1934 Centenary Air Race chart with details of route over Australia.
Source: Museum Victoria
This year is the 75th anniversary of the great London to Melbourne air race that marked Melbourne’s centenary.
The race attracted worldwide interest from pilots, aircraft manufacturers and the public, helped along by spectacular prizes. Philanthropist and ‘MacRobertson’ chocolate magnate Sir MacPherson Robertson provided sponsorship – a gold cup and £10,000 prize went to the winner of the speed section of the event, while the handicap race offered a £2,000 prize. It is one of the best-remembered events from a time when such flying adventures truly captured the public imagination.
The museum holds several items relating to the race, including the medal awarded to Charles James Melrose for third place in the handicap section. He was the youngest competitor and the only Australian pilot to win a prize. The museum recently acquired an official souvenir map published by the Centenary Celebrations Council.
Museum curator David Crotty says, “This coloured chart was produced for the public to help them follow the race. It contains photographs of some of the famous flyers including Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who had to withdraw his entry just before the start. He went on to make the first west to east flight across the Pacific with P.G. Taylor in October-November 1934”.
The race began at Mildenhall near London at dawn on 20 October 1934. The international field of 20 aircraft included entrants from Holland, Denmark, New Zealand and the United States.
First to depart was the Comet flown by husband and wife team Jim and Amy Mollison. Amy was better known as Amy Johnson, the record-breaking solo flyer who had flown from Britain to Australia in 1930. Two other Comets were flown by Owen Cathcart-Jones with Ken Waller, and Charles Scott with Tom Campbell Black. The Mollisons withdrew from the race in India allowing Scott and Campbell Black to win the speed section. The exhausted flyers crossed the finishing line over Flemington Racecourse on 23 October. A crowd more than 100,000 people witnessed their triumphant arrival after almost three days in the air with just five fuel stops.
In a sign of things to come, second place was taken by the Dutch-registered Douglas DC2 airliner entered by KLM named ‘Uiver’ (Stork). This airliner carried several passengers and proved the safety of the new all-metal machines, although there was an unscheduled night stop at Albury after the crew became lost in poor weather. The pilot landed on the racecourse with car headlights showing the way.
Third place went to the colourful barnstorming American Roscoe Turner and co-pilot Clyde Pangborn in their Boeing 247D airliner.
For aircraft manufacturers emerging from the Depression, the publicity surrounding the race was an opportunity to show off their latest commercial designs. The Argus newspaper described the race as “a symbol of the new air age.” Long distance air travel no longer seemed impossible and the first regular air service from Britain to Australia began just four years later.