1906 Aero Club Balloon Race
Aero Club Balloon Race [1]
The first Aero Club race, for a fifty-guinea cup presented by the Associated News and Daily Mail and Evening News, took place from Ranelagh Club on July 7, 1906 the first time that seven balloons had ever ascended in England from one spot.
The Club lawn resembled the enclosure at Ascot on Cup Day, and the weather was ideal. The interest shown by a large and fashionable company in the race, despite the counter-attractions of polo matches and a gymkhana, was very marked, and the Club gained several new recruits before the start.
By kind permission of the War Office and Colonel Capper, C.B., R.E. (now General Sir John Capper, K.C.B.), head of the Balloon Factory at Aldershot, a balloon section of the Royal Engineers assisted in the inflation and sending off of the balloons. Captain King, R.E., and Lieutenant Wright, R.E., sent off pilot balloons to ascertain the direction and strength of the wind. As what little wind there was came from the south-west, a perimeter race was decided on, the winner to be the balloon that descended nearest to Ingatestone, a little village near Chelmsford.
The following took part in the race, starting at 4 p.m. in the order named :
- (1) Aero Club No. 3 (50,000 feet capacity), Mr. C. F. Pollock aeronaut in charge; passengers, Princess di Teano and Viscount Royston.
- (2) Doke Far Niente (45,000 feet), Mr. Hedges Butler aeronaut in charge; passengers, Colonel Capper, C.B., R.E., and Mrs. Capper.
- (3) Zenith (42,000 feet), Professor A. K. Huntington aeronaut in charge; passengers, Mr. Martin Dale and Mr. H. Pen-in.
- (4) Carnation (35,000 feet), Griffith Brewer aeronaut in charge; passenger, Mr. Walter Stewart.
- (5) Venus (42,000 feet), Mr. Moore-Brabazon aeronaut in charge; passengers, Miss Krabbe and Mr. Warwick Wright.
- (6) Midget (17,000 feet), Hon. C. S. Rolls.
- (7) Enchantress (50,000 feet), Mr. Leslie Bucknall aeronaut in charge; passengers, Mr Ernest Bucknall and Mr. Leonard Bucknall
My balloon, the Dolce Far Niente, descended within a few hundred yards of the railway station and secured the first prize. The second prize was awarded to Aero Club No. 3.
On September 30, 1906, I was a competitor with Mr. Griffith Brewer in the Gordon-Bennett balloon race. Sixteen balloons started from the Tuileries in Paris, and seven nations were represented. We covered a distance of 120 miles in the balloon City of London (77,000 feet), and came down at Blonville-sur-Mer, Calvados, Normandy, half a mile from the sea. The race was won by Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm, of America, who landed at Flying Dales, in Yorkshire.
On May 25, 1907, the Dolce Far Niente, carrying Captain W. A. de C. King, R.E., Lieutenant Wright, R.E., and myself, won the cup presented for competition by Mrs. Assheton Harbord. The race was governed by the Aero Club International Federation rules. It was not a contest of speed, the winning balloon being that which should descend nearest to a point selected by the organizing committee of the Aero Club immediately before the start. Nine balloons competed. Goring in Oxfordshire was fixed as the place of descent, and it was there that we came down, 200 yards from the appointed spot. The result of the race was recorded as follows:
1. Mr. Hedges Butler: Dolce Far Niente
2. Colonel Capper: Pegasus
3. Hon. C. S. Rolls: Nebula
Both my companions, Captain King, R.E., and Lieutenant Wright, R.E., rewarded after his death with the V.C., were killed in the Great War of 1914-18.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Extracts from 'Fifty years of travel by land, water and air' by Frank Hedges Butler