Phoenix Aviation, based in Nairobi, Kenya, will use one of its Cessna Caravans as the ‘chase plane’ to follow Tracey Curtis-Taylor in her Boeing Stearman biplane on a solo journey from South Africa to the UK to commemorate the same journey done 85 years earlier by Lady Heath.

The flight celebrates and recreates the achievement of Lady Mary Heath, a remarkable pioneer from the Golden Age of British aviation in the 1920’s. In 1928, Mary Heath made front page news around the world as the first pilot, male or female, to fly an open-cockpit biplane from Cape Town to London.

Tracey Curtis-Taylor

Flying Spirit of Artemis, an open cockpit plane exposed to the elements, is not for the faint-hearted, and the flight represents a formidable physical and logistical challenge.

In all Curtis-Taylor will cover some 7,000 miles in some 32 legs over six weeks in a plane designed in the 1930’s, with a top speed of 85 mph, an operating ceiling of 10,000 feet and a range of only 400 miles.  But this sort of extreme flying is what Curtis-Taylor has been doing all her life. The cockpit and wings of Tracey's biplane will be fitted with cameras and a film crew in a chase plane from Phoenix Aviation will follow her throughout her journey.

“We are so happy to be working with Phoenix Aviation and to be able to film from the Cessna Caravan will make air-to-air filming a really exciting part of the final film," said Helen Morrell, Producer at Nylon Films.

Tracey with Phoenix Aviation chase-plane pilot, Johnny Beverage.

Tracey and chase-plane pilot Johnny Beverage touched down at Lanseria on Monday (4th November) and are now heading for Zambia.