Flying Around the World

When Life was fun

Maurice Kirk — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 12:26:53 GMT

When Life was fun

family vist to mum and dad in a civilised part of the UK, Taunton, Somerset.

Mark Only Comes in Second

Maurice Kirk — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:33:52 GMT

Mark Only Comes in Second

But I still got to Sydney first.

How was I to know, while
stuck in the dark, fending off a herd of snorting long horned cattle from
destroying my steed, having just landed on a very rough pot holed farm track on
some huge Queensland ranch just before the daunting
mountain central divide to next encounter.

While I was trying to re
wire an already badly cracked prop with all most to many snapped off bolts, in
order to finish the last 1000miles, the organisers had decided to end the race
at Coolangata, long before Sydney!

I skipped the party celebrations, that night and flew on ahead towards Sydney
for my ‘target'

Mark, Pilot Extrordinaire

Maurice Kirk — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:05:26 GMT

Mark, Pilot Extrordinaire

Driving very excitedly, for other reasons, off the St Malo boat, this week, for my house in the depths of Central Brittany, who should shout out across the car deck but Mark Wilkinson, ‘Beechcraft Bananza Pilot Extrordinaire', one of the fifty odd pilots I beat to Sydney in the, ‘not without incident', 2001 London to Sydney Air Race. Well, I say 'beat' loosely, as I vividly remember back to those three shiny black police helicopters, as I approached the old 'coat hanger' bridge, high over the waters of Sydney Harbour.

Well, I say high, high for a cub!

Just high enough to expedite the aerial manoeuvre so meticulously planned, a week or so earlier, in Singapore, taking into account, on the back of an old envelope, ‘g force' variables, ‘drag co-efficients' and the like, all first leant in an old RAFVR Chipmunk 4000 feet over Bristol's then very productive Filton airfield and her Brabazon 28 runway, now destined for Concorde 002's first flight.

The Aussie ‘flying squad' quickly scrambled their machines and climbed to defend their precious prohibited air space surrounding the sailing boat infested harbour. They came at me like a swarm of angry bumble bees as if disturbed from some highly charged liaison or sexual encounter!

But looming up on the horizon, through the heat of the mid day haze, was my ‘target'. I had failed to put my wheels down, to start the stop watch, on Amy Johnson's foggy clogged Croydon aerodrome (now playing field) , at the start of this race, to try and beat her record to Darwin and I was damned if I was going to be thwarted , this time, just by the ‘men in blue'.

Also further flight variations were looming, for Maurice, to an already meticulously planned and precisioned flight to Australia, just in a tired old WW1 Piper Cub with a maximum air speed of 55mph, for hours and hours, when full of ‘motion lotion'.

Strong rumour from my badgering questions to the Aussie pilots, over a 4 in the morning Singaporebreakfast table, re height of bridge from road to the top etc., may just have been the catalyst for me to now have two burly policemen, eye ball to eye ball with me at less than 100 feet, flying backwards!

"Air Race 35 do you read, over?"......no answer....... the police man continues.....

"That is as close as you get to the bridge". "Expedite a
180 immediately" or words to that effect.

Now the other two police helicopters had closed in but flying facing forewords, in the conventional manner. I could have sworn I could smell their after shave as they flew in neat 'vic' formation, one at 10 o'clock, the other at 2 o'clock. The original helicopter continued flying on backwards at around 60mph positioned at 12 o'clock with their rapidly changing expressions on their faces now causing me slight concern.

OK, I thought, let someone else ‘loop' the old bridge. After all, ‘Liberty Girl' was only designed and built by the Yanks, in 1943, to last just six weeks after the D-Day Landings and here she was now approaching her 60^thbirthday!

Australian Air Race

Maurice Kirk — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 21:06:36 GMT

Australian Air Race

It was the flying between the 'pink bits' that proved a trifle problematical

Fellow Aviators in 'Hare on the Hill' Kingdown Bristol

Maurice Kirk — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:12:50 GMT

Fellow Aviators in 'Hare on the Hill' Kingdown Bristol

Taken by daughter about to sail the Atlantic

G-KURK.

