MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

FROM UK TO AUSTRALIA.

EPIC 27,000 KM, 3 MONTHS JOURNEY 

  Tracey Curtis-Taylor completes her epic 27,000 kilometre, three month journey from Britain to Australia in restored 1942 Boeing Stearman - all in one tiny cockpit.

 

Canada-based British adventurer Tracey Curtis-Taylor has finally made it to Sydney Airport after three months of flying nearly 27,000 kilometres in a restored Boeing Stearman. 

The Spirit of Artemis reached Sydney at 1.30pm to mark the end of her trip from the United Kingdom to Australia on Saturday, flying over iconic landmarks such as the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

Ms Curtis-Taylor told Daily Mail Australia that although she is tired following her three-month trip and the 'relentless pressure' that's come with it it has 'been sensational'.

Canada-based British adventurer Tracey Curtis-Taylor has finally made it after three-months to her final destination at Sydney Airport flying nearly 27,000 kilometres in a restored Boeing Stearman

The Spirit of Artemis reached Sydney at 1.30pm to mark the end of her trip from the United Kingdom to Australia on Saturday, flying over iconic landmarks such as the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House

Sydney: The pilot posted on Facebook to let people know they could see her fly across the harbour

The aviator posted to Facebook to tell the public they could watch her fly over Sydney Harbour as there would be no access to her or the plane at the international airport.

She has enjoyed the Australian leg of her trip which pays homage to Amy Johnson’s 1930 journey from England to Australia because she imagines it to be most similar to the conditions her hero would have experienced.

'Flying in Australia has been like a throw-back to 1930,' she said.

'It is the outback dirt strips and the pioneering mentality where everyone comes out to meet you when you land, and do what they can to help.'

Highlight: She has describes seeing Uluru as one of the best moments of her three-month trip

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Desert: This leg of the trip was added on to Amy's original journey

Incredible images of Ms Curtis-Taylor flying over the Opera House in her emerald-green biplane have been posted to Twitter, but she ranks another Australian landmark a little higher.

'Uluru was memorising, rising up from the desert like that,' she said.

 'It was one of the top iconic moments on the trip.'

Scenery: She is proud that she has seen the world in a way not many people can

Complete: Her journey ended in Sydney on Saturday

Her other top moments were flying over the Dead Sea in formation with an Israeli Military pilot,  negotiated the limestone cliffs of Phang Nga Bay Bay in Thailand and soared over the stunning temples of Myanamar.

'Very few people get to see the world the way I have, hopefully I have captured that,' she said.

The pilot steered through the skies to the spectacular jungle-clad islands made famous as Scaramanga’s secret lair in the James Bond movie, The Man With The Golden Gun before reaching her final destination. 

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Flying solo: Tracey Curtis Taylor during her recreation of Amy Johnsons famous flight. She celebrated Christmas on the island of Bali

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In the air: Supported by The Mail on Sunday, Curtis-Taylor is the first woman to fly from Britain to Australia in an aircraft (pictured) similar to Amy Johnson’s Gypsy Moth

Her homage to the Khao Phing Kan and Ko Tapu islands – where Christopher Lee fights a deadly duel with Roger Moore at the climax of the 1974 film – was one of the many highlights of her adventure.

The 53-year-old prepared for the final leg of her journey, having arriving in Darwin, Australia, on Friday. 

She has flown across 23 countries, travelling nearly 27,000 kilometers over 93 days – all in honour of Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia.

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Planning: It took five years to organise the trip and now it is over she will move on to the next adventure

'I think people have forgotten what happened only 75 years ago,' she said.

'I believe what she did is the finest solo achievement in history.

'All I can do is put a spot light on that and celebrate what she achieved.'

The self-styled ‘bird in a biplane’ has battled atrocious weather in Eastern Europe, traversed the undulating dunes of the Arabian desert, and been greeted by royalty, even taking a prince for a ride.

Supported by The Mail on Sunday, Curtis-Taylor is the first woman to fly the route in an aircraft similar to Johnson’s Gypsy Moth – although she has avoided the prangs that hampered Amy’s flight 85 years ago.

She spent Christmas Day in Bali, getting into the mood by donning a Santa hat, before taking off on New Year’s Day for a gruelling seven-hour flight across the Timor Sea to Darwin. 

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Recreating history: Amy Johnson’s 1930 solo flight took her from Croydon to Darwin in Australia, a 10,000-mile trip. Tracey Curtis-Taylor’s route will be 3,000 miles longer as she has had to avoid sensitive areas in the Middle East, is taking in landmarks such as Ayers Rock and has decided to end her trip in Sydney, about 2,500 miles from Darwin

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Adventure: She's flown past Scaramanga’s secret lair in the James Bond movie, The Man With The Golden Gun featuring Christopher Lee (left) and Roger Moore (right)

An accomplished pilot and passionate admirer of the derring-do of the pioneers of aviation, Curtis-Taylor began her trip in Farnborough on October 1. 

