In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Louis Blériot's epic Channel crossing on 25th July 1909 the Daily Mail (who sponsored the initial Channel crossing with a £1,000 prize) organised a London to Paris race from Marble Arch to l'Arc de Triomphe. The race, which attracted some 150 participants, took place between 13th-23rd July 1959.
The 'Anniversary Race' involved competitors in desperate measures not merely in the air (which was perhaps the easiest part of the course) but on the roads of the respective capital cities and their environs, as the contestants strove first to get from the centre of London to an airfield not too far distant, and then having flown the Channel to get from their landing point in France to the finishing line.
The rules of the race stipulated that the laws and regulations of both Britain and France (particularly air navigation laws and road speed restrictions) must be complied with. Within those restrictions the race was open to anyone, using any form of transport he or she liked. Competitors ranged from well organised teams such as those of the RAF to eccentric individuals.
The race was won by a team led by Squadron Leader Charles G. Maughan, the commanding officer of No.65 Squadron. Squadron Leader Maughan completed the course between Marble Arch and l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris in a time of 40 minutes 44 seconds, travelling by Royal Air Force Police motorcycle, Bristol Sycamore helicopter and Hawker Hunter T7. The prize money of £6,500 was donated to charity.
From Marble Arch Maughan was driven at a furious pace as a pillion passenger on a motorcycle to Chelsea Embankment where a Bristol Sycamore helicopter was waiting to carry him to Biggin Hill in Kent. There a Hunter T7, with dual side-by-side seating, was waiting, cleared for immediate take-off, with turbojet engine running and Flight Lieutenant Jim Burns at the controls. This streaked across the Channel at high subsonic speeds and touched down at the Armée de l’Air’s Villacoubly base on the south side of Paris where another helicopter was waiting to get him to the centre of Paris.
There, a motorcycle was waiting to get Maughan as close to the Arc de Triomphe as it could without infringing Paris’ traffic regulations. The Squadron Leader then completed the course with a 100-yard dash to the finishing line in what proved to be the winning time from Marble Arch of 40 minutes 44 seconds.
In practice for the race Maughan had (illegally) arranged for the traffic lights on the route from Marble Arch to Chelsea to be held at green, by getting fellow airmen from 65 Squadron to jump up and down on the pressure pads in the road. But on the day the police, who had got wise to the practice, put a stop to it.
The leader of the RAF’s team, Group Captain E. N. Ryder, was third in a time of 42min 6sec, having injured his leg in a motorcycle accident in Paris. British contestants scooped the top three prizes, £5,000, £2,500 and £1,500, with a civilian, Eric Rylands, taking second place in 41min 41sec.
Charles G. Maughan during the 1959 London to Paris Air Race with his motorcyclist
The Daily Mail poster for the event
Enter Jeremy Hughes ..
Jeremy has most graciously agreed to showcase his small private collection of black and white images taken during the race and which captured some of the rotorcraft involved. Here's what he had to say:
"In July 1959 I had recently left school and was waiting to start work at my first job which was in a bank. I lived in Shirley near Croydon and at this time Croydon airport was closing down with its aircraft transferring to Biggin Hill. Access to photograph aircraft at Croydon had been very difficult due to police security, however, at Biggin one was pretty much free to wander about and take photos and I was able to get there easily on my bicycle.
By chance a well known newspaper (The Daily Mail) sponsored a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Louis Blériot's channel crossing in his monoplane by holding a London to Paris race. This was to be timed between Marble Arch in London to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Quite a few people and teams entered including Billy Butlin,a celebrity who was famous for pioneering holiday camps where the public could stay by the seaside and be entertained at very low cost. They were very popular and he was later knighted by the Queen for his services. He used a Spitfire T.8 for the cross-channel part, other teams used jets or helicopters but most employed a helicopter at some stage of the race. Many also used motorcycles through the city streets which must have been quite dangerous. The race was won by an RAF pilot, Squadron Leader Charles Maugham in 40 minutes 44 seconds.
Other teams came from the Army, the French and various private individuals who obviously enjoyed the publicity it gave. The race generated many aircraft movements which I was of course eager to photograph. I used a small Zeiss Nettar folding camera (fairly inexpensive) which took 12 6x6 cm. pictures and I developed and printed the results myself. Of course I have looked after the negatives carefully which I hope is shown in the results.
The following year I started learning to fly and eventually joined BEA which later became British Airways. I retired as a captain in 1995.A 100th anniversary race was held in 2009 though I doubt if it was as exciting."
All images by Jeremy Hughes, taken at Biggin Hill Aerodrome between 13th-23rd July 1959:
Westland S51-2 Widgeon G-APVD at Biggin Hill Aerodrome in July 1959
APVD came onto the British register a month before the race in June '59 and was operated by Westlands for four years until being bought by Ferranti in 1963. APVD was pretty much 'kept in the family' being sold by my godfather to his dear friend John Crewdson (Helicopter Hire) and from Crewdson to Andrew Walters (an ex-Army friend of my godfather and owner of International Messengers who also bought G-BBEU and G-OIML).
Westland S51-2 Widgeon G-APTE at Biggin Hill Aerodrome in July 1959
APTE was registered to Westlands from 1959 to 1973 during which time she seems to have been leased to several operators including Bristows (as shown in Jeremy's image above) as well as Aer Lingus. [Note the winged ‘BH’ on the upper fuselage].
