17th September: Sir Francis Chichester

Sir Francis Chichester, the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route, was born today in 1901.

1. From the age of 18 until the end of World War II, he lived in New Zealand and had a property development company.
2. Although best known for his sailing, Chichester's first love was flying. He learned to fly during a visit to England in 1929, qualified as a pilot and decided to fly himself back to New Zealand in his new Gypsy Moth aeroplane, and to try and break the speed record for flying solo to Australia on the way. He did the trip in 41 days, but mechanical problems meant that he failed to beat the record.
3. He was the first person to use off course navigation in an aircraft, using the sun to fix his position. This is not an easy task when flying an aircraft solo - he had to take reading's of the Sun's position using a sextant in a moving aircraft, then do the calculations by hand, while flying the plane at the same time. It worked for him, though, and he was able to navigate around tiny Pacific islands.
4. His success with this method inspired him to try flying around the world. He got as far as Japan before colliding with an overhead cable and forced to give up because of his injuries.
5. In World War II he wanted to join the Royal Air Force, but was turned down due to his age and eyesight. So he joined the Volunteer Reserves as a navigation specialist and instructor. He wrote the navigation manual that allowed the pilots of single-handed fighter aircraft to navigate across Europe and back.
6. One of his hobbies was buying surplus Air Ministry maps, sticking them to card and making jigsaw puzzles out of them.
7. His famous trip around the world in his yacht, Gypsy Moth IV took 226 days, with just one stop, in Sydney.
8. He was knighted in 1967 for "individual achievement and sustained endeavour in the navigation and seamanship of small craft". The sword used by Queen Elizabeth II for the ceremony was the very same one that had been used by Elizabeth I to knight Sir Francis Drake, who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, although the first Sir Francis had had a crew to help him.
9. Chichester was featured on a UK Postage stamp in the same year, going against the tradition that stated that no-one who was not a member of the Royal Family and was still alive could feature on a stamp.
10. The Dire Straits song, Single Handed Sailor, is a tribute to Sir Francis Chichester.