__NOTOC__ The Western Australian Centenary Air Race (also known as the East-West Air Race) was a

air race Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a prev ...

held in 1929 from Sydney to

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

to commemorate the centenary of Western Australia. The £1000 handicap winner was Horrie Miller and the £300 fastest overall time prize was won by Briton Major Hereward de Havilland (22 hours 50 minutes 23 seconds), who flew the course solo, the only competitor to do so, in a modified de Havilland Gypsy Moth. Determining results in the handicap event was found to be a difficult task, with type of machine, weather conditions, wind direction and strength of wind for each half day's hop, supplemented by times of starting being taken into consideration. 700 people had turned out at

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area inclu ...

to see the competitors off on the final leg of the race.

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

C.D. Pratt and his co-pilot J.R. Guthrie were both seriously injured when their Gypsy Moth ''Corio'' crashed near Baandee, east of Perth. Weather conditions after leaving Tammin were said to be atrocious, with at least one forced landing and one crash. The 17 teams left from

Mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fic ...

in Sydney on 29 September 1929 and 14 managed to finish at Maylands Aerodrome on Sunday 7 October.

Fastest times

# H. de Havilland (22 hours 50 minutes 23 seconds) # Heath (23.24.51) # Miller (23.31.58) # Cunningham (26.56.52) # Pentland (27.14.44) # Eaton (28.17.30) # McKay (29.23.10) # Bardsley (29.37.58) # Davies (29.32.54) # Manifold (30.31.58) # Farmer (31.35.7) # Knapman (32.4.49) # Lee Murray (32.30.0) # Penny (32.56.20)

References

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Fastest times

See also

References

Further reading