Boyd Munro is nearly there

Press, 23 January 1988, Page 3

Boyd Munro is nearly there

By

DAVE WILSON

Weather permitting, Boyd Munro hopes that by tomorrow afternoon he will become the first pilot to fly the Tasman Sea in a Tiger Moth. Mr Munro plans to tackle the two most ambitious legs of his crossing today and tomorrow, flying from Norfolk Island to Lord Howe Island, and, after a night’s rest, on to Sydney. Yesterday he was resting at Norfolk Island after making the hop from Ninety Mile Beach in a 4hrs 40min flight on Thursday. Although his itinerary is subject to change, particularly because - of the weather, his plan is to take off at 6 a.m. today for the 893 km flight to Lord Howe Island. Another dawn take-off is planned tomorrow from Lord Howe Island for the 909 km flight to Sydney.

All going well, he hopes to be home in Australia shortly after 1 p.m. on Sunday. Mr Munro is flying a 47-year-old vintage Tiger Moth he won in the Singa-pore-Christchurch air race last year. Although he has a sophisticated back-up system of two support aircraft and modern navigation and communication technology, Mr Munro is using a historic aeroplane to follow a historic route.

He is flying the same track to Australia as Sir Francis Chichester flew in 1931 in a Gipsy Moth biplane. However, whereas Mr Munro’s crossing itinerary involves four days, Sir Francis’ crossing took several weeks. This was because his floatplane was damaged at Lord Howe Island, and had to be repaired before the crossing continued.