The fast show
TOP ROW: Billy Butlin in a helicopter; Prince Michael of Kent exits a Vickers VC10 via a rope; the RAF’s Hawker Siddeley Harrier hovers over London. BOTTOM ROW: The Empire State Building, both a start and a finish point for the air race; businessman Tony Samuelson in the cockpit of a Spitfire; hot air balloon pilot Christine Turnbull; Olympic champion Mary Rand on the tube en route to Stansted airport
SHUTTERSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
If you had been walking along the streets of eastern Manhattan on 5 May 1969, you would have been greeted by a curious sight. Hovering in the skies above the great metropolis like a giant steel kestrel was one of the most technically advanced military aircraft in history. Instead of rolling down a runway, the plane slowly descended vertically to the ground in a cloud of dust. Once it touched down, its canopy opened and a pilot hopped out and zoomed off towards the Empire State Building in a red motorcycle.
What on Earth was going on? And why was the pilot in such a hurry? The answer is that he was one of the frontrunners in an event called the Daily Mail Transatlantic Air Race, and he was just a matter of miles away from scooping a £6,000 prize for bagging first in class.
The giant steel kestrel – which was, in fact, a Hawker Siddeley Harrier, among the Royal Air Force’s most prized pieces of kit – was just one of the many weird and wonderful vehicles to convey competitors across the Atlantic in the seven-day competition. Tandems, sedan chairs, speedboats and hot-air balloons were all deployed in an attempt to cover the 3,400 miles that separated the start and end points as quickly as possible. With everyone from racing drivers and athletes to millionaire businessmen and high-ranking royals throwing their hats into the ring, it’s hardly surprising that this madcap, high-speed contest made headlines around the world.
Simple but deceptive
The format of the race – which was staged to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first non-stop Atlantic flight, completed by a Vickers Vimy biplane bomber in 1919 – was both simple and deceptively complex.
Entrants, known as ‘runners’, paid their entry fee and were given a week to travel between London and New York in the shortest time possible, with at least part of the journey undertaken by air. Runners could attempt the trip in either direction and could make as many attempts as they liked in the time available. Prizes were awarded for different classes of aircraft (of which there were six, plus the fastest time overall) and different routes, from both starting points.