Fairey Long - range Monoplane The Fairey Long - range Monoplanes were a pair of British experimental aircraft of the late - 1920s and early 1930s . They were single - engine , high - wing aircraft with fixed tail skid landing gear . Design and development . The first aircraft was designed to meet Air Ministry Specification 33 / 27 ; it was issued by the Directorate of Technical Development ( DTD ) in December 1927 after the failure of three attempts by the RAF to break the absolute distance world record flying Hawker Horsley bombers . According to a Ministry spokesman in the House of Commons , this aircraft was to be constructed not just " for a specific record , " but as a serious study into methods of increasing the range of aircraft . In order to soothe the anxieties of the Treasury , the aircraft started life as the Postal Aircraft . The sharp , pointed nose and sleek lines of the prototype gave rise to the nickname " Eversharp , " after the maker of pens and mechanical pencils . Although other configurations were studied , after wind tunnel testing , a high wing was chosen , allowing a gravity feed from the fuel tanks . The wing spars were of wood and the wing used a pyramid system of internal bracing with fabric covering . The fuel capacity was 1 , 043 Imp gal s ( 4 , 742 L ) and the system used a gravity feed and mechanical fuel pump in sequence ; a wind - driven , emergency back - up pump was also provided . There were other features dedicated to the long - range function ; there were two parallel oil filter circuits , allowing one filter to be removed and cleaned while the other remained in operation . The aircraft was even equipped with a pneumatic bed for a reserve pilot . After extensive testing using a Fairey IIIF and a DH . 9A , the Napier Lion XIA of 570 hp ( 430 kW ) was selected , late in the gestation of the machine . Operational history . The first built , " J9479 " , flew for the first time on 14 November 1928 from RAF Northolt . The aircraft was handed over to the RAF on 7 December , and with testing continuing in preparation for the record attempt , including a 24 - hour trial on 22 – 23 March 1929 . It was decided to attempt a flight to Bangalore in India , a Great - circle distance of about 5 , 000 mile ( 8 , 000 km ) , comfortably in excess of the existing record of 4 , 466 miles ( 7 , 188 km ) set by a Savoia - Marchetti S . 64 in July 1928 . Squadron Leader A G Jones - Williams and Flight Lieutenant N H Jenkins set off on the record attempt from RAF Cranwell , Lincolnshire on 24 April 1929 . The aircraft was slowed by headwinds , however , and the plane landed at Karachi after 50 hours 48 minutes in the air . Although the flight was the first non - stop flight between Britain and India , the great circle distance of 4 , 130 miles ( 6 , 646 km was short of the world records . It was decided to make another record attempt later that year , although the record had been raised to 4 , 912 miles ( 8 , 007 km ) by the Breguet 19 " Point d ' Interrogation " . This time it was planned to fly from England to South Africa . This second attempt , with the same crew as the first , took off on 16 December 1929 , but crashed south of Tunis , destroying the aircraft and killing the crew . Despite this setback , the Air Ministry ordered a second Long - range Monoplane ( " K1991 " ) in July 1930 , this flying on 30 June 1931 . While similar to the first aircraft , it had a number of differences , including the addition of an autopilot . From 6 – 8 February 1933 , Squadron Leader O Gayford ( officer in charge of the RAF Long Range Development Unit ) and his navigator Flight Lieutenant G . E . Nicholetts flew non - stop in the second aircraft " K1991 " from Cranwell to Walvis Bay , South West Africa . This was a world long - distance record of 5 , 410 mi ( 8 , 540 km ) . On their return to RAE Farnborough , they were met by the Air Minister ( Lord Londonderry ) , Under Secretary for Air ( Sir Philip Sassoon ) and Sir John Salmond , Marshal of the Royal Air Force . Gayford and the LRDU would later make long distance flights with the Vickers Wellesley .