Tonight's news was relayed to me over a fairly crackly line by a very sleepy, almost incoherent M. As expected M and G-KIRK got away ahead of most of the field today. M had managed, somewhat dubiously, to refuel her last night. His fuel pump jammed while he was crossing some sea causing him to divert and land briefly at a "beautiful place beside a beach". He was lucky to be near land when this happened. (On the subject of fuel pumps, shortly before he left, M began to worry about relying on a generator and an electrical fuel pump. We agreed that a hand pump was a necessary reserve in case the generator should fail. Then, in the worst case scenario, M would be able to deliver fuel manually and find somewhere to land - this is classed as pre-flight planning in the Kirk household. He obviously has packed some sort of manual pump - though I don't know, if he took up my veterinary suggestion of an enema pump. Although perfect for the task I think that the concensus opinion was that it would be too difficult to explain at each baggage search/customs check.
Back to his unscheduled stop. He was treated to a very welcome cup of tea and was delighted to talk to an old man who recognised an Auster when M showed him a photo of G-ASEG, our Tugmaster. She could have been a candidate for the race had her engine not given up, possibly as a result of excessive banner towing to advertise M's website. G-ASEG saw active service in Burma in 1944.
They then flew over jungle and arrived at Rangoon airport at sunset. These tales of arriving over a hill in a pearly pink sunset may lead you to suppose that M is a romantic at heart. Believe none of it - he happens to be flying a very old, very slow, very small aircraft and can only just get there as darkness falls!
Despite the fact that many race aircraft were unable to leave Calcutta until mid pm most, in fact, nearly all, arrived before G-KIRK and M.
On to Phuket tomorrow. Oh dear, more water.
KK (M's wife)