A Real-Life Wacky Races: Part 1 – Sports Bizarre

In 1934, the 100th anniversary of the founding of Melbourne was celebrated by what was at the time, the most dangerous and ambitious race in world history, flying from England to Melbourne.

The race would see wooden biplanes go up against the first metal airliners and was funded by an Australian Willy Wonka, Sir Macpherson Robertson, inventor of Freddo Frog and Cherry Ripe.

The finest pilots of the age gathered in England, a man who flew with a lion cub, a married couple who argued over directions, and a man who once ‘bombed’ the English flagship, HMAS Queen Elizabeth, with toilet paper during a naval exercise.

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Research

To research this I went through more aviation materials than I had ever thought possible. There are a heap of contemporary reports online and I had to dig deep to flesh out a lot of minor details; not all the reports line up.

The best book on the race is On a Wing and a Prayer: The Race that Stopped the World by Di Websdale-Morrissey and is a great account.

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