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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0533.PDF
JUNE 15, 1912. JycHfj THE FIRST AERIAL DERBY.- -The specta:ors waiting for the passing at Purfieet. ot the aviators on the edge of the river had caught fire near Chatham, so that he could not reach Hendon in any case, let alone compete. Moineau had planned to fly over from France on a Breguet. He did not arrive. Lieut. Porte came late. He flew over from Brooklands on a 60-h.p. Anzani-Deperdussin—a Hritish-built machine—arriving just before six o'clock. 15. C. Hucks, regarded as a very likely winner, on the 70-h.p. Nieuport that, until recently, was Grahame-White's property, could not start ; for, landing with a little sideway on after a practice flight, his tyres had come oft, and were in rather too chewed-up a condition to render them of much further use in this world. As luck would have it, he had no spares. Having pondered over all these issues, the need of tea stole upon us. Sopwith was the first man home. Soon after six o'clock a speck was discerned low down over the trees in the Mill Hill direction. He it turned out to be, and, reaching the aerodrome, he was welcomed with a burst of cheering, for he was naturally put down as the winner, and an easy one at that. But the observers at l'urley ruled otherwise. They said he had not rounded the mark properly ; so, on that score, he was disqualified. Sopwith, himself, confessed to not having recognised it, but reckoned on have gone well outside it for there he took an exceptionally wide turn. Some ten minutes afterwards another speck became visible on the horizon. For some reason it did not come closer but disap|>eared among the trees. That was Guillaux on the Caudion. He had the bad luck to run short of petrol when within sight of the goal. To miss an excellent gold trophy, .£250, and, not least, the honour of winning the race, through the lack of a beggarly pint or so of petrol is, indeed, hard luck of the worst possible type. Hamel and his fair passenger appeared six minutes later at quite Part of the human ring round the entire course for the First Aerial Derby on Saturday, as seen at Purflee*, where one of the main turning points for the competitors was. ?3 3
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