Agusta-Bell 47J Ranger G-APTH at Biggin Hill Aerodrome in July 1959
Registered to British European Airways in April of 1959, transferred onto the Nigerian register in March 1963 and then back on the UK register (still with BEA) in December of the same year. In April 1965 she was bought by Freddie Wilcox (Autair) and then went on to accommodate a string of owners until being sold to Germany in 1992.
Alouette II F-OBMV serial no. 1244 at Biggin Hill Aerodrome in July 1959
Close up of F-OBMV
Hiller 12-E EI-AKT at Biggin Hill Aerodrome in July 1959
Copy of the signed menu cover from the dinner sponsored by the Royal Aero Club on 27th October 1959 for the race-goers
From the start on the morning of Monday, July 13, when Capt. R. M. B. Walker on a motor cycle, Stirling Moss in a Renault Dauphine and Lt-Cdr. W. Boaks on roller skates left Marble Arch and headed south, to the final evening eleven days later when a quartet of motor-cycle decoys did their best to confuse the police and assist Colette Duval's husband, the Daily Mail Bleriot anniversary race was an undoubted success. The total number of competitors was 135, including the efficient and well-drilled Service entries, a number of enthusiastic amateurs flying their own light aircraft, and a sprinkling of one-off off-beats.
The shortest time for the journey from Marble Arch to the Arc de Triomphe (or vice versa) was 40 min 44 sec in the Paris-London direction by S/Ldr Charles Maughan, commanding officer of No. 65 Sqn., Duxford, who received the £5,000 first prize on behalf of the R.A.F. Second fastest at 41 min 41 sec from London was Eric Rylands, who was awarded the second prize of £2,500, and the £1,500 third prize went to G/C. Norman Ryder, station commander at Duxford (42 min 6 sec from Paris). Each used the motor-cycle/helicopter/Hunter Two-Seater/helicopter/motorcycle sequence, with change-overs at the Thames (at Chelsea), Biggin Hill, Villacoublay and Issy.
A special prize of £1,000 awarded on the basis of journey time, originality, ingenuity and initiative went to the BEAline syndicate, a group of 11 men and two women from British European Airways who made the exceptionally good average time of 62 min 15 sec for a journey by special double-decker bus from Marble Arch to Paddington Station, special diesel train to Ruislip Gardens, cars to Northolt, Comet 4B to Le Bourget and taxis to the Arc de Triomphe.
Ten consolation prizes of £100 were awarded to "competitors who have emerged with high merit." These were Brian Neely, "remarkable ingenuity and practical example in demonstrating a high-level heliport on Hungerford Bridge"; W. E. Butlin, "initiative and a journey considerably speeded by a floating heliport on the Thames"; Capt. R. M. B. Walker, "personal dash, efficient organization and example with a river-bank helicopter platform"; Bill Aston, "initiative and practical demonstration of amphibian aircraft operation between the two cities"; Pierre Auerbach, "fastest user of personal transport with the light executive jet, a Morane Saulnier Paris"; Owen Dixson, "who drove his two-seat invalid carriage—a courageous and remarkably fast journey by a disabled competitor"; Jonathan Hutchinson, "ingenious example of personal transport—a folding motor scooter carried in a light plane"; Fergus Ferguson, "a determined and fast single- handed attempt"; Derek Mott, "students' initiative and ingenuity in building their own cars and aircraft"; and Madame Madelaine Rassam, "excellent time by an energetic airline traveller who made no special advance arrangements and found fast transport as she went along."
Among the other entries, several used the Air Charter and Silver City cross-Channel air ferries, in vehicles ranging from Lord Montagu's 1909 Humber to Freddie Laker's Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud and a Heinkel bubble-car, and several used the combination of car, scooter or cycle and light aircraft. On the first day of the race the Amsterdam paper Algetneen Handekblad,having published a London edition carrying an exclusive report that Bleriot was a Russian, entered a team of four reporters who, wearing bowler hats and busily typing their stories, completed their journey through the streets of Paris on an open lorry.
Among the fixed-wing aircraft used were Spitfire two-seater, Piaggio P. 136, MS.760 Paris, Hunter T.7, Vautour, Jet Provost, Tiger Moth, Aiglet, Turbulent, Jodel D.I 17, Dove, Prentice, Proctor, Avro 19, Miles Student, Vampire and Viscount. Prior to the race, on July 2, Fairey Aviation Ltd. had announced that the Rotodyne would not take part because "it is essential that an unbroken flight development programme be completed between now and the end of August.
Flight International, 21st August 1959
Eric Rylands gets aboard smartly at Biggin Hill: his Hunter Two-Seater, provided by Hawker Siddeley, was powered by a 200-Series Avon. Mr. Rylands is chairman of Skyways Ltd
Bill Aston, chief production test pilot of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), used this Piaggio P.I36 from the Thames at Barking to the Seine in Paris
Brian Neely used a special platform on Hungerford Bridge to alight from his Alouette II
Capt. Roderick Bamford Walker, 23rd Special Air Service Regiment, T.A., approaches his Saunders-Roe Skeeter on its floating platform on the Thames at Chelsea
A third type of helicopter technique, complete with frogmen, was used by Roy Lover of B.E.A., who flew by Comet 4B from Villacoublay to Biggin Hill, and Bell 47 J to the Thames at Westminster (51 min 19 sec)
British Pathé clip following George Eyles (Director of tests for the Institute of Advanced Motorists) who flies aboard G-APTE from Battersea
With special thanks to Jeremy Hughes whose photos were the inspiration for this piece.