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But the South African Government and the two pilots were determined that they would
be the first airmen to complete an end-to-end trip of the continent. Another aircraft, this

time a de Havilland DH9, part of the Imperial Gift, was flown to Bulawayo and handed
over to the two pilots. Their journey resumed on 17 March and the aviators landed three

days later at Young’s Field at 4 p.m. Their mail cargo had been transferred from aircraft

to aircraft and so reached its destination safely. Their flight had taken a total of 45 days
with a flight time of 109 hours and 30 minutes. Both men were later knighted for their

achievement.

Many other record-breakers would follow van Ryneveld and Brand over the years.
Because flying was an expensive hobby a large proportion of them were individuals of

considerable private means, and many of them were women. One of these, some eight

years later, was Lady Mary Bailey, second wife of mining magnate Abe Bailey. She
was the daughter of Baron Rossmore of Rossmore Castle in County Monaghan and had

married Abe in 1911 when she was 21 years old. In 1928 she was already 38 years old

and the mother of five children. She regarded flying as a statement of female
independence and was the first woman to fly solo from London to Cape Town return.

She set out from Croydon Airport on 9 March 1928 in a DH Moth and after crashing in
Tanganyika – Abe sent her a replacement craft – she landed at Young’s Field on 30

April. (Fig. 3.41). She set out on the return flight via the west coast route on 21
September and arrived in Croydon on 16 January 1929. She was awarded an OBE. A

little over a year later she became the first woman to make a glider flight in England.

Union Airways and Imperial Airways at Wingfield Aerodrome (de Vries, 1991.)

th
The extensive flat land in the vicinity of the 6 Mile Outspan, Maitland, known as Lot
“S”, had long suggested itself as a suitable airport site. The City Council favoured it

because the adjacent Outspan (Lot 5), along the then Durban Road, was Municipal land.

In September 1919, when Major Miller’s South African Aerial Transports Ltd. applied
to the Council for an airport site, he was advised to use Maitland instead of Young’s

Field. Nothing came of this request. In June 1921 the Secretary of Defence applied to