HOW THE AIR RACE WAS WON

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 98, 19 January 1935, Page 22

HOW THE AIR RACE WAS WON

Scott’s Romantic Story

NEAR TO DISASTER ON TWO OCCASIONS

“Strange, is it not, how, knowing a person by reputation alone, one seems to know him intimately without having yet met or even seen him?” queries Mr. C. W. A. Scott, chief pilot of the Comet which won the Macßobertson Centenary Air Race, in his recently published autobiography, “Scott’s Book” (Hodder and Stoughton), telling his story of that great contest. “Believe it or not, that was the case with Tom Black and myself until we met at a cocktail party in London last October. We got on famously from the moment somebody introduced us as we said our ‘How d’ye do’s.’ “There and then 1 decided to ask Tom to be my co-pilot in the event of my ability to fix up a machine for the job. In the aero club next morning I said to Black: ‘What about teaming up with me in the Macßobertson Air Race?’ "Tom did not stop to ponder.

“‘Yes,’ he answered straight out. ‘Good idea. Scotty. I’m with you—• all the way.’ “Then over two cups of coffee we came to a solemn agreement that in no circumstances would either of us take a hand in the race unless we flew together.

Anxious months followed, Scott relates. Month by month went by and the chances of their being in the race became more remote. The cost of entering was beyond the joint financial resources of the pair, and in January a most promising proposition came to nought at the last minute before the contract was signed, the intending backer intimating that his trustees could not provide the cash “for such a crazy adventure.” How he must have kicked himself when Scott won 1 In for the Race. Further trouble followed. Campbell Black fell ill, and then the luck changed. Through the De Haviland Company they were put in. touch with Mr. A. 0. Edwards, managing director of the Grosvenor Hotel. Scott saw him within the hour, and inside 20 minutes “the whole thing was settled, signed and sealed.” Thus it came about that Scott, thrice breaker of the records between England and Australia, and former light-heavy-weight champion of the Royal Air Force, and Campbell Black, with 13 trips between England and East Africa, a model of dapper efficiency, became associated in the greatest air race of history. Their Comet was not ready until a week before the race, and Scott records his anxiety about a mishap in the preliminary trials which would have put the machine out of the race. “All the time I worried about the descent, because these Comets have such a terrific landing speed. However, we managed it perfectly. 1 hopped out of the Comet.” he relates, “stood square in front of her, and said inwardly, “Well, you 'beauty, I still respect you, but can I fly you?” * The Long Hop. .Scott's account of the race is the plain unadorned recital of a man of action, direct in style, but yet containing vivid flashes of picturesque description. The flyers entered mists immediately after the take-off from Mildenhali,; ami were well over Europe before they saw the earth again. “Inside four hours, through a hole in the roof, we saw the blue Danube.” Scott says. “The weather bettered then, but we sensed that -t would not last. As we sighted Turkey black, menacing clouds, slashing rain and blinding streaks of lightning enveloped us. I had the unhappy impression then that we were barging through an inferno.” On. and into Asia the Comet roared, and over Syria it was found that :he petrol supply had dwindled to three hours. They saw a village, and decided to attempt a forced landing, although conscious that “we stood a first-class chance of not getting up again.” and as they dropped blindly down. Scott spotted an aerodrome. There was great joy up ,in the clouds. It was the R.A.F. emergency aerodrome at Kirkuk, and after taking on 20 gallons ,of petrol, they continued to Bagdad. Off again then for .Allahabad. “The cold of an October dawn in England was followed by unfamiliar heat and humidity. Presently our eyes ached from the wind and sunglarc of a new season in a new continent.” .After Allahabad came the long oversea flight across the Bay of Bengal, to 'Singapore. Night of Terror. “The spectacle in the ebbing sunlight and rising moon inspired terror in both of us,” Scott writes. “Our preconceived anxieties were soon very real and frightening. A great storm raged right and left of us, as clouds swept in battalions above, and still more ominous clouds rolled below. Steadily we flew ou between them with no chance now of four-hour shifts. Both of us were hard on the job, with feet on the rudder-bar and hands on the control column. . . .” At Singapore, where they arrived at daybreak, hick was again with them, for Scott, having just awakened, landed downwind. The cause of the near disaster was that the flare-path had been divided the wrong way. and Scott; not properly awake., did not notice it. The strain was now beginning to tell and the story goes on: “Anxiously. Tom said to me. 'You sleep and I’ll do all the flying.’ That was truly him. for he. too, was done up. . . . For hours I tried to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes I found myself in a maze of nightmares ... 1 hate and loathe the Timor Sea. . . . Oil pressure dropped from 40 to zero. . . . Half-way across the Timor Sea. after struggling for two days through mad endeavours, trials and tribulations were we to be cheated by a mechanical defect?” . . . Then Australia at last. I lie <-roee,ng made safely on one engine. . . The crossing of featureless Queensland. . “Fight as I would I could not prevent my head flopping chestwards” . . Charleville “every minute seemed an hour.’ . . . Melbourne. . “the Comet and Tom Black mid I dived landwards and staggered ncrosw the finishing line.” Co-pilot Speaks Campbell Black’s epilogue is a paean of praise for Scott. “Let me say at once.” he begins, “that the association has left me with a deeper sense of that instant conviction I Inn* in London a year ago. that Scott and I would prove io be mates in the air ami on the ground. ’ . . . Even in that terrible moment when he glided down-wind on Singapore aerodrome T felt all would be well. . . . with any other man than Scott at the controls I should have died of heart failure.” Scott's story presents in a very real manner the romance of dashing across the globe at h’.eh speed. Pile Comet is over Hie Danube, then across Turkey .

I lion ajrnln across Syria Bagdad and India. The extending over vast areas nnss like stations on a suburban railway line and “Singapore lay just a more GOO milef® ahead.”