24 IN AIR RACE

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1934, Page 5

24 IN AIR RACE

BIG EVENT THIS WEEK PREPARATION FOR START MINIATURE TOWN BUILT DINNER GIVEN TO PILOTS TRIBUTE TO PRIZE DONOR By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyrigl Rec. 7.30 p.m. London, Oct. 13. A miniature township has sprung up at the Mildenhall aerodrome like a military encampment, complete with a post office counter transferred from Cambridge, four high-speed teleprinters and nearly a dozen special trunk lines, including connections to the Continent, and an army of pressmen. Marquees line the roads. Cocktail bars and lounges are available to pilots and friends who will commence the rush to Mildenhall to-morrow. Accommodation is extremely scarce owing to the clash of the Newmarket race week. The only arrivals of competitors at Mildenhall on Saturday were Lieutenant Hansen from Copenhagen and Messrs. Wright and Polando from Southampton. It appears that the number of starters will not exceed 24, of whom Mr. Wesley Smith will now fly a Granville Monoplane. . . Many people distinguished in British and overseas aviation circles were among the 600 guests at the Aero Club dinner at London in honour of the centenary race competitors. Lord Gorell, who presided, paid a tribute to Sir MacPherson Robertson’s initiative and generosity. Mr. S. M. Bruce, Australian High Commissioner, responding to the toast of the “Race,” said much controversy was retarding the value of aerial contests but this event was a test of endurance as well as of speed and for that reason was potentially valuable as the advancing of the cause of aviation.

“RACE COMPARATIVELY SIMPLE.”

Mr. Roscoe Turner, the American who is flying a Douglas, said that after the trying experiences in obtaining passports, visas and various documents, the race itself seemed comparatively simple. He hoped one of the results would be to establish a freedom of air comparable to the freedom of the seas. Colonel J. C. Fitzmaurice, an Irish pilot who has entered a Beffanca, recalled in wartime losing three months flying pay through chasing a flock of carrier pigeons in a fighting machine. As an Irishman he had chosen a Scotsman as co-pilot and it would be appropriate if such a combination relieved another Scotsman of £lO,OOO. He suggested the race would end on October 23. Mr. Clyde Pangborn, another American, the pilot of a Gee Bee, was more optimistic. He hoped it would end in two days. Mrs. Amy Mollison, who with her husband will pilot a D.H. Comet, expressed the opinion that the race was full of death traps. Other speakers included John Polando, co-pilot with Jack Wright in a Monocoupe Special, and Scott. The trans-Atlantic flyer, Captain George Pond, arrived in the United States to-day with Warren Penny, Sydney, Australia, says a New York cable. In a radio talk he announced he was in search of a plane with which they may enter the London to Melbourne air race.

Captain Pond said if they get a plane they hope to fly the Atlantic to London in time to enter the race.

Even the heaviest planes in the race should experience no take-off difficulties for runways of about 1500 yards are available at Mildenhall, and as the surrounding 'country is flat the approaches are excellent.

All the competitors have not yft arrived in England, but they must assemble to-day, when tKe machines will be weighed and inspected and a meeting of pilots will be held to discuss the starting arrangements.