The Daily Mail Circuit of Britain air race was a British cross-country air race that took place from 1911 until 1914, with prizes donated by the Daily Mail newspaper on the initiative of its proprietor, Lord Northcliffe. It was one of several races and awards offered by the paper between 1906 and 1925.
The 1911 race took place on 22 July and was a 1010miles event with 11 compulsory stops and a circular route starting and finishing at Brooklands in Surrey.The winner was Jean Conneau in a Blériot XI who took 22 hours, 28 minutes to complete the course, an average speed of 45mph and received the first prize of £10,000. The runner up was Jules Védrines in a Morane-Borel monoplane with James Valentine, in a Deperdussin, third.
The 1913 race was for British seaplanes and had a first prize of £5,000. Only one aircraft started the course; it was damaged when landing near Dublin, and did not complete the course.
The 1914 race, also offering a prize of £5,000, was to have been held between 1 and 15 August.[1] It was cancelled due to the outbreak of the First World War.
The 1911 Daily Mail Circuit of Britain was a contest for the fastest completion of a course around Great Britain. The proprietors of the Daily Mail offered a £10,000 prize to any aviator to complete an approximately 1000miles circuit of Britain in the shortest time. The contest was run by the Royal Aero Club and was held between 22 July 1911 and 5 August 1911. Following the success of the £10,000 competition for the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the editor announced that a further £10,000 prize would be awarded, it would either be between London and Edinburgh and return or London and Paris and return.
It was decided that the competition would be a tour round Great Britain and a committee of the Royal Aero Club was formed to set the rules and organize the competition on behalf of the Daily Mail. For an entrance fee of £100 the event was open to all licensed aviators, and as well as the Daily Mail prize a number of smaller prizes were also offered. The circuit was to start and finish at Brooklands, and the competitors had to land at Hendon, Harrogate, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Stirling, Glasgow, Carlisle, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter, Salisbury and Brighton. Four competitors completed the course, the first and winner of the prize was the Frenchman Lieut Jean Louis Conneau, flying under the name of André Beaumont.
| Competition number | Airman | Aeroplane | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | André Beaumont | Blériot XI | Completed course - First to return to Brooklands and winner of the £10,000 prize. Although flying as "André Beaumont" he was a Lieutenant Jean Louis Conneau of the French Navy. | |
| 2 | H.J.D. Astley | Universal Aviation Company Birdling monoplane | Landed at Irthlingborough due to sickness.[2] | |
| 3 | Brindejonc des Moulinais | Morane-Borel monoplane | Non-starter - in hospital in France due to an accident | |
| 4 | R.C. Fenwick | Handley Page Type D | Aircraft crashed before the start | |
| 5 | Lt. J.C. Porte, RN | Deperdussin monoplane | Started but crashed after 400 yards | |
| 6 | Ronald C. Kemp | Avro Type D | Aircraft crashed before the start[3] | |
| 7 | C. Compton Paterson | Grahame-White Baby | Retired at Hendon | |
| 8 | O.C. Morison | Bristol aeroplane | Did not start | |
| 9 | Jules Védrines | Morane-Borel monoplane | Completed course, first to Hendon and was the second to arrive back at Brooklands. | |
| 10 | James Radley | Antoinette VIII monoplane | Did not start[4] | |
| 11 | G. Blanchet | Breguet Type III | First stage only completed, damaged aircraft in a forced landing at Streatley. It was repaired but he hit a tree after takeoff and wrecked the aircraft. | |
| 12 | Lt. R.A Cammell, RE | Blériot XI | First stage only completed, retired after a forced landing east of Wakefield.[5] | |
| 13 | E. Audemars | Blériot XI | First stage only completed, retired after two attempts to travel north from Hendon were stopped by fog.[6] | |
| 14 | James Valentine | Deperdussin monoplane | Completed course, third to arrive back at Brooklands. | |
| 15 | Grahame Gilmour | Bristol Type T biplane | Withdrew before start after his aviator's licence was suspended | |
| 16 | E.C. Gordon-England | Bristol Type T biplane | Engine problems[7] | |
| 17 | Collyns Price Pizey | Bristol Type T biplane | Delayed at Melton Mowbray when starting engine after he stopped to change his propeller. Repaired his machine but it was damaged the next day in another attempt to leave Melton Mowbray[8] | |
| 18 | Pierre Prier | Bristol Prier monoplane | Crashed before the start[9] | |
| 19 | C. Howard Pixton | Bristol Type T biplane | Crashed at Spofforth and retired | |
| 20 | S.F. Cody | Cody Circuit of Britain biplane | Completed course as the fourth and last to finish | |
| 21 | Maurice Tabuteau | Bristol Type T biplane | Did not start[10] | |
| 22 | F. Conway Jenkins | Blackburn Mercury | Crashed on take-off | |
| 23 | Olivier de Montalent | Breguet Type III | Retired following a forced landing near Wetherby where he broke his propeller.[11] | |
| 24 | Gustav Hamel | Blériot XI | Reached Thornhill, north of Dumfries, before he retired. | |
| 25 | Lt. H.R.P. Reynolds, RE | Howard Wright 1910 Biplane | Retired after aircraft was damaged at Harrogate. | |
| 26 | Robert Loraine | Nieuport monoplane | Did not start | |
| 27 | Bentfield Hucks | Blackburn Mercury | Landed at Barton near Luton with engine problems.[12] | |
| 28 | C.T. Weymann | Nieuport monoplane | Retired following a forced landing north-east of Leeds | |
| 29 | H. Wijnmalen | Farman HF10 3-Seater Pusher Biplane | Failed to start due to engine problems[13] | |
| 30 | Lt. H. Bier | Etrich Taube | Aircraft damaged in a landing at Codicote near Hatfield after radiator problems. Only aircraft with a passenger Lt. C. Banfield. |
The race began at Brooklands on 22 July 1911 with a short 20miles section to Hendon Aerodrome. Only 21 of the 30 competitors started and 19 headed for Hendon, of which 17 arrived.
The competitors started to depart on the second stage on 24 July 1911 for the from Hendon to Edinburgh with two compulsory stops:
Total distance with stops at Stirling, Glasgow, Carlisle, and Manchester.
Five started from Edinburgh but only four made it to Bristol, they were all to complete the contest.
Total distance with stops at Exeter, Salisbury Plain.
All competitors had to complete the last to Brooklands before 19:30 on 5 August 1911. Beaumont was the first to arrive back on 26 July 1911 - 1 hour 10 minutes before his fellow Frenchman Jules Vedrines - he had travelled in 22 hours 28 min 18 sec. Valentine arrived back on 4 August 1911, followed the next day by Cody, who was the fourth and the last to arrive at Brooklands on 5 August 1911.
The 1913 race, offering prize of £5,000, was for floatplanes, which had to be of all-British construction. The course, totalling 1540miles had to be completed within 72 hours, although since no flying was allowed on Sundays this period was in practice a day longer. The race was divided into the following stages:[14]
Entrants included the Cody Waterplane, the Radley-England Waterplane and the Sopwith Circuit of Britain floatplane.Cody was killed during a test flight of his design on 7 August when his aircraft broke up in flight, and the Sopwith, flown by Harry Hawker with Harry Kauper as passenger, was the only aircraft to start; it retired after being damaged in an emergency landing near Dublin having completed about two-thirds of the course. Hawker was given a prize of £1,000 for his effort.