On February 9, 1939 Alex Henshaw landed his tiny Percival Mew Gull completing a flight which took him from London to Cape Town in South Africa and back in under 79 hours, covering a distance of 12,754 miles.

Mr Henshaw MBE died in 2007, aged 94, still the holder of that record.

Now Top Gun Steve Noujaim aims to beat that record.

Mr Noujaim, from Cirencester, was a fighter pilot and fighter pilot instructor for 16 years.

During his time with the RAF he flew the F.4 Phantom, Tucano and Hawk and is now a long-haul commercial pilot with 10,000 hours of flying experience.

He and his wife Anna have spent the past seven years building a modified 200-horsepower Van's RV-7 kitplane for the journey that Mr Noujaim has dreamed of emulating since reading Mr Henshaw's account Flight of the Mew Gull in 1981.

And despite being as qualified as anyone who is willing to take on the task could be, Mr Noujaim realises the enormity of the challenge.

"Alex Henshaw was the Lewis Hamilton of his day," he said. Mr Henshaw test flew 2,360 Spitfires and more than 300 Lancaster bombers.

In 1938 he won the King's Cup, the most prestigious air race of the period, aged 25. His average speed of 236.25mph for the British cross-country air race remains a record.

Mr Noujaim added: "I was lucky enough to meet him before he died and he was a fantastic guy and a part of me wants him to keep his record which he may very well do because this is the Everest of flying.

"It is a truly stunning record and while the navigation equipment has got a lot better aircraft design really hasn't changed.

"I am going to try my best but based on the flight time alone I can probably only take 20 to 40 minutes off him which is nothing over that distance.

"It would only take someone to keep my passport a bit too long or for air traffic control to alter my route because of the weather and I probably won't do it."

If Mr Noujaim were to fail it certainly would not be through lack of planning.

The 47-year-old has looked at everything to try to trim as many minutes off the epic journey as possible.

"In 1939 Alex stopped off at Oran in Algeria, Gao in Mali, Libreville in Gabon, and Mossamedes in Namibia each way but I am hoping to do just two stops in each direction in Algeria and the Congo," he said.

"The only way I can beat him is by going further and having fewer stops so this means that sometimes I will be flying 11 hours at a time so there will be things I need to be careful of. I won't be eating a lot for obvious reasons. I will have astronaut food high in sugar to keep me alert and there will be sleep deprivation but I know all about that as a long-haul pilot.

"My wife is worried but has been fantastic and most of my friends are behind me although there are a few who worry because of risks like food poisoning and malaria."

Mr Noujaim has obtained sponsorship from several businesses including Tailor Made Travel in Cheltenham but is keen to hear from anyone else who may be interested in supporting the project.

For further information contact Steve Bridgewater at Awyr Aviation Communication on 0115 922 9863 and 07949 216043 or e-mail steve.bridgewater@gmail.com.