Daily Mail Trans- Atlantic Air Race 1969
 

I have searched the forum and there was a single thread
Would anyone be able to help or direct me to where I could find a list of competitors please. XV741 win the London to NYC leg but there were contestants such as clement Fred who won his section on an airliner, and Sheila Scott flew a Comanche.

I'm told that when the Phantoms landed at Wisley, they invariably burst one or two tyres. Don't know why, did FAA Phantoms not have brake chutes maybe? The runway was (and still is) just under 7000ft(Thanks Kieron) and didn't have arrestor cables.

The runway at Wisley is/was 6,700 ft.USAF/USN Flip Jan 1966.

Kieron

Google Earth agrees, there's no way a 9,000 runway could have been shoehorned into the space available.

I've never seen a photo of an F-4K with a brake chute, so I doubt they had them fitted - given that every carrier landing is a potential bolter, that's probably the last thing you'd want trailing behind you!

I stand corrected - I have now:

The Story of the Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Air Race (P12 & P14)

I have a list, and I have used this website to send you an email.

If you don't receive it PM me.

Unfortunately Wisley closed the year before I was posted to Farnborough otherwise I dare say I would have more knowledge of it's characteristics, so just a guess on my part based on personal observation (flown over it several times) and the amount of runway needed for a loaded Valiant.
They had to build a substantial earthwork at the western end just to get 6,700ft; you can still see it from the A3.
I've amended my previous message.

Found the possible explanation in the article posted by Dave Reid; to save time they only landed easterly ('straight in') at Wisley hence there was possibly a tailwind component for some landings.

I was one of the co-pilots on the BOAC Super VC10 G-ASGH which took part in the Daily Mail Transatlantic Air Race on 4 May 1969. The captain was Mike O'Sullivan, the other co-pilot Dave Martin and the flight engineer Alan Harmer.

The aircraft was chartered by a prominent business man (I forget who) taking a full load of businessmen and a runner from Heathrow to New York. We didn't win anything but I remember we crossed the Atlantic flying well above the normal Mach No. in a flight time of 6 hrs 41 mins. When we arrived in New York our runner disappeared on a motor bike while over 100 bowler hatted businessmen, all in pinstriped suits, carrying briefcases and twirling furled umbrellas marched down the steps and across the tarmac into the terminal. It was a sight to behold!

Our passengers enjoyed it all so much they asked for the same crew to take them back to London, which we did on 11 May in G-ASGI with a flight time of 6 hrs 35 mins.

I remember hearing a local west London resident of the time saying how the Harrier taking off from the coal yards caused a fine coal dust cloud to fall all over a wide area covering all the washing hanging out to dry on the many streets. The hours spent hand scrubbing everything back then were for nought and the mothers of the area were on the war path!

Also I think that the RAF did a practice run the day before the race to iron out any kinks before the big day, although that probably didn't include the St Pancras coal yards ;-) The 'practice' was a complete sortie across the Atlantic with all associated tankers etc.

Not surprising since they operated out of 'RAF St Pancras'!

On the pages I highlighted in my previous post, in fact.

Does anyone know of similar information for the 1959 London-Paris race?

I am aware that a French AF aircraft overran the runway upon landing at RAF Kenley, but other than that I don't know who else competed, in what, and what were the results.

I was in a coach returning home to Chesham from school camp at St Marys Bay on Romney Marsh. We'd seen a lot of 'strange' aircraft flying over all week(we weren't far from Lydd and those Bristol Freighters kept you awake all night) including a Bleriot monoplane (kind of sticks in your memory) and on the Embankment near Vauxhall Bridge we were stuck in traffic when a Royal Navy Whirlwind (piston engined version)descended onto a landing pad on the Thames next to us, disgorged one person who leapt onto a motorbike and sped off. It was from the Arc de Triomphe to Marble Arch and vice-versa.
Biggin Hill was still RAF so RAF competitors used that (Hunter from Villacoublay) along with a Bristol Sycamore to Chelsea Reach then motorbike.
One competitor used a Piaggio P136 amphibian between the Thames and the Seine.

Wasn't one of the trans-Atlantic Phantoms crewed by Alcock and Brown, each a descendent of one of the Vimy crew of 1919

No.

There was an Alcock family connection, however, with Sir John's 18-year-old niece Anne Alcock as one of the competitors:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/XoUAA...uDn/s-l500.jpg

DR - OK thanks - will revert to usual slumber position