The MacRobertson Trophy Air Race took place in October 1934 as part of the Melbourne Centenary celebrations. The race was devised by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sir Harold Gengoult Smith, and the prize money of £15,000 was provided by Sir Macpherson Robertson, a wealthy Australian confectionery manufacturer, on the conditions that the race be named after his MacRobertson confectionery company, and that it was organised to be as safe as possible. A further condition was that a gold medal be awarded to each pilot who completed the course within 16 days.
The de Havilland DH.88 Comet is a British two-seat, twin-engined aircraft built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was developed specifically to participate in the 1934 England-Australia MacRobertson Air Race from the United Kingdom to Australia.
Bertrand Blanchard Acosta was a record-setting aviator and test pilot. He and Clarence D. Chamberlin set an endurance record of 51 hours, 11 minutes, and 25 seconds in the air. He later flew in the Spanish Civil War in the Yankee Squadron. He was known as the "bad boy of the air". He received numerous fines and suspensions for flying stunts such as flying under bridges or flying too close to buildings.
The Yokosuka R2Y Keiun was a prototype reconnaissance aircraft built in Japan late in World War II.
The Citabria is a light single-engine, two-seat, fixed conventional gear airplane which entered production in the United States in 1964. Designed for flight training, utility and personal use, it is capable of sustaining aerobatic stresses from +5g to -2g. Its name, "airbatic" backwards, reflects this.
The Howard DGA-6 was a pioneer racing plane, nicknamed "Mister Mulligan". It was the only airplane ever designed for the specific purpose of winning the Bendix Trophy. The plane was designed and developed by Ben Howard and Gordon Israel, who later became an engineer for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Mister Mulligan was designed to fly the entire length of the race nonstop and at high altitude. Neither had ever been done before. Mister Mulligan won the trophy, and thus changed the way in which long distance airplanes were designed.
The American Champion 8KCAB Decathlon and Super Decathlon are two-seat fixed conventional gear light airplanes designed for flight training and personal use and capable of sustaining aerobatic stresses between +6g and −5g. The Decathlon entered production in the United States in 1970 as a more powerful and stronger complement to the American Champion Citabria line of aircraft.
The Macchi M.39 was a racing seaplane designed and built by the Italian aircraft company Aeronautica Macchi in 1925–26. An M.39 piloted by Major Mario de Bernardi (1893–1959) won the 1926 Schneider Trophy, and the type also set world speed records that year.
The Airspeed AS.6 Envoy was a twin-engined light transport aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Airspeed Ltd.
Albert W. Mooney was a self-taught American aircraft designer and early aviation entrepreneur. He and brother Arthur Mooney founded the Mooney Aircraft Company in 1929. His first production design was the Mooney M-18 Mite. The M-18 developed into the Mooney M20 in 1955, which was produced through several iterations on-and-off from 1955 through 2019, with over 11,000 examples built.
The Airspeed AS.5 Courier was a British six-seat single-engined light aircraft that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Airspeed Limited at Portsmouth. It has the distinction of being the first British aircraft fitted with a retractable undercarriage to go into quantity production.
The Airspeed AS.8 Viceroy was a British racing version of the Airspeed AS.6 Envoy built by Airspeed (1934) Limited at Portsmouth. The Viceroy was built to order for Captain T. Neville Stack and Sydney Lewis Turner, to compete in the England-Australia MacRobertson Air Race. Only one aircraft, registered G-ACMU, was built.
The Bellanca 28-90 Flash was an American military aircraft derived from an earlier air racer developed in the 1930s for export to Spain to take part in the Spanish Civil War. Although it never reached Spain, the order was diverted to China where the aircraft briefly saw service. Later, a new batch destined for Spain ended up in Mexico.
The Bellanca 28-92 Trimotor was a racing aircraft built to compete in the Istres-Damascus-Paris Air Race of 1937, and was paid for by popular subscription in Romania. Christened Alba Julia it was piloted by Captain Alexander Papana of the Romanian Air Force.
The Dewoitine D.33 was a single-engine low-wing monoplane aircraft built by the Dewoitine Company. It is remembered for setting a long-distance record on its first flight in 1930.
The Pander S-4 Postjager was a 1930s Dutch three-engined mailplane designed and built by Pander & Son. Only one was built which was destroyed during the MacRobertson Air Race.
The Bellanca CF is an early enclosed high-wing monoplane designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca that led to a successful series of Bellanca aircraft. Bellanca was nominated for the Collier Trophy in 1922 for the CF design.
The Granville Gee Bee R-6 International Super Sportster, named "Q.E.D.", and later named "Conquistador del Cielo", was the last in a series of racing and touring monoplane aircraft from the Granville Brothers. The R-6H was dogged with bad luck throughout its career and never finished any race it entered.
The Vance Viking, also called the Vance Flying Wing Express, and the Texas Sky Ranger, was a single seat cargo and racing aircraft.
The Potez-CAMS 161 was a large, French six-engined flying boat airliner, designed to operate on the North Atlantic routes that were opening up in the late 1930s. Its development was almost halted by World War II. Just one was built and partially tested before its destruction by Allied forces near the war's end.
