Meanwhile, 88 Years Ago, Jean Batten Flew Into New Zealand

Yesterday I posted that the Turkish registered Bombardier Challenger 605 TC-RSA of Redstar Aviation arrived in Dunedin on 14 October in 24 hours flying time, having left from London on 13 October.

Also yesterday Grayson Ottaway emailed out in his Today in Flying History series that in was on 16 October 1936 that Jean Batten flew into Auckland becoming the first person to fly from England to New Zealand.  Her aircraft was the Percival Vega Gull G-ADPR which is now on display suspended from the ceiling in the international terminal at Auckland International Airport where I took the photo below in 2013:

This is what Grayson wrote:  

Jean Batten arrived at Mangere in her single engined Percival Gull named ‘Jean’ (now on display at Auckland International Airport). Her world flight had originated in England on 5 October.

She left from Sydney, at approximately 6.30 a.m. (NZ time) on 16 October; bravely declaring that no one should look for her if she was to go down at sea.  She had calculated that it would take her nine hours to reach the New Zealand coast, but when she passed this mark without land in sight she became increasingly convinced that she had flown between the North and South islands, and was now heading out into the Pacific.  To her relief she finally recognised a rocky island and a few minutes later was over New Plymouth.

Batten was tempted to land there but continued on to her hometown of Auckland. She arrived at Mangere Aerodrome at approximately 5 p.m. (NZ time), ten and a half hours after leaving Sydney.

Among many records she set during the flight from Britain, she was the first woman to fly the Tasman and set a world record for any type.

The total journey from England was 14,224 miles and took her 11 days 45 minutes total elapsed time.