The first of the two Long-range Monoplanes, J9479 flew from Cranwell to Karachi in 50 hours in April 1929 but this was not enough to take the world distance record. It crashed in Tunisia on a second attempt in December. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

The Fairey Long-range Monoplane first flew in November 1928. The first example, J9479, flew non-stop from Britain to India but did not manage to break the world distance record before it fatally crashed in 1929. This is its replacement, presumably photographed in the early morning of 6 February 1933 before Sqn Ldr Gayford and Flt Lt Nicholetts took off for a successful non-stop flight to Walvis Bay in South Africa in 57 hours, taking the world distance record for a couple of months.