Daily Mail Circuit of Britain air race

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_...itain_air_race

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 on the initiative of its proprietor, Lord Northcliffe. It was one of
several races and awards offered by the paper between 1906 and 1925.

The 1911 race took place on 22 July and was a 1,010 miles (1,630 km) event with
11 compulsory stops and a circular route starting and finishing at Brooklands in
Surrey. The winner was Jean Conneau in a Blériot XI who took 22 hours, 28
minutes to complete the course, an average speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) and
received the first prize of £10,000. The runner up was Jules Védrines in a
Morane-Borel monoplane with James Valentine, in a Deperdussin, third.

The 1913 race was for British seaplanes and had a first prize of £5,000. Only
one aircraft started the course; it was damaged when landing near Dublin, and
did not complete the course.

The 1914 race, also offering a prize of £5,000, was to have been held between 1
and 15 August. It was cancelled due to the outbreak of the First World War.

1911 competition

The 1911 Daily Mail Circuit of Britain was a contest for the fastest completion
of a course around Great Britain. The proprietors of the Daily Mail offered a
£10,000 prize to any aviator to complete an approximately 1,000 miles circuit of
Britain in the shortest time. 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 be
between London and Edinburgh and return or London and Paris and return. 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. For an entrance fee of £100 the event was open to
all licensed aviators, and as well as the Daily Mail prize a number of smaller
prizes were also offered.[3] The circuit was to start and finish at Brooklands,
and the competitors had to land at Hendon, Harrogate, Newcastle, Edinburgh,
Stirling, Glasgow, Carlisle, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter, Salisbury and
Brighton. Four competitors completed the course, the first and winner of the
prize was the Frenchman Lieut Jean Louis Conneau, flying under the name of André
Beaumont.

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.

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.

Cody won a £50 prize from the Northumberland and Durham Aero Club for the first
British machine to arrive in Newcastle.

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.

1913 competition

The 1913 race, offering prize of £5,000, was for floatplanes, which had to be of
all-British construction. The course, totalling 1,540 mi (2,480 km) had to be
completed within 72 hours, although since no flying was allowed on Sundays this
period was in practice a day longer.

The race was divided into the following stages:

Southampton to Ramsgate — 144 mi (232 km)
Ramsgate to Yarmouth — 96 mi (154 km)
Yarmouth to Scarborough — 150 mi (240 km)
Scarborough to Aberdeen — 218 mi (351 km)
Aberdeen to Cromarty — 134 mi (216 km)
Cromarty to Oban — 94 mi (151 km)
Oban to Dublin — 222 mi (357 km)
Dublin to Falmouth — 280 mi (450 km)
Falmouth to Southampton — 202 mi (325 km)

Entrants included the Cody Waterplane, the Radley-England Waterplane and the
Sopwith Circuit of Britain floatplane. Cody was killed during a test flight of
his design on 7 August when his aircraft broke up in flight, and the Sopwith,
flown by Harry Hawker with Harry Kauper as passenger, was the only aircraft to
start; it retired after being damaged in an emergency landing near Dublin having
completed about two-thirds of the course. Hawker was given a prize of £1,000 for
his effort.





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