Travel Airs gather at Shoreham

摘要

During the damp afternoon of 25 October, visitors to Shoreham Airport, Sussex would have been amazed to see three American-registered Travel Air 4000s taking off for Charleroi, Belgium, the first leg of a positioning flight to Sitia Airport, Crete, and the starting point for the 8,000-mile Crete2Cape Vintage Air Rally. The three 1928/29-built Travel Airs had been shipped to Shoreham from their bases in the USA and Canada during early October for reassembly and test flying. At Sitia on 12 November, they are due to be joined by a further 21 aircraft, including three African-registered DH82A Tiger Moths, Stampe SV-4 00-GWB, Antonov An-2 SP-KTS, Boeing-Stearman PT-17 N999WY, and, from Germany, CASA Jungmann D-EEEK and Waco YMF-5D D-EDOP. Among the 10 monoplane and helicopter participants there is just one vintage machine, Maurice Kirk's Piper Cub G-KURK. The aircraft will route through Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, and are scheduled to arrive at Cape Town on 17 December. The event is being organised by Prepare2Go, a Brussels-based logistics company.