it was a dark stormy night in october 1934 when the residents of albury a small town in new south
wales australia were awakened by the drone of an airplane overhead endlessly it circled above
the iron grey clouds searching for a place to land any airplane lost in a storm was caused
for concern but the residents of albury knew that this was no ordinary aeroplane the klm dc2
desperately circling their town was at the end of an extraordinary journey which had taken it across
three continents from england to the australian outback a distance of more than 18 000 kilometers
and now she was in trouble barely 200 kilometers from the finish line of the mcrobertson cup the
greatest race in the history of aviation in 1934 mcrobertson air race was conceived by sir harold
gengold smith lord mayor of the australian city of melbourne as part of the city's centenary
celebrations not only would such a grand sporting event place melbourne on the world stage and
lift the spirits of the australian people in the depths of the great depression but it would also
help stimulate advances in commercial air travel and bind the british empire
closer together an editorial in the melbourne newspaper the argus expressed smith's vision
in an age of extraordinary mechanical progress one takes many things for granted but flight
halfway across the world seems too remarkable for analysis if the present conquest of speed can be
maintained at the present rate an air journey to england in these days will become a common place
and australia that vast land over the edge of beyond will become part of a great world
the race was sponsored by philanthropist and confectionary giant sir macpherson robertson
who had already donated an extraordinary sum of a hundred thousand pounds a few million pounds today
towards various centenary projects sir macpherson agreed to provide the fifteen thousand pound prize
money for the race on the condition it be named after his mcrobertson confectionary company and
be organized to be as safe as possible the race proper was organized by the british royal aero
club and the rules were simple any pilot from any country could participate and there was no
limit on aircraft size crew size or engine power though no new pilots could join the aircraft after
takeoff competing aircraft would take off from raf midden hall in suffolk england and land at
flemington racecourse outside melbourne there were five mandatory stops along the way at baghdad in
iraq al-ahabad and british india singapore and darwin and charlotteville and australia and 22
optional stops with fuel and oil provided by the shell and stanobo companies pilots were otherwise
free to choose their own routes though landing anywhere other than the 27 designated stops would
incur a time penalty every aircraft was also required to carry three days emergency rations
life rafts and flares and the most up-to-date instruments and radio equipment there were two
main prize categories one for the fastest aircraft with a prize of ten thousand pounds
and one for best performance with a prize of five thousand pounds awarded to any aircraft completing
the race within 16 days and based on a handicap formula the thrill and glory of the race attracted
a variable who's who of 1930s aviation royalty early favorites to win were jim and amy mollison
a married couple known world over as the flying sweethearts each a record-breaking pilot in their
own right in 1930 amy mollison then amy johnson had become the first woman to fly solo from
england to australia a distance of some 18 000 kilometers in 1932 she and co-pilot jack humphries
became the first to fly from london to moscow in a day and broke the world speed record between
britain and japan via siberia jim mollison had also broken speed records flying from australia to
england ireland new brunswick england and brazil and england to south africa a record later smashed
by amy johnson in 1932 mollison met johnson aboard a commercial flight in australia proposing to her
only eight hours later they married on july 29 of that year other well-known commonwealth
competitors included captain tom campbell black a kenyan coffee plantation owner who had famously
rescued german world war one flying ace ernst udet from the sudanese desert flight lieutenant
charles wilson scott an australian aviator who'd set numerous speed records across the outback
and sir charles kingsford smith the first pilot to fly across the pacific ocean
the youngest competitor ends one of only two to fly solo was 21 year old australian jimmy melrose
who had just completed a record-breaking flight from australia to england and entered the race to
make the return journey much of the playing field however was made up of americans who included
among their number such legends as roscoe turner a flamboyant air racer who famously flew with a
lion cub named gilmore on board clyde pangborn the first pilot to raise non-stop across the pacific
ocean wiley post a one-eyed aviator who had twice circumnavigated the globe by air and jacqueline
cochran an accomplished aviatrix who would later become the first woman to break the sound barrier
and for a time held more aviation records than any pilot in history at the time the race was
announced almost all the aircraft best suited to the task were american-built this included
the brand new boeing 247 airliner warner brothers comet flown by roscoe turner clyde panborne and
rieden nichols and the douglas dc2 flown by klm royal dutch airlines of all the competitors the
klm aircraft christened uver or stork was probably the most unusual crewed by captain cogne pamentier
and first officer johannes maul the aircraft would be flown as a regularly scheduled commercial
