August 1978
Between 1928 and 1938 eleven aircraft crossed the often angry stretch of water separating Australia and New Zealand —six single engined aircraft, two light twins, two trimotors, and one four engined flying boat.
In this article Gordon Thompson takes us across the Tasman in the seventies — some four decades after Guy Menzies first soloed the often wild width of water in a Gypsy Moth back in 1931. Despite the comforting array of navigational aids available to the contemporary trans Tasman pilot, the feeling of being alone, in a small aircraft, and literally hundreds of miles away from assistance should problems arise, must still be the same feelings experienced by those first solo pilots across the Tasman in the thirties — Guy Menzies, Francis Chichester, Pat O'Hara, Jean Batten and Ernie Clark.
 September 1978 |
 July 1978 |
 December 2018 |