Throughout the RAF’s Centenary year, Flypast magazine is running a series of features commemorating significant activities that reflect the RAF’s illustrious history.  In the latest issue is an article I have written on the RAF’s record-breaking long-distance expeditions of the 1920s and 1930s.  The article discusses the earliest long-distance flights to India, to West Africa and to South Africa before outlining in detail, the record-breaking attempts by the Fairey Monoplane, which culminated in a non-stop to Walvis Bay, a distance of 5,309 miles.  The article concludes with a detailed account of the flight in 1938 of three Wellesleys of the Long Range Development Unit.    Two successfully completed the 7,159 miles non-stop flight from Ismailia in Egypt to Darwin in Australia in 48 hours and 5 minutes .