First Trans-Africa Flight: London to Cape Town,

February 4th 1920 - March 20 1920

On March march 20th 1920, Pierre Van Ryneveld and Quintin Brand touched down at Youngsfield, Wynberg in De Havilland DH9 - the first trans-Africa flight from london to cape town. several other British teams had set out to pioneer this new air rout, but each had crashed and abandoned there effort. Van Ryneveld and Brand crashed two planes en route - one in a force landing in southern Egypt, the other during take-off in Zimbabwe. Prime Minister Jan Smuts was determined that the South Africans should succeed and each time ordered a replacement aircraft to be sent to them. The pilots, who where knighted for their achievement, spent 109 hours and 30 minutes in the air, though the journey took 45 days.