Evening star., 1953-05-24
And Now: The Coronation Air Derby
RAF Conberro Jet Bombers and Chartered Ariners
Will Speed BIC Kinescopes Across the Atlantic

up F-51. CHS will rely on
Maj. Joe De Bona, holder Of
the all-time speed record in
the Bendix race, who will be
flying another souped-up F-51,
Jimmy Stewards.
CHS apparently is confident
that De Bona also will be holder
of the all-time speed record tn
the coronation day Goose
Bay-Boston race after June 2.
1t expects him in Boston well
before S pm" NBC expects to
get it's first coronation films on
the air from Boston at 6 PM
that same day.
A Second Race, Too
NBC. Of course, has added
an additional leg to this race
which will not be flown by
CHS. When Mantz, or one of his
pilots. gets the NBC films to
Logan Airport they will be
placed aboard a helicopter for
transport to WBZ-TV, Boston
NBC affiliate. CHS has set up
a special transmission point at
the airport and expects De
Bona to bring Stewards F-51
right up to the doorstep.
While this race is under way
another one will be starting.
The CHS entry in this will be
Boeing Stratocruiser. char
tered from the British Over
seas Airways Corp, which will
fly direct from England to
Boston. Aboard this will be
Edward r. Murrow. Walter
Cronkite. other commentators
and technicians.
The plane has been equipped
as a flying film laboratory,
some seats replaced by editing
tables. others with other equip
ment. During the flight film
will be edited and commentary
prepared for a full-hour COM
prehensive report on the net
work from II pm. to midnight
on June 2.
NBC, loyalty placing faith in
an American flag carrier, ex-
poets to win this race. 1t ex-
poets to be on the air with
its complete coronation report
from 1890 pm. to midnight
that same night. 1t also has
a flying laboratory, a Pan
American DC-6 Clipper. on
which film will be edited and
prepared during the London
Boston flight.
Others Spend Less
ABC and Du Mont also will
cover the coronation. but they
are not tossing money around
like their elder brothers. the
senior networks. ABC, for in
stance, has announced that 1t
would be happy to take advan-
tage of the RATS jet delivery
service of the BIC kinescopes.
It has not, however, announced
the hiring of any speed pilots
or the charter Of any airliners
for use as transocean film
labs.
ABC has, however, come up
with the most fanciful press
release in the reams Of pub
licity about this television
event. 1t excitedly predicts
that June 2 will see those two
Canberra6 probably breaking
the sound barrier in a hur-
ting stratospheric race against
time" The publicity depart
ment must have borrowed a
boy from the Space Cadet"
staff. The fact is that the es-
timated time on the Britain
Goose Bay hop is S hours and
As minutes, or 1900 miles at
400 miles-per-hour. If they
have to break the sound bar
rier to do that. man, dig that
crazy headwind.
The net result of all this ac-
tivity will be that many more
Americans than Britons will
see the coronation of Elizabeth
II. The NBC estimate is that
IS million persons will watch
the ceremonies on television
in this country. Knock S mil
lion off to be conservative and
that is still eight times as
large as the probable British
audience of 8 million on tele.
vision and 2 million along the
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