Sir Francis Chichester

Sir Francis Chichester

SIR FRANCIS CHICHESTER KBE d1972. British aviator and sailor. Knighted by the Queen in 1967 for becoming the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route and the fastest circum-navigator in nine months and one day overall. As an aviator he first took flying lessons in the UK in 1929 at Brooklands and became a qualified pilot. He then took delivery of a De Havilland Gipsy Moth aircraft which he intended to fly to New Zealand, hoping to break Bert Hinklers record solo flight back to Australia en route. Mechanical problems meant the record eluded him, however he completed the trip in 41 days. The aircraft was then shipped to New Zealand. Finding that he was unable to carry enough fuel to cross the Tasman Sea directly, he had his Gipsy Moth fitted with floats borrowed from the New Zealand Airforce and went on to make the first solo flight across the Tasman Sea from East to West (New Zealand - Australia). He was the first aviator to land an aircraft at Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands. In 1960, he entered and won the first single-handed trans-atlantic yacht race in Gipsy Moth III. He came second in the second race four years later. On 27th August 1966, he sailed his yacht Gipsy Moth IV from Plymouth in the United Kingdom and returned there after 226 days of sailing on 28th May 1967, having circum-navigated the globe with one stop in Sydney Australia. He died of cancer in Plymouth Devon aged 71 on 26th August 1972

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Sir Francis Chichester

Reference Number. 14056F

£100.00

A collectable original vintage 1964 index card, clearly signed and dated in ink by Francis Chichester (Gypsy Moth I / II / III)

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