MacRobertson Air Race

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The MacRobertson Trophy Air Race took place October, 1934 as part of the Melbourne Centenary celebrations. The idea of the race was devised by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, and a prize fund of $75,000 was put up by Sir Macpherson Robertson, a wealthy Australian confectionery manufacturer, on the conditions that the race be named after his MacRobertson confectionery company, and that it be organised to be as safe as possible.

The race was organised by the Royal Aero Club and would run from RAF Mildenhall in East Anglia to Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne. There were 5 compulsory stops at Baghdad, Allahabad, Singapore, Darwin and Charleville, Queensland, otherwise the competitors could choose their own routes. A further 22 optional stops were provided with stocks of fuel and oil by Shell and Stanavo. 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) October 20, 1934. The initial field of over 60 had by then been whittled down to 20, including the 3 purpose-built de Havilland DH.88 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 & Amy Mollison 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. Charles Scott and Captain Tom Campbell Black 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.

Perhaps more significantly in the development of popular long-distance air travel, the second and third places were taken by passenger transports, with the KLM Douglas DC-2 Uiver gaining a narrow advantage over Roscoe Turner's Boeing 247-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. The townsfolk responded magnificently - a postal clerk, Mr R. J. Turner, 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. For more detail see the 2CO site listed below.

Official Finishing Order
Entrant	Crew	Country	Notes
de Havilland DH.88 Comet G-ACSS Grosvenor House	C.W.A. Scott, T. Campbell Black	Britain	Elapsed time 71 h 0 min
Douglas DC-2 PH-AJU Uiver	K.D. Parmentier, J.J. Moll, B. Prins, C. Van Brugge	Netherlands	Elapsed time 90 h 13 min Winner on handicap
Boeing 247-D NR257Y Warner Bros. Comet	Roscoe Turner	United States	Elapsed time 92 h 55 min
de Havilland DH.88 Comet G-ACSR	O. Cathcart Jones, K.F. Waller	Britain	Elapsed time 108 h 13 min
Miles Hawk Major ZK-ADJ	S/Ldr. M. McGregor, H.C. Walker	New Zealand	Elapsed time 7 d 14 h Fastest single-engined
Airspeed AS.5 Courier G-ACJL	S/Ldr. D. Stodart, Sgt. Pilot K. Stodart	Britain	Elapsed time 9 d 18 h
de Havilland DH-80 Puss Moth VH-UQO My Hildegarde	C.J. 'Jimmy' Melrose	Australia	Elapsed time 10 d 16 h Second on handicap
Desoutter Mk.II OY-DOD	Lt. M. Hansen, D. Jensen	Denmark	Arrived October 31
de Havilland DH-89 Dragon Rapide ZK-ACO	J.D. Hewitt, C.E. Kay, F. Stewart	New Zealand	Arrived November 3
Not classified
Miles Falcon G-ACTM	H.L. Brook, Miss E. Lay (passenger)	Britain	Arrived November 20
Fairey IIIF G-AABY	F/O C.G. Davies, Lt.Cdr. C.N. Hill	Britain	Arrived November 24
Fairey Fox I G-ACXO	Ray Parer, G. Hemsworth	Australia	Withdrew from race at Paris. Eventually reached Melbourne February 13, 1935
Lambert Monocoupe 145 NC501W Baby Ruth	J.H. Wright, J. Polando Warner	United States	Withdrew at Calcutta
de Havilland DH.88 Comet G-ACSP Black Magic	J.A. Mollison & Mrs. Amy Mollison	Britain	From Karachi, Mollinson lost his way and landed at Jubulpur. He could not find any high-octane fuel and was forced to fill up with petrol. He could not feather his propeller, and in the process of taking off and flying to Allahabad he burnt his engines out.
Pander S4 PH-OST Panderjager	G.J. Geysendorffer, D.L. Asjes, P. Pronk	Netherlands	Destroyed in ground collision at Allahabad.[1]
B.A. Eagle G-ACVU	F/Lt. G. Shaw	Britain	Withdrew at Bushire
Lockheed Vega G-ABGK Puck	J. Woods, D.C. Bennett	Australia	Overturned on landing at Aleppo, withdrew
Airspeed AS.8 Viceroy G-ACMU	N. Stack, S.L. Turner	Britain	Withdrew with brake trouble at Athens
Granville R-6H NX14307 Q.E.D.	Miss J. Cochran, W. Smith Pratt	United States	Withdrew with malfunctioning flaps after landing damage at Bucharest
Fairey Fox I G-ACXX	H.D. Gilman, J.K. Baines	Britain	Crashed near Palazzo San Gervasio in Italy, both crew killed

[edit] See also

• England to Australia flight

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The MacRobertson Air Race, 1934
• Comet DH88 - fastest from England to Australia
• The Great Air Race, a TV Movie about MacRobertson Air Race
• MacRobertson Air Race - State Library of NSW
• The Uiver Memorial, Albury NSW
• Tom Campbell Black co-winner of the MacRobertson London to Melbourne Air Race 1934
• 2CO Corowa site with many details and reminiscences from witnesses of De Uiver's landing at Albury

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