The Daily Mail Air Race London Aerodrome Claude Graham-White 1914

[LONDON AERODROME]; GRAHAM-WHITE, Claude – Advertisement board for The Daily Mail Air Race
 
London: The Dangerfield Printing Company Limited (1914)
 
Folio measuring 38cm by 25cm; Thick card original advertising board produced to publicise ‘The Daily Mail Air Race’, the board looks to have been printed on 5 June 1914, 15 days before the race took place according to the date at the bottom in the printer’s details, the board is printed in red and grey, and in the left corner there is a tipped in coloured plate measuring 14cm by 9cm by Cyrus Cuneo titled ‘Wonderful “looping” and Air Racing at Hendon”, it is an image that was used in all promotional material by Hendon Aerodrome owner Claude Graham-White in 1914; The advertising board has some creasing to the top left hand corner and a moderate crease going horizontally through the middle, there is some toning to the edges, otherwise its in very good condition and retains its original ties at the top of the board, it is scarce with none in commerce and none found elsewhere; overall a scarce ephemeral item.
 
Claude Graham-White built his London Aerodrome in Hendon and soon established it at the forefront of Aviation in this country. Funding came from wealthy benefactors from the great and good who wanted to learn to fly, and they could with his flying school. There was then regular “looping” and air racing three times a week from the airfield that the public could pay an entrance fee to watch up close. He attracted the best aviators from around the world to participate and attracted sponsorship for many challenging races. 
 
The Daily Mail took up the mantel and sponsored an Air Race on 20th June 1914, on the eve of the great war. There were, according to Graces Guide, 8 competitors that included soon to be RFC pilots Lewis Arbon Strange, Reginald Carr and John Alcock along with record breaking US aviator Walter Brock. The challenge was to fly to Manchester and back in one day, stopping off at Castle Bromwich Playing Fields along the way. It was a successful enterprise for Graham-White as he ensured a spectacle (and entrance fee) at three grounds. Of the race itself, according to ‘Flight’ magazine, Louis Strange was the first to arrive in Manchester but was forced to withdraw on return due to damage on arrival, and although nothing more is known about who arrived back in Hendon first, Carr made 2 loops during the race. A scarce piece of aviation ephemera that rarely comes onto the market.