This Day in History: 1934-10-30

While competing in the Handicap category of the MacRobertson International Air Races in their Lambert Monocoupe NR501W “Baby Ruth”, John H. Wright and John Polando, representing the U.S.A. withdrew from racing in Calcutta, India on 30 October 1934. They encountered weather problems over France (as did many other competitors) and also suffered from carburettor icing which caused further concern. They had reached Aleppo by October 22 which indicated that the speedy little machine was making good time, but it was recorded that there they suffered from “petrol feed trouble”. In fact, on the Rome-Athens leg they had only just made the Greek coast and had been forced to land in Southern Aetolia after a fuel pump failure over the Adriatic Sea. This problem was to plague them for some time, and it is presumed that it is what forced them down again in the Persian desert while they were on the Baghdad-Jask leg. Wright and Polando succeeded in struggling on as far as Calcutta, but there decided to withdraw from the race. Source: Aviation Heritage Vol 24 Nos 1 & 2, 1984