- Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Air Race
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The Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Air Race was a British cross-country air race which took place from 1911 until 1914, with prizes donated by the Daily Mail newspaper. It was one of several races and awards promoted by the paper between 1906 and 1925.
The 1911 race took place on 22 July and was a 1,010 mile event with 11 compulsory stops and a circular route starting and finishing at Brooklands in Surrey. The winner was Jean Conneau in a Blériot aircraft who took 22 hours, 28 minutes to complete the course, an average speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) and received a first prize of £10,000. The runner up was Emile Vedrines in a Deperdussin monoplane type with James Valentine, in another Deperdussin, third.
The 1913 race was for British seaplanes and had a first prize of £5000.
Bad weather caused the postponement of the 1914 race which was to have been held on May 23. It was run in thick fog on 6 June, but only over a 94.5 mile course. The winner was William S. Brock, in an 80 hp Morane Saulnier at an average speed of 71.9 mph (115.7 km/h), and collected a prize of 300 gold sovereigns. The runner up was R. H. Carr and third was Pierre Verrier, both in in Henry Farman biplanes.
Contents
1911 Daily Mail Circuit of Britain
The competing aircraft
The 1911 Daily Mail Circuit of Britain was a contest for the fastest aviator to complete a course around Great Britain.[1] The proprietors of the Daily Mail offered a £10,000 prize to any aviator to complete a approximately 1,000 miles circuit of Britain in the shortest time.[1] The contest was run by the Royal Aero Club and was held between 22 July 1911 and 5 August 1911. Following the success of the £10,000 competition for the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the editor announced that a further £10,000 prize would be awarded, it would either between London and Edinburgh and return or London and Paris and return.[2] It was decided that the competition would be a tour round Great Britain and a committee of the Royal Aero Club was formed to set the rules and organize the competition on behalf of the Daily Mail.[2] For an entrance fee of £100 the event was open to all licensed aviators, as well as the Daily Mail prize a number of smaller prizes were also offered.[2] The circuit was to start and finish at Brooklands with stops at Hendon, Edinburgh and Brighton.[2] Four competitors completed the course, the first and winner of the prize was Frenchman Jean Louis Conneau.[3]
Competitors
Competition Number[1] Airman[1] Aeroplane[1] Notes[3] 1 Andre Beaumont Bleriot XI Completed course - First to return to Brooklands and winner of the £10,000 prize. Although entered as "Beaumont" he was a Lieutenant Jean Louis Conneau of the French Navy. 2 H.J.D Astley Universal Aviation Company Birdling monoplane Landed at Irthlingborough due to sickness. 3 Brindejone des Moulinais Morane-Borel monoplane None starter - in hospital in France due to "a recent accident" 4 R.C. Fenwick Handley Page Type D Aircraft crashed before the start 5 Lt. J.C. Porte, RN Deperdussin Type B monoplane Started but crashed after 400 yards 6 Ronald C. Kemp Avro Type D Aircraft crashed before the start 7 C. Compton Paterson Grahame-White Baby biplane Retired at Hendon 8 O.C. Morison Bristol Biplane Type 'T' Did not start 9 Jules Vedrines Morane-Borel monoplane Completed course, first to Hendon and was the second to arrive back at Brooklands. 10 James Radley Antoinette VIII monoplane Did not start 11 G. Blanchet Breguet Type III First stage only completed, damaged aircraft in a forced landing at Streatley. It was repaired but he hit a tree after take off and wrecked the aircraft. 12 Lt. R.A. Cammell, RE Bleriot XI First stage only completed, retired after a forced landing east of Wakefield. 13 E. Audemars Bleriot XI First stage only completed, retired after two attempts to travel North from Hendon were stopped by fog. 14 James Valentine Deperdussin Type B monoplane Completed course, third to arrive back at Brooklands. 15 D. Graham Gilmour Bristol Biplane Type 'T' Withdrew before start after his aviators license was suspended 16 E.C. Gordon-England Bristol Biplane Type 'T' Engine problems 17 C.P. Pizey Bristol Biplane Type 'T' Delayed at Melton Mowbray when starting engine after he stopped to change his propeller. Repaired his machine but it was damaged the next day in another attempt to leave Melton Mowbray 18 Peirre Prier Bristol Type P1 monoplane Crashed before the start 19 C. Howard Pixton Bristol Biplane Type 'T' Crashed at Spofforth and retired 20 S.F. Cody Cody Circuit of Britain biplane Completed course as the fourth and last to finish 21 M.Tabuteau Bristol Biplane Type 'T' Did not start 22 F. Conway Jenkins Blackburn Mercury Crashed on take-off 23 Olivier de Montalent Breguet Type III Retired following a forced landing near Weatherby where he broke his propeller. 