G-ABRE  Comper CLA.7 Swift                                  (c/n  S.31/8)

                                  

                                         A hitherto unpublished (at least I think it is) shot of Arthur Butler's record breaking Comper
                                         at Grafton, NSW racecourse, circa 1931.   The photo is courtesy of the Bruce Robinson
                                         collection.  In 1930 Butler made a solo flight from Lympne, England to Darwin with this, the
                                         smallest aircraft ever to do so, in a mere 9 days 2 hours and 29 minutes!  Even so, this beat
                                         C.W.A. Scott's Gipsy Moth record by 102 minutes.   This aircraft was sold in South Africa
                                         in 1939.  So how did it get from Oz to S.A.?  Was it returned to the U.K.first (how?) and
                                         then flown out?