SCENE AT MILDENHALL

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 91, 15 October 1934, Page 9

SCENE AT MILDENHALL

MINIATURE TOWNSHIP

ROYAL AERO CLUB DINNER

LONDON, October 13. At Mildonhall Aerodrome, Suffolk, where the Centenary Air Eace will start on October 20, a miniaturo tovvn- ' ship lias sprang up like a military en- ' campment, complete with a post office and counter transferred from CamL bridge. Four high-speed teleprinters and '' nearly a dozen special trunk lines, in- ! eluding connections to the Continent, > aro available for the huge army of i newspapermen. Marquees line the i roads and cocktail bars and lounges i aro available for pilots and friends, i who will commence tho rush to Mildeni hall tomorrow. Accommodation is cxi trcmely scarce owing to tho clash with , Newmarket race week. The only arrivals at Mildenhall on ■ Saturday wore Lieutenant Hansen from Copenhagen and J. H. Wright and Polando from Southampton. It appears that tho number of starters will not ■ exceed 24. Wesley Smith now flics a Uranvillo monoplane. Alauy distinguished persons in British and overseas aviation circles were among the (500 guests at the Eoyal Aero Club dinner in honour of race competitors. Lord Gorell, who presided, ■ paid a. tribute to Sir MacPherson Robertson's initiative and generosity. Mr. S. M. Bruce, Australian High Commissioner, in responding to the toast sof tho race, said that much controversy was retarding tho value of aerial contests, but this event was a test of enduranco as well as speed, and for that reason was potentially valuable as advancing tho cause of aviation. Colonel Roscoe Turner (U.S.A.) said that after his trying experiences in obtaining passports, visas', and various documents, the races itself soonied comparatively simple. Ho hoped that one of tho results would be to establish a freedom of the air comparable to the ! freedom of the seas. Colonel Fitzmaurice (Ireland) recalled in wartime losing throe months' Hying 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 bo ap- j propriate if such a combination rn-1 Sieved another Scotsman of £10,000. Ho suggestod that the race would end mi October 23. Clyde Pangborn (U.S.A.) was more optimistic and hoped it would end on October 22. Mrs. Amy Mollison expressed the opinion- that tho race was full of j death traps. Other speakers included John Polando (U.S.A.) and O. W. A. Scott. (Britain).