If you asked a kid to draw an airplane there's a good
chance the resulting artwork would look something like
the Fairey Long Range Monoplane.
Now imagine hopping in this aircraft and taking off from
England for a nonstop flight to Karachi - a distance of
4130 miles (6647 kms) ! Well that's exactly what Squadron
Leader A.G. Jones-Williams and Flight Lieutenant N.H.
Jenkins did in 1929. Sadly a second record breaking long
range flight resulted in a crash in Tunis which destroyed
the aircraft and killed the two crew members.
The Fairey Long Range Monoplane had a streamlined design
in order to reduce drag and increase the range. The fabric
covered wings had built in fuel tanks with a total capacity
of 455 litres (1000 gallons).
In 1933 a Fairey Long-Range Monoplane flew nonstop from
RAF base Cranwell to Walvis Bay (at the time in South
Africa, today in Namibia). This flight covered 5,340 miles
(8,594 kms), and took 57.5 hours. The crew were Squadron
Leader Gayford (officer in charge of the RAF Long Range
Development Unit) and his navigator Flight Lieutenant
G.E. Nicholetts.
In total two examples of the aircraft were built and they
made significant contributions to the advancement of long
distance flight.
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