Great Air Race 1953

Great Air Race 1953. London to Christchurch NZ

Shown here is an amateur film of the 1953 Air Race from London to Christchurch. The original  film was then dubbed to cassette tape. Someone  then dubbed from one tape to another, hence the video quality is not as good on the annotated tape as it is on the earlier tape- shown here as the second video. The master is, per the original film, silent.

 The Race was had two sections, a handicap section for Commercial aircraft and a speed section. Bill Kerr (then a Flight Lieutenant) was  Navigator for one of two  RAAF crews, flying the  first Australian built Canberra bomber. Squadron Leader Peter Raw was Pilot and Flight Lieutenant Noel David the thrid crew member. The race left London on October 8th 1953 and Bill's plane arrived  24 hours and 40 minutes later in second place, 41 minutes behind the winner, an RAF Canberra bomber piloted by Flt Lt Monty Burton. Bill comments in his memoirs that his plane would have won had they not spent 1 hour 20 minutes on the ground at Woomera when the nose wheel failed to come down. The resultant skid on the nose of the plane tore a hole in the front of the aircraft. It also meant a cold crossing of the Tasman in the last leg, with cold air gushing in through the hole.

The speed record set in the 1953  race has never been broken.

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Here is the earlier silent film.

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