dehaviland

bellissima

The Centenary Air Race is widely known as the MacRobertson Air Race, from London to Melbourne. It marked the centennial of the city of Melbourne. It is also the subject of an Australian made-for-TV drama titled, The Great Air Race (1990). The de Havilland DH.88 in this photo still exists in flying condition at the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden in England.

Superb!!

I just saw this airplane at EAA Oshkosh. Beautiful.

General characteristics

* Crew: 2
* Length: 29 ft (8.8 m)
* Wingspan: 44 ft (13.4 m)
* Height: 9 ft (2.7 m)
* Wing area: 213 ft² (19.7 m²)
* Empty weight: 3,000 lb (1,400 kg)
* Loaded weight: 5,550 lb (2,520 kg)
* Powerplant: 2× de Havilland Gipsy Six R, 225 hp (170 kW) each

Performance

* Maximum speed: 235 mph (204 kn, 378 km/h)
* Range: 2,925 mi (2,541 nmi, 4,710 km)
* Service ceiling: 19,000 ft (5,800 m)
* Rate of climb: 1,200 ft/min (6.2 m/s)
* Wing loading: 26.1 lb/ft² (127 kg/m²)
* Power/mass: 0.0811 hp/lb (133 W/kg)

1934 MacRobertson Trophy Air Race?

The London to Melbourne MacRobertson Centenary Air Race was held in late October 1934...it was won by English aviators Charles Scott and Tom Campbell Black...flying a de Havilland DH.88 Comet (G-ACSS), named 'Grosvenor House'...they departed from Mildenhall aerodrome, near London, on 20th October...and arrived in Melbourne on 23rd October...in a time of 2 days, 23hrs. In the process, when they landed at Darwin, they lowered the England-Australia record to an incredible 2 days 4hrs 33min...which became a longstanding record for a piston driven aircraft. From Melbourne, Scott and Black later came to Sydney for a round of official engagements and congratulations...they arrived in Sydney by train on 12th November...their aircraft was transported from Melbourne to Sydney by ship and put on display for a week or so... Charles Scott, the senior pilot, was of course no stranger to Australia. In the later 1920s and early 1930s, he'd clocked up thousands of hours flying for Qantas, much of it in remote Northern Australia. Then, in the early 1930s he also made 3 record breaking solo flights between England and Australia...in April 1931 (England-Australia)...in May-June 1931 (Australia-England)...in April 1932 (England-Australia). Like many of the pioneering aviators, Scott was something of a romantic/tragic figure...but regardless, he certainly had a life. trove.nla.gov.au/work/184209253 - NLA Fairfax pic of Charles Scott checking a map with Amy Johnson, taken at Darwin in May 1930. trove.nla.gov.au/work/188066911 - NLA Fairfax pic of Charles Scott chatting with Charles Kingsford Smith at Mascot in April 1931, after Scott had beaten Kingsford Smith's England-Australia record.

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