Our visit to Noumea has been greatly facilitated by the Aero Club of New Caledonia. Members were on hand to welcome us on our arrival at Magenta Airport. They held a BBQ evening in our honor and were out in force again this morning to assist with refueling our Comanches. Without a doubt their generosity has been overwhelming and their assistance invaluable. Last evening we were further privileged to attend a function at the Aero Club.
The occasion was a presentation commemorating the 80th anniversary of the first airplane flight between New Caledonia and Australia. In March 1931 a De Havilland Gipsy Moth registered VH-UPG was unloaded from a cargo ship at Noumea. Named the "Golden Eagle" this airplane flown by two Australian pilots, Clifford Brown and Victor Roffey, made many flights around New Caledonia making these two aviators celebrities of their time.
Roffey decided to fly the "Golden Eagle" back to Australia and in preparation an extra fuel tank was installed. Then on the morning of 21 November 1931, witnessed by crown of well-wishers, Roffey took off to fly to Australia wearing an automobile inner tube as safety equipment for the long over-water flight. Roffey completed the epic flight landing in a field near Marlborough, Queensland.
Our flight from Magenta to Ile des Pins this afternoon took just 30 minutes. Normally the Control Tower at Ile des Pins operates only in the French language but today an exception occurred specially for five english speaking pilots flying five Piper Comanches airplanes...many thanks to our fellow aviators at the Aero Club of New Caledonia.
The beach in-front of our bungalow:
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