Maurice Kirk — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:48:31 GMT

G-KURK.

Well, I promised Sir Edmund Hilary, with tongue in cheek, that, on my next trip, I would fly up the mountain and say, Hi!

G-KIRK's ceiling over Arabia was 12,500ft and that took one hour forty five minutes of hanging on the prop! To get to mount Everest will be via South Africa, unless I get lost.

Taipei Taiwan Interview

Maurice Kirk — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:45:45 GMT

Taipei Taiwan Interview

The day before that horrendous freezing 10 hour flight to Korea, ,nearly all in severe weather, nearly to lose all orientation and fall out of the sky, trying to land ...for the book, me thinks, not for the squeemish.

NZ Mitre Cap Milford. cr jpg.jpg

Maurice Kirk — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:34:45 GMT

NZ Mitre Cap Milford. cr jpg.jpg

2004 New Zealand Air Race . Loaded far too much fuel, intending to fly around the coast, as I had not realised, when changing plan for route to the ~Wanaka Air Show, I had a 7000 ft wall of granite to climb to get over thesnow covered tops to the party!

New Zealand Competitors coming to the Party?

Maurice Kirk — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:21:27 GMT

New Zealand Competitors coming to the Party?

Preparing for Capetown

Maurice Kirk — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:56:29 GMT

Preparing for Capetown

Below freezing here in Hampshire as we try and do essential maintainance for G-KURK's first engine

The Mail Must Get Through!

Maurice Kirk — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:05:41 GMT

The Mail Must Get Through!

There must be some other way of expressing my concern about the current state of 'welsh law and order' when I appear in Cardiff Court on the 12th January against the HM Home Secretary?

D-Day Cub needs a Bigger Engine

Maurice Kirk — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:53:48 GMT

D-Day Cub needs a Bigger Engine

The winter spent raising cash to modify my 1943 WW2 cub for Cape Town or Everest? The C90 engine is needed to tackle a high fuel load and small beaches for a swim!

Swing that Stick!

Maurice Kirk — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:01:49 GMT

Swing that Stick!

Hurry up Alvin

Maurice Kirk — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:34:31 GMT

Hurry up Alvin

Batten Down the Hatches! The hurricane ripped the hangar doos off Mr Bush's cub but she survived to fly another day!

She's on a Bee Line for Texas!

Maurice Kirk — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:17:03 GMT

She's on a Bee Line for Texas!

Meeting Sir Edmund Hillary

Maurice Kirk — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:48:03 GMT

Meeting Sir Edmund Hillary

The highlight of my round the world trip....my school boy hero, along with Sir Francis and Dad and a few more

Part of a conversation from a phone box one hundred yards from Sir Edmund's house in Auckland, New Zealand: "Sir, I am currently flying a WW2 aircraft around the world and used to be a climbing instructor in North Wales. I noticed on the P-y-G public bar ceiling your signature with other Everest climbers of '52. Sir Edmund replied, "you had better come and have a cup of tea, where abouts areyou?

My Air Race Mentor

Maurice Kirk — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:41:25 GMT

My Air Race Mentor

4.30am and there he was, marking my route on a napkin, for the next country .... the strong rumour being I had no map between Biggin Hill and the coat hangar bridge

French WW2 cub hidden in a Barn for such USAContingencies

Maurice Kirk — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:23:50 GMT

French WW2 cub hidden in a Barn for such USAContingencies

If no USA Visa I fly a different Continent

Cadillac, Banquet And a Personal Body Guard!

Maurice Kirk — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:20:43 GMT

Cadillac, Banquet And a Personal Body Guard!

Next day I was routed via 12,000 ft DCT to Bahrain!

Serious Weather Causes a Great Phone Call

Maurice Kirk — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:12:05 GMT

Serious Weather Causes a Great Phone Call