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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1367.PDF
The pre-race line-up at London Airport's central area. "Flight" photograph ENGLAND TO NEW ZEALAND —in 24 Hours : Varied Fortunes in the London-Christchurch Race FIRST aircraft to arrive at Christchurch and so win the speed section of the England-New Zealand air race was the Canberra P.R.3 flown by F/L. R. L. E. Burton ard F/L. D. H. Gannon, which crossed the finishing line only 23 hours 51 minutes after taking off from London Airport. The average speed achieved, 494.5 m.p.h., has been announced by t. e Royal Aero Club as a new point-to-point record, subject to confirmation. Second was the Australian Canberra B.20 flown by S/L. P. F. Raw, F/O. F. N. Davis and F/L. W. D. K:rr, whose total elapsed time was 24 hours 32 minutes, and third was the remaining P.R.3 Canberra flown by F/L. R. MacA. Furze and F/L. J. W. Harper. The Canberra P.R.7 flown by W/C. L. M. Hodges, after flying non-stop from Co ombo to Perth (omitting the Cocos Islands stop) was grounded there due to generator and filler-cap trouble, and so dropped back into fourth place. Leading in the penultimate stage of the race was the Australian Canberra of S/L. Raw, which, heading for Woomera, was the first aircraft to cross the Australian coast. A previous casualty at the Cocos Islands had been W/C. Cuming in the other Australian Canberra which, while in the lead, had burst a tyre on landing. A delay was experienced at Woomera by S/L. Raw, who was forced to land with his Canberra's nosewheel only half-way down. On landing, the pitot head was damaged, and the time required for the necessary repairs enabled F/L. Burton in the British machine to take the lead. Other records obtained were: London-Basra, F/L. Burton at 543.9 m.p.h., and London-Colombo, W/C. Hodges at 519.5 m.p.h. In the transport handicap section, the first arrival at Christ- church was the B.E.A. Viscount Endeavour, 40 hours 41 minutes after leaving London. Outstanding were its long stages from London to Bahrein (3,218 miles) and from the Cocos Islands to Melbourne (3,600 miles). On the whole trip, according to a message from Mr. Peter Masefield at Christchurch, no snags were experienced—a fine tribute to an excellent aircraft. The Viscount remains basically, however, a relatively short- range aircraft, and so under the race handicap formula could not be expected to show up well in comparison with the 64-passenger carrying DC-6A entered by K.L.M. The DC-6A took 49 hours 57 minutes for the flight to Christchurch (the handicap allow- The fastest crew: F/L. R. L. E. burton and his navigator, F/L. D. H. Gannon, whose Canberra P.R.3 completed the course at an average speed of 494.5 m.p.h. (based on the direct Great Circle distance). ance reducing this to what the organizers call a "net time" of 5 hours 28 minutes), and thus won the first prize in this section of the race. The R.N.Z.A.F. Hastings was forced to withdraw from the race in Colombo due to a damaged engine (engine replacement not being allowed under the race rules). A detailed account of the preparations for the race and of the progress of each aircraft follows. Preparations for the Start.—At London Airport the eight com peting aircraft had been on public view in the central area for the three days preceding the race. Access to the area was by way of the 2,060-ft tunnel which runs from the Bam Road under No. 1 runway and which was open to the public for the first time on Monday, October 5th; for the period of the race preparations Winner in the transport handicap section was, as expected, K.L.M.'s DC-6A. Crew members (left to right): 2nd R/Off. J. van den Bos; 2ndlOff. P. J. Aarts; 1st R/Off. J. M. C. Kiepe; 3rd/Off. J. Noomen; Copt. H. A. A. Koober; UtJOff. J. F. Griffith; 1st FjEngr. H. van der Ham.
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