WesWorld

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the one and only MacRobertson's Air Race!

Stretching from Great Britain to the Land Down Under, across 3 continents for over 16,000 miles, this Great Air Race features a total of 35 entries, 30 different planes, from 23 different manufacturers, representing a total of 17 countries all racing for 1 price.

May we welcome the contestants:

#1 comes from the Land of the White Elephant. A Focke Wulf 42 with Suan Sukhserm and Lt. Chan Nuat-Kheo. Also from Siam comes Aviatrix Sirisoon Chandrapa and her Model 114F bearing race number #2. From Brazil comes #3, a EMB-35 flown by Capitão Ru Murleen and Segundo-Tenente Bren Derlin. #4 also from the Empire, Sienar's Flying Boat V-13 with Lorth Needa and, Amise Griff. #5 is Fokker's XXXVI airliner. Also from the Neatherlands is entry #6, another Fokker, this one the T.V Lucky #7 goes to Douglas and their new airliner the DC-3. Famous racers and show pilots, Roscoe Turner and Clyde Pangborn bring a Boeing 247 as #8. #9 is no other than famed Aviatrix Amelia Earhart and her L-10 Electra. Another famous female pilot, Jacqueline Cochran, brings #10, a Northrop Gamma-2G. #11 is the massive Boeing entry, the XB-15 intercontinental bomber. From Russia comes #12, an Antov ANT-31 bomber. Unlucky #13 goes to no other than the Italian Savoia-Marchetti 79quater, a favorite to win it all. #14 comes with full camoflouge, the FAM B-1 Condor, complete with functioning machine gun. Another flying boat sports #15, Mexico's P-1 Pelicano. Also from Mexico comes #16, Juan Solitario and Bartolomeo de la Bacca's Halcon del Millenio , a B-7 Coyote bomber. And from the host country sporting #17, Lady Southern Cross , Charles Kingford Smith's Lockheed Atair. #18 and #19 also come from Down Under, a pair of CAC Sirus Racers. #20 somes from India, a AA-9 with Captain Mulayam Shukla. One of the older entries is also from India, a Toofani C with #21. From Atlantis with #22 and #23, come a pair of Spartan B-1 Vanquish bombers. South African Millionaire, Gustaf Brenner, picks up #24 for his custom built Brenner Comet. #25 is another favorite, the South African DeBroek FD-2, with Henry Johan,Thomas Kogg and Benjamin Kleber. From Argentina comes #26, the FMA I.Ae 4R Racer, with Major General Carron-Gomez and Lieutenant de Aero S. Navarro. Also from Argentina is #27, a FMA I.Ae 1 Guarani with Senor Torredo,his brother, and his wife. #28 is...oh no! Onishi "Crash" Manzo brings a Mitsubishi G3M1 to the race, beware. Winning the title of 'Most Ugliest' is #29, Avro Canada's CB-100 Buzzard. Denmark sends a pair of D.A.F. 1a SommerSvales, #30 and #31. #32 and #33 are apair of de Havilland DH.88 Comets, J.A. Mollison & Mrs. Amy Mollison and O. Cathcart Jones & K.F. Waller. #34 my personal favorite to win it all, is another Comet, by name of Goversnors House , with C.W.A. Scott & T. Campbell Black. Last but not least is a Martin B-10 from the Phillipines, she will race as #35.

That my friends is the staring lineup. Sit down and enjoy the show. Gentlemen! Man your planes! We got us a race to start!

This is Mike Ramsden with BBC reporting live from Mildenhall, Great Britain.


OOC Ill be presenting the race stage by stage. This is the official start.

Quoted

the FAM B-1 Condor, complete with functioning machine gun.

Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

How do the flying boats compete when the start/finish/stops are on land?

Alternate take off/landing sites are provided for the flying boats.

Didn't I see some of the Filipinos hanging around the Mexican pit area? That MG may no longer be operational...

As for the FBs - the Brazilian one is amphibious. The Filipino B-10, however, is on straight floats and will have to use the alternative accomodations.

Quoted

Didn't I see some of the Filipinos hanging around the Mexican pit area? That MG may no longer be operational...

Or it will now shoot off its own tail... Dr. Jones style.

