Following in Sir Alan's flight path
Ninety years ago, in 1926, aviation pioneer Alan Cobham drew worldwide attention travelling the 17,000 miles London to Cape Town in his de Havilland DH 9; in 2016, Cobham Special Mission's Falcon 20 jets followed the same journey as they flew from Portsmouth to Cape Town, to provide Operational Readiness training to HMS Portland as she made her way from the Gulf to the Falkland Islands.
Darren Moncrieff, Vice President, Cobham Special Mission, said “to be flying along the same routes as Sir Alan Cobham in 2016 is true testament to how innovative and courageous the man was. Flying between London and Cape Town in a de Havilland DH 9 90 years ago without the technology we have today is a true accomplishment which undoubtedly changed the face of aviation forever.”
The Cobham pilots travelling in Falcon 20 jets, returned to the UK on 16th November 2016 after taking part in a Royal Navy training exercise in Cape Town; completing the round trip in just a few days.
The challenging journey undertaken by Cobham founder, Alan Cobham, is reflected in the culture today, as the company looks to provide solutions current challenging problems.
Cobham has provided Electronic Warfare (EW) and Operational Readiness training to the UK’s Ministry of Defence for over 30 years conducting over 150,000 EW training flying hours in the period. Cobham has tailored their training services to meet the MoD’s evolving front-line requirements through the provision of innovative, threat based synthetic solutions with the ability to deliver the training around the world.