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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0059.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 13, 1933 THE KING'S CUP RACE, 1933 First : Second : Third RESULT Capt. G. de Havilland, D.H. " Leopard Moth," (Gipsy Major). Fl. Lt. E. C. T. Edwards, Comper " Swift " (Pobjoy) A. J. Styran D.H. " Leopard Moth " (Gipsy Major) Total Distance 8308 miles. m.p.h. 13951 126-89 . 138-50 A; S one spectator put it, this year's King's Cup Air Race was rather like a day's fishing, as far as the general spectator was concerned. A pleasant day placidly spent in the open air was punctuated by- occasional moments of mild excitement. But of intense interest, finishes "by a spinner," catching up on the finishing line, and so forth, there was, it is to be feared, little to keep the ordinary spectator on his toes. Writing from memory and without consulting notes made at the time, but three instances remain in one's mind: Hope nearly catching Lowdell in Heat 10, Round II ; Campbell Black just overtaking Westenra in time to finish fourth in Heat 7 of the same round ; and the actual finish of the race, when the " head-on " position in which one saw the machines approaching made it all but impossible to tell who was leading, de Havilland or Edwards. If 12 hours spent on an aerodrome watching the racing leaves but three such impressions on one's memory, the comparison with a day's fislyng cannot be entirely discounted. And now let us turn to our notebooks, programmes, copies of last week's issue of FLIGHT, and every other source of in formation from which a true picture of the 1933 King's Cup Race may be built up. The first heat of the first round was due to start at 8 a.m., but beyond that fact the Royal Aero Club had not permitted any information to be issued before the race. One did not know how many machines were to be allocated to the various heats, nor which particular machines were to be put into heats together. At one time it was rumoured that the requisite number of competitors would simply be taken from the list, starting at the top of the table as pub lished in FLIGHT last week. This would have meant hav ing all the slowest machines in the first heat, the not-quite- so-slow in the next heat, the slightly faster in the next, and so forth. This arrangement was, however, abandoned, and substituted for it was a peculiar shuffle with no very obvious reason behind it. The fairest way would have been to let competitors draw lots for the heats in the first round, but apparently this was not done either. One must, therefore, assume that a somewhat haphazard method was employed. The final scheme resolved itself into six heats in the first round, four heats in the second round, two heats in the third round, and the final, giving a total of 13 separate races. Theoretically there should have been thirteen close finishes. In actual fact the number was very much smaller. There were very few last-minute changes in the handi cap allowances published in FLIGHT last week. In one or two instances the entrant's and the' handicappers' inter pretation of the word " fairing " did not quite coincide, and a slight readjustment took place. Sometimes this would take the form of the removal of the fairings. In NL» THE RAILS : Our view shows a small section of the large and enthusiastic crowd which gathered at Hatfield to see the King's Cup Race on July 8. (FLIGHT Photo.) 685
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