In 1939, a British air racer by the name of Alex Henshaw flew his 200hp Mew Gull aircraft from London, England to Cape Town, South Africa and back again, in a time of 4 days, 10 hours and 16 minutes. In his subsequent memoirs he issued a challenge: “I would challenge any pilot in the world to fly any aircraft with no more than 200 HP to the cape and back in less time then did XF in 1939“.

His record stood until 2009, when Chalkie Stobbart in an Osprey GP-4 flew the reverse route in 3 days, 15 hours and 17 minutes (with 3 stops along the way), knocking 19 hours off the time. The following year Steve Noujaim, in an RV7, flew the original route with just 2 stops, bringing the record to a time of 3 days, 11 hours, and 16 minutes.

There is still room to bring this record lower.