She has been planning the trip over the last five years, meeting Johnson's family and gaining sponsorship within the aviation industry.

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Driven: The pilot is passionate about shining a light on the trip Johnson made all those years ago

'It has driven me for the past five years.

'It is not just about the flying it is about getting the story out there.'

Curtis-Taylorencountered unforeseen difficulties almost as soon as she crossed the Channel; she had to borrow a Total fuel card from a fellow pilot to refuel her 1942 Boeing Stearman because the French would not accept cash or credit cards.

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Well travelled: Along the way, she has stopped in Bucharest, Abu Dhabi (above), Calcutta and other locations

Then storms and driving rain forced her to land in a disused grass airfield in Hungary, narrowly avoiding a lone mushroom picker, and she found herself turning back after skimming low over trees in Transylvania’s Carpathian mountains because of poor visibility. 

After a ‘marvellous, exciting, exotic’ stay in Istanbul, she met RAF Tornado pilots in Akrotiri in Cyprus, among the forces bombing Isis in Syria, who gave her brandy sours.

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Finished: She says that Johnson's journey was the most important solo adventure in history

The situation in the Middle East forced her to divert from Johnson’s original route, flying over what she describes as Israel’s ‘epic and grand biblical landscapes’.

And in Jordan she was enthusiastically greeted by Prince Hamzah, the son of King Hussein and Queen Noor, and his wife Princess Basmah.

Reaching the Arabian desert days later, Curtis-Taylor was thrilled to come across camels, recalling: ‘I’m always excited to see animals from the air and the first sight of camels, great herds of them, prompted squeals of delight.’

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In Asia: At Agra in India, she saw the Taj Mahal (above) ‘loom like a large pearl out of the mist’ and in Myanmar she swooped down over ‘jungle flowering with purple lilac’ and a ‘wonderful plain of red temples, thousands of them, as far as the eye could see’.

In Karachi, Pakistan, 2,000 schoolgirls turned out to meet her, singing, dancing, and wearing headbands with miniature green biplanes attached.

She said one of the most common questions she was asked was how she went to the toilet while in the air, explaining that she didn’t need to as she rarely flew for more than five hours at a time.

She also revealed that, while flying, she only eats the occasional biscuit or muesli bar to stave off hunger, and prefers to listen to the hum of the engine rather than music on an iPod.

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Exotic: After a ‘marvellous, exciting, exotic’ stay in Istanbul (above), she met RAF Tornado pilots in Akrotiri in Cyprus, among the forces bombing Isis in Syria, who gave her brandy sours

Having given a ride to Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud in Saudi Arabia, she took Prince Nikolaos of Greece, the son of former King Constantine II, on a trip over the mountains in southern Balochistan in Pakistan ‘almost exactly where Amy would have passed over’.

At Agra in India, she saw the Taj Mahal ‘loom like a large pearl out of the mist’ and in Myanmar she swooped down over ‘jungle flowering with purple lilac’ and a ‘wonderful plain of red temples, thousands of them, as far as the eye could see’.

In another reminder of her predecessor, she found the field in the city of Rangoon where Amy had crash-landed in heavy monsoon rain, damaging her plane and ending her chances of breaking the world record to Australia.

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Skilled: The pilot has been flying for thirty years, Johnson had been flying for one when she set out on her adventure

She describes it as a very 'poignant experience'.

'Flying over you see there is no-where to land,' she said.

'It is a city carved into the jungle, Amy lurched in to land in a field, hit a ditch broke a wing and her under-carriage but took off three days later.'

'She showed enterprise, endurance and stamina.'

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Alive: Both female pilots made it to their final stops in Australia alive, but not without incident

The plane will now be shipped to Seattle where Ms Curtis-Taylor will fly it from one coast to the next.

'Life is about the great projects,' she said.

'I just want to get airborne and move in three dimensions.' 

Amy Johnson was just 25 when she completed the journey, learning to fly the year before she set off. Ms Curtis-Taylor has been flying for 30 years. 

Ms Curtis-Taylor's journey was expected to be 21,000 kilometres, but she ended up completing 27,000 kilometres on her epic three month journey. 

Ms Curtis-Taylor’s principal sponsors are Boeing Aerospace and Artemis Investment Management.

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Vintage: The airplane is a similar age and style to the one used by Johnson

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Distance: Ms Curtis-Taylor's journey was expected to be 21,000 kilometres, but she ended up completing 27,000 kilometres