Author(s): Mary Garden

Aircraft

In the early morning of 16 October 1930, Oscar Garden taxied his tiny open-cockpit Gipsy Moth across London's Croydon aerodrome and, with a wave of his hand to the only person there to farewell him, took off. He had carpet slippers on his feet and a packet of sandwiches on his lap. His plan was to fly to Australia, which was sheer madness as he only had a mere 39 flying hours under his belt. Miraculously, he survived in spite of several forced landings.