White plaque № 50424

This white commemorative plaque records: Mayo Avenue The street names at Dundee Airport commemorate the World Record for the longest uninterrupted flight by a seaplane. At noon on 6 October 1938 an Empire Flying boat called "Maia" took off from the River Tay carrying a smaller seaplane called "Mercury" on its back. This piggy-back method of launching long distance aircraft was called the "Mayo Composite" after Major Robert Mayo of Imperial Airways who devised the technique. The two planes separated over Dundee Law and Captain Donald C.T. Bennett (later to be founder of the Pathfinder bomber force) and his co-pilot Ian Harvey, proceeded to fly 6,045 miles in Mercury in 42 hours 26 minutes. The finishing point was the estuary of the Orange River at Alexander Bay in South Africa, as the aircraft had insufficient fuel to reach its intended destination of Capetown due to adverse weather on route. Recorded plaque organisation: Tayside Regional Council.

Major Robert Mayo and Captain Donald C.T. Bennett are remembered for their pioneering role in long-distance aviation; Bennett later founded the Pathfinder bomber force, while Mayo devised the "Mayo Composite" technique used in a record-breaking seaplane flight from Dundee to South Africa in 1938.