BIG AIR RACE.

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 150, 22 June 1934, Page 3

BIG AIR RACE.

MISS BATTEN MAY FLY MANY FAMOUS ACES MELBOURNE, June 6. It is probable that Miss Jean Batten, of Auckland, holder of the women’s

London to Australia solo flight record, will be a competitor in the Centenary air race. It is suggested that Miss Batten will be entered as co-pilot of one of the machines already nominated for the speed and handicap events. This course can be taken without difficulty under the revised rules, but finality has yet to be reached in the negotiations, because, it is reported, at least three organisations are competing for her services.

About a dozen different nations are represented in the 64 entries, which have been received by the controlling authorities ,and these include Algeria. The entry from that country lacked full information, as the message was in cryptic English, so that the Royal Aero Club, London, has been obliged to cable for a full explanation. It is stated that the entry will be accepted within reasonable time, as the original message was considered to be sufficient notification.

Many famous ,r aces” are competitors ,and the British Empire will possibly be able to claim 22 starters, although some of the machines flown by them will bo of American manufacture.

Officials refute the suggestion that the race has aroused international jealousy. Tho Americans, who were chiefly accused, arc strongly represented, and their influential representatives in London flatly deny that there is any ill-feeling.

Refuelling Methods Particular interest centres upon the entry of Sir Alan Cobham, because of his experiments in refuelling at high speed in the air, which he has just completed with the co-operation of Squadron-Leader W. Helmore. A secret method carried out under the supervision of a representative of the Air Council is reported to have given complete satisfaction. It has been reported that Sir Alan and SquadronLeader Helmore may start on a test journey within the next eight weeks. Sir Alan’s Airspeed Courier has an Armstrong-Siddeley • radial engine, giving a speed of 150 miles an hour, which is the same type of machine used in the recent tests. His participation in the race will crown nearly 20 years of flying, during which he has done almost unparalleled work for the welfare and progress of civilian and commercial aviation. Sir Alan owns at present the largest air circus in the world. Women Entcrnnta Lady Cobham, who has entered an Airspeed Envoy, the latest of the Airspeed series, has had' experience in the air, but probably will have an expert pilot to accompany her in the race.

The other woman among the entrants Miss Ruth Rowland NichoLs, a 33-ydar-old. American, is almost as well known in America as Mrs Amelia Earhart Putnam. She will fly a fast Lockheed Altair machine of the same type that Sir Charles Kingsford Smith -will use. Miss Nichols began flying when' she was 21, and soon had a Lockheed Vega machine of her own. In March, 1931, she set the women’s altitude record at 27,418 feet, and in the following month broke the speed record by registering 210.754 miles an hour.

Gatty’s Machine „

Harold Gatty, the Australian-born flyer, who is now an American citizen and chief navigation officer of the U.S. Army Air Force, is regarded as being the greatest authority in the world on aerial navigation. Ho is also probably one of the greatest practitioners, as was proved when he directed Wiley Post round the world on, their remarkable circumnavigation of the northern hemisphere in June 1931, in nine days. Gatty will fly a Douglas DC2 machine, with a speed of about 200 miles an hour. Of the entrants, none is a more picturesque figure in aviation than Colonel Roscoe Turner, 38-year-old air circus entrepreneur, whose costume and showmanship are know all over America. Turner’s inseparable companion on circus stunts is a lion which he leads round on a chain. When operating with his circus he flies a three-en-gined machine, and dresses ,in a resplendent pale blue uniform not unlike the old Royal Flying Corps uniform. He lands gently, taxis to the centre of the field, and keeps the crowd in suspense for five minutes or so before stepping out of the machine. Eventually he appears ,a shining blue creation, with a lion which walks with him round the plane. But Turner is more than a showman. He holds the

world land-plane speed record of 305 miles an hour, made last year in a Weddell Williams racing machine. He is also the holder of the trans-contin-ental record —tfie blue riband of American aviation.