flight with three passengers and 25 000 letters aboard and would land at all 22 official refueling
stops along the route despite this handicap the sleek airliner soon became the new favorite to
win the race but the tables quickly turned when 1934 the british de havilland aircraft company
announced it would custom build a new aircraft specifically for the race and offer it at a
reduced price to any competitor who ordered one before the end of february three orders
were immediately placed and on september the 8th 1934 barely a month and a half before the race
the first dabble and dh-88 comet took to the skies sleek and futuristic-looking the two-seat
comet pioneered the lightweight laminate plywood construction technique that would later be used to
great effect in the wartime to haviland mosquito light bomber powered by a pair of dabble and
gypsy 6r engines it was capable of speeds up to 360 kilometers an hour and had a range of 4
700 kilometers allowing it to fly non-stop between the mandatory refueling stops the first comment
dubbed blackmagic was sold to jim and amy mollison the second dubbed greenen to oh cathcart jones and
kf waller and the third dubbed gross in her house to tom campbell black and charles wilson scott sir
charles kingsford smith was also offered a comet but turned it down as uncompetitive he instead
acquired a lockheed sirius 8a which he named lady southern cross but on route from australia to the
start line in england the aircraft developed structural cracks knocking kingsford smith
out of the race supercharger trouble also forced american competitor wiley boast to withdraw before
the start of the race leading him to focus instead on breaking altitude and transcontinental speed
records and for more on this please check out our previous video the one-eyed barnstormer who
invented the spacesuit in the months leading up to the race the original pool of 64 entrants from 13
different countries was gradually whittled down to a final roster of 20 competitors representing
britain the united states the netherlands denmark australia and new zealand the journey would be
treacherous for even the most experienced pilots with insurance company lloyds of london giving the
competitors 1 in 12 odds of dying during the race the challenges involved were perhaps best summed
up by a time magazine article which described the race as requiring night and day flying over
country perilous with jagged mountains snake infested jungles deserts hurricanes and typhoons
the toughest stretch may have been across the syrian desert where blinding sandstorms sometimes
rise 20 000 feet and huge kite birds menace aerial navigation not much easier was the 2210-mile jump
from alahabad to singapore with its bay of bengal waterhop nearly as long as the north atlantic yet
despite these dangers on october the 20th 1934 60 000 spectators gathered at raf middenhall to watch
the first aircraft jim and amy mollison's black magic roar off the start line the great mcrobinson
air race had begun the day before sir mcpherson robertson the event sponsor sent a message of
encouragement to the competitors the magnificent response by all the leading airmen in the world
who have so generously come forward to make this event the greatest race in the history of aviation
is very gratifying to the air race authorities in australia the full growth of aviation must
be worldwide and the international support the race has evoked since its inception
convinces me that such a contest must help to broaden the mutual basis for friendly exchange
of services and understanding between nations quite apart from its great value in quickening
the air-mindedness of their people i express the feeling of all australians in wishing you
a safe and speedy flight to melbourne where a warm and hearty welcome awaits you right out of
the gate the molsons in blackmagic led the pack however despite making three additional stops
along the way uber landed in baghdad only eight hours behind black magic making it clear that
she would be a formidable opponent uber also had other advantages that a javelin comet was
built for speed above comfort and the mollisons arrived in baghdad half death hungry and very
tired uber's crew and passengers on the other hand were described by one reporter as being
fresh as a daisy allowing the dc2 to quickly refuel and pull into the lead uber led to athens
followed closely by americans turner pangborne and nicholls in warner brothers comet the mollisons
in the flask to blackmagic soon overtook them but became lost over india and were forced to land at
double purr no high octane aviation fuel was available forcing the mollersons to refuel
blackmagic with ordinary automotive petrol by the time they reached al-ahabad the low-grade
fuel had destroyed their engines knocking them out of the race meanwhile competitors began
dropping like flies british pilots h.d gilman and j.k baines were killed when their fairy fox
aircraft crashed near palazzo sanjavazio in italy jacqueline cochran's granville gb r6h
was irreparably damaged on landing in bucharest romania australian pilot jay woods's lockheed
vega crashed on landing in aleppo syria and dutch pilot g.j geisendorf's pander s4 was destroyed
in a ground collision in al-ahabad by the second day the race had turned into a three-way contest
between uber warner brothers comet and grosvenor house which had pulled into the lead in singapore
now came the most treacherous part of the race a 3 300 kilometer leg across the timor sea to darwin
in northern australia though far ahead in the lead for a time it looked as though grosvenor house
might be knocked out of the race when a low oil pressure indicator forced scott and campbell black
