This is a recording made last year (3rd August) of the DH.88 Comet ‘Grosvenor House’ starting up prior to a taxi at Shuttleworth. A few times a year the aircarft is started up and taxiied but not flown. A while back a runway extension was made to the airfield which I thought was to support this aircraft but still it doesnt fly.
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5 of these were built for air racing in the 1930s, 3 specifically for the MacRobertson Race from England to Australia in 1934. Wikipedia has this to say about the winning performance of Grosvenor House in 1934.
“The scarlet G-ACSS was the property of Mr.A.O.Edwards and was named Grosvenor House after the hotel which he managed. The crew were Charles W.Scott and Tom Campbell Black. When the Mollisons ran into problems at Karachi, Scott & Campbell Black took over the lead and were first into Allahabad. Despite a severe storm over the Bay of Bengal they reached Singapore safely, 8 hours ahead of the DC-2.
They took off for Darwin, but over the Timor Sea lost power in the port engine when the oil pressure dropped to zero. Repairs at Darwin got them going again, although continuing oil warnings caused them to fly the last two legs with one engine throttled back. Their lead was unassailable despite this, and after the final mandatory stop and more engine work at Charleville they flew on to cross the finish line at Flemington Racecourse at 3.33 p.m. (local time) on October 23. Their official time was 71 hours 18 seconds.”.
More information about these aircraft is available from wikipedia by following this link.
G-ACSS Grosvenor House on display at the Farnborough Air Show in September 1988