24 Gustav W. Hamel Bleriot XI Reached Thornhill, north of Dumfries before he retired. 25 Lt H R P Reynolds, RE. Howard Wright 1910 Biplane Retired after aircraft was damaged at Harrogate. 26 Robert Loraine Nieuport monoplane Did not start 27 B.C. Hucks Blackburn Mercury Landed at Barton near Luton with engine problems. 28 C.T. Weymalen Nieuport monoplane Reired following a forced landing north-east of Leeds 29 H. Wijnmalen Farman HF10 3-Seater Pusher Biplane Failed to start due to engine problems 30 Lt. H. Bier Etrich Taube Aircraft damaged in a landing at Codicote near Hatfield after radiator problems. Only aircraft with a passenger Lt C Banfield. Stage 1 Brooklands to Hendon
The race began at Brooklands on 22 July 1911 with a short 20 mile section to Hendon Aerodrome, only 21 of the 30 competitors started and 19 headed for Hendon of which 17 arrived.[2]
Stage 2 Hendon to Edinburgh
The competitors started to depart from Hendon of the second stage on 24 July 1911 for the 343 miles from Hendon to Edinburgh with two compulsory stops:[2]
- Hendon to Harrogate 182 miles, five made it to Harrogate
- Harrogate to Newcastle 68 miles,
- Newcastle to Edinburgh 92 miles, the same five later reached Edinburgh.[3]
Stage 3 Edinburgh to Bristol
Total distance 383 miles with stops at Stirling, Glasgow, Carlisle, and Manchester.[2]
- Edinburgh to Stirling 31 miles
- Stirling to Glasgow 22 miles
- Glasgow to Carlisle 86 miles
- Carlisle to Manchester 103 miles
- Manchester to Bristol 141 miles
Five started from Edinburgh but only four made it to Bristol, they were all to complete the contest.[3]
Stage 4 Bristol to Brighton
Total distance 224 miles with stops at Exeter, Salisbury Plain.[2]
- Bristol to Exeter 65 miles
- Exeter to Salisbury Plain 83 miles
- Salisbury Plain to Brighton 76 miles
Stage 5 Brighton to Brooklands
All competitors had to complete the last 40 miles to Brooklands before 19:30 on 5 August 1911. Beaumont was the first to arrive back on 26 July 1911 - 1 hour 10 minutes before his fellow Frenchman Jules Vedrines - he had travelled 1,010 miles in 22 hours 28 min 18 sec. Valentine, arrived back on the 4 August 1911 followed the next day by Cody who was the fourth and the last to arrive at Brooklands on 5 August 1911.[2][3]
Prizes
- Conneau won the £10,000 prize for the first to complete the circuit. He also won the Entente Cordiale prize of 50 guineas (£52.50) from the proprietors of Perrier table water for the first Frenchman to complete the course.[4]
- Vedrine, Valentine and Cody all equal shares of prizes from Sir George White, the chairman of the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (£250 total) and the British Petroleum Company Limited (125 guineas total or £43.75 each) for finishing the course.[4]
- Cody won a £50 prize from the Northumberland and Durham Aero Club for the first British machine to arrive in Newcastle.[4]
- Valentine received a £50 tea service from the Harrogate Chamber of Trade for the first British aviator to reach Harrogate and a 100 guinea gold cup from the Brighton Hotels Association for the first British aviator to reach Brighton. He also won the Entente Cordiale prize of 50 guineas (£52.50) from the proprietors of Perrier table water for the first Englishman to complete the course.[4]
1913 "Race Round Britain"
The 1913 race was for floatplanes.
Entrants included the Cody Waterplane and the Sopwith Tractor Waterplane. Cody was killed during a test flight of his design on 7 August when his aircraft broke up in flight.
References
- Notes
- ^ a b c d e ""The "Daily Mail" £10,000 Air Race, Order of Starting" (News). The Times (London). Friday, 14 July 1911. Issue 39637, col F, p. 8.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "The Daily Mail Circuit of Great Britain". Flight: pp.626–636. 22 July 1911. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1911/1911%20-%200625.html.
- ^ a b c d e "The Daily Mail Circuit of Great Britain". Flight: pp.652–661. 29 July 1911. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1911/1911%20-%200650.html.
- ^ a b c d "The "Daily Mail" Air Race Official List Of The Awards" (Official Appointments and Notices). The Times (London). Saturday, 19 August 1911. Issue 39668, col G, p. 3.
- Bilbiography
- "A Concise History of Air Racing". Society of Air Racing Historians. http://www.airrace.com/ConciseHist.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- "The new Daily Mail prizes". Flight (Flight Global). 5 April 1913. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1913/1913%20-%200387.html. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
External links
Categories:- Air racing
- Aviation history of the United Kingdom
- 1911 in aviation
- Daily Mail
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