page_title: 1910 London to Manchester air race
section_title: Grahame-White's first attempt
hierarchical_section_title: 1910 London to Manchester air race / History / Grahame-White's first attempt
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context_page_description: The 1910 London to Manchester air race took place between two aviators, each of whom attempted to win a heavier-than-air powered flight challenge between London and Manchester first proposed by the Daily Mail newspaper in 1906. The £10,000 prize was won in April 1910 by Frenchman Louis Paulhan.
  The first to make the attempt was Claude Grahame-White, an Englishman from Hampshire. He took off from London on 23 April 1910, and made his first planned stop at Rugby. His biplane subsequently suffered engine problems, forcing him to land again, near Lichfield. High winds made it impossible for Grahame-White to continue his journey, and his aeroplane suffered further damage on the ground when it was blown over.
  While Grahame-White's aeroplane was being repaired in London, Paulhan took off late on 27 April, heading for Lichfield. A few hours later Grahame-White was made aware of Paulhan's departure, and immediately set off in pursuit. The next morning, after an unprecedented night-time take-off, he almost caught up with Paulhan, but his aeroplane was overweight and he was forced to concede defeat. Paulhan reached Manchester early on 28 April, winning the challenge.
context_section_description: Grahame-White was the first to attempt the journey.  He planned to take off at 5:00 am on 23 April 1910, near the Plumes Hotel in the London suburb of Park Royal.  A crowd of journalists and interested spectators assembled there from about 4:00 am, with more arriving by car, until about 200–300 were present.  The Times described the sky as "clear and starlit", and the weather as "very cold, as there was a slight frost."  Grahame-White arrived at about 4:30 am and began to prepare his Farman III biplane.  The aeroplane was brought into the field from the yard it was stored in, and its seven-cylinder 50 hp rotary engine was started.  Once the engine warmed up, Grahame-White took his seat.  Several people wished him well, including his sister, mother and Henry Farman.  He guided the biplane for about 30–60 yards across the frosted grass, and took off at about 5:12 am, before altering his direction to head for the start of the course—a gasometer at Wormwood Scrubs, within the required five-mile radius of the Daily Mail office in London.
  Cheered loudly by the thousands of spectators who anticipated his arrival, Grahame-White flew across the starting point and turned north-west toward Wembley.  Standing on top of the gasometer, Harold Perrin, secretary of the Royal Aero Club, waved a flag to indicate the start of Grahame-White's attempt.  By 5:35 am the aviator was over Watford, and at 6:15 am he flew over Leighton Buzzard.  Crowds of cheering spectators were there to greet him as he flew above the line of the London and North Western Railway, at an altitude of about 400 feet (120 m).  Meanwhile, Perrin and two mechanics from Gnome et Rhône (who supplied the engine used on the Farman III) boarded one of two cars, and were headed for Rugby.  Along the way, one car took a short cut across a field and crashed into a ridge; one occupant was seriously injured.
  Grahame-White made his first stop in Rugby just after 7:15 am.  One of the cars that left London arrived about 10 minutes before he landed, and his mechanics attended to his aeroplane.  News of his take-off in London reached the area, and a large crowd gathered; they were kept from the aeroplane by a group of boy scouts.  Grahame-White was taken to nearby Gellings Farm, where he drank coffee and ate biscuits, and told those present about his journey.  "It was wretchedly cold all the way ... and I was cold at the start.  My eyes suffered towards the end, and my fingers were quite numbed."  Grahame-White's average speed was estimated at more than 40 miles per hour (64 km/h); a few of the vehicles following him from London did not arrive until some time after his descent.
  He took off again at about 8:25 am, but was unable to reach his next scheduled stop at Crewe.  About 30 miles outside Rugby a problem with the engine's inlet valves forced him to land in a field at Hademore, four miles outside of Lichfield—about 115 miles into the 185-mile journey.  On landing, he damaged a skid, and his mechanics were telegraphed for.  While the necessary repairs were being made, Grahame-White ate lunch and then slept for a few hours, looked after by his mother, who had arrived by car.  Meanwhile, a large crowd of interested spectators gathered, and the farmer who owned the field charged them for admission.  Soldiers from a nearby barracks kept the public from getting too close to the biplane.
  As the sun fell the wind grew in strength, and at 7:00 pm Grahame-White conceded that the high winds made any further progress impossible.  He decided to try again at 3:00 am, hoping to reach Manchester by the 5:15 am deadline, but at 3:30 am he abandoned the attempt, and said that he would travel to Manchester and try again from there.  He ordered the soldiers to peg the aeroplane down, but his instructions were ignored; the next night it was blown over by strong winds and severely damaged.
caption: Claude Grahame-White (undated)
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