to shut off one of their engines limping along on one engine they barely made it down to darwin
before their fuel ran out however an inspection of their engines revealed no fault so grosvenor
house carried on towards charleville landing just as uber reached darwin after refueling scott and
campbell black took off again on the final 1 500 kilometer leg of the race but once again their oil
pressure dropped and they were forced to return to charleville with uber hot on their tails for hours
mechanics struggled to find the faults in their engines when once again nothing could be found
scott and campbell black decided to chance another flight and took off once more for melbourne the
journey proved a grueling one neither pilot had slept in nearly three days forcing them to
pass off the controls every 10 minutes in order to stay awake finally at 3 34 pm on october 23 1934
grover house crossed the finish line at flemington racecourse having flown the 18
200 kilometer course in only 70 hours 54 minutes and 18 seconds scott and campbell black were
awarded the mcrobinson trophy in the pure speed category and ten thousand pounds in prize money
though they had technically won the handicap category official race rules dictated that
no aircraft could win more than one prize meaning that uber was still poised to take
second place but on route from charleville to melbourne the dutch aircraft ran into trouble
resulting in a legendary incident that would all but eclipse grosvenor house's historic achievement
soon after taking off from charleville uber ran into a violent electrical storm and lost
radio contact with melbourne circling aimlessly in search of a break in the clouds uber found herself
over the town of albury on the victoria new south wales border the residents of albury who had for
the past three days been following the race on their wireless sets immediately recognized the
drone of the dc-2 and realizing she was in trouble immediately leapt into action barl ferris the
chief electrical engineer at the post office ran to the power station and switched the town lights
on and off to spell out the word albury and morse code while announcer rath and newnam at the radio
station tuco corowa called for residents to line up their cars along the local racecourse to form
a makeshift runway though captain palmentier later recalled seeing the morse code signal through the
clouds due to the extreme turbulence he wasn't able to read it however soon after he spotted
the makeshift runway and low on fuel decided to attempt a landing at 1 15 am on october 24 1935
captain pomentier successfully landed over right down the middle of albury racecourse
as radio 2 co kuora employee clever bunton later recalled it was a remarkable piece of aviation
that the plane got down safely literally missing trees and stumps by very small margins the amount
of people who got to the racecourse was remarkable not only were cars there in big numbers but
there was also a colossal crowd of people there too it was fortunate actually that the racecourse
was waterlogged as a result of the heavy rain we'd had it saved the plane from overrunning
there is no doubt in the world that it would have overrun had it not been waterlogged as it was
unfortunately this mod also prevented uber from taking off again but once again the residents of
albury leapt into action two ropes were attached to the aircraft and together some 100 people
managed to haul over out of the mud and onto drier ground striptable non-essential items including
luggage letters passengers and two crew members later that morning uber was able to take off and
complete the final leg of the race she arrived in melbourne with a total flying time of 90 hours 18
minutes and 51 seconds clinching second place and the handicapped prize over the next 14 days eight
more competitors would cross the finish line in third place was the boeing 247 warner brothers
comet with a total flying time of 92 hours and 55 minutes followed by the de havilland comet grenan
jimmy melrose the only competitor to complete the race solo arrived on october 30th with a total
flight time of 10 days 16 hours placing second in the handicapped category the mcgrobeton air
race was an unqualified success dramatically demonstrating the feasibility and potential of
long-range air travel it was not lost on aircraft designers and airline managers that the second
and third place winners were modern all-metal monoplane airliners and douglas aircraft would
draw on lessons learned during the robertson air race to design the dc-3 the first airliner to
turn a profit carrying only passengers and one of the most versatile and successful aircraft
ever built the remarkable rescue of hoover also forged an unbreakable bond between the town of
albury in the netherlands who in gratitude for the town's assistance made a large donation to albury
hospital and awarded the town's mayor alf war with a title induction ability and when on december 20
of that year over crash near r-rutber iraq killing all on board elbury residents took up a collection
to build a memorial in the netherlands to the victims of the crash but perhaps the greatest
legacy of the mcrobertson air race was in how it fired the world's imagination and enthusiasm
for aviation setting the stage for today's globe airline industry as sir mcpherson-robertson stated
in a radio address on the second day of the race never in the history of aviation has there been
such a lineup of aviators and never in the history of the world has there been such an aerial contest
so i really hope you enjoyed today's video if you did please do hit that thumbs up
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