Tryggve Gran

30 July 1914, Tryggve Gran from Norway became the first person to fly across the North Sea. It took just over 4 hours flying from Cruden Bay to Stavanger in a Blériot monoplane. (See here for more details)

Over 100 years later another crazy Norwegian flew a single engine aircraft across the North Sea, this time in speed and comfort. Klaus has a house at the air park in Sweden and stopped off at Perth on his way to Bristol to visit his son. Flying his Lancair 320 at 8000ft with a groundspeed of 200kts it took him less than half the time that Gran took.

Like Gran, Klaus was solo, the other seat being taken up by a liferaft. Unfortunately the Sting doesn’t have the room, which is why we are planning to cross at the narrowest point, Dover to Cap Gris Nez.

The trip planning continues…