MacRobertson Air Race - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The MacRobertson Trophy Air Race took place October, 1934

1934 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1934:-Events:* Sir Alan Cobhams Flight Refuelling Ltd. develops the looped-hose aerial refueling system, a weighted cable let out of a tanker aircraft and grabbed by a grapnel fired from the receiving aircraft...

as part of the Melbourne Centenary celebrations

1934 Centenary of Melbourne

The Melbourne Centenary was a 1934 centennial celebration of the founding of the city of Melbourne, Australia.The milestone was reached during the Great Depression, and as such, most Melburnians did not feel they had much to cheer about. Organisers responded to this by presenting an image of the...

. The idea of the race was devised by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, and a prize fund of $75,000 was put up by Sir Macpherson Robertson

Macpherson Robertson

Sir Macpherson Robertson KBE was an Australian philanthropist, entrepreneur and founder of confectionery company MacRobertson's.-Early life:...

, a wealthy Australian confectionery manufacturer, on the conditions that the race be named after his MacRobertson confectionery company

MacRobertson's

MacRobertson's, officially the MacRobertson's Steam Confectionery Works, was the name of a company that produced chocolates and various other confectionery in Australia. The company was founded in 1880 by Sir Macpherson Robertson and takes its name from a combination of his first and last name...

, and that it be organised to be as safe as possible.

The race was organised by the Royal Aero Club

Royal Aero Club

The Royal Aero Club is the national co-ordinating body for Air Sport in the United Kingdom.The Aero Club was founded in 1901 by Frank Hedges Butler, his daughter Vera and the Hon Charles Rolls , partly inspired by the Aero Club of France...

, and would run from RAF Mildenhall

RAF Mildenhall

RAF Mildenhall is a Royal Air Force station located at Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as an RAF station, it primarily supports United States Air Force operations and is currently the home of the 100th Air Refueling Wing...

in East Anglia

East Anglia

East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...

to Flemington Racecourse

Flemington Racecourse

Flemington Racecourse is a major horse racing venue located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is most notable for hosting the Melbourne Cup, which is Australia's richest horse race. The racecourse is situated on low alluvial flats, next to the Maribyrnong River...

, Melbourne, approximately 11300 miles (18,185.5 km).
There were 5 compulsory stops at Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

, Allahabad

Allahabad

Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

and Charleville, Queensland

Charleville, Queensland

Charleville is a town in south western Queensland, Australia, 758 kilometres by road west of Brisbane . It is the largest town and administrative centre of the Murweh Shire, which covers an area of 43,905 square kilometres...

; otherwise the competitors could choose their own routes. A further 22 optional stops were provided with stocks of fuel and oil by Shell

Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...

and Stanavo

Standard Oil

Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...

. The Royal Aero Club put some effort into persuading the countries along the route to improve the facilities at the stopping points.

The basic rules were: no limit to the size of aircraft or power, no limit to crew size, no pilot to join aircraft after it left England. Aircraft must carry three days' rations per crew member, floats, smoke signals and efficient instruments. There were prizes for the outright fastest aircraft, and for the best performance on a handicap formula by any aircraft finishing within 16 days.

Take off date was set at dawn (6:30), 20 October 1934. By then, the initial field of over 60 had been whittled down to 20, including the 3 purpose-built de Havilland DH.88

De Havilland DH.88

The de Havilland DH.88 Comet was a twin-engined British aircraft that won the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race, a challenge for which it was specifically designed...

Comet racers, two of the new generation of American all-metal passenger transports, and a mixture of earlier racers, light transports and old bombers.

First off the line, watched by a crowd of 60,000, were Jim

Jim Mollison

James Allan Mollison was a famous Scottish pioneer aviator who set many records during the rapid development of aviation in the 1930s.-Early years:...

& Amy Mollison

Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson CBE, was a pioneering English aviator. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, Johnson set numerous long-distance records during the 1930s...

in the Comet Black Magic, and they were early leaders in the race until forced to retire at Allahabad with engine trouble. This left the scarlet Comet Grosvenor House, flown by Flight Lt. C. W. A. Scott and Captain Tom Campbell Black

Tom Campbell Black

Tom Campbell Black, was a famous English aviator.He was the son of Alice Jean McCullough and Hugh Milner Black. He became a world famous aviator when he and C. W. A...

, well ahead of the field. This racer went on to win in a time of less than 3 days, despite flying the last stage with one engine throttled back because of an oil-pressure indicator giving a faulty low reading. It would have won the handicap prize as well, were it not for a race rule that no aircraft could win more than one prize.

Perhaps more significantly in the development of popular long-distance air travel, the second and third places were taken by passenger transports flying regular routes with passengers, with the KLM Douglas DC-2

Douglas DC-2

The Douglas DC-2 was a 14-seat, twin-engine airliner produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Corporation starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247...

Uiver (Stork) gaining a narrow advantage over Roscoe Turner's Boeing 247

Boeing 247

The Boeing Model 247 was an early United States airliner, considered the first such aircraft to fully incorporate advances such as all-metal semi-monocoque construction, a fully cantilevered wing and retractable landing gear...

-D, both completing the course less than a day behind the winner.

The most dramatic part of the race was when the Uiver, hopelessly lost after becoming caught in a thunderstorm, ended up over Albury, New South Wales

Albury, New South Wales

Albury is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Albury Local Government Area...

. The townsfolk responded magnificently - Lyle Ferris, the chief electrical engineer of the post office, went to the power station and signalled "Albury" to the plane by turning the town lights on and off, and Arthur Newnham, the announcer on radio station 2CO Corowa, appealed for cars to line up on the racecourse to light up a runway for the plane. The plane landed, and next morning was pulled out of the mud by locals to fly on and win the handicap section of the race. In gratitude KLM made a large donation to Albury Hospital and Alf Waugh, the Mayor of Albury, was awarded a title in Dutch nobility.
Later that year 1934, the DC-2 crashed near Rutbah Wells, (now known as Ar Rutba, Iraq

Ar Rutba

Ar Rutbah is an Iraqi town in western Al Anbar province. The population is approximately 55,000. It occupies a strategic location on the Amman-Baghdad road, and the Mosul-Haifa pipeline...

), and is now commemorated by a flying replica.

Official Finishing Order
Aircraft type	Identity	Race No.	Crew	Country of origin	Notes
DH.88 Comet De Havilland DH.88 The de Havilland DH.88 Comet was a twin-engined British aircraft that won the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race, a challenge for which it was specifically designed... 'Grosvenor House'	G-ACSS	34	C. W. A. Scott, Tom Campbell Black Tom Campbell Black Tom Campbell Black, was a famous English aviator.He was the son of Alice Jean McCullough and Hugh Milner Black. He became a world famous aviator when he and C. W. A...	Britain	Elapsed time 71 h 0 min Outright Winner
Douglas DC-2 Douglas DC-2 The Douglas DC-2 was a 14-seat, twin-engine airliner produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Corporation starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247... 'Uiver'	PH-AJU	44	K.D. Parmentier, J.J. Moll, B. Prins, C. Van Brugge	Netherlands	Elapsed time 90 h 13 min Winner on handicap
Boeing 247D Boeing 247 The Boeing Model 247 was an early United States airliner, considered the first such aircraft to fully incorporate advances such as all-metal semi-monocoque construction, a fully cantilevered wing and retractable landing gear... 'Warner Bros. Comet'	NR257Y	5	Roscoe Turner Roscoe Turner Roscoe Turner was an aviator who was a three time winner of the Thompson Trophy.-Background:Turner was born in Corinth, Mississippi, the eldest son of a poor but respectable farmer. He came to realize that he did not want to be a farmer and found that he was attracted to mechanical devices instead... , Clyde Edward Pangborn, Reeder Nichols	United States	Elapsed time 92 h 55 min
DH.88 Comet	G-ACSR	39	O. Cathcart Jones, K.F. Waller	Britain	Elapsed time 108 h 13 min
Miles M.2F Hawk Major Miles Hawk Major -See also:-Bibliography:* Amos, Peter. and Brown, Don Lambert. Miles Aircraft Since 1925, Volume 1. London: Putnam Aeronautical, 2000. ISBN 0-85177-787-0....	ZK-ADJ	2	S/Ldr. M. McGregor, H.C. Walker	New Zealand	Elapsed time 7 d 14 h Fastest single-engined
Airspeed AS.5 Courier Airspeed Courier \|-See also:-External links:**...	G-ACJL	14	S/Ldr. D. Stodart, Sgt. Pilot K. Stodart	Britain	Elapsed time 9 d 18 h
DH.80 Puss Moth De Havilland Puss Moth \|-See also:-References:* Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft since 1919 . London, Putnam, 1974. ISBN 0-370-10010-7-External links:*... 'My Hildegarde'	VH-UQO	16	C.J. 'Jimmy' Melrose	Australia	Elapsed time 10 d 16 h Second on handicap
Desoutter Mk.II Desoutter Mk.II -Bibliography:* Kalevi Keskinen, Kari Stenman: Koulukoneet - Suomen ilmavoimien historia 22, Itä-Uudenmaan paino, Loviisa, 2003, ISBN 951-98751-5-8* Tervonen, Ismo: Veljekset Karhumäki Suomen ilmailun pioneereina 1924-1956, Apali Oy, ISBN 952-5026-25-6....	OY-DOD	7	Lt. M. Hansen, D. Jensen	Denmark	Arrived 31 October
DH.89 Dragon Rapide De Havilland Dragon Rapide The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide was a British short-haul passenger airliner of the 1930s.-Design and development:Designed by the de Havilland company in late 1933 as a faster and more comfortable successor to the DH.84 Dragon, it was in effect a twin-engined, scaled-down version of the... 'Tainui'	ZK-ACO	60	J.D. Hewitt, C.E. Kay, F. Stewart	New Zealand	Arrived 3 November
Not classified
Miles M.3 Falcon Miles Falcon -See also:-Bibliography:*Amos, Peter Miles Aircraft - The Early Years - The Story of F G Miles and his Aeroplanes, 1925-1939. Tonbridge, Kent: Air-Britain Ltd, 2009. ISBN 978-0-85130-410-6....	G-ACTM	31	H.L. Brook, Miss E. Lay (passenger)	Britain	Arrived 20 November
Fairey IIIF	G-AABY	15	F/O C.G. Davies, Lt.Cdr. C.N. Hill	Britain	Arrived 24 November
Fairey Fox Fairey Fox The Fairey Fox was a British light bomber and fighter biplane of the 1920s and 1930s. It was originally produced in Britain for the RAF, but continued in production and use in Belgium long after it was retired in Britain.-Fox I:... I	G-ACXO	35	Ray Parer Ray Parer Raymond John Paul Parer AFC , was an Australian aviator.Parer was born in Melbourne, and developed an interest in aviation at an early age. He enlisted in the Australian Flying Corps in 1916, initially as a mechanic, but was soon accepted to train as a pilot. His initial training was conducted at... , G. Hemsworth	Australia	Withdrew from race at Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region... . Eventually reached Melbourne 13 February 1935
Lambert Monocoupe 145 Monocoupe Aircraft Central States Airplane Company was established in 1927 to build Don A. Luscombe's Monocoupe. In January 1928, the company became the Mono Aircraft Division of Velie Motor Corporation. Following Willard Velie's death in March 1929, the Velie interests were sold to Allied Aviation Industries, a... Baby Ruth	NC501W	33	J.H. Wright, J. Polando Warner	United States	Withdrew at Calcutta
DH.88 Comet 'Black Magic'	G-ACSP	63	Jim Mollison Jim Mollison James Allan Mollison was a famous Scottish pioneer aviator who set many records during the rapid development of aviation in the 1930s.-Early years:... , Amy Johnson Amy Johnson Amy Johnson CBE, was a pioneering English aviator. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, Johnson set numerous long-distance records during the 1930s...	Britain	From Karachi, Mollison lost his way, and landed at Jubulpur. No high-octane fuel available, filled up with petrol. Engines "burned out" on flight to Allahabad.
Pander S4 'Panderjager'	PH-OST	6	G.J. Geysendorffer, D.L. Asjes, P. Pronk	Netherlands	Destroyed in ground collision at Allahabad Allahabad Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,... .
B.A. Eagle 'The Spirit of Wm. Shaw & Co Ltd'	G-ACVU	47	F/Lt. G. Shaw	Britain	Withdrew at Bushire
Lockheed Vega Lockheed Vega \|-See also:-References:NotesCitationsBibliography* Allen, Richard Sanders. Revolution in the Sky: Those Fabulous Lockheeds, The Pilots Who Flew Them. Brattleboro, Vermont: The Stephen Greene Press, 1964.... 'Puck'	G-ABGK	36	J. Woods, D.C. Bennett	Australia	Overturned on landing at Aleppo Aleppo Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant... , withdrew
Airspeed AS.8 Viceroy Airspeed Viceroy \|-See also:-References:* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft . Orbis Publishing.* Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 1. London: Putnam, 1974. ISBN 0-370-10006-9.-External links:* * *...	G-ACMU	58	N. Stack T. Neville Stack Captain Thomas Neville Stack AFC was a 1920s test pilot, air racer and aviation pioneer. He served in both the First and Second World War and in all three services.-First World War:... , S.L. Turner	Britain	Withdrew with brake trouble at Athens Athens Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
Granville R-6H Gee Bee Q.E.D. -External links:***... 'Q.E.D.'	NX14307	46	Miss J. Cochran Jacqueline Cochran Jacqueline Cochran was a pioneer American aviator, considered to be one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation... , W. Smith Pratt	United States	Withdrew with malfunctioning flaps, after landing damage at Bucharest Bucharest Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
Fairey Fox Fairey Fox The Fairey Fox was a British light bomber and fighter biplane of the 1920s and 1930s. It was originally produced in Britain for the RAF, but continued in production and use in Belgium long after it was retired in Britain.-Fox I:... I	G-ACXX	62	H.D. Gilman, J.K. Baines	Britain	Crashed near Palazzo San Gervasio in Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... ; both crew killed

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