leepers for 100 yards on the north side
of all junctions to give him his direction on the course. The machine
was run out on to the starting ground at Park Royal and set going at
5.19 a.m. on April 23rd. After a run of 100 yards, the machine went up
over Wormwood Scrubs on its journey to Normandy, near Hillmorten, which
was the first arranged stopping place en route; Grahame White landed
here in good trim at 7.20 a.m., having covered 75 miles and made a
world's record cross country flight. At 8.15 he set off again to come
down at Whittington, four miles short of Lichfield, at about 9.20, with
his machine in good order except for a cracked landing skid. Twice, on
this second stage of the journey, he had been caught by gusts of wind
which turned the machine fully round toward London, and, when over a
wood near Tamworth, the engine stopped through a defect in the balance
springs of two exhaust valves; although it started up again after a 100
foot glide, it did not give enough power to give him safety in the gale
he was facing. The rising wind kept him on the ground throughout the
day, and, though he hoped for better weather, the gale kept up until
the Sunday evening. The men in charge of the machine during its halt had
attempted to hold the machine down instead of anchoring it with stakes
and ropes, and, in consequence of this, the wind blew the machine over
on its back, breaking the upper planes and the tail. Grahame White had
to return to London, while the damaged machine was prepared for a second
flight. The conditions of the competition enacted that the full journey
should be completed within 24 hours, which made return to the starting
ground inevitable.

Louis Paulhan, who had just arrived with his Farman machine, immediately
got it unpacked and put together in order to be ready to make his
attempt for the prize as soon as the weather conditions should admit.
At 5.31 p.m., on April 27th, he went up from Hendon and had travelled
50 miles when Grahame White, informed of his rival's start, set out to
overtake him. Before nightfall Paulhan landed at Lichfield, 117 miles
from London, while Grahame White had to come down at Roden, only 60
miles out. The English aviator's chance was not so small as it seemed,
for, as Latham had found in his cross-Channel attempts, engine failure
was more the rule than the exception, and a very little thing might
reverse the relative positions.

A special train accompanied Paulhan along the