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Aviation History
1930
UNTITLED0 - 0905.PDF
FLIGHT, AUGUST 1, 1930 INTERNATIONAL TOURING COMPETITION British Competitors Doing Well in Circuit of Europe THE International Touring Competition has progressedsteadily during the past week, and many of thecompetitors have already reached their final goal at Berlin. The weather has, on the whole, been very bad, and an order was issued at Vienna on Monday prohibiting the machines from going on to Prague, and was not rescinded until the evening. Throughout the week England has held the lead, and on Sunday the first three to arrive at Berlin were Mr. Alan Butler, Capt. Broad and Mr. Thorn ; Mr. Andrews followed a very little later after five other competitors so that all four Englishmen were home in the first nine machines. It is as well to stress again that this competition is not a race. Our daily papers have, during the week, had a lot of splash headlines about the " Great Round-Europe Air Race," which has led people to suppose that the fact of Mr. Butler and Capt. Broad being ahead most of the way means that we shall win the whole competition. This is, of course, not so, and only proves that British engines can stand up to a great deal of full-throttle work and that for the same capacity our machines are somewhat faster than the majority of our foreign competitors. The latest news, though unconfirmed, states that Capt. Broad and Mr. Butler are the only two competitors to be awarded the full amount of marks for speed. It looked as if Mr. Thorn would also have gained this distinction, but evidently he has been delayed and consequently has lost 20 marks. This does not mean that this is necessarily due to engine trouble, and, in fact, is most likely due to other causes. However, it is a pity, as had he gained the full amount we should have been able to claim this honour for both of our most well-known engines and machines. Another unfortunate circumstance is the probable dis- qualification of Mr. Butler. He did not elect to carry a spare propeller, and so when he broke his in landing on soft ground at Posen he fitted a new one which automatically disqualified him. This is doubly regrettable after his effort in gaining full marks for the speed part of the competition. Two further accidents have marred the competition generally.- On Friday, July 25, there was fog at Lausanne, and Capt. Henri Stub fired some fusees in an endeavour to guide the iacoming machines. One of these unfortunately exploded and mortally wounded him. The other accident occurred when Herr Offerman, with his passenger, was bringing his B.F.W. in at Lyon on Saturday, July 26. He hit the wireless aerial, and both he and his passenger were killed. Herr Neininger and his passenger escaped when their Darmstadt D.I8 forced landed in the Gulf of Lyons, as they were picked up by a French steamer. Full and accurate news is not yet available, but hereafter we give'a brief summaryiin diary form of the chief happenings of each day. On July 22 Mr. Butler was the first to arrive in Spain when he landed at Getafe at 4.35 p.m. (B.S.T.), followed by M. Finat and Arrachart an hour later, and Mr. Thorn at 6.30. On Wednesday, 23rd, Mr. Butler again created records. He left Madrid (Getafe) at 7.1 a.m., was in Seville at 9.13, spent 42 min. there, and arrived in Madrid again at 11.57. He left again at noon and landed at Barcelona at 4.22 p.m. He was closely followed all the way by Mr. Thorn, who arrived at 5.25 p.m. At this point 12 pilots had arrived from Saragossa ; 12 reached Seville; 11 returned from Seville ; 7 went on to Saragossa ; and 5 proceeded further to Barcelona. Of these five, three were English, namely, Capt. Broad, Mr. Butler and Mr. Thorn. Mr. Andrews, on the Spartan, was among those who arrived at Madrid on his way south. 53 of the 60 competitors had passed through Heston. yuoo- SLAVIA ENGLISH MILESO BO 200 30O -tOO 500 20O3OO400500600700aO0KILOMETRES CIRCUIT OF EUROPE : Sketch map of route, showing compulsory stops. The total distance was 4,700 miles. 857
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