AVIATION

Grey River Argus, 13 September 1937, Page 5

AVIATION

KING’S CUP Won Again by Gardner [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Received September 12, 7.20 p.m.) LONDON, September 11. The King’s Cup Air Race was won by Gardner, who had flown from Dublin at an estimated average speed of 240 miles hourly. Bridagier-General A. C. Lewin, flying a Miles-Whitney plane, was second Percival was third, and A. V. Harvey, flying a Miles-Whitney, was fourth. Gardner was also last year’s winner. He averaged 233.7 miles an hour, a record for a winning ’plane. He figured in one of the closest finishes to the King’s Cup. He, with Percival and Waller, was among the backmarkers, leaving Dublin nearly two hours behind the long-handicapped machines. Gardner overtook the

leaders only ten miles from the finish. He had just swooped past the winning post at terrific speed, when Lewin, who is sixty-three years old, in his first King’s Cup race, and Harvey, emerged from the clouds. Lewin was only seconds ahead of Harvey, who appeared certain of third place, when Percival came down, with a fierce rush beating Harvey on the post. Percival averaged 238.7 miles an hour, a record for the contest. Schreiber finished sixth, his speed being 171 miles per hour. Waller was twelfth ,with a speed of 213 miles per hour. Broadbent retired after a mishap to his retracting undercarriage. Percival left Dublin 364 seconds after Gardner, and finished at Hatfield only 153 seconds behind him. An Air Force bomber attempting to land in heavy rain, crashed on a hillside at Gainsborough. Four were killed. This is the 62nd Air Force accident. in 1937 in which 101 deaths have resulted from R.A.F. accidents. In the King’s Cup race, an Australian Percival, won £2OO for the fastest time, in the high-powered class, at the conclusion of the first day’s flight The Percival’s speed was 225.2 miles per hour, a record for the contest. Some of the planes were badly buffeted. Eighteen leaders will fly the final stage to London via Carlisle and Bristol to-morrow.

Wing Commander E. G. Hilton flying a Miles Falcon and accompanied by Wing Commander Percy Sherran, crashed at Scarborough on the first stage to Newcastle. Both were killed. An eye-witness says that a squall caught Hilton’s plane, and lifted it up fifty feet, whirling it round. The spectators were horror-stricken when one man was thrown through the roof of the cockpit, somersaulted in the air, and fell on the roof of a disused cafe. The other occupant’s decapitated body was found shattered in the cockpit. Two other competitors made forced landings. Some of the New Zealand cricketers were eye-witnesses of the crash. SYDNEY, September 10. A Douglas air liner employed on the Adelaide-Sydney-Brisbane route to-day covered the distance between Melbourne and Sydney, more than 500 miles, carrying 15 passengers, in the record time of 1 hour 55 minutes. Favoured with a gale-like tail wind between Canberra and Sydney, the machine attained a speed of 275 miles an hour. It is stated at the Mascot Aerodrome, where her plane is being overhauled, that Jean Batten is contemplating an attack on the Australia to England solo record. £he has not divulged her plans.