BAZflyer: Flight Pioneers

There is no doubt that aviation has come a long way since two brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright demonstrated man’s ability to construct a machine capable of powered, sustained, and controlled flight in the air. The historic event occurred on December 17, 1903, just 116 years ago. From that pioneering beginning the airplane’s development took off. Until that moment in time the dream of flying like a bird in the sky had eluded mankind, probably since time immortal. The Greek legend of Daedalus and Icarus is one of the earliest known; others originated from India, China and the European Middle Age. During this early period the issues of lift, stability and control were not understood, and most attempts ended in serious injury or death.

Ten years after that Wright Brother’s flight, the airplane was used for the first time as a weapon of war. The strategic advantage of airplanes was instantly apparent and this translated into an accelerated period of development. By the time World War One ended in November 1918, the once rudimentary flying machine had become a relatively reliable and indispensable reality.

Looking back in time it was hardly surprising that in the aftermath of a horrific World War people were hungry for good news stories and hero celebrities, and the airplane did not disappoint. The year 1919 was a vintage year for the airplane and this year is the centenary.

Only a few months ago, at the end of July, the Bazflyers were piloting their trusty Comanche airplane on the transatlantic sector of an round the world flight. The route took them via Greenland and Iceland. Along the way Bazflyers were eminently mindful that 100 years earlier, in June 1919, British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the very first non stop transatlantic flight. They flew a modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber.

Four years previously Bazflyers had stood at the location near Galway on the west coast of Ireland where Alcock and Brown rather unceremoniously arrived ending their 16 hour flight from St Johns, Newfoundland. They did however, collect the prize of £10,000.

This month of December marks the centenary of another historic long range aviation flight. A flight that coincidentally also involved a modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber. This was the epic first flight of an airplane from Britain to Australia.

The then Prime Minister of Australia, William “Billy” Hughes, keen to bolster civil aviation in Australia and bridge the tyranny of distance between Australia and the rest of the world, offered a prize of £10,000 for the first Australian to fly from England to Australia within 30 days. Six crews qualified to enter the great air race, all experienced airmen and World War I veterans. Only two crews completed the journey. Four aviators perished during their attempt.

So, when highly decorated pilot Captain Ross Smith and his brother Lieutenant Keith Smith, landed at Darwin on 10 December 1919, the event was met with national and international excitement and acclaim.

Although the Bazflyers flew a different route from Britain to Australia in their Comanche ZK-BAZ, they were always humbly mindful of their centennial connection with the Smith brothers historic flight.

As history goes it was April 1969 when New Zealand aviator, Cliff Tait, flew out of New Zealand to circumnavigate the world in his diminutive Airtourer airplane. Fast forward fifty years and it was April 2019 when the Bazflyers departed New Zealand, a copy of Tait’s book ‘Flight of the Kiwi’ in the airplane seat pocket. Along the way Cliff’s historic flight path was nostalgically intercepted on several occasions. In commemoration, the Bazflyers flew through Russia’s Far East where politics fifty years earlier had unceremoniously denied Cliff a flight approval, an intervention that robbed him of a seamless round the world flight.

Having flown round the world themselves, the Bazflyers can well appreciate how difficult long range airplane flying must have been 50 or more years ago. For starters there was no GPS providing precise navigation. No satellite weather imagery. No computer generated metrological forecasts. No internet or mobile phone. There can be no question flying across oceans and continents in today’s world is a much safer and more reliable expedition than it used to be. And for the Bazflyers such comparisons with their own epic journey were reassuring companions on every flight.

It was while attending Sentimental Journey the Bazflyers caught up with Ted Miller a retired airline captain and an avid aviator. Ted had flown his vintage yellow open cockpit Boeing Stearman airplane from Southern California across the USA to Lock Haven. “Its like riding a Harley across the country”, Ted told the Bazflyers. “It feels good when you stop, but it sure is fun”. Ted in his Beech Debonair is no stranger to flying long distances. He is a veteran of multiple ocean crossings. Ted and his wife even celebrated their honeymoon in 1971 by flying the Beech Debonair round the world. Ted had the Bazflyers enthralled with his modest dialogue describing how he navigated the Debonair over the Pacific Ocean using a sextant while steadily flying without the aid of an autopilot.

Would the Bazflyers have wanted to fly round the world without ZK-BAZ’s array of modern digital navigation and communication equipment..? Hell, no! It is thanks in part to pioneering and epic flights, aviation has come a very long way in just a short 100 years.....the Bazflyers proudly salute all those flight pioneers...men and women alike.

The Vickers Vimy, G-EAOU (affectionately known as "God 'Elp All Of Us"), was 100 years ago flown by the brothers Ross and Keith Smith, along with their mechanics, in the great air race from London to Australia. In the process, they became the first people ever to fly from England to Australia.