CENTENARY RACE

Hokitika Guardian, 10 February 1934, Page 3

CENTENARY RACE

j “SMITHY” REVIEWS CHANCES HOPES OF WINNING EVENT AUCKLAND, February 8. j “I base my hopes of winning the air race on my knowledge of the route and not on powers of endurance,” said Sir Charles Kingsford Smith this morning, when discussing the Melbourne centenary race from London next October, t Sir Charles said that ho had crossed ! the Timor Sea no less than 12 times. Though the route was more or less deftermined by the race, he had planned emergency grounds on the route in' the event cf any complications. The cont”ol points, or checking-in grounds, were Bagdad, Calcutta, Singapore, Port Darwin, and Charleville, in Queensland. ,Tlie nature,of the checking-in had not been defined, and Sir Charles was not certain whether the competing plrnes would have to land or whether they a would make contact from the air.

Discussing the probable duration of the flight, Sir Charles was inclined to discount the recently imported views of American airmen that the flight could be completed in two days. He said the air mileage was approximately 13,000, and he estimated that the flight would occupy from three to three and a half days.' He based this on the probabilities that the planes, with a speed o J ' 200 miles an hour or upward, would be in the air 20 out of the 24 hours. “I will never attempt another solo flight against time, I am getting too old,” said Sir Charles. If he participated in the centenary race he would have a co-pilot. An engineer, lie thought, "’as unnecessary, as thoroughly attuned and tested machines should be capable of making the flight without mechanical complications.

“1 hough my inclinations are naturally to us.? a British machine, it is apparent that the majority of the competitors will use planes of American construction,” he continued. There tyere no British machines with the speed range that would be required to win the race, though it had been reported that the De Haviland Company was to design a special machine for Mr J. A. Mollison. That machine, it was reported, would have a radius of 3000 miles and a speed of over 200 miles an hour. Such a plane involved radical departures in construction ,and being really in its ‘‘beetling” stage, might not be as reliable as the fast American machines which had demonstrated their efficiency in Continental air services. Though the prize for £'lo,ooo for the Melbourne centenary race sounds tempting to the layman. Sir Charles said the expense involved in competing in the race would absorb that amount. The plane alone would cost about £7OOO, and with other incidental expenditure in the way of organisation, the winner would “just about break even” on the venture.