Sir Francis Chichester Exhibition

[Dave Homewood]

I have been forwarded the following email - I don't know who from and there was no explanation attached, but as it is of interest to NZ aviation historians (Sir Francis flew here for a while and then did the first east-west Tasman Sea crossing by air in his Moth) I thought I'd post it here. Here's the email:

Hi There

We are holding an exhibition in honour of Sir Francis Chichester at Queensland, Australia in mid-november, 2007.

The exhibition will include original items salvaged from the Gipsy Moth V, various objects and articles depicting Sir Francis's life time of achievement etc

We would be honoured if you could provide us with photos, information, stories, your views etc of Sir Francis.

We are also requesting comments from people either personal from knowing him or what impact on their lives the inspiration of Sir Francis has had. The comments will be posted on the board above the displayed items for everyone to view. The board will also be made available to the public to sign when visiting the exhibition.

Any documents, photos, stories etc you could provide will only enhance the exhibition and give a better insight to his life.

Thanks for your time and hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers
Mel - Australia
[e-mail]

[yak2]

For anyone interested in aviation, a read of Chichester's book on Gypsy Moth's Australia/NZ/ Japan flight is highly recommended. To successfully navigate the Pacific with just a compass and sextant in an open cockpit single engined aircraft, was an amazing achievement.

[Peter Lewis]

Repeat after me . . .
Gipsy . . . Gipsy . . . Gipsy . . .Gipsy

Agree about Chichesters book, and his biography is also well worth a read.
The exhibition sounds like a good place to show the Logbook/Ownership papers for ZK-AKK that were sold on TradeMe recently.

[Dave Homewood]

I also recommend Ted Harvie's book 'Venture The Far Horizons' which details his involvement with Chichester in the preparation for that Trans-Tasman flight.

[Peter Lewis]

I also received the same email from the organizer, and responded with a query as to the location, dates and purpose of the event.
I have received the following response:

"Thank you for taking time to respond.

The exhibition will take place at Superyacht Technologies, Sanctuary Cove, Queensland (friend helping me) late November and will continue over a 6 month period.

The items are my fathers from the Gipsy Moth V. The intention is to sell the items at the conclusion of the exhibition hopefully to someone who will donate to museum. unfortunately my father is not in a financial position to donate items even though he would love to.

I have throughout my research on Sir Francis been given some lovely photos, film footage etc and I wish to put into footage for all to see.

I had no idea who Sir Francis Chichester was when my father asked me to research some of his items to sell that included the items from the Gipsy Moth V.

I am thrilled by the response from all over the world and I am sure the timeline of his life I put together on video will let everyone have a keen insight to this man.

Any further information you require, please do not hesitate to ask.

Once again, thankyou for taking the time to reply and have a great day.

Cheers
Mel - Australia"