MOTHS FIRST AND THIRD IN EXCITING KING’S CUP FINISH

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6669, 24 July 1928, Page 10

MOTHS FIRST AND THIRD IN EXCITING KING’S CUP FINISH

Miss Spooner Fails By Only 3| Minutes RACE TRIUMPH FOR LIGHT PLANES United- Press Association —By Electric -}tj3iJAdoo—ifdarSajax ; British Official Wireless, RUGBY, July 23. Flying at an average speed of 113 miles per hour, Mr. Hope, in his own del Haviland. Moth airplane, won the King’s Cup air race yesterday, arriving first at Brooklands Aerodrome, after a gruelling two days’ flying over, a 1090’ miles’’course. Other prize-winners were C. Unwins, flying a Bristol .101 for Sir George Stanley White, who finished second. 'Miss Winifred Spooner, in her owu Moth was third, finishing five minutes after the winner. Captain Broad, in Sir‘Charles Wakefield’s Moth, was fourth. The King telegraphed his congratulations to tho winner. Over 100 Miles an,Hour. Mr. Hope’s flying time for 1096 miles —round Britain—W T as lOhfs 24min Isce, an average speed of 105 1-8 miles per hour* Hope was third at tho end of the first day, but ho made a fercat effort in yesterday’s stage of 556 miles, which ho covered at over 113 miles per hour. , - There was a very’close finish,for just over two minutes after Hope had completed the journey, Unwins flashed over the line to secure second place, and ninety seconds later Miss Spooner, the only lady pilot in the contest, arrived, to become third. One Machine Missing. - Miss Spooner wins the Si'ddeley trophy, consisting of a challenge cup and £l5O, offered for competition among light airplane clubs. She might have -won the race but for a mistake. From Renfrew to within a few miles of London she led, but then she lost'ten .minutes by following the wrong railway line. Unfortunately, one flier, Mr. Warwick is missing., Ho failed to arrive at Renfrew bn Friday night from Newcastle on tho last Stage of the first day ’s~ xacipg. " • _ / . si.Yesterday afternoon four airpla-nes set out from Renfrew Aerodrome and searched the lonely moorland of Southern Scotland, but no trace of Warwick’s machine was found, - Miss Spooner’s Escape. A United'Service message from London states that twelve machines crashed in the final stage of the rr*oe. The only person' injured is a passenger in B. Whitehead’s machine, which was forced to land, and overturned ’ near Bury St. Edmund’s. • The pilots arc agreed that the conditions were deplorable. It was a battle for life from Newcastle through mist-shrouded mountains. - • Miss Spooner was within an ace of crashing on a peak, when an upward current shot her up fifty feet, throwing Ijer from the seat. * Two machines collided on the Nottingham- Aerodrome, and another taxied into a motor car at tho start.