KING'S CUP AIR RACE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19665, 8 July 1929, Page 8

KING'S CUP AIR RACE.

EXCITING FINISH. WON BY GLOSTER-GREBE. KKIW Pa=S3 AS3OCIATIOX-BY ELSCTBIC (Received July 7th, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON. July 6. Th--i> was a strong south-westerly wind Dlowmg when the two days' handicap air race for the King s Cup started from Hes*»n Air Park Hounslow. yesterday morning. The> course, viMr-iTis officially stated at 11.0 mi.es, h the contestants around Britain from Southampton to as far north as R€ Concurrentlv with the King'. Cup Concurrency siddeley [r^hv"was ffi" This is also a handicap" race over the same course and there were competitors, including Miss Spooner, who won last year, and Lady B The' King's Cup race resulted:—

Lieut. Atcherley, in a GlosterGrebe ••• . v: , '" <> Lieut. Richardson, in a Moth ... - Captain Hope, in a Gipsy Moth ... •* The finish of the race provided an unexpected thrill for the thousands who were waitinc Two machines appeared in the offing"racing necK and neck one of which was presumably that ot Laptain Stack, who led throughout but Captain Stack bad been forced down owing to engine trouble, and the oncoming rivals were Lieut. Ateheriey and Lieut. Richardson. The former took the lead a mile from home and won bv 100 yards. Five minutes covered the first four home. Lieut Atcherley's average speed was 150.3 miles an hour. The next best was Fielden, in a Gloster-Grebe with 143.3 miles an hour. Lieut. Richardson, with an average of 100.2 miles an hour won the Siddeley trophy for light aeroplanes. Miss Spooner, in a Gipsy Moth, was placed fifth, and headed the women competitors. Mrs Butler and Ladv Bailey, both in Gipsy Moth coupes, also finished. Captain Stack, in spite of his forced landing, came in sixth.

Several flyers found the wind too great, and were forced to retire, while others were blown off their course. When the King first gave the cup for an air race round Britain in 1922 there were 17 starters, and the machines ussd would look like museum specimens compared with those of the 41 competitors who took the air on this occasion. Flieht-Lieut. Summers in his Vickers Rolls-Royce started from scratch, and gave several hours' start to the smaller craft. Mr Van Lear Black, the DutchAmerican millionaire flying enthusiast, hired a 14-seater aeroplane as an aerial "grandstand" in which to follow the progress of the race. —Australian Press Association, United Service.