Evening star., 1934-10-14
Continued From Third Pase.)

NCOnLlnueQ fTOHl 1N1IQ EdSe.J
The men and women In these races
will have to have some pocket money,
and it had better not be small change
| II they are going 70 get all Of the
incidentals they need.
Add up these expenses. They can
easily mount to $100, ,000-not a profit
able figure to risk for the sake Of win
ming 900 as a first prize against
a large field of expert entrants, even
with one eye directed hopefully toward
other financial plums on the side.
Those cold figures are the reason
why only about one half Of the "a
original entrants will actually be on
the starting line, and why one must
realize that this argosy Of the skies
is being made by men and women who
are not going to make great profits in
terms Of hard cash.
Is Countries Represented.
Those 64 original entrants came
from IS countries. There were 8
entrants In the speed race, exclusively,
27 in the handicap race and 2S in
both speed and handicap races.
Eighteen of the entrants came from
the United States, IT were from Eng
land. The nationality Of the others
was as follows: Six from France, B
from Australia, 4 each from Holland
and New Zealand, from Italy and
each from Germany, Denmark, Algiers,
Sweden, India, Ireland, New Guinea
ard Spain.
OF the six women listed as pilots,
only two were planning to fly solo:
Laura ingalls,, who later advised me by
| telephone that she had been compelled
to cancel her entry, and Mrs. Keith
Miller, who exemplif1ed courage in
many of her United States flights
| and left behind her number of flying
associates who hope that after her
tragic departure from America, she
will get good break in the race. She
is entered in the handicap event ex-
clusively. The four other women, hy-
ing with men co-pilots, are all listed
in the speed race, some including the
| handicap also. Some months ago !
decided to withdraw my planes entry.
AS this article is written there is
still uncertainty as to how many Of
the entrants actually will be able to
| take the air-about half, those affli-
ated with aviation have been prophe-
sying. At the time Of writing the
United States has definitely lost six
Of her entrants, and only four are
positive Of going to the other side for
the start.
The entrants from the United States
will include two women: Mrs. Louise
Thaden, who will fly with her hus-
band, and Miss Jacqueline Cochrane,
who has Wesley Smith as her pilot.
Roscoe Turner and Clyde Pangborn
are counted among the certain start
ers. Walter Varney and Capt. Rose,
who will fly a Lockheed Orion, are
reported to be in Europe now. G. R.
Hutchinson is quoted as saying he VIII
probably be in the race. Murray b.
Dilley, an officer in the California Air
Corps, also seems a likely starter.
If this condition exists in the United
States, it Is highly probable that en-
trants from other countries also have
been forced to curb their ambitious.
So much for winnings, cost and en-
trants. What Of the race itself?
The course laid down Is something
like 10000 miles long and offers every
possible variety of flying.
In the speed race, with the excep-
ton of certain technical conditions,
such as maintaining the same weights
throughout the race, ETC., to a large
degre it is a hy-as-you-win competi-
ton for there are only five specified
stopping places-control points-where
each entrant must land and check
in. These are:
Beautiful Cities on Route.
Baghdad. that delightful city in Irak;
Allahabad, in the very center OF In
dia; Singapore, the beautiful and mys-
terious city Of Malay Straits; Darwin,
in Northern Australia, and Charlevine
in the heart Of Australia.
How the flyers will reach these con-
troll points are matters for them TO
Judge for themselves. However, it has
been expressly stated that If they leave
the suggested route and choose the
shorter great circle course the coun-
tries over which they fly will not OBJ
ligate themselves to finance searching
parties for them If they are lost.
Take a map and figure out an ap-
proximate course, Just for fun. Start
ing from London, we'll head straight
for the Channel-there are some
pretty fogs here, often very harrassing
to those who lack the fine technique
and experience of the regular airplane
pilots. Once across, We find ourselves
flying over Belgium by way of Brus-
sells, heading for the Rhine. If weather
conditions are favorable, we will have
a glorious view of the beautiful Rhine
Valley on our way to Frankfort. Fly
| ing north of Nuremburg through the
| southern portion Of Czechoslovakia
| and down Austria's Danube Valley,
we reach Vienna. Then a few Aus
trian Tyrol mountain passes, and we
come to Budapest.
Leaving the Danube for while, In
order to cross the Transylvanian Alps,
we pass Bucharest. From there we
continue southeast, crossing again a
wider Danube.
BY this time the lifting strains Of a
Danubian waltz would probably sound
like the music Of the gods. Now we
| must risk sea jump across the Black
Sea north OF the Bosphorus, and 60 on
across Turkey by way of Angora. For
this leg of the flight we still have an
other high hurdle for we must thread
our way through the Taurus Noun
tains before We can head over the
planes and Syrian Desert for Baghdad
which, if an when we really see it,
will look like the fabulous city of
dreams, no matter what 1t may re-
semble on the picture post cards. We've
now covered 2,2135 miles.
The next leg of the flight is a
stopper. 1t offers as tough a stretch
of flying as can be found anywhere.
We leave the Tigris River and, if the
clouds are low, seek notches in the
mountains which carry us into the
Plateau Of Iran-and that often
isn't as easy as it sounds. Then,
lor,,a Fra~.a f-i-sI