KING'S CUP AIR RACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20640, 12 August 1930, Page 11

KING'S CUP AIR RACE.

WIN FOR A WOMAN.

MISS BROWN'S GREAT FEAT.

NO BETS ON THE WINNER. [from OUR OWN coil RESPONDENT. ] LONDON, July 11. The chances of the women in the King's Cup flying race were ridiculed on Saturday morning, but women finished first and fourth. The Royal Aero Club, had arranged for a totalisator, and there was not a single bet on Miss Winifred Brown, the winner of the race. Miss Brown's name will be inscribed on the roll of honour with such names as Barnard, Courtney, Cobhain and Atcherley. Her performance was in every way a brilliant piece of piloting. The start presented a scene of feverish activity, ftfr there were more than 30 machines preparing to leave, a larger number than has ever previously appeared in. any air race in this country. The first left at 7 o'clock and the others were sent off at intervals until 10.41, when the liugo Vickers Vellore went up, its two powerful engines roaring in contrast to the whirring of the light aeroplane en- I gines of previous starters. Some of the pilots in the enclosed-cabiiri Hermes Desoutter aeroplanes flew in shirt sleeves, for the day was extremely hot. Squadron-Leader Don, in the Prince of Wales' Tomtit, and Flight-Lieutenant Fielden, in Prince George's Hawk Motl), made fast " get-aways," and set off on their courses without a moment's delay.

Good Day For Amateurs. The weather may justly be held to have given the day to the amateurs. Over nearly the whole of the course there was no cloud, mist or wind. A few competitors stated that they had met bumpy conditions in the North; there was some mist, probably smoke from industrial towns, hanging over the Pennines, but on the long last lap from Hull to Hanworth the weather was perfect. In the first four home there were private owners flying their own aircraft, arid two of these women. Most of those who finished were amateurs who have taken up flying since the birth of the light aeroplane club movement. Most of the failures occurred before the last lap was reached. Only 12 machines failed to reach Newcastle. There several more competitors retired, and when the starters from Hull were announced it was seen that 23 machines had dropped out. In no case did failure involve injury to pilot or passenger. Two machines, a Moth and an Avro Avian, collided on the ground at Newcastle, and a Desoutter was damaged in landing at Manchester. Few were forced down at intermediate

points. Miss Brown, Hying her Cirrus-Avian, took off fourteenth. Such was her piloting skill that at Bristol she Was seventh; at Manchester she was third; at Newcastle, the turning point, she led the field; and from Hull, the last stopping-place, she took off nine minutes ahead of her nearest rival. Miss Brown's navigator, whose work must have contributed largely to her victory, was Mr. E. R. Adams, a member of the Lancashire Light Aeroplane Club.

Scene ol Enthusiasm. There was a wonderful scene when Miss Brown landed at Hanworth aerodrome. A crowd of 20.000 people cheered and waved hats, handkerchiefs, and umbrellas. Ihe name of the winner was immediately telephoned to Buckingham Palace. Though her face was lilack with exhaust fumes, she was smiling. "It has been a wonderful trip," Miss Brown said, "and my engine went beautifully the whole time. I knew I was winning at Hull, but since then I did not know how I stood. I thought some of the faster machines would overtake nc, and I did not know until this moment that I had won."

Miss Brown was the first Lancashire woman to obtain a pilot's certificate. While she was flying her father, Mr.- J. S. Brown, a Manchester wholesale butcher, was expecting her to be beaten in the last lap. "I could not believe that :she could beat the crack pilots of England," lie said after the race. "However, 1 Ingan to believe in her as an airwoman almost as soon as she took up flying in earnest in 1926. That is why I gave her an aeroplane as a birthday present the following year. I have long left off being nervous when she is flying." First Flight in a Race.

Miss Brown said that she had flown generally at an altitude of 700 ft. or 800 ft., and had never wandered more than a mile or two off the direct course. She was not fatigued by her long day, and acknowledging the presentation of the cup by Sir Philip Sassoon, M.P., she said she Iliad never expected to do so well, and, in fact, never thought she would be able to finish. She had never flown in an air race before. Miss Brown is well known in Lancashire as a hockey player, who keeps goal for the county, and she has toured Australia with an English team. It had been her intention to begin an aeroplane holiday last week-end, but, on the advice of friends, she postponed the trip so that she might compete in Saturday's, race. Not only was the race won by a woman: fourth place, was taken by another of the other six women pilots who had entered the race in competition against- 72 men.' This was Mrs. A. S. Butler, whose husband, flying another machine, came in second, beating FlightLieut. Waghorn, the winner of the Schneider Trophy, by two minutes and securing the prize for the fastest speed round the course—l 29.7 miles an hour. Flight-Lieut. Waghorn, who was third, was only 12 minutes behind Miss Brown at Hull, but he lost another two and a-lialf minutes to her on the last stage of the race.