MacRobertson Air Race

The MacRobertson Trophy Air Race (also known as the London to Melbourne Air Race) took place in October 1934 as part of the Melbourne Centenary celebrations. The race was devised by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sir Harold Gengoult Smith, and the prize money of £15,000 was provided by Sir Macpherson Robertson, a wealthy Australian confectionery manufacturer, on the conditions that the race be named after his MacRobertson confectionery company, and that it was organised to be as safe as possible.

Organisation and rules

The race was organised by an Air Race Committee, with representatives from the Australian government, aviation, and Melbourne Centenary authorities. The race ran from RAF Mildenhall in East Anglia to Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, A further 22 optional stops were provided with stocks of fuel and oil provided by Shell and Stanavo. The Royal Aero Club put some effort into persuading the countries along the route to improve the facilities at the stopping points.

thumb|upright|left|MacRobertson Air Race poster, 1934

The basic rules were: no limit to the size of aircraft or power, no limit to crew size, and no pilot to join the aircraft after it had left England. Aircraft had to carry three days' rations per crew member, floats (e.g. buoyancy aids or personal flotation devices), smoke signals, and efficient instruments. There were prizes for the outright fastest aircraft (£10,000 and a trophy, £1,500 and £500) and for the best performance on a handicap formula (£2000 and £1000) by any aircraft finishing within 16 days. Lyle Ferris, the chief electrical engineer of the post office, went to the power station and signalled "A-L-B-U-R-Y" to the aircraft in Morse code by turning the town street lights on and off. Arthur Newnham, the announcer on radio station 2CO Corowa appealed for cars to line up on the racecourse to light up a makeshift runway.

The race was the basis for a 1991 Australian television miniseries The Great Air Race.

Competitors

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"

|+ Official Finishing Order

! width="160" |Aircraft type

!Identity

!Race No.

! width="160" |Crew

! width="100" |Country of origin

!Notes

|DH.88 Comet Grosvenor House

|G-ACSS

|34

|C. W. A. Scott, Tom Campbell Black

|United Kingdom

|Elapsed time 71 h 0 min Outright Winner

|Douglas DC-2 Uiver

|PH-AJU

|44

|K.D. Parmentier, J.J. Moll, B. Prins, C. van Brugge

|Netherlands

|Elapsed time 90 h 13 min Winner on handicap

|Boeing 247D Warner Bros. Comet

|NR257Y

|Roscoe Turner, Clyde Edward Pangborn, Reeder Nichols

|United States

|Elapsed time 92 h 55 min. Second in speed race.

|DH.88 Comet

|G-ACSR

|19

|O. Cathcart Jones, K.F. Waller

|United Kingdom

|Elapsed time 108 h 13 min. Third in speed race.

|Miles M.2F Hawk Major

|ZK-ADJ

|S/Ldr. M. McGregor, H.C. Walker

|New Zealand

|Elapsed time 7 d 14 h Fastest single-engined

|Airspeed AS.5 Courier

|G-ACJL

|14

|S/Ldr. D. Stodart, Sgt. Pilot K. Stodart

|United Kingdom

|Elapsed time 9 d 18 h

|DH.80 Puss Moth My Hildergarde

|VH-UQO

|16

|C.J. 'Jimmy' Melrose

|Australia

|Elapsed time 10 d 16 h Second on handicap