in Taranto, Brindisi for fuel. Took most of the day to get fuel. Much bureaucracy.
21-Jun-99 Brindisi, Italy Corfu, Greece 3.5 / Had to leave Brindisi, could not stay overnight. Too heavy to land back in Taranto
22-Jun-99 Corfu, Greece Alexandria, Egypt (1) 9.3 / Our re-creation of the first non-stop crossing of the Mediterranean Sea.
23-Jun-99 Alexandria, Egypt Embabba, Giza ( near Cairo - 2) 1.7 / Modified cowlings for better cooling.
24-Jun-99 Embabba Local flight .8 / Dedicated photo flight around Pyramids of Giza
26-Jun-99 Embabba Luxor, Egypt (3) 4.4 / First leg of deviation of route to avoid Sudan airspace. Followed Nile River.
27-Jun-99 Luxor, Egypt Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (4) 6.9 / Hosted by Peninsular Aviation Services and Arabasco Delayed one day by war between Eritria and Ethiopia.
29-Jun-99 Jeddah Djibouti (5) 8.9 / Intercepted by French Air Force Mirages guarding airspace around Djibouti.
4-Jul-99 Djibouti Djibouti 6.0 / Aborted attempt to cross Ethiopia non-stop to Kenya. Bad weather and headwinds.
12-Jul-99 Djibouti Mandera, Kenya (6) 7.7 / Overflew parts of Somalia, crossed Ethiopia to Kenya. Over night at pilots quarters for relief agency serving refugee camp.
13-Jul-99 Mandera Nairobi, Kenya (7) 8.8 / Hosted by Aero Club of East Africa. R&R and Vimy maintenance. First test flights at high density altitude.
15-Jul-99 Nairobi, Kenya Lake Naivasha, Masai Mara N.P. Sunburu Nanyuki (8) 1.0 / Hosted by Iain and Oria Douglas - Hamilton. Wild game photos. Mt. Kenya photos. More high altitude testing.
15-Jul-99 Nanyuki, Kenya Chyulu Hills, Kenya (9) 2.6 / Hosted by Richard Bonham and family. Kilimanjaro photos. Crosswind landing damage and repair. Arrange for fuel in Mbeya, Tanzania
21-Jul-99 Chyulu Hills Kilimanjaro Intíl Airport (Arusha, Tanzania

- 10)

1.4/Tanzanian inbound customs / immigration. Fuel and lunch hosted by Kilimanjaro Airports Development Company.
21-Jul-99 Kilimanjaro Intíl Airport Dodoma, Tanzania (11) 2.8/ Fuel stop, high density altitude departure test
21-Jul-99 Dodoma, Tanzania Mbeya, Tanzania (12) 3.3 / Overnight stop for fuel and rest. Hosted by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF)
22-Jul-99 Mbeya, Tanzania Lilongwe, Malawi (13) 5.3 / Mbeya was the most critical high altitude take off of the entire journey. Now we knew we had the performance to complete the flight to Cape Town, South Africa
23-Jul-99 Lilongwe, Malawi Lusaka, Zambia (14) 4.4 / Zambian inbound customs and immigration, fuel and lunch
23-Jul-99 Lusaka, Zambia Livingstone, Zambia (15) 3.2 / Original stopover of 1920 flight. Aerial photos of Victoria Falls.
24-Jul-99 Livingstone, Zambia Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (16) 4.4 / Largest and most enthusiastic reception of the entire trip. Crash site of the Silver Queen II in 1920.
27-Jul-99 Bulawao, Zimbabwe Pietersburg, South Africa (17) 3.9 / First landing in South Africa. Inbound customs and immigration. Fuel and lunch. A very cold flight.
27-Jul-99 Pietersburg, South Africa Swartkop SAAFB, near Pretoria, S.A. (18) 2.3 / Hosted by South African Air Force Museum.
28-Jul-99 Pretoria, S.A. Bloemfontein, S.A. (19) 3.2 / Original stopover of 1920 crew. Fuel and rest, very cold.
29-Jul-99 Bloemfontein, S.A. Beaufort West, S.A. (20) 3.8 / Low cloud, rain and snow. Original stop in 1920. Very cold
29-Jul-99 Beaufort West, S.A. Cape Town, S.A. (21) 3.9 / Very cold. Low cloud and rain in mountain passes. Arrival hosted by Air BP.

Africa Map


©1999-2001 Vimy Restorations, Inc.

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