£10,000 FOR WINNER.

Thames Star, Volume LXV, Issue 19212, 19 September 1934, Page 3

£IO,OOO FOR WINNER.

SEVERE ENDURANCE TEST. • < U.S.A. 'Planes To The Fore; "SMITHY'S" LOCKHEED ALTAIR. SPEED AND DISTANCES IN N.Z. . i i— i. r i The wings of probably ten nations will cleave the air on three continents next month in what seems certain to prove the most difficult and v hazardous, as it is the longest,' air race ever attempted—the Maeßobertson International Air Race from London to Melbourne, Australia, for a total purpose of £15,000. Such a purse and such a racecourse could not fail to stimulate the sporting blood of airmen in many lands. In addition to the - large British and American entries, Dutch, French and Italian aviators will fly 'planes of a score of types over the long run of 13,000 miles. The race is divided into two sections, a handicap division and a free-for-all, with only five compulsory check points, namely, at Bagdad, Allahabad, Singapore, Darwin and Charleville. - This is the real race, and the first prize is the tidy sum of £IO,OOO. The start will be from the Mildenhall Aerodrome on October 20. The limiting factors will be the power and endurance of the hard-driven engines, and the ability of the pilots to forego sleep and remain efficient. Determination of the question as to what constitutes three days' rations of food and water, as provided in the regulations, is proving difficult. Frenchmen, for instance, have different ideas from Germans. A

firm sent a consignment of tablet foods to Australia House, but these are not considered suitable for three days' meals. American factories, where speed 'planes are finished to the last touch of sleekness and where suger-charged engines are tuned to the last fraction of horse-power, are busily at work grooming equipment for flyers who have made history under the Stars and Stripes. American 'planes and engines also will serve other noted pilots in the great speed race. The most outstanding competitor who will fly an American machine is undoubtedly Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. Speed And Distances. It is interesting to make a comparison of the reported speed attained iri her trials by "Smithy's" Lockheed Altair monoplane, Lady Southern Cross, with distances between New Zealand centres. If "Smithy" brought his recordbreaking machine to New Zealand, how long would it take him to cover the distances of our -recognised air routes ? > Sir Charles averaged 233 miles an hour on his flight between Perth and Adelaide, so from figures supplied by the Government air base at Hobsonville one can estimate his approximate flying time between the main centres. He could fly from Auckland to Rotorua, an air distance of 110 miles, in the amazing time of 28 minutes. One thinks of the train that takes almost six hours. Then between Auckland and the capital city, a journey that takes our fastest trains well over 14 hours of hard going, is an air distance of 385 mjles that Sir Charles would cover in exactly 99 minutes. Going further afield, the journey from Auckland to Invercargill, New Zealand's southernmost city, a total air distance of 940 miles would take the Lady Southern Cross just four hours and two minutes to complete. The existing train-boat-train route takes over two days or by a Moth aeroplane about 11 hours under good weather conditions, with stops for refuelling at Wanganui, Blenheim, Christchurch and Dunedin.