Expedition Global Eagle was the first attempt in history to circumnavigate the globe using an autogyro. The flight was attempted in 2004 by Warrant Officer Barry Jones using an open-cockpit autogyro which he named Global Eagle. The purpose of the mission was twofold; to set the world record and to raise funds for three charities; the Dyslexia Institute, the NSPCC and the British Red Cross. Jones embarked on his mission on 26 April 2004 from the Museum of Army Flying, Middle Wallop, Hampshire with an honorary military helicopter armada accompanying him during the send off. The expedition was supported by a team of soldiers based at Dishforth, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
The expedition encountered difficulties while flying through Europe, including the Alps and the Middle East and it was downgraded due to flight delays before finally being abandoned after it landed in Guwahati, India around the onset of monsoon season. Officer Jones had set up a website where he described the details of each stage of his trip. The images of the flight as well as details of each stage of the flight were regularly uploaded on the website.
Read more about Expedition Global Eagle: History, Completed Route Details, Remaining Route, Technical Specifications, External Links
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“It is a sort of ranger service. Arnold’s expedition is a daily experience with these settlers. They can prove that they were out at almost any time; and I think that all the first generation of them deserve a pension more than any that went to the Mexican war.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Much of what Mr. Wallace calls his global thinking is, no matter how you slice it, still “globaloney.” Mr. Wallace’s warp of sense and his woof of nonsense is very tricky cloth out of which to cut the pattern of a post-war world.”
—Clare Boothe Luce (1903–1987)
“The Eagle has landed.”
—Neil Armstrong (b. 1930)