Miguel Sánchez
In the dark days of WWII much of Britain's hope was in the Spitfire fighters, motorized with the legendary 12-cylinder Rolls Royce Merlin with about 1000 hp of power. Today, they are a national symbol after their role in the Battle of Britain. Those same years, the American fighter P51 Mustang it was the terror of both Nazi tankers in Normandy and Japanese pilots in the Pacific. Powered by a mechanical mix of Packard and Rolls of almost 1500 hp, they nicknamed him "the Cadillac of heaven".
Rolls Royce, Cadillac, Packard ... for being machines dedicated to the fascination of the human being for speed and transportation, cars and airplanes share many things. That is why today we are going to change the wheels for the wings -always classic, yes-, to tell you about one of the most fascinating events of the moment: the Vintage Air Rally.
FROM LOGISTICS TO ADVENTURE
Sam Rutherford A former British Army helicopter pilot had a business vision years ago: to create a logistics company willing to go to extreme or little-explored places. prepare2go it was quickly requested by clients such as the BBC or CNN for the transfer of documentation and journalism teams and professionals to remote or conflict areas.
Unexpectedly, the work opened the door to pleasure: thanks to landing in exotic places, they began to receive requests for the organization of aerial rallies. For a classic aviation fan like Sam Rutherford ... that was an opportunity ... An opportunity to create a competition with classic airplanes that would travel all over Africa, leaving the island of Crete to reach Cape Town. This is how the first Vintage Air Rally was born in 2016.
You just have to take a look at the photos to see how incredible this adventure is. Cross vast landscapes of unspoiled nature throughout Africa. And also do it aboard some classic planes that are true winged jewels that thus perpetuate the spirit of the first aces of aviation. Those who, as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, they toiled in creating the initiatory long-distance air routes. To give you an idea (and since the Video of the organization is frankly improvable), we leave you the famous scene of the film 'Memories of Africa':
As you can imagine, the adventure is evident: the care of the machine, the planning of the flight, the navigation ... all this makes the Vintage Air Rally one of the last motorized events where you really keep playing it. An adventure in which to relive the dangerous emotions of those pioneers, whose machines and navigation instruments were infinitely less reliable than those of today.
FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA, PASSING THROUGH AUSTRALIA
After the incredible shots that the 2016 African edition left us, for this next March 2018 a new rally is announced. This time 15 planes manufactured in the early twentieth century will cross the skies of 19 countries to cover an American route that will take them from Ushuaia to Florida, marking a line that runs from south to north almost all of America.
In addition, they have also made rallies in which they have mixed flying with driving classic cars, mixing different means of transport on the same stage. Something like a contemporary Willy Fog, but with a taste for the old.
If by any chance you have one of these winged wonders and you are bitten by the bug of crossing the skies under the pressure of the stopwatch and the competition… we inform you that you are already late for the 2018 edition. But calm down For 2020 a Vintage Air Rally is already scheduled that will go from Australia to Europe. Go making preparations ... 😉
