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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0804.PDF
3»4 FLIGHT. APRIL II, 1935, "MACROBERTSON" the MAN Sir Macpherson Robertson, the Modest Sponsor of the Melbourne Race, Interviewed in London : How the Idea of the Race was Conceived FROM what has appeared in print, one expected to find a youthful seventy-five-year-old on meeting Sir Macpherson Robertson, sponsor of the England-Australia Air Race; but even so, the appearance of this rosy- cheeked, fit-looking man with a merry twinkle in the eye came as a surprise. He is not by any means a typical Australian. His manner gives no hint of his influential position as one of Australia's greatest manufacturers. . . " So Kingsford Smith said to me, 'Well, look here, Mr. Mac'" . . . and that is how he thinks of himself— as plain " Mr. Mac." As many people know, he built his huge confectionery business from a single-handed venture at toffee manu facture in a back room during his youth. Now his products are eaten all over the Southern hemisphere, and he has branched out in other direc tions, notably as an air-line operator. His MacRobertson-Miller service now has a five-year main contract between South-western Australia and up through the interior to Darwin. Characteristically, he will not commit himself as to the results. " We've only been working that route a year," he says, " and you can't find out the potentialities of an enterprise in that space of time ; it isn't long enough for things to happen." But to get down to Sir Macpherson's view on the Eng land-Australia Air Race, or, as it is equally well known, " The Mac Robertson." Asked when he first conceived the idea. Sir Macpherson said it was about two years ago, when he felt that something big should be done to mark the Melbourne Centenary Celebrations. He proceeded to present to the City a girls' school, a bridge over the river Yarra, a Herbarium for the Botanical Gardens, and—he appears to regard this almost with greater interest and affection—a small fountain near the Shrine of Remembrance. " Feeling," he said, " that something should be done to make the world in general sit up and take notice of the Centenary, I supplemented these things with the offer of a ,£10,000 prize, a 650-guinea cup, and gold medals, to be competed for in an Englnnd-Australia aeroplane race. Moreover, I felt that something of the sort needed doing to focus interest on the real commercial possibilities of long-distance flying—isolated flights, fine as some of them were, had failed to stir public imagination for long." Sir Macpherson went on to say that the announcement caused great surprise and speculation, some people appar ently thinking the project quite a mad one. He forwarded his proposal to the Royal Aero Club, who received it with enthusiasm and forthwith undertook the organisation Sir Macpherson Robertson, K.B.E of the Race as far as Koepang—"and jolly well they did it." '' I expected twenty or twenty-five entries at the outside," said Sir Mac pherson. " When they began to approach eighty I thought, ' Good heavens, what have I done? ' I suddenly realised "—this with a merry twinkle in the eye—"what all those gold medals were going to cost me! " " I am glad beyond words that the Race was such a success, but I have only one regret—that we did not have a top-notch Australian pilot taking part." He then went on to describe his efforts to persuade Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith to fly a British machine. Kingsford-Smith, of course, knowing that there was then no British aircraft of the calibre of the Lockheed " Altair," on which he was making a number of record- breaking flights, felt that he could not do himself justice on anything else. Then, when rumours of the "Comets " reached Australia, Sir Macpherson did all he could to secure him one; but to build an extra machine, over and above the three laid down, was a physical impossibility. Asked if he had since considered the possibility of another England-Australia Race being held some time in the future. Sir Macpherson said, " Not so far as I am concerned, and I do not think there will be any need for another. I do feel—and I am not ashamed to say that I feel it with great pride—that this one has achieved its object and awakened the world to the possibilities of long distance commercial flying. Scott's and Black's winning time astonished me, as it did everybody, but I do not think it will be many years before we have mail 'planes putting up an equal average over the route. I am quite convinced that within eighteen months we shall have a five-day mail service, which will be of inestimable value to business people, as well as binding Australia more closely to England in the matter of friendships and affec tion—in other words, through the medium of personal letters delivered speedily and with replies received equally quickly. Then, changing the subject, " Mr. Mac " remarked, " You can tell readers of Flight that I have not yet had an opportunity of inspecting aviation in this country, though I know that much progress has been made since I was last here, in 1927. But one thing has struck me very forcibly, and it hasn't anything at all to do with flying. I mean the wonderful way in which you're all observing this thirty-mile-an-hour speed limit, and the success of the no-hooting order at night. It's wonderful! FRANCE ENCOURAGES THE DIESEL REGULATIONS have just been issued for the ten-million franc Diesel competition which, as announced in Flight last November, is being organised by the French Air Ministry. The 10,000,000 franc prize will be awarded to the maker of the first heavy-oil engine of French construction to break the present international continuous flight speed record over a closed circuit of 10,000 kilometres 6,250 miles). The award will also be contingent on an average speed equal to or better than 180 km/hr. (112J m.p.h.). If the winning engine shall have been constructed under a foreign licence, even if manufactured in France, the award will be reduced by one half. The French Government, incident ally, reserves the right to enter in this competition one or two engines that may be constructed in its arsenals or shops. If one of these engines should be awarded the prize, the com petition will still remain open for private entries, but the amount of the prize will be reduced to 8,000,000 francs. Technical regulations require, among other things, that the flash-point of the fuel shall exceed 50 deg. C, that the distilla tion shall be 5 per cent, in volume between 215 deg. ami 230 deg. C, have a freezing point below —8 deg. C. and a viscosity of 1.8 or less. The closing date is Dec. 30, I93&-
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