...and their off!

The hard charging DeBroek is the first plane of the ground. The SM 79 follows it as the Italians try to catch up to the South Africans. Brenner goes third hoping to catch the leaders. Trouble hits the Danes as the first D.A.F. blows a tire and groundloops, forcing 2 hr repairs, the second D.A.F. hardly does better, the right engine refusing to start, it will take them 4 hours to get it working. The Indian AA-9 goes next and promply heads of in the wrong direction, apperantly the navigator made a mistake. The rest of the planes get off wthout a hitch, that is until the seaplanes start taking off. While taxing the P-1 Pelicano runs into one of the CAC Sirus Racers, both planes wont take off for another 6 hours. Meanwhile Miss Chandrapa, arrives late, poses for the camaras and takes of 1 1/2 hours late. The Guarani gets some bad luck, the plane hits a pothole a breaks the left landing gear. The Guarani is out for another 6 hrs.

Barely an hour out trouble hits the Italians. The port engine starts running rough, spews smoke and pretty soon catches fire. With only two engines the SM 79 struggles into Northern Italy. Sand is found in the oil has caused the engine to eat itself. The Italian entry is grounded for at least 20hrs while a replacement can be fitted. Meanwhile the DeBroek FD-2 has built a commanding lead of nearly 4 hours, but disaster awaits. In Turkey the FD-2 lands too fast in a dirt strip, the right tire burst and the pilot overcompensates, the FD-2 ground loops crushing the right landing gear, in turn smashing the right engine and wing. The crew is unhurt but the DeBroek is out of the race. The South Africans arent the only ones who meet disaster.The pilot of the EMB-35 forgets he is landing on land and keeps the gear up, the EMB-35 lands on its floats and promply flips over. The two crewmembers miracuosly survie but the aircraft is a total loss.

Clouds and fatigue also take their toll. Not only the Indians but also the third de Havilland Comet and Gustaf Brenner's Comet make navigation mistakes, both planes losing 2 hours. The Indians find themsleves in Oslo and correct their mistake but meanwhile they have lost a total of 8 hours.

Turner and Pangborn find themselves in Athens with a borken fuel pump. The Boeing is repaired but 4 hours are lost. The Filipino entry suffers another form of fuel problem. A conversion from Imperial Gallons to Liters goes wrong, landing the B-10 of the coast of Yugoslavia. 4 hours pass before fuel can be found and the Martin be on its way. Seaborne planes seem to be having bad luck, the Sienar entry hits floating debris of Athens. Damage is minor but again 4 hours are lost. The worst luck goes to 'Lucky 7', the Douglas DC-3 hits a tree during landing damaging the left wing. Repairs begin but its unknown how long they will take. The last casualty of the day is the Fokker T.V, caught in a storm in Turkey. The T.V is unable to take off, sunk in mud a foot thick. The crew is left fuming after watching the other Fokker (XXXVI) able to take off despite the mud, courtesy of its huge tires.


After 20 Hours the Brenner Comet is about to take off from Bahgdad. The first Comet is refueling, and three other planes (ANT 31, Lockheed Atair, 2nd Comet) are either landing or about to land. Manzo is nowhere to be seen.

Rankings after 1st Stage, number is how many hours the plane will be behind the leader when it reaches Baghdad.

#24 Brenner Comet
#32 de Havilland DH.88 Comet 0.5
#12 ANT-31, 1
#17 Lockheed Atair 1
#33 de Havilland DH.88 Comet 1
#31 D.A.F. 1a SommerSvale 1.5
#10 Northrop Gamma-2G 2
#18 CAC-Lockheed Sirus Racer 2
#26 FMA I.Ae 4R Racer 2.5
#9 Lockheed L-10 Electra 3.5
#16 TNCA B-7 Coyote 3.5
#30 D.A.F. 1a SommerSvale 3.5
#34 de Havilland DH.88 Comet 4.5
#5 Fokker XXXVI 5
#14 TNCA-Douglas B-1 Condor 5
#11 Boeing XB-15, 6
#1 Fw 42B-1 6.5
#23 Spartan B-1 Vanquish 6.5
#8 Boeing 247 7
#22 Spartan B-1 Vanquish 7
#35 Martin B-10 7.5
#19 CAC-Lockheed Sirus Racer 8
#20 AA-9 8
#4 Sienar V-13 10
#29 Avro Canada CB-100 Buzzard 10.5
#15 TNCA P-1 Pelicano 13
#13 Savoia-Marchetti 79quater 14
#21 Toofani C 15
#2 Model 114F 19
#7 Douglas DC-3 24
#27 FMA I.Ae 1 Guarani 34
#28 Mitsubishi G3M1 ?


Permanently Out

#3 EMB-35, Crashed Pilot Error
#6 Fokker T.V, Stuck in Ground Weather
#25 DeBroek FD-2, Crashed Pilot Error

Have I missed something? #25 - the DeBroek FD-2 is not on your list.....?!

Anyway, good story. Keep it coming....

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#24 Brenner Comet
#32 de Havilland DH.88 Comet 0.5
#12 ANT-31, 1

On arrival of this news in Moscow, Akademician Tupelov smiles "It is good to be able to fly 3400 miles at almost 200mph without refueling."

Forgot to add the planes permanently out, which includes the FD-2.

Quoted

The Filipino entry suffers another form of fuel problem. A conversion from Imperial Gallons to Liters goes wrong, landing the B-10 of the coast of Yugoslavia.

At least it didn't blow up...yet.

A note, the #2 is a B.A.M. 114F. And the reporter must be biased, as its pilot is fully professional and wouldn't delay takoff for her beauty shots.

Hopefully the EMB-35 isn't too bent? It was a prototype, and I had plans for Capitão Murleen...I'm sure Fyrwulf will want to use her in the war...

Don't give me ideas!

Well Ms Chandrapa drew an 'Other', how else can I explain her losing 10 hours? Got a better idea?

On the EMB-35, how much can you bend a plane that flips over? However the crew is OK.

Quoted

Originally posted by Desertfox
Forgot to add the planes permanently out, which includes the FD-2.

Huh?!? Nothing in your texts above indicates the FD-2 is lost. Only her take off was mentioned....

Quoted

And the reporter must be biased, as its pilot is fully professional and wouldn't delay takoff for her beauty shots.

More likely that she was chased around the airfield by Paparazzi before she could get anywhere near her plane.

Quoted

Huh?!? Nothing in your texts above indicates the FD-2 is lost. Only her take off was mentioned....

Seems to me that no one loves the SAE anymore. First the fighter competition... and now this race.
Pilot Error? More likely sabotage.

Kinda weird how the SAE seems to have bad luck with things that fly, next thing you know Manzo will retire and move to South Africa!

Aeiiii!!! I forgot an entire paragraph! And it was the interesting one too!

Quoted

Originally posted by Desertfox
The pilot of the EMB-35 forgets she is landing on land and keeps the gear up, the EMB-35 lands on its floats and promply flips over. The two crewmembers miracuosly survie but the aircraft is a total loss.

A gear-up will work, but the EMB-35 isn't a floatplane...it's a Bellanca Flash, not the Seversky clone I entered at Talons.

Its a good job that the SM.79 landed in Italy...though with the massive excess of pwoer power compared to the normal SM.79 it wouldn't be hard to fly on 2 engines. Maybe run the next bit at 80% power to catch up. Cruising twice as fast as tothers should work.

Quoted

Originally posted by Desertfox
Aeiiii!!! I forgot an entire paragraph! And it was the interesting one too!

Grrrrrr.....!!!!!!

An expert crew taking out her plane in such a fashion is quite odd. Leading the crowd they had no need to hurry.

Quoted

An expert crew taking out her plane in such a fashion is quite odd. Leading the crowd they had no need to hurry.

I'm telling you, Hooman! It's sabotage!! No question about it! That reporter is obviously trying to cover up the villain's actions with smooth talking about pilot errors and stuff like that. Same with Manzo. His plane was given a special cargo so that he could focus on the race ahead. It is obvious that because he has a very good chance of winning the event, they gave him the wrong map and removed the bombs from the plane (which is something he would notice).
The person who will eventually win the race is obviously the saboteur.