RACE TO JOHANNESBURG

Evening Star, Issue 22457, 30 September 1936, Page 9

RACE TO JOHANNESBURG

AIRMEN TAKE OFF FROM PORTSMOUTH WEATHER CLEAR AND LITTLE WIND MAYORAL CORRESPONDENCE CARRIED IViv.ji Association —By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, September 29. Waller took off at 6.30 a.in., and thou at minuto intervals followed liaise, Booth, Rose, Clouston, Llewellyn, Miller, Scott, and Smith. Each jiiloC carries letters from the Lord Mayors of London and Portsmouth to the Mayor of Johannesburg. Tho weather is clear, with a big harvest moon and an almost complete absence of wind. A largo crowd gathered overnight and spent the time dancing, singing, and listening to music. Over 500 cars were parked at the aerodrome. SPIRIT OF LEVITY FELLOW OFFICERS PLAY JOKE ON CLOUSTON. , LONDON, September 29. Dawn was just breaking when Waller left in the most powerful machine, which is numbered 13 and carries a wireless operator and a passenger. His fellow officers played a joke on Clouston by affixing a largo “ L,” to signify that ho was a learner, beneath tho fuselage. It could not bo seen until bo was aloft. Scott should have been tho last to leave, but the unlucky Smith lived up to his reputation. His engine was slow to start, so Scott was flagged away first. However, Smith soon overtook him. ROSE AT LINZ VIENNA, September 29. Flight-lieutenant Rose arrived at Linz at 11. G a .in. REFUELS AT VIENNA. VIENNA, September 29. (Received September 30, at 1.30 a.m.) Rose landed owing to shortage of petrol and resumed again at 11.27. SHORT DELAY AT ATHENS. LONDON, September 29. (Received September 30, at 2 p.m.) Rose was delayed at Athens by petrol trouble and took off after repairs. FIRST COMPULSORY STATION TWO COMPETITORS RETIRE. BELGRADE, September 29. (Received September 30, at 10.30 a.m.) Halso arrived at 12.8 p.m., being the first at the compulsory station. Smith arrived at 12.42 p.m., Clouston at 12.42 p.m., Waller at 12.50 p.m., Alington at 2.4 p.m., Scott at 2.8 p.m., and Llewellyn at 2.23 p.m. Rose circled the field and signalled that he was not landing, but later lie returned for the weather report and departed at 2.37 p.m.

Miller arrived at 4.33 p.m., and said he was retiring from the race, having landed at Ruma, 25 miles from Belgrade owing to lack of petrol, which took him four and a-half hours to obtain. Smith also announced that be had abandoned the race after a forced landing at Scoplje owing to oil trouble. Halso averaged 202 miles an hour. He and Waller complained of intense cold over the Alps. Clouston, who is a New Zealander from Motueka, was only 13 minutes at Belgrade before resuming. Fifteen minutes sufficed for most of the competitors to refuel. All the competitors continuing the race have left Belgrade. Some had made a stop at Vienna prior to arriving at Belgrade. FURTHER PROGRESS. LONDON, September 29. (Received September 30, at 10.40 a.m.) Rose, Scott, and Llewellyn arrived at Salonika in that order. Rose and Llewellyn departed again for Athens, and Scott direct for Cairo. A Berlin message says that Booth is out of the race. He made a forced landing at Regensburg (South Germany) owing to running short of petrol. The occupants were uninjured. The undercarriage of the plane was damaged. SECOND AT CAIRO CLOUSTON THE NEW ZEALANDER. LONDON, September 29. (Received September 30, at 12.15 p.m.) The position at 9 p.m. was that six out of the nine starters were still flying to Johannesburg, liaise was the first to arrive at Cairo, with Clouston second and Waller third. The last news of the others was that Rose had arrived at Athens, that Llewellyn had left Salonika for Athens, and that Scott had left Salonika for Cairo.

Clouston stopped at Cairo only 20 minutes, compared with Haise’s 37 minutes, thus virtually reducing Halse’s lead to a more nine and a-half minutes, taking into account the difference in the time of starting from Portsmouth.

FIVE COMPETITORS PAST CAIRO

LONDON, September 29. (Received September 30, at 1.45 p.m.) Halso arrived at Cairo at 7.10 p.m., British standard tune, and departed at 7.47. Clouston arrived at 7.39 and departed at 8.2. Waller arrived at 8.9 and departed at 8.47.

Scott arrived at 11.14 and do parted at 11.34.

Llewellyn arrived at 11.18 and departed at 11.36. [lt was announced in May that a. South African industrialist, Mr 1. W. Schlesinger, would .donate £IO,OOO for prizes in an air race from London to Johannesburg. The race will be over a total distance of about 6,500 miles, and will be held in conjunction with the British Empire Exhibition at Johannesburg, which was opened on September 15 Only British pilots and British aircraft may compete. According to the final details of the race, issued by the Racing Committee of tho Royal Aero Club, the machines started at intervals of one minute. This difference in time will be adjusted at Cairo, which will be the only official control point in, the race, although the competitors must be seen turning at the Zimum aerodrome, Belgrade. Imperial Airways Ltd. has undertaken the responsibility for lighting and ground control at all the known airports on the route. The airports will remain lighted all night on September 29 and 30 and October 1. Each pilot may refuel where he pleases. He may fly non-stop over long stages, with the power plant throttled to economical cruising speed, or fly shorter stages at full throttle and refuel more frequently. Probably every crew in the race will have different ideas of the best way to achieve success. The competitors, to qualify, must reach Johannesburg not later than 120 hours after leaving England. The biggest prize, £4,000, will go to the competitor who completes the course in the shortest time. Four prizes will be_ awarded on a formula handicap, which is weighted in favour of machines carrying large useful loads. This is intended to encourage the economical commercial aeroplane of high performance. The first of these prizes will be £3,000, the second £1,500, the third £I,OOO, and the fourth £SOO. The slowest speed at which handicaps were based was 150 miles an hour. Only experienced pilots were accepted. The chief pilot of awy aeroplane must have done 100 hours of solo flying. The interval between the offering of the prize by Mr Sclilesinger and the race itself was too shoit for the building of special machines for it, but there is a good representation of high-speed British machines, some of them of the small air liner class.]