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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1115.PDF
OCTOBER 25. 1934. FLIGHT. 1117 , DAWN OF ADVENTURE : A striking impression captured by thecamera as the sun broke through at Mildenhall. The machine is F/O. Davies's and Lt. Com. Hills' Fairey III F. Major " had reached and left Karachi, the " Dragon Six " had left Baghdad for Karachi, the Airspeed "Courier" had left Aleppo for Baghdad, and the Desoutter was on its way to Bushire. Parer was definitely out with the "Fox" after innumerable delays. Finally and, it would seem, almost inevitably in such a race, tragedy intervened. The Fairey " Fox " Number 62, after taking off from Rome for Athens, crashed in Apulia and the machine caught fire. F/O H. D. Gilman and Mr. J. K. C. Baines both lost their lives. Reports received up to the moment of going to press are so varied that it is difficult to discover whether the machine simply stalled or whether it actually caught fire in the air. Apparently, however, they were making for an emergency landing ground—a fact which automatically suggests trouble. At 10.40 p.m. (G.M.T.) the leading "Comet" had reached Charleville after averaging 154 m.p.h. over the penultimate leg—flying on one engine for much of the distance. The Douglas was still a thousand miles behind and was being almost harried by the Boeing. Col. Roscoe Turner, with the Boeing, left Singapore eight hours after the K.L.M. cruiser and was making directly for Darwin. Cathcart Jones had left Allahabad for Singapore, McGregor was at Jodhpur, and Hewitt had left Baghdad. The whole world waited for the news of Scott's arrival at Melbourne. He had left Charleville. Turner was reported at Koepang and Cathcart Jones at Singapore. At last came the expected confirmation. C. W. A. Scott and T. Campbell Black brought the D.H. "Comet" Number 34 over Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, for the two stipulated circuits at 5.30 a.m. (G.M.T.). Two days, twenty-three hours since they had left Mildenhall! They put down at Essen den and were carried back to Flemington in two "Gipsy Moths " for the reception. More than three hours later, the Douglas D.C..2, com- plete with passengers, mail and larder, cruised into and out of Charleville, and no one doubted that, in the ordinary course of routine, Parmentier and Moll would be at Mel- bourne some seven hours or so after the " Comet." At the eleventh hour, as far as the K.L.M. entry was concerned, a message was received to say that the Douglas had been safely forced landed at midnight on Albury race- course at 3.17 p.m. (G.M.T.). Parmehtier had been off his eourse since leaving Charleville, and had asked for his position several times while circling in the Wodonga dis-. trict. And the Boeing was on its way to Charleville! On the racecourse at Albury the Dutch pilots decided to wait for the daylight before flying on. to Mel- bourne. With the Boeftig still thir- teen hundred miles away, the Douglas appeared to be safely enough in second place. But could it take off comfortably from a relatively confined space? It would be tragedy indeed if the big machine had to be dismantled when less than an hour's flying from the finishing line. Parmentier and Moll would certainly take no risks if (here was any doubt about the ability > if the two engines to pull the machine out. The bulk of the field, scattered amazingly over the face of the eastern hemisphere, were pushing along at their own separate paces. In the face of the winners' extraordinary perform- ance their own efforts appeared puny, though several were on a schedule that would have spelt a " headline " re- cord only a few years ago. Ross Smith took twenty-seven days over his flight to Darwin in 1919. Cathcart Jones and Waller had arrived at Batavia, but were likely to be held up with trouble lor several hours. They, too, had suffered a portion of the troubles that had caused Black Magic to be withdrawn at Allahabad and Grosvenor House to be flown for long hours on one engine. All the testing in the world cannot be a facsimile of the gruelling which' is received in a race. McGregor and Walker, though entered only for the handicap race on their standard Miles " Hawk Major," were running fifth on Tuesday evening and had left Cal- cutta for Rangoon at 7.12 a.m. (G.M.T.)—a completely amazing effort. Actually they had beaten any time put up by a similar machine on the first half of the route. Their all-in average was in the region of 84 m.p.h. Hewett and Kay, with the " Dragon Six," were, com- paratively speaking, close on their heels, having reached Allahabad at 12.10 p.m. Remembering their forced land- ing near Boulogne, they had done extraordinarily well. And So To Bed! The one and only Airspeed left in the race, the Stodarts' "Courier," had left Jask, and Hansen's Desoutter had reached Karachi. Considering the fact that the Desoutter's normal maximum speed can have been very little more than 120 m.p.h., Lt. Hansen's show was one of the best. The Australia-England " record " breaker, C. J. Melrose, was living up to his statement that his race was to be a tour, but, nevertheless, he was reported as having left Jask at 9.27 a.m. (G.M.T.). Jack Wright had left Baghdad, with Polando and the Lambert Monocoupe, after some trifling troubles along the route and a lot of worry over the weather in Europe. Shaw with the Klemm " Eagle," had made up a great deal of time since his forced landing in Spain, and was at Baghdad, but with a damaged undercarriage, and Brook with the "Falcon" had left Rome for Athens, where he also suf- fered damage. Davies' Fairey III F was down in Cyprus. The De Havilland " Comet " had won, the victorious pilots were in bed enjoiyng a well-earned rest, but the race was still in progress. Other places were waiting to be filled, and the handicap race was an event of its own—and no man could forecast the result. All day and night anxious crowds awaited the second and third men, particularly as their positions in the Commonwealth were known, and there was general disappointment when it was learned that the Dutchmen, who were second, could not complete-their remarkable run until Wednesday morning ?
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