UK to Australia in a 1940s plane

SINGAPORE – Tracey Curtis-Taylor, female aviator, is celebrating the pioneering days of early aviation in the 1920s and 1930s by flying in a classic 1942 Boeing Stearman named Spirit of Artemis from the UK to Australia. She arrived in Singapore from Malaysia, marking the mid-way point of the five-country Southeast Asia leg of her exciting journey.

Curtis-Taylor is an experienced pilot, and she is more than 2 months into her intrepid expedition, which started on October 1. During her trip she plans to fly 13,000 miles across 23 countries, making over 50 stops along the way. So far she has completed 8,000 miles of stick and rudder flying.

Exposed to the elements and using basic period flight instruments, she will continue on to her next stop of Palempang, Indonesia, on Saturday, flying through other cities in Indonesia and Australia before arriving at her final destination of Sydney, Australia.

Tracey is also doing this flying adventure to commemorrate the achievements of revolutionary British aviator Amy Johnson. A celebrity of her day, Ms. Johnson became the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia in 1930 and tragically died in mysterious circumstances during World War II flying for the Air Transport Auxiliary.

Throughout her journey, flying between 50 to 1,000 feet at 90 mph, Curtis-Taylor has been engaging with local communities and inspiring others with her expedition, especially women. Commemorating the fact that Amy Johnson was the first President of the Women in Engineering Society, she is hoping to promote the achievements of women in every sphere around the world, especially their historic and contemporary role in aviation and engineering. In Singapore, she met young women from the UN Women’s Girls2Pioneers program which encourages them to consider STEM careers.

Since her departure from the UK, she has flown across Eastern Europe, through the Middle East, over India and now, Southeast Asia.