who will be flying the Hong Kong flag, Dutch pilots Aad J.A. Ruijgrok and Jaap de Visser and TAP/Air Portugal airline pilot, Marco Melo. The 28-day race kicks off on March 11 from Biggin Hill near London and follows the historic route taken by Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith in their Vickers Vimy in 1919. Race competitors will make several ports of call including Cannes, Cairo, Dubai, Delhi, Singapore, Bali and various places in Northern Territory and Queensland. The final leg from Coolangatta to Sydney on April 7 will culminate in a swoop over the Harbour Bridge and an air show at suburban Bankstown on April 8. Nancy Bird was born in Sydney in 1915. She wanted to fly from an early age, and was known for climbing onto fences and declaring herself to be an "eppyplane". She left school at an early age to work in her father's general store in the country. Nancy saved hard for a leather coat, helmet and goggles, in the absolute certainty she would become a pilot. ...more She was the first female pilot in commonwealth to carry passengers and one of Australia's aviation pioneers. She was born in Sydney Australia in 1915 and flew at an air pageant for the first time when she was 13. She learned to fly at Sir Charles Kingsford Smith (first man to fly across the Pacific) Pilots School. Her first plane was a Gipsy Moth, which was a gift from her relatives, and she used it