Around the world in a Piper Cub?
In the spring of 2001, Maurice Kirk threw a monkey wrench into a re-enactment of the great London-Sydney Air Race--in the form of himself and his L-4 Grasshopper. He was disqualified on the first day but stuck with the race (though generally far behind) for the next four weeks. I wrote about this wonderful story for Air & Space. His goal now is to bring Liberty Girl home by way of China, Russia, and the United States.
In November 2004, Maurice made an incredible crossing from New
Zealand to Australia, as the first leg of that odessey. (Liberty Girl
went to New Zealand to take part in an around-the-island race earlier
in the year.) He spent the winter raising money, equipping himself,
and getting permissions, and finally, on April 25, he set out again
from Darwin. The map at left shows his route from Australia to the
Japanese island of Hokkaido, where he arrived on October 7.
After spending two weeks waiting for a weather window (a 30 mph tail wind was part of his plan) that would enable him to make the perilous crossing to the nearest of the Aleutian islands, Maurice realized that he wasn't going to do it this year. So he headed south, on his way back to Korea, where he would be allowed to crate the Cub and send it to Alaska by boat. (For some mad reason, the Japanese authorities wouldn't allow him to do that. Evidently they felt that an airplane had to leave the country the same way it came in, under its own power.)
On October 22, he was flying to Hiroshima when he lost engine power over a mountain near the castle city of Kanazawa, on the main island of Honshu. The only open space was a playground filled with children, so he turned onto a roadway under construction, apparently taking out some utility wires and grazing two parked vehicles before coming to rest against a truck. Major surgery will be needed before Liberty Girl flies again.
Below: Maurice always manages to get his picture taken with the prettiest woman within half a mile. He was hospitalized briefly with sprains to his neck and leg, but was released next day. (The police evidently confiscated his passport, luggage, and clothes, so he hailed a taxi as you see him here, in neck brace and hospital dressing gown.)
Other stories on this site:
- "Slow and Steady Doesn't Win the Race" (2001)
- London-Sydney, day by day (2001)
- And would you believe Sydney to Boston?
- East Timor to Borneo, April 2005
- Safe in Korea, May 2005
- Earlier adventures of Kirk and "Liberty